Tim Tam Slams

4/26/2012

Thursday.

Today was pretty standard. Went to my classes. Ella (AUS) ended up taking the bus with me to Burwood after our drawing class. Usually Peter (AUS) is on the bus with me but he wasn’t in drawing class today.

When I got home I decided that I was going to take a quick nap before dinner, then do homework afterward. Yeah, that didn’t happen. My quick nap turned into 3 hours. Funny how that happens. Around 8 I went up to the house and grabbed some dinner. The family was out so I didn’t feel to bad sleeping through the regular eating time. It was burritos so it was easy to fix up.

I made my dinner and then sat and watched Dr. Who Kieran and Carly. I guess Kieran is a fan. It has been cook getting to hang out with Kieran, even if a majority of not all of the bonding that takes place is over television. He’s a funny guy.

We then watched another show called QI which is a British quiz show with Stephen Frey as the host. After that, Carly and I went back down to the flat. Carly, the little gem, had bought all the makings for Tim Tam Slams.

I tried to describe a Tim Tam Slam, but when I googled it, I thought that I could not do it any better than Wikipedia. A Tim Tam Slam, according to Wikipedia is as follows:

"The Tim Tam Slam is the practice of drinking a beverage (usually a hot beverage such as coffee or hot chocolate, though milk is a very valid alternative) through a Tim Tam. Opposite corners of the Tim Tam are bitten off, one end is submerged in the drink, and the drink sucked through the biscuit. The crisp inside biscuit is softened and the outer chocolate coating begins to melt.

Ideally, the inside of the biscuit should collapse with the outside remaining intact long enough for the liquid to reach the mouth. Refrigerating or similar processes help to preserve the outside coating while allowing the inside of the biscuit to dissolve into a warm, creamy centre. The thicker chocolate coating on the Double Coat Tim Tam offers a more stable structure to prevent a premature collapse. The caramel centre of the Chewy Caramel variety helps to maintain the structural integrity of the biscuit for a slightly longer time - contributing to enhanced enjoyment. When the biscuit structure collapses it is typically pulled into the mouth."

Yeah. It is just all sorts of chocolaty goodness. It’s not exactly a dainty way of eating, but it is super delicious. And I had yet to do a Tim Tam Slam, so that was an exciting end to my evening.

ANZAC Day

4.25.2012

Wednesday.

Today was ANZAC Day. That stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps. This is a public holiday where they celebrate their veterans. So there was no school today. Aparently they do “dawn services” where all the vets suit up and march around the city. I thought it might be cool to go see it, but the word “dawn” really took that out of the equation, especially since I was still catching up on sleep from when I saw Titanic.

Instead, I woke up around 10 and worked on my Essay that is due tomorrow. Carly was working on the same paper, and when we both sat down to start working on it, she was at 1200 words, and I was only on 172 (out of 1500). We joked that we were going to race to see who could finish first. As I was working I would call out how many words I had.

Sarah came over and hung out for a bit while we were working. We played some Disney movies while we worked. We started with The Little Mermaid, then moved on to Pocahontas and finally to Hercules. But the end of the second one, I called out my word count, 1386, Carly was at 1385. I ended up finishing my paper before her.

After that I found out what my friend Charlie was doing. We ended up getting together in the city and grabbing some dinner. We got Kababs, which I had never had before. It was basically a tortilla, with specially cooked meat, veggies, and sauce, all pressed. It was very delicious! Then we just walked around Darling Harbour for a while. After a couple hours I headed home. I got in around 10 when my Korean friend Hong texted me and wanted to get coffee. At first, I really didn’t want to, because I had class early in the morning, but then I thought, I won’t always have the option to spend time with him, so I better take advantage while we’re in the same country.

So I met up with him on the other side of Strathfield Station. On my way there, I totally witnessed a fight. It happened right in front of me, and I didn’t really know what to do about it. They were both Korean, and yelling at each other in Korean, so I have no idea what the tussle was about, but I didn’t stick around to find out. I ended up just skirting my way around them.

I found Hong, and we went to a little Korean coffee shop, the same one I went to with Julliane a few weeks ago. We just chatted and I helped him out with his English. It is so funny talking to them, because we can spend so much time together but not talk about very much. I don’t really mind. I like helping them with their English. They work so hard. We work on pronunciation a lot. Like the word ‘expressionless’ is a difficult one. We talked about Constellations and I was able to point out the Southern Cross to him. I felt pretty cool being able to tell him about something so Australian. He also taught me the word for fool  (Pa-Bo) and told me that I need to call Julliane that next time I see him.

The Castle

4.24.2012

Tuesday.

Today in class we watched “The Castle”. This is such an Australian movie, and I loved every minute of it! Everyone should watch this movie if they get the chance! I mean, the humor night not be for everyone, but there were so many points that just exuded Aussie culture.

The rest of my day was pretty plain. Went to my classes. Came home, ate dinner with Neil and Michelle. My roommates had gone to another house for dinner. The other house hosts Taco Tuesdays, but since my class goes so late, I couldn’t go. But that’s all right. I had a nice quiet night in eating dinner then watching The Biggest Loser, The Voice, and The Big Bang Theory with Neil and Michelle.

I then came down and as I was getting ready for bed, Becky and Erica came home. Becky informed me that she was spending the night so that her had Erica could go to the Blue Mountains early tomorrow. That was fine by me, because I was going to bed.

The World Largest IMAX!

4.23.2012

Monday

So Today I woke up at 8:15 for a class that starts at 9. This wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t take me an hour to get to school... So I went to class, a little late, but I got there. It was Photography. I got my prints back and we had our class review/critique. The pictures came out really cool. We had to get them printed on Metallic Paper. At first I thought that was dumb, but it really did give the prints extra depth and dimension.

I ate left over’s for lunch and then went to counseling. After that I went to the library and did some research for my essay that is due on Thursday about Aboriginal presence in the local area. I would talk more about that but I don’t want to.

Instead, let’s talk about how I went to see Titanic in 3D on the largest IMAX screen in the WORLD!  

Chea, that happened. Braedon had been wanting to go but he couldn’t find anyone to go with him. So Erica and I said we would join him.

I left school around 4:00. Got home, ate a quick dinner, left by 5:30. As we were walking to the theater, we were talking and joking around, and then Braedon said to me :

“You must be part Australian, because your sarcasm just fits in so well here,”

This is probably the best thing Braedon has ever and will ever say to me.

But in all seriousness, Australian humor is different that American humor. Most of their jokes come out of sarcasm, and they lay it on thick, let me tell ya. Anyway, I am quite sarcastic, so I have been fitting right in. And it’s awesome!

We then met up with Braedon’s friend Rosie outside the theater. Once we got there, we bought our tickets (Erica and I had coupons so we saved $5!). After that we had a couple hours to kill. So we went to Pancakes on the Rocks in Darling Harbour. I got the Strawberry Patch Pancakes, which consisted of 2 pancakes, 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream, and heaps of Strawberries! Braedon had me order his Iced Fruit Cocktail because he didn’t want to sound too girly ordering it.

If I could have licked the plate, I would have.

After killing some more time, it was finally time for the movie! Braedon and Rosie bought a lot of snacks in preparation for the 3 hour film. Then we watched the movie and it was awesome. I don’t care what anyone says, I love Titanic. I mean, I love Leonardo Dicaprio circa 1997 more, but Titanic is pretty good to. Gets me every time. I think Braedon even got a little misty eyed.

Afterward I made Braedon take a picture with me with the sign. He complained but he secretly wanted it too.

Time is Like Ice Cream

4.22.2012

Sunday.

Something that I have been thinking about lately is time. Actually, we think about time all the time. I’ve been reading this book for classes, called One Church, Many Tribes. And the majority of this book has nothing to do with what I’m talking about. But one part of the book is talking about time as either qualitative or quantitative. The book said that Americans see time as quantitative. That is just the cultural norm, and I could not agree more.  Ever since I got to Australia, life has been all about time. How much time I’ve been here, how much time I have left.

Now that we’re about halfway through the semester, the idea that time is fleeting is more prominent than ever. Time is like ice cream. You have it, and you can enjoy it, you can revel in it even, but it’s still melting away. And it doesn’t matter what you do. It’s going to melt. So you have to enjoy it while it’s in front of you. Because it can’t last forever. All things must come to an end.  And because I don’t have all that long to be here, I think I need to challenge myself to view time as qualitative, rather than quantitative.

The Cutest Friends

4/21/2012

Saturday.

Today I had service placement. I met a new girl named Lisa, from Indonesia. She’s lived here for a while, since 2006. After service, Becca (ASC) told us about a buss that we can take back from Hillsong to Central Station. This has revolutionized my return trip. Walking is becoming a thing of the past.

When I got home, I found my roommates and Sarah getting ready to hit the city. I was super tired, so I ate a bowl of cereal and got back in bed. I slept for about 2 hours, woke up, finished a book, then got ready for church. I met Hong and Julliane (My Korean friends), at Strathfield station. Love them! They are the cutest.

Anyway we went to church. We ran into Darren, a guy from Northern Ireland that we had met a few weeks ago. So the four of us sat by each other during the service. Afterward we went to the after party. We just went to Central Hotel Bar which is right across the street from Central station. We basically just talked and hung out. I talked to Carlie, Lihn, Kenny, and some other people. I met a new friend, Beff, who is also Korean.

Left to Right: Liam, Hong, Beff, Me, Kenny, Julliane, David.

After that I took the train home with Hong and Julliane. When I got home, my roommates and Sarah were watching Charlie St. Cloud (with Zac Effron). I watched the end of the movie with them while I ate left over’s from last nights dinner (Meat Pie and Cheesecake). Then Carly and I ended up going down to the local pub (The Pine) and met up with Braedon and some of his friends. We didn’t stay for very long as it was clear that Braedon was planning on getting pretty drunk. And as I had had a long day, I was content with going home and going to bed.

Emperor's Puffs

4/20/2012

Friday. Today we had class for a good chunk of the day. We watched Rabbit Proof Fence which is an Australian movie about the Stolen Generation. That is when the Australian Government was taking away Aboriginal children from their families because their family’s were “unfit” to raise them. It was a really good movie, based on a true story. So you should all watch it if you get the chance!

After the movie a woman came to class and talked to us more about the Stolen Generations. She works with an organization that helps people find their lost family members.

Then we had a break for lunch. I had my Thai leftovers. I had to run down to get some steamed rice to go with it though. But it was only 2 bucks so it was worth it. It was really good and really filling.

After the afternoon session I went into the city with Monika, Tam, Carly, Eric and Rachel M. We went to Tam could get some gifts for people at home from this store called Typo. Typo is a really cute, kind of hipster store that mostly has stationary and nick knacks and stuff. I wanted to buy everything in there, but I have no use for any of it. After that we went to Virgin Mobile so Tam could charge up her phone.

Then Tam and Monika showed the rest of us this fantastic place in China Town. They introduced us to these things called Emperor's Puffs.

 They are Awesome! They are only 4 for $1. But you could probably eat about 20 of them. They are basically little pastries filled with cream. Tam and Monika told me I had to eat them warm.

After that, I had had about enough excitement for one afternoon, so I headed home while the rest of the girls headed back toward school. Some of them were going to see the play that I saw last night.

When I got home I had fully intended on working on homework. But I ended up just eating dinner then watching Flubber with Braedon. I did get a little reading done, but not as much as I should have. 

Theatre and Thai Food

4.19.2012

Thursday. Today I had several classes. I was done by 4. But there was play going on tonight. Actually a series of one act plays. One of them the ASC assistant (Ty) was in, as well as my Uni friend Julian. So I had some time to kill. I ended up just doing homework most of the time.

I went to the play and found Tam was already in the auditorium. Her host mom, Wendy, is a big wig in the drama department so she got in for free (Lucky!). After the play, I was on my way to the bus stop when I ran into Rohita. She was asking me what I was up to and I said, “going home”. So she walked me to the bus stop and we looked at the time table and found that the next bus wasn’t coming for another 40 minutes.

So we walked back to school to see if Lisa wanted to hang out until I had to catch my bus. When we got up there, Lisa already had plans, but I ended up just standing around and talking to people for a while. I talked to a guy named Caleb who I had met before but hadn’t spent too much time talking to. He found out I went to Azusa Pacific and we had a bonding moment over Anna Hodgensen, (an APU student who came here last year). Apparently Caleb and Anna were married and she lived with Rohita for a time. Rohita didn’t know that I knew Anna so she had a minor freak out over that. And then they both and a minor freak out over the fact that Anna and I are living together next year.

Seeing as I still had time to kill before the bus, I ended up going to Thai food with Ty, Rohita, and Rohita’s roommate Vanessa. I got Yellow Curry. It was a nice bonding time, but it made for a late night. I ended up getting on the 10:22 bus as opposed to the 9:22 bus that I had originally been stalling to take. But the gang was nice and waited with me at the bus stop.

And another great thing that came out of tonight, is now I have left over’s for lunch tomorrow!

Good Thing It's Raining Today

4/18/2012 (Dad's Birthday!)

Wednesday.

My host family has a daughter, Claire, that has until now, been living in Melbourne. She is coming to live at home for a bit and needs to get some work. She has worked as a hair dresser and so was looking into that in the Sydney area. She had a trial at a place called “Blow Dry Bar”. She needed to bring a model in for her trial to show that she could blow dry and style and stuff. So I got to be that model.

She told me to meet her at the salon around 9:30 because she had to be there about 9. When I left the house around 8:50 to walk to the train station, Michelle caught me as I walked up to the house and told me that Claire hadn’t left yet and was running late. Michelle was going to give her a lift to the train station so I could just go with her to the station then to the salon. I expected to walk in the house and find her running around like a wild women. But when I got in the house I found her sitting at the table eating eggs. If I was running that late, I don’t think I would make time for eggs. Oh Australians. So silly.

We made it to the train station, where everyone looked like wet dogs (on account of it raining so hard). We took the train to Town Hall and walked to the salon. We got there around 9:20. Claire did all her business with the managers and proceeded to wash and then blow dry my hair. I felt bad because she was trying to style it, but my hair is just so fine it did not want to hold the curl she was trying to put into it. But it turned out pretty well and the manager seemed to approve. (Even though it only took about 30 seconds for me to become a wet dog again).

When I was all done, I was free to go because Claire had to stay back for some additional application stuff. Claire helped me figure out where I needed to catch the bus to get to school. I found the stop and hopped on the 504 to Drummoyne. As I was going we past the Drummoyne post office and I had some things I wanted to mail so I hopped off there.  I then caught a 490 the rest of the way to school. I got there and went to The Gathering. Afterwards I just headed home to work on stuff.

Cheezels and The Voice

4/17/2012

Tuesday. Well the rain is back. And I think it is hear to stay. Or at least that’s what everyone’s been saying.  I went to my classes today. Pretty standard Tuesday.

In my first class I was falling asleep. Not really asleep, but I was really struggling to stay focused. When we finally got a 15 minutes break, I ran down to the servo to pick up some coffee and a small container of mixed nuts. This made the rest of class much more bearable. We actually had some good discussion about a series of images that Kimberly showed us. One included a picture of Santa kneeling to baby Jesus and a picture of Jesus with a rifle.

During my break in Ad Design, we went to the servo. I bought Cheezels for my Australian experience.

They were basically cheetos puffs, but circular. By the time we got back to class we were all soaking wet because it was raining so much. But our teacher let us out about 30 minutes early, which was nice. There is talk of going to a place called Pancakes on the Rocks tomorrow. We’ll see if that pans out.

When I got home I ate dinner, watched the fat people and The Voice. I had never seen the voice before. But it was actually really cool and I can tell that this is yet another reality show that I will be sucked into.

Photos and Connect Group

4/16/2012

Monday.  Today I just had one class, Photo. I shot my last object for my assignment. It was a scarf. Here is a sample of what that looked like:

Then I finalized the files of all of my shots and gave them to a girl in my class name Jenica who is going to the printer this week.

After that I went down to Lashings (A little restaurant a few blocks from school) and got a ‘Sydney Burger’. I was advised to get this from my friends in photo class. I brought it back and ate at the tables outside with some of my second year friends.  After I ate I went to the library and finished my homework. I wanted to get my homework all done because I was going out to dinner with some friends and I wanted to not be stressed about it.

I went home and got ready to go to dinner/bible study. It’s actually called a Connect Group. So when I say CG from now on that’s what that means.

I headed to Town Hall so I could meet up with the group at 6:30. I took the train, and wouldn’t you know it, it was having trouble and stopped just one stop short of my stop. So I had to get off and get on a different train that was going a different route to Town hall. I ended up getting there about 30 minutes late. Silly trains, you’re supposed to be more reliable than the buses!

The group consisted of: Lihn, Andrei, Kenny, and some new people I hadn’t met : Kara (from Chicago), Michel, and Gabbi. They were all super great. We had our little bible study but ultimately just ended up talking about our lives and where we came from. It was neat to get to hear about their lives on a deeper level. 

Left to Right: Michel, Andrei, Kara, Me, Gabi, Lihn, and Kenny

From there I caught a train home with Kenny (he’s on the same line as me).

No City Buses for Me!

4/15/2012

Sunday.

Today was a lot not too eventful. I wouldn’t even really call it our last day in the outback because we left so early. We got up around 6-6:30, ate some toast for breakfast. We then had to pack up our stuff and clean up our area. We then all got on the bus and headed back toward civilization. Matt and Nick seemed pretty disappointed that we were leaving. They got to have city friends for 2 days and then we just left them. Sorry boys.

We then proceeded to drive the billion hours back to the city, taking breaks for morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. For lunch we stopped at a Pizza Hut and basically took over the restaurant. We ate our fill and carried on.

I was telling Mackenzie (my bus buddy this time around) how I was not looking forward to the fact that the bus would drive past where I live to get to school, and then I would have to take 2 city busses to get back home. After not showering for a while and being covered in red dirt, I was not keen to hop on a city bus (plus on a Sunday there would be barely any to take), and ride home.

Just after I finished whinging about this ('whinging' means 'complaining' in Aussie), the bus driver announced that he was going to make a stop at the intersection of Burwood and Parramatta. A.k.a. about a 3 minute walk from my house! Hazaah! This added about an extra hour and a half to my night!

We got home and all took our turns showering and getting out laundry. I still had some homework to do so I got crackin’ on some reading and answering some of my homework questions. Then went to bed much earlier thanks to that brief stop over on Parramatta!

Dirty Dogs and Magic Tricks

4.14.2012

Saturday. Today Neil and Michelle made us a big pancake breakfast. We took our time eating and sitting by the fire. At the farm there were several dogs that were just around. All the time.  And they were pretty cute. But also pretty dirty. And smelly.

We then had a discussion about one of the books we read. Then some more life stories. After that we had a bit of free time. Which as you can probably guess, we used to play cards. We did some magic tricks. It was fun to trick Braedon because he likes to know everything. So when he doesn’t understand a trick he gets really upset. Which is always funny.

We then played some B.S. while we are lunch. After lunch we helped clean a shed that was on the property. It wasn’t a shed but more of a open garage for giant tractors.  Which really meant just picking up garbage and putting all scrap metal in a pile. The whole thing took less than 20 minutes. But that’s probably because there was about 40 of us doing it.

After that, we played more cards. This time we played Mau. After that, our group had a worship sesh. Then I took pictures with Monika and Tam. Tam wanted to create a stop motion film of the sunset, so she took a picture every 10 seconds for over 25 minutes.

For dinner we had sheep and pig! It was so tender and amazing! We also had grilled potatoes and sweet potatoes. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, we had Sticky Date Pudding for dessert.

Braedon with our dinner

After dinner I went Kangaroo spotting. This entails hopping on the back of  yute when it’s dark out and driving around the property with a giant spotlight on the top and seeing if you can spot kangaroo. We didn’t. But it was still super fun. When you are out in the middle of no where, the stars are AMAZING! I have never seen stars that clear. The milky way is so pronounced it feels like you could reach up and touch it! It is amazing how little you can feel when looking up at a universe that big!

After that, we sat around the fire for some more life stories. Once we had all gone, it was time for “S’mores”.  And of course, like mentioned in my post "You know who you are”,  I put “S’mores” in quotation marks because their marshmallows are totally weird. They are like, fruit flavored or something. So I just ate chocolate and digestives. (digestives = as close to graham crackers as you can get) (and they are not as bad as they sound).

I stayed up for a little bit after that, but then people around the camp fire started telling ghost stories. And I was not okay with that. So I went to bed.

So Much Red Dirt

4.13.2012

Friday the 13^th!!!

Today, we got up and ate breakfast around 7:30. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it, but since we went to Michelle (host mom’s) brothers farm, Michelle and Neil came out and were the cooks for our group for the weekend. I was really excited to see both Michelle and Neil last night when we got there. Michelle had been gone all week and I really missed having her around.

Anyway, we had toad in a hole. Or as some people call it, eggs in a basket. A.k.a. a piece of toast with a hole in it where a fried egg goes. So that was delicious.

After that we all loaded up in Yutes (or trucks) and drove out to a separate part of the property where there is a slight hill from where you can see a lot. I say slight hill because let’s face it, Australia is pretty flat. The drive out there was so much fun! It felt like real life Indiana Jones. It was also just so surreal driving in the outback, kicking up all the red dirt.

We drove out there, took about 30 minutes to write letters to ourselves (then they will give the letters back to us at the end of the semester). After that we had some afternoon tea on sight.

Yutes before.

Yutes after.

Then we loaded back up into the Yutes and headed back to camp. This time I road in the back, and that is quite an awesome/ terrifying experience. You just have to hang on for dear life, and expect to look like a red dust monster at the end. Our yute got the worst of it because we were behind the other 3 vehicles, meaning that a whole lot of red dust had been kicked up. They drive so fast too, mostly because there’s nothing really to hit.

The property of this farm is about 40-45,000 acres. Which I think someone said is about 60 square miles. So, big place. And there is no road markers or anything. Just some fences and such. But they navigate the place like it’s no big deal. They know exactly where they are going. If I was in charge, I would get everyone lost.

As we were driving we saw several animals. We saw sheep and a mob of kangaroos off in the distance. Kangas can sure hop fast.

When we got back, we had a little bit of time before lunch. Throughout the whole weekend, lots of card games were played. There where two boys from the city on the farm, Matt and Nick. They are having a gap year between high school and Uni and are trying to have life experience on the farm. They had been there a couple weeks and are going to be there for several more after we leave. They hung out with us pretty much all weekend. I think they miss civilization, because whenever they had a free moment or weren’t being asked to do something, they were playing cards with us or sitting with us by the fire.

After lunch we played more card games. Then a group of us went to the original house that was on the property. The house is super dilapidated and was really fun to look at/ around

After that I played more cards. A lot of card games got played on this trip. Then I took pictures of the sunset:

Then we had dinner. Braedon came up tonight too. He has an assignment for school that he needed to interview his uncle for. Plus Neil and Michelle needed another car up there.  So he made it in time for life stories tonight. After that him and his cousins (Josh and Dane) helped point out the Southern Cross to me. The Southern Cross is a constellation that you can only see in the southern hemisphere. So that was cool to see. We then spent a solid 20 minutes looking for the “saucepan” which in the northern hemisphere we call Orion’s belt. He couldn’t find me and told me that I should ask Michelle tomorrow night. So that’s what I’ll do.

12 Hours West

4/12/2012

Thursday. Today we are heading to the outback! More specifically, we are going to Mt. Burithumble which is in Euabalong west, which is close to condoblin. Basically it is straight west of Sydney. Or as it looks on Google maps:

We are going to my most mom’s brothers farm. Her two brothers, Murray and Kevin, have a 40,000 acre farm out there. They have sheep, and cattle, and emus and some crops. So we’ll get to see all that stuff.

Anyway, we got to school bright and early. Braedon was a peach and drove us to school so we could be there by 6:30. We got on the bus and were on the road by a little after 7.

I ended up not having a seat buddy, but that was quite okay with me, because that meant that I got to spread out and take up two seats worth of room. So I slept quite a bit.

The problem with taking a bus, is that they have regulations on the drivers. They are required to stop pretty much every two hours and have a break. This means that a drive that should really only take 7 or 8 hours turns into 12-13 hours. So we stopped in the blue mountains for morning tea.

Three Sisters. Not that impressive when it's super early and gray outside.

We kept going, then stopped in Orange for lunch (subway platters again! Yes!). Then drove some more, then stopped somewhere else for afternoon tea. Then went a little farther, then we stopped at an aboriginal site where they have built an education centre. It isn’t quite open yet, but we got a tour and got to have a look at the facilities. It was pretty cool actually. The entire building is made of different types of mud. And the doors all have super ornate stain glass pictures in them. Every aspect of the building was designed with a part of wiradjuri (aboriginal tribe) culture in mind. The tables for students at shaped like boomerangs to promote group work and community participation.

The last leg of our trip was when we really got into the outback. As we were driving the sun started setting over the bush horizon. Probably the most Australian sight I’ve ever seen, driving on a red dirt road, sun setting over the horizon, dry yellow grass, and a sole Kangaroo hopping along side the bus. Yeah, I’m in Australia now. (If only my eyeballs could take pictures). But here’s the sunset:

When we finally got to the place we unloaded the bus and put our stuff in our assigned rooms. We stayed in the sheep shearer’s quarters. Which is exactly what it sounds like. When the people who sheer the sheep come to the farm, they come for about a week and these are the barracks where they stay.

After dinner Kimberly offered us some time to share things about ourselves. Because there are so many of us, she gave us three rocks, to symbolize 3 things about us or our past. We could go as deep or as surface level as we wanted to. So we had a bit of time for people to share some things about them. It was cool to We ate dinner and had a little bit of time to hear some things about people I haven’t gotten to know that well yet.

Jelly Babies?

4/11/2012

Wednesday.

Today was mostly about getting ready for the outback.

I went to the salvo and got some sweet new clothes. I got a t-shirt with Tigers on it. A extra large flannel. Another plain gray shirt. And a baseball hat that says globe on it. I don’t really know what that means. But it was $2 and Kimberly stressed that we would need one. So when you see pictures of it later, that's what that's about.

After the salvo I went home so I could wash the clothes to get the ‘thrift store’ smell off them. You know what I’m talking about. After that I went to Coles so that I could get a few things, like bug spray, sunscreen and snacks. I got these fruity candy things called Jelly Babies. I have no idea what they will be like. But they were only $1.50 so I thought I would give it a go. I’ll let you know how they are. 

 

Easter Show

4.10.2012

Tuesday.

Today I went to the Easter Show with my 2^nd year uni friends. I met Ella earlier, around 10:30. We got there and walked around a bit. The Easter Show is basically just a giant fair with lots of different things. There are various performances going on and lots and lots of animals to look at.

We went into poultry pavilion, which I don’t think I liked. It was a giant barn of caged birds. And they are actually kind of scary. Here is Ella next to a large goose:

After that we saw some pigs and sheep. We also saw a dog agility course. We stopped and watched that for a while. Then Blake met up with us. It was Blake’s Birthday today! The 3 of us walked around the cows and the horses. I have to be honest, the cows really scared me. They are just so big and so strong and they could kill me so easily if they got mad. I took to hiding behind Blake and Ella. They made fun of me, but whatever, the cows were scary.

We then met up with Richard, Casey, ASCer Katie and a girl I had never met, Mariza. We basically spent the whole day walking around the different parts of the show. They made me walk back through the cows. And then we went to a petting zoo portion where we petted baby sheep and goats. They were pretty cute.

After that we went into this one section where there was lots of free food samples, so we took advantage of that. A little later we went into the ride section of the park. I didn’t ride any rides but I hung out while others did. We then went into the stadium and grabbed some seats for the various rodeo events that would happen in there. I couldn’t tell you the names of every event we watched, but it was typical rodeo stuff. Then there was a BMX show. A very Australian display of lots of men on horses doing choreography on the field. Then there was a firework show accompanied by the playing of didgeridoos. Yeah, I'm in Australia.  

The whole evening was very cold. Like really cold. Like I contemplated going home several times because I wasn’t sure it was worth it. But I’m glad I didn’t because it was really fun hanging out. After the fireworks our group was down to Blake, Richard, Casey,  Ella and me. We went on a few more rides and then decided that it was time to go home. 

I caught the train to Lidcome with Blake and Ella. From there, we were to catch different trains. When I got off the train, I heard them announce that my train was leaving in one minute. I ran and tried to catch it, said hurried goodbyes to Blake and Ella, only to not make the train. So we spent a solid 10-15  minutes on opposite sides of the platform looking at each other. So that was funny. Eventually my train came, and I got on and headed home. Overall, it was a really fun day out with the Uni kids.  

The Longest Walk Ever

4/9/2012

Easter Monday.

Today I woke up to the ruckus that is my household. My roommates and Sarah, Emily and Becky were all going to go to the beach today. So they were up kind of early all getting ready for that. So sleeping in was not really an option. But that was okay because I should have gotten up anyway.
After they all left I took advantage of the empty place and did some cleaning. While I cleaned I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding. (Miss you Natalie).

After that I showered and got ready and then I headed to Central Station to meet up with my friend Charlie. Today, we really didn’t do anything. We met up at Central and then we just started walking. And let me tell you, we covered a lot of ground. We walked down to Darling Harbour, where there is some sort of festival going on. We saw some acrobatics, kept walking, saw a cruise ship gearing up to leave port. Kept walking, saw interesting sculptures, saw a car with a boulder on top of it:

Kept going, under the Harbor Bridge, Sat and looked over the water to the Opera House. We ended up running into my roommate Carly down by Circular Quay. So She was able to meet the infamous Charlie. We then walked all the way to the Opera House. I had already been up there but Charlie told me it didn’t count unless I touched it. So we had to go up there so I could touch it. We then kept walking and ended up back on George street. We were both pretty hungry at this point so we popped into pizza hut and split a ham and cheese and pineapple pizza.

We really didn’t do anything today. We pretty much just walked around in a circle. For 4 hours. But it was super fun. Charlie is the best. He dabbles in comedy and let me tell you, he is going to be big someday. I like Charlie. I think I like him mostly because he takes jokes as far as I do. When normal people would give up on a scenario joke, he keeps going. And he remembers things and he references them later. We’re basically twins when it comes to sense of humor. But he is way funnier. His delivery is much better too.

After that we found our way back to Central Station.

From there I took the train home. I had a hankering for a soda, so I convinced Megan and Erica to come with me to the servo. I picked up a soda, some red rock deli chips and some smarties. Totally worth the 7 bucks it cost me. Overall, really good day.

The Resurrection and Jack-O-Lantern Underwear

4.8.2012

EASTER SUNDAY!!!

Today was a lazy morning. I got ready.  A group came over and we got ready to go to Queen Elizbeth Park where almost all of ASC came for a barbie that my roommates organized. I say my roommates because I pretty much had nothing to do with it. They did all the planning, all the shopping. I just showed up. I did draw the map on the invitations though. So that’s something.

Anyway, we went there and people joined as they were able to. We got there around 11. We had burgers, fruit salad, Macaroni and cheese and plenty of dessert. I had to leave at 1 because I was meeting some friends in the city before the big church service in the Sydney event centre. I took the train to Town Hall and met up with my friend Linh. We were originally going to have a picnic with a bunch of people. But mostly everyone bailed. So her and I plus two guys (Andrei and Kenny) went to an arcade and played games for about an hour and a half until it was time to go to church.

We left at 3:45 to get to the Sydney event centre and there was already a huge line. The doors opened at 4. We went in and spent 20-30 minutes trying to get seats and we still didn’t even get to sit together. I sat by Kenny and Andrei and poor Linh sat in the section next to us. It was quite traumatic. So many people came that they didn’t have enough seats and had to set up a screen outside.

After church, the 4 of us went out for Chinese food. We were joined by Andreis friend Chris whom I had met in one of the previous Saturday night events. We sat at the restaurant for easily an hour and a half just talking about our life stories. Actually, I didn’t say too much, but I was thrilled to listen and hear more about my company. Linh is apparently 21 years old. I seriously thought she was like, 24 or 25.

After that Andrei offered to drive us all home. This is huge considering we all live in complete opposite directions. I tried to tell him that I could just take the train, but he insisted. So I let it happen. Kenny ended up leaving to hang out with other people. On the way to Andreis car we ran into Warren (south African man from last night) and Andrei offered to drive him too. Andrei. What a champ.

When I got home I found 3 new roommates: Sarah, Emily and Becky. To clarify, not actual now roommates, just friends from ASC who were spending the night. We stayed up and chatted for a while about our days. Finally I decided to head to bed, but not before Megan showed off her jack-o-lantern underwear that had a glow in the dark face on the butt.

She stood on an ottoman by the lamp “charging” the glow in the dark portion. All the while brushing her teeth. Like it wasn’t weird for her to be standing with her pants down next to the lamp over the night stand while brushing her teeth.

“Quit charging your butt and finish brushing your teeth!"

But she didn’t care. She was too excited. And I have to admit, it was kind of cool when we turned off the lights. But I don’t know if that’s because it was actually cool or if I just wanted to go to sleep.

Nothing say's the resurrection of Christ like Jack-o-Lantern underwear.

"You're Already Stuffing It Up"

4.7.2012

Saturday. I went to service placement.

Not a lot of people opened doors. Probably most were gone for Easter. But we did talk to one woman named Joy. Joy is a fantastic older woman. She was a ballet instructor for 40 years and was super precious. We talked a lot about generational differences and how these days you have to be open to change. But you also need to stay humble and remember to slow down and take in the small things. I hope that I can go back and see her.

After service I went to a Spanish café across the street with Tam and Monika. The waiters were very flirtatious and really funny. The best way to describe them is Spanish. One of them offered the other as an option on the dessert  menu.

After that we walked around and looked at cute shops that were all closed because of the holiday weekend. I ended up heading home around 3.  I got home, ate, napped then got ready for church.

I met Hong (my other Korean friend) at Strathfield Station so we could take the train to church together. He is great. While we were waiting, we saw Carly and Erica so Hong got to meet 2/3 of my roommates.

We went to central and waited for shuttle bus. We had just missed one, but that ended up being okay because then Julliane met up with us. We all took the shuttle bus together and then went to service together. They are the best. For real.

Afterward we waited out front to go to the event afterward. We saw Charlie and talked to him while we waited for transportation. The event was a barbie in a near by park. I got to talk to Allison a little, but not a lot. I mostly hung out with Charlie, Hong and Julliane. At the Barbie we had Sangers. This is my second experience with sangers (aka sausage in a piece of bread). It was weird. I picked up a piece of bread and put my tomato sauce (aka ketchup) on it  on the bread before I put my sausage on it. As I was doing it I was telling Charlie that this isn’t a thing in America and I wasn’t sure if I was doing it right. As I was squeezing the tomato sauce he tells me that I’m already ‘stuffing it up’. Apparently you’re supposed to put the sausage first and then the sauce. I guess I know for next time.

The park was super neat. Each picnic bench area had different colored led lights under it. It made for quite an interesting ambience.

I met a man from South Africa named Warren. And a girl names Serena from Korea. She was able to talk to Hong in their native language which I think was a relief for Hong. I feel bad sometimes because Hong and Julliane work really hard to talk to me and I think it wears them out. Linh then gave us a ride bad to central station where I took the train with Hong, Julliane and a brazillian boy named Lewis. He was very nice. He is only 17 and has only been here a week. I can’t imagine picking up and moving to a different country at the age of 17! His English was very good though so I think he will do well here.

Good Friday = Bad Day To Travel

4/6/2012

Friday. Today I slept in. then went to Manly beach with my roommates. Because it was good Friday, public transportation was not running as frequently as it normally would be. We took the bus to Burwood station, where we waited 23 minutes for the next rain that would take us to Circular Quay. When we got there, we just missed the ferry, so we had to wait a while for the next one. The Warf was totally packed with tourist and people on holiday. Moral of the story: Good Friday = Bad day to travel.

Once we got the the beach it was nice though. While we were there a sky writer wrote +=<3 in the sky. This is the big campaign by Hillsong church to promote their Easter Services. Hillsong is really into their advertising:

After a few hours I was kind of done at the beach. So I headed back with Rachel and Gina. It’s amazing how not really doing all that much can still leave you super exhausted at the end of the day. When I got home I got a shower and grabbed some food.  

There was talk of hanging out at Rohita’s, that ended up not working out. So I stayed at home and watched 40 year old virgin with Carly and Erica. Seeing as how I had service the next day so I wasn’t to keen on staying out late anyway.

Start of Easter Break

4/5/2012

Thursday.

Today I got to school bright and early. I got there a little before 8 and I put the final touches on my project that was due. I thought that class started at 9:30. Turns out that for presentation day it didn’t start until 10:30. So it was a long morning.

After presentations and after class I ate lunch and sat outside where a bunch of people were hanging out a playing music. Then I had to go to drawing class. Today was a weird day for drawing. I didn’t sit in my regular spot and I really think it messed with my drawing. Not my best.

 After drawing class hung out in the car park with Blake, Ella and Sam for a bit. We made plans to go to the Easter show on Tuesday. The Easter show is apparently like a big fair.  I got more of their numbers besides Ella’s so that if I’m being brutally murdered I can let someone know. I was waiting for Peter to send some e-mails so we could talk the bus back together.  When Peter was ready we went down to the servo. Peter bought an energy drink. They were 2 for 5 so he got me one too. I don’t typically drink them, but I decided to save it for Saturday before service placement.

When I got home I had a pretty relaxed night in. I just hung out with Michelle, Neil and Braedon. They are going camping this weekend for easter. They meet up with their extended family in Canberra. We watched some police/ csi type shows and soon enough it was bed time. We have tomorrow off so My Easter break has officially commenced!

"Tennis! You're Alive!"

4/4/2012

Wednesday. Today I had a very relaxed morning. I actually took time to blowdry my hair AND straighten it. This rarely happens here. Went to school with Carly and we deciced that crossing the street to get to school is quite akin to “Frogger”. I take that back. It's EXACTLY like Frogger. You have to cross one half of the street to a median and then wait for a break in traffic to cross the other half. I mean, there is a crosswalk a half a block away. But I remain steady that it is faster the Frogger way.

 I made my way into school for the gathering.

After the Gathering, I ran into my second year friends. Peter’s first words to me were “Tennis! You’re alive!”

“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I be?”

Peter proceeded to tell me how Ella was sure she had killed me off by sending me in the wrong direction. You see, when Ella gave me her number last night, I called her immediately after she gave it to me so that she would have my number. She didn’t know that and later, saw that she had a missed call and thought that I had died. She thought that I had been kidnapped and since her number was the last one I put in my phone, that she was the person I called.

 She had called me when I was on the train, but I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to be that loud American talking on the phone on the train. I thought about calling her when I got home, but then I didn’t want to seem clingy, so I didn’t.

But apparently, she had gotten to school the next day and searched all over campus (meaning the student centre and the design lab) and saw that I wasn’t there and only further assumed that I had died. When I ran into Richard and Casey, who also exclaimed “You’re alive!” when seeing me.

I ended up lingering on campus for several hours. Some if that time I was using the internet, but a lot of the time I was just sitting on the grass with people. I had a project due the next day, but I justified my procrastination by saying how important it is to build relationships…

After I left school, I met up with my friend Julliane who I met at church last week. He is from Korea and is working on learning English. We went for coffee in strathfeild and just chatted for a few hours. He doesn’t give himself enough credit for the English that he does know. I think he feels bad that he can’t communicate everything that he would like to. But I remind him that he does way better in English than I could ever do in Korean.

He asked me if I knew any Korean words. I said no, thinking that I didn’t. But then, he told me hello. Anyone who watches Arrested Development will know why I found what he told me so funny.

“Annyong”

This a general greeting. From what I gathered, it’s kind of like aloha. It’s hello, it’s good bye, it’s good morning, it’s goodnight.

But I had a hard time saying it without laughing. Oh Arrested Development. Always bringing people together.