"But you're American, you HAVE to like NFL!"

3/31/2012

Saturday. Today was the first day back at Service placement for 2 weeks. The past two weeks were canceled due to a women’s conference that Hillsong was putting on.

So I woke up at 7:30. I had wanted to leave by 7:15. Got out the door by 7:38. Made it to central station by 8:05. Although this is impressive, it was not my ideal morning. But I made it and met up with the group and we waited for Druvi (the guy in charge) to come pick us up.

Service today was kind of weird. We usually go and knock on doors and talk to people. But today, we knocked on at least 30, maybe more doors, and we only got to talk to 2 people. It was just not our day. But it was still fun hanging out with my team of Corey, Kenny and a new lady, Violet. One of the women that we did talk to, Marcia, She gave us Easter candy. What a cutie!

After street teams I walked to a place called Paddy’s market. I don’t really know how to describe Paddy’s. It’s a market place that has lots and lots of booths with about everything you could think of. From souvenirs to clothes to toiletries, you can find it at Paddy’s. After that I went home. Ate lunch outside. It was a beautiful day!

Then I got ready and headed back to church. I got there and I ran into Linh. She saved me a seat in the service. After service there was another event happening. I hung out with Molly and Esther, the sisters from Wollongong. They had brought their friend Mel. The whole group took the shuttle bus to central station, then walked to a pub in the city. On the walk I started chatting with a guy from Brazil named Alison. He was embarrassed by his name, because in American and Australia Alison is a girls name. But when he says it with his accent it sounds very masculine. So we talked for a while. He is apparently a huge NFL fan and loves the Philadelphia Eagles. He thought I was so funny for not really being into NFL.

“But you’re AMERICAN! You HAVE to like NFL!”

No Alison. No I don’t. But he was super fun to talk to.

We followed a guy name Leighton to the pub. I ended up talking to him a bit tonight too. He was very silly. He has been several places in the states. From Seattle, to New York to Little Rock, Arkansas. I spent more time with Molly, Esther and Mel. Molly was so sweet and bought me a Lemon-Lime Bitters.

I talked to Allison a bit more and met his friend Rubin who is also from Brazil. We talked about Portuguese and how it is a much prettier language than English. I have to say, coming out of his mouth, it was.

After everyone had finished eating, we broke up into teams. A Campaign that Hillsong is doing is += <3 (but a real cross and a real heart). The event was supposed to be using chalk and writing it around the city. But apparently there was complaints around the city, so we had flyers with += <3 in various forms on them that we hung around the city. My group ended up being Charlie, Alec, and Jane. Jane is from Korea and is also a graphic design student. Alec and Charlie are both from Australia.

I spent most of the time just talking with Charlie. I had met Charlie a few weeks ago, but we didn’t talk all that much. After tonight, I have confirmed that he is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met. I was just thinking to myself  today that I haven’t a good hard laugh here like I usually do when I’m with Natalie or Gina back home (Shout out!).  But Charlie made me laugh harder than I have laughed on this whole trip. We have very similar senses of humor, so we were able to feed off of each other. By the end of the night we had inside jokes. I didn't know it was possible to have inside jokes with someone you've only been talking to for an hour. So yeah, he was great, and I really hope I can hang out with him more often than just Saturdays after church.

Then two of the groups sort of melded together and I met a man from Korea named Julliane. He is 26 and he just moved here 2 weeks ago. He was very nice. He is still learning English so he had to work really hard to talk to me. But he was very sweet. He lives with another Korean boy, Hong, in Strathfield which is really close to me. So the three of us were able to take the train back together. They were so funny. Between the two of them, they were trying to think of the right English words to talk to me. I think we might be getting together in the near future to get food and work on their English. I think they were both exhausted after talking to me. It is a lot of brain power to talk in another language. But they both did fine and we were able to communicate. 

I love meeting people. My roommates get mad at me (not really mad, just pretend mad), when I come home and tell them all the new people I met. People are so fun. If you just throw yourself out there you can meet some really cool people.

I think this has so far been my favorite night since I’ve been here.

Hot Sandwhiches and Watson's Bay

3/30/2012

Friday. Got up rather early and went to school. I had yet to finish my article. So I read on the bus and hand wrote the outline as I went. Writing on the bus is quite a difficult feat. When I got to school, I still wasn’t quite done. I sat in the student centre by Deckland, Blake and Ella (2^nd year Aussies) while I finished.

At 9 I went to class. We watched a documentary on the making of Ten Canoes (the movie we watched a few weeks ago). We also discussed the article that we had to read. Typical class stuff. After that, our afternoon session of class was canceled, so I headed to the library to type out my outline. After that, I ate my lunch with some people in the grassy knoll on campus.

Now, I have recently discovered, that the student centre has a Panini press in the kitchen area. So I was able to warm up my ham and cheese sandwich. Excited does not cover the emotion that I feel about this panini press. I was beginning to get tired of sandwiches, but hot sandwiches, I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of. This has revolutionized how I will eat lunch on campus for the rest of the term. Outstanding.

After eating, a group of us decided to go to Watson’s bay. It was Becky, Ronnie, Erica, Megan, Carly, Sarah and I. We took the 504 bus to circular Quay, then hopped on a ferry. We got there around 2:50. We walked around and headed toward the light house. To get the light house you have to walk past a nude beach. I had forgotten that it was a nude beach, so let’s just say I saw a lot more of Watson at Watson’s Bay than I had bargained for.

Ferry ride

Sydney

From the lighthouse it was a beautiful view. We had hoped to get back on the last ferry out of the bay by 3:50, but we just missed it when we got to the Warf. So we had to figure out how to catch a bus. We found a bus and we had to ride that for about an hour just to get back to the city. Megan passed out on the ride. Mouth open and everything. Oh the life of public transportation. We made it to circular quay, and bought some post cards. Then we hopped on a train home. We ate dinner and from there had a pretty quiet night in.

Can I be Mrs. Brenner?

3/29/2012

Thursday.

Class, lunch, class. Drew naked lady in life drawing. I was able to finish my Indigenous paper. Printed it and turned it in to the assignment box. I went home and grabbed some dinner, then turned around and went back to school to meet up with a group who was going to Max Brenners. I’ll explain what that is in a second, but for the fluidity of the story I’m going to move on.

While waiting at the bus stop I got talked to Ty for a bit. Ty is the ASC assistant. He just graduated from APU last May. So we played the “Do you know” game and listed everyone that we could think of that each other might know from APU. We did in fact know a handful of the same people. We discussed the fact that we probably saw each other around and didn’t know each other. I went to his graduation so I probably saw him walk and didn’t even know it. Crazy. Anyway, it was cool talking to him.

Now, Max Brenners is a wonderful place, where everything as chocolate in it, or on it. It is fantastic. I split a chocolate frappe drink with Megan. Toffee milk chocolate frappe. So good doesn’t begin to describe this drink.

A girl that we went with from Wesley was Rohita. Rohita is originally from Oman, but now lives in Australia. She is a dance major and she works at the library at Wesley. She is too cute, and it was really fun getting to hang out with her. She got something called Italian hot chocolate. Or something like that. It’s basically chocolate soup. Outrageously good. And it comes in a cup called a hug mug. The opening of a hug mug is shaped like an oxygen mask, so when you drink out of it, the top of the mug doesn’t run into your nose. Brilliant.

Some of the girls. Carly, Becky, Megan, Rohita, Me, Sarah

Joel, Ronnie, Becky, Sarah, Ty, Rohita, Carly

We ended up staying there for a while, telling bad jokes and attempting Aussie accents. Ty is insanely good at it. We deemed it his alter Australian ego Bruce. Ty tried to coach me on how to properly pronounce words like ‘no’, ‘go’ or ‘so’ like an Australian, but it is so hard! He kept telling me how I should be moving my tongue. I realized that I have never really been very aware of my tongue or how it moves when I talk. But after that lesson, sometimes I become hyper aware of my tongue and how it moves when I talk. Don’t over think about your tongue people. It will drive you crazy.

I got home later than I would like to say. And I still had an article to read and an outline to write. But it was totally worth it for a night out with the gang.

"You're shorts are too loud"

3/28/2012

Wednesday. Today I pretty much worked on a paper all day. We have a paper due on Friday in my Indigenous History Culture and Identity class. We have to pick an Aboriginal and write about them and how they have influenced Australia culture and how Australians view aboriginals. So that paper took me a while.

While I was at the library, A guy (Aussie) came in wearing a tank top that faded from white to hot pink at the bottom. Then he was wearing shorts that were also hot pink. And his tennis shoes were neon orange. This guy was rocking it. A few minutes later, a girl came in and she apparently knew hot pink shorts man. She accidently bumped into the wall with her bag, causing a little noise. Hot pink shorts name whispered to her: 

“Shh! You’re being too loud!”

To which she responded, “You’re shorts are too loud,”

I thought this was clever, so I laughed a little to what I thought was myself.

Hot pink shorts man said, “That’s not funny,”

And the girl pointed at me and said, “Well she thought it was funny,”

Whoa, lady. Why you gotta drag me into this?

Hot pink shorts man: “Yeah, well she’s American. Of course she thinks it’s funny,”

Whoa, hot pink shorts man, how do you know I’m American? And what do you mean ‘of course she thinks it’s funny,’? I just call ‘em like I see ‘em, bud.

Then doubting himself he said, “wait, you are American right?,”

I considered putting on my worst Aussie accent and pretending that I wasn’t American. Than I thought it would be much less humiliating if I just confirmed my nationality.

My ASC friends Joel and Ronnie were in a play that is showing tonight and tomorrow. They invited me to go, and since I was on campus so late anyway, I just stuck around for it. When I finished at the library, I wasn’t really sure where to go for the play. I knew I needed to buy a ticket but I didn’t know where to do that. I asked a girl, whose name is Lauren (Aussie) if she knew where I needed to go. She showed me where to go and we ended up chatting and then she decided that she wanted to see the play too. When we went up to the theater/classroom that the play was in, I ran into the funny girl from the library. Turns out her name is Faith and she knew Lauren, so they started talking. When Lauren introduced me, Faiths first words were, “You laughed at my joke!”

Yes. Yes I did Faith.

After the play I waited for Ronnie and Joel to change and then we were able to take the bus back together. Long day. But a good day.

Chicken Salt

  3/27/2012

Tuesday. Not too eventful. Tuesdays are my busy days.

Class.

Class.

Class.

During Ad design I went to Lashings with a group. Lashings is a burger place about a block or two from school. I just got fries, or ‘hot chips’ with chicken salt. Remember how I said that they love chicken flavored things here. Yeah. That’s a thing. These chips are crazy addicting, and they give you a lot for your money, I think.

 After that I ended up staying on campus and watching the movie Red Dog with a group of ASC people. This is such a good movie! If you’re into dog movies, watch it. It’s a true story, too! I don’t want to spoil it, but look into it. 

So, like I said, Tuesday’s are generally really boring, so here is when I dip into my secondary topics.

The way people, namely boys, dress here is very interesting. I’m just saying, there’s a lot of thigh out there that probably shouldn’t be. But I’m actually getting kind of used to it. I don’t know if short shorts on men has made it to the states yet, but if it ever gets there I will consider myself acclimated.

I'm #53

3/26/2012

Monday.

Today I had Photo class. We just worked on our projects. But only after the teacher talked for over half of the time. So I didn’t actually get a chance to shoot anything because I was helping other people and then class ended. So that stinks. And then the teacher had the nerve to get mad at us for not having our shots done. Maybe it’s because you talked trough most of our shooting time, sir.

When class got out, it was pouring down rain. So I decided to stay and eat my lunch in the classroom. Which worked out, because by the time I was done eating, it had stopped raining and it was time to go to counseling.

After counseling, I went to the design lab. I talked to Richard and Steve. We had a good conversation about American accents. Both of them, whenever they try to do an American accent, instantly do a southern accent. Then around 3:20, my friends from some of my classes (Courtney, Krystal and Jennica), got out of their class and the four of us went to go see The Hunger Games! IT WAS SO GOOD! I was so glad I got to go see it. And it was super fun to go with Aussies.

The theater that we went to was very nice. It had leather seats, wood paneled cup holders, (I’m sure it was all fake, but it looked nice), and CARPET FLOORS! What if I spill?! Too much trust. So yeah, it was nice. Courtney gave me a ride home after the movie.

Today was Michelle’s birthday. My roommates and I all went in on a nice bouquet of flowers. We signed the card from student 51, 52, 53, and 54, because we are the 51^st-54^th American student that they have hosted. She thought that was very funny. We also wrote her a nice card. All of the kids came home and we all ate dinner and dessert together. Dessert was this delicious ice-cream cake, the top layer was hazelnut and the bottom was chocolate. And the whole thing was covered in chocolate and fruit.  After that, the roommates and I returned to the granny flat so we could give Michelle time at with her children.

Death Wish

3/25/2012

Woke up very early on Sunday with my feet rather damp in the bottom of my sleeping bag. It had rained the night before and all along the edges of the tent were wet.  Elise and I decided, since we were up, to go watch the sunrise on the beach.

 On the walk down it was pitch black. So black, that I ran, chest first, into spider web. This was no ordinary spider web. This was the stickiest spider web I have ever encountered. And I was convinced that there was a giant spider on me. Elise assured me that there wasn’t. But it took a bit before a believed her. She  was a champ and helped me brush off the remaining web parts, even though it was so sticky I don’t think we got it all.

Even though it was raining and we couldn’t see anything, it was still pretty. We got to see dolphins taking a leisurely morning swim. No one was on the beach yet, it was so beautiful and peaceful. We walked over to another little cove, (walked into another spider web, much less sticky than the first. I clearly have a death wish. I let Elise lead from then on.)

 We spent a good hour down on the beach. Didn’t really talk, just took I the scenery:

Then we went back up, had breakfast. Tore down camp. Had a little debrief over what we had seen yesterday. While we were talking a Wallaby came into our site. It was the first Australian animal I’ve seen! It was so cute. It looked like a baby kangaroo.

When we were all done and packed up, we got on bus, and I sat by Tam. Went to another part of the area and walked down to another super pretty beach. Here Joe and Paul met us and we heard some last words from them. We had to leave really quickly because our bus driver had places to be. So we hoped on the bus and drove. Tam and I chatted all aobut our future lives and ideal occupations. We stopped at drivers house to drop of gear we had borrowed. He lives in country and we saw pack of wild Kangaroo in his yard. First kangaroo I’ve seen ever!!! They were pretty big too:

 Then we went father and stopped at Kiama for lunch (Subway platter = best thing ever).  Took more pictures.

Back on the road, I played a game with Tam, Ty, Michelle and Jennifer. First, we went through the alphabet and had to take turns naming a different country starting with that letter. That was an interesting game. That evolved into another game where someone would start with the name of a country, and the next person had to say a country that started with the last letter of the previous country. We quickly realized that a lot of places end in ‘a’. From there we decided to do states (from any country) as well as countries. Then that got too hard, so we added capitol cities to the list. That was an interesting game. I thought that I knew some stuff about geography, but not after playing with those people. Ty kept naming countries that I’ve never even heard of before. It was crazy. We did this for like, 2 hours. No exaggeration.

Finally got back to school. Unloaded everything, then had to take the city bus back. There was about 20 of us who had to take the same bus. Us and all of our gear, climbing onto a city bus. It was a sight. Everyone hated us. But we made it home and I got to shower!