Not allowed.

Marissa here. Last time you heard from us, we were getting ready to head north for another adventure. The plan was to spend a few days in a place called Bundaberg, and take a day trip to the Town of 1770 to do some snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.

We weren't allowed to do that thanks to the awful weather.

To paint a picture of our last few days, here's a non-exhaustive list of things we were not allowed to do:

Snorkel
Laugh
Smile
Have fun
Give the right answer
Stay dry outside
Feel welcome
Eat freely
Use the computer
Touch anything
Offer an opinion
Make eye contact
Carry on a good conversation
Sleep without fear of assassination
Listen to music/radio in the car
Be alone in the house
Use sarcasm
Offer any suggestions
Ask questions

Let me explain. We stayed with this older couple. And I mean older. They were at least 80. And their house was stuck in 1983, at the latest. On paper, it sounds great: Older couple, nice house literally right on the beach. They showed us around and fed us dinner and we played some games. But in reality, it was awful. I couldn't wait to get out of there. Their tone of speaking, their body language, their lack of warmth and welcoming was anything but enjoyable. Not once did they tell us to make ourselves at home. Not once did they tell us we were free to look around the house, get something to eat, use their TV and/or computer. Now, I can't expect every family we stay with to let us loose in their house. But even the families that I felt didn't want us there up to this point were more welcoming. Now I really know what it feels like to not be wanted. They were not happy about us being in their house. Here's how it went down:

We'd been staying with a family, the Atkinsons, for about a week down on the Sunshine Coast. It was pretty good, but it was time to move on. We had learned that the farthest south that we could snorkel on the Reef was from a place called Town of 1770. This was about 4 hours north. I found a day cruise that has a bus that can pick you up from Bundaberg, and then bring you back at the end of the day. Our plan was to find a ride north at Stake Conference that Sunday, and Bundaberg is the northern border of the stake, so we knew we wouldn't be able to get any farther than that. But because of the convenient bus, this would be okay. I'd rather stay for free than go farther north and pay for accomodation. So we were on the hunt for a ride.

We had met a friend here on the Sunny Coast, and her grandparents happened to live in Bundy! How perfect! So we found them after conference, and from the first encounter, I was wary of the situation. I talked to the wife, and she semi-agreed, but said she needed to talk to her husband. I told their granddaughter to talk to them that evening, and make sure that they didn't feel pressure to say say because I had been standing there when we'd asked. We got a call later, and they still said yes, so we planned on leaving at 7 AM Monday morning. The original plan was to leave Sunday night, but we weren't going to complain; a ride is a ride. So now we wouldn't be able to snorkel until Tuesday, but we've learned that a day here or there really doesn't make a difference the way we're doing this holiday thing, so no big. We get to their house, and they were upset about how much luggage we had, even though we had explained to them exactly what we'd be bringing, and they said it would be perfectly fine. So we loaded it up anyway with a little bit of squishing, and we were on the road. The drive was about 3 hours, and it was so awkward. Not once did the radio go on, and not once did a good conversation evolve. The men stayed silent, while the women asked a few questions here and there. I asked about their lives and job, and their conversion to the gospel, all questions that could have led to interesting discussion. But I was met with cold answers, limited to one word if possible. She asked me a few questions, so which I couldn't ever answer correctly. We soon learned that no matter how we answered their questions, we would be wrong.

We got to their house, and we each got our own rooms. We would have been happy to share since there were multiple beds in each room, but we weren't about to question their orders. As soon as we had our belongings put down, we were basically ordered to go to the beach, and come back in 30 minutes for lunch, no sooner. It was cold and windy outside, and we had no desire to be there, but we acquiesced. We sat on a bench, not wanting to incorporate sand into our already awful day. When adequate time had passed, we made our way back to their house. For lunch, we had prawn sandwiches. Prawns are shrimp, by the way. They made us feel like idiots when we explained that no, we had never peeled or cleaned prawns before. We weren't sure how to go about it. They showed us, but then did it for us because we were too slow. I was afraid to eat too much, or too little. It was very uncomfortable, with a few pathetic attempts at starting conversation.

After lunch, we were more than happy to volunteer to leave the house again. We walked along the beach down to the center of town where we had passed shops on our drive in. When we got there, we realized that what we had seen from the car was literally all there was to the town. There was nothing to do, nothing to see. The beach was actually rocks, not sand. And it was still cold and windy outside. It wasn't the most pleasant outing. And during our evening, we found out that the snorkeling cruise would not be going on the next day, either. We now had a whole day to fill, with no options to fill it. Joy.

After we felt enough time had passed, we meandered back to the house for dinner. She's a great cook, but each meal was still awkward, full of fear of doing something wrong. I offered the lesson at FHE, which was actually the first time I felt any respect. They seemed to sincerely enjoy my lesson on patience. We then played some games, where they did not appreciate losing to us. We had some apple pie, which was actually an historic event: Robert does "not like" pie. This means that he's never really tried it, and he thinks he doesn't like it. How someone can dislike such a broad category of something so delicious is beyond me. But something about our situation got him to eat what had been placed in front of him, and he actually enjoyed it. So if nothing else good came of this experience, Robert learned to like pie.

Another factor to add to our day was that we were not allowed to be in the house alone. They did not trust us. Some errands needed to be run, so we obliged and sat in the back seat of their car in silence. They also decided to show us some other parts of town that were SO boring. They showed us the harbour where not a single thing was happening. And it was so cold. Then they took us to this information center about turtles which was actually pretty cool, except that I couldn't tell if they wanted us to take our time or to hurry. I honestly couldn't decipher their body language. This center runs nightly excursions to the beach to see turtles lay their eggs, but we wouldn't get to do that. We just had to read about turtles. And she kept telling us to go here, stand there, look at this. I usually enjoy educational experiences like that, but this one was the exception.

Back at home, it was time for bed. They asked if we were going to shower, and we didn't know how to answer. Did they want us to shower? Or were they making sure we weren't going to without their permission? We told them that we usually shower in the mornings. They hesitantly accepted this response, and we got ready for bed.

The next morning, we had decided to catch the 10 AM bus into Bundaberg, which is the main city in the area, and about 20 minutes from where we were staying. I woke up around 7:30 where I stayed in bed and did some reading. I let Robert sleep until 9:30, because there was no reason to get him up earlier. When we were both finally up, they were completely mortified that we could sleep as long as we did. They rise at 5 AM every day, and apparently you cannot get anything from your day unless you include the wee hours like they did. Disregarding this opinion, it was time to catch our bus. Luckily, the man was heading into the city, and offered to drop us off. Looking back, I think I'd rather take the bus that endure more silent time in the back seat of that car. We didn't really know where we were going, so we asked his opinion. We decided to have him drop us off at the giant barrel, the visitors center for Bundaberg Brewed Drinks, famous for their ginger beer. He assured us that it was right outside of downtown, and we might as well see that, then walk into town. After being dropped off, we realized that there was nothing worth seeing at this big barrel, so we started walking. It was a long walk, even longer in the rain. When we got to town, we got brekky (we were too afraid to get something to eat at their house). We walked around, and realized that there wasn't anything worth seeing here, either. But at least there was MORE that wasn't worth seeing, I guess. We ended up at the library for a few hours, which was the most enjoyable part of the day. We caught the bus back to their house as late as possible (which was around 4 in this small town). The worst part of the day: learning that our snorkeling adventure, again, would not happen.

Back home, it was dinner time. We had another good dinner, although it was still awkward. After deliberation with Robert, we decided that it wasn't worth it to try and stay here, miserable, for a snorkeling trip that may or may not come to pass. We started looking for a way back down south. We had a few options, and decided to take the 5:15 train. We'd have to leave their house around 4 AM, but that was okay- we could sleep on the train. Because of our pending early morning, we went to sleep early. Around midnight, I got a text informing me that the family we'd be staying with would not be able to pick us up until 5 PM the next day. With this new information, I decided it was worth it to sleep a little longer, and catch a later train, but leaving far less time to sit around stranded at a train station. I rose at 4 the next morning to inform our patrons, and they were disgruntled. She told me that I should have told her sooner. How she expected me to do that is beyond me. They wanted us out of their house, and were not pleased that we would be inconveniencing any more of their time. But nonetheless, I went back to bed. We got up and packed and ready to go. She offered brekky, which I accepted. She then bluntly stated that we had 2 minutes.

After some quick dry toast, 2 stolen bananas for the ride, and one near car accident later, we were free. We had to wait for our train for nearly 2 hours, but that was okay. We were glad to be going. We didn't get to snorkel, so I guess I'll have to come back someday and do that. But I'd rather be doing nothing with people I like that be doing something "fun" and staying with people I don't like. Robert explained it well: "I'd rather have a bad day golfing than a good day at work."

So there you have it. We made it as far north as we're going to on this adventure, and now it's a matter of getting back down south. I have a little more than 2 weeks to go until I come back to Utah. We're now back on the Sunshine Coast with a very kind family, and we're happy to be here.

Keep posted, and we'll keep posting.

the twins. (Oh, and that woman asked if we're identical. She's 80 and doesn't know that identical twins have to be the same gender? Really?)