Mission: Friends

I don't usually think of myself as a creepy person. That is not until I get to a foreign country. I'm in Melbourne where, aside from Will, I don't know a soul. I don't like not knowing any other souls. My soul likes getting to know other ones. After feeling panicked because I didn't know anyone, a great opportunity presented itself in the form of an after-school meet-and-greet that also included spouses of the students. Excellent.

Once I arrived at the school I was happy to see that a decent number of Will's fellow students were also married. After chatting for a few moments I felt compelled to immediately go on the offensive and get the numbers of these other lonely souls. Now, I don't do this in Calgary where I already have an established group of friends. Back home it takes days and sometimes months of chatting/working together before the number swap will happen. Being practical I didn't have that kind of luxury to waste as I didn't know the next time an opportunity like this would present itself. Feeling somewhat desperate and more than a little creepy I pulled out my ever-present planner and pen to jot down the numbers of girls who I'd known for a total of 15 minutes. Yes, this is what fear of loneliness does to me. This tactic seemed to have worked out successfully as I have a group of girls that I see with some regularity, our two things in common are that we're not from here and our husbands' are in the same program.

Now I've been hired to work at a school for the next term where many other people also work. While this has potential to create more friends, I can't pounce there, I do have my limits for what's socially acceptable. On a side note, I absolutely hate being the new person. Teachers there have formed their friend groups and have worked together for the whole year if not longer. I'm not good at breaking into already established cliques. I feel like I might as well be screaming, "Be friends with me! I'm nice, really I am! And hey, I have a cool accent!" I never worried about it in Calgary where I already had my network and friends from work were a bonus, not a necessity.

However I'm nothing if not determined. I'll make friends at that school or die trying. Actually dying isn't on my list of fun things to do, I'll modify that to I'll make friends at that school or...I won't. Yes, a much stronger statement! But really, I'm so charming how can anyone resist? :P