I live in Germany and to get a package from the other side of the world, i.e. Australia is such an awesome feeling. I was home during the holidays and my gift didn't turn up in my mailbox up until I left, so I couldn't recieve my gift up until today, so sorry to my SS to post this so late.

I asked for information (maps, flyers) on my SS's public transport system, the train geek I am, and I got more than I hoped for. Seeing as I never even researched Australian cities regarding public transport, this has given me new things to look up. The tram in one of the pictures my SS sent me is from the same firm that makes the trains that go to my home town, which is admittedly not such a strange, but still funny coincidence.

The next part of the gift first made me go ಠ_ಠ because I suggested cufflinks and I got ONE. Then I read that my SS gave the other one to his mother as a sign of love, and I feel so honored getting the other one. It is quite cool, and I will find a way to rock it, I promise.

The third part I unfortunately didn't get due to (insert Scumbag Steve hat here) customs (first world SS problems: I am not from the US so I will never get an iPad.).My SS wanted to send me his very first iPod, because I said that I am an Apple fanboy. I didn't even tell him that I LOVE vintage gadgets, so he literally read my mind. But customs said NO. (okay.jpg) The thought counts though.

The stricken paragraph and the side note cracked me up though :)

Clancy, thank you so much for your very thoughtful and carefully put together gift. I had a downer today due to the holidays being over and having to go back to university tomorrow, and you really made my day!

End note: My SS apologized for not spending amounts of money on the gift and I just wanted to say: I didn't come for a huge gift, I came for the experience. Everyone has a little hope that they get some fancy gadget or a cruise or whatever, but for me the thought and labor that came into that gift makes me happy beyond belief that someone made that effort for someone he/she doesn't even know.

PS to my SS (TL;DR at the end): While I have no idea what your interests are, I like to think that you had fun putting together the info on your public transport system so I would like to share my urban transport system with you. In many cities in Germany except of four (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg) we don't have "real" metros. I live in Dortmund, and here they have sucessfully managed to put the trams underground in the city center. This is a pretty huge deal becuse Dortmund is the only city in the Ruhr area (which is the biggest metropolitan area of Germany) to have accomplished turning their tram system into a metro(-ish) system. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stadtbahn_Dortmund

We also have an S-Bahn in the Ruhr area which is in no way comparable to the S-Bahn system in Berlin which is the one you would know at first if you researched German transport. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine-Ruhr_S-Bahn

In Dortmund, all trains and trams run on electricity from an overhead wire, but to my home city, the train runs on dIEsel (yes, just like the gas). (Sorry for being a spelling nazi, I'm German after all.)

TL;DR: Asked my SS to send me info on his public transport system, gave him some info on mine.