high school bestfren

On the first day of school at Monash Secondary College, 27th January 2000 (more than 9 yrs ago!!!)… I walked into the Year 11 ESL class and suspected the brunette with the wide smile and brown eyes is probably the most popular girl in the school! (too much Sweet Valley High books for me!) The guys in the room seem to really like teasing her… but what’s she doing sitting right in the front row? I thought popular girls don’t sit in the front. Turned out she was a pretty nerdy Brazilian!

We clicked straight away… she introduced me to ham & cheese crossaints (which is still one of my favourite foods)… she taught me samba and i taught her err.. maths & physics & chem! haha what a nerd! I sleptover at her place & she sleptover at mine. she taught me Portuguese (most of which i’ve forgotten!!!!) and how to shave using this electric shaver thingy (!!!) … we read each other’s English (ESL) essays… we stressed over VCE & stuffed ourselves with Jaffa coffee studying all night… we hated the cold & loved the heat (we were both from tropical countries)… we huddled in her single bed in the middle of winter talking about memories in our home countries … we cried together when we missed our friends & family back home…

We liked (very!) different boys…

She got a better ENTER score than me… i was really proud of her…

We ditched schoolies & went to Planet Shakers camp after yr 12…

We went to different universities…

We got different jobs…

We live 5 mins away from each other…

We said we’d travel to Brazil one day…since then, she has gone back to Brazil at least 3 times(!!!), lived in Taralgon on her own, travelled Portugal, Spain, France…  and i’m yet to book my ticket *sigh*…

She met her Brazilian man in Barcelona… & got married in Brazil!

We met up about two weeks ago… and…

she’s pregnant!!! 

here’s my beloved Erika… carrying baby Alice…

Coincidentally, we now work close to the Melbourne Uni Parkville campus… and really enjoying our catch-ups over coffee, cake, ice-cream, Japanese food, Breadtop, Knox (most of the time it’s her choice of food…hint – always ask a pregnant woman what she wants to eat!!) whenever we’re not caught up being all ‘grown-up’ It’s been really good… just like old times… making the most of the time we have before Alice arrives.