Driving in Cars with Random Indian Men

3/10/2012

Today I had my second week of service placement, Hillsong Street Teams. Today was a rather different experience. Today I met a woman named Kathleen. She is a Torres Strait Islander/ Aboriginal. Later Corey informed me that she was bi polar. Let’s just say that explained a lot.

Then we went to visit a woman named Jane. We had visited her last week (this is the same lady that gave Corey soap (See my post from the 3^rd if you’re confused by that last statement)). When we got there, there was already a group of three in her apartment, but she let us in anyway. There was a new guy in our group named Kenny. So he introduced himself and she shook his had. Then she turned to me, but gave me a very shocked look. I was about to reintroduce myself and remind her that we had met last week, but I didn’t get the chance. She looked at me, all wide-eyed and concerned, and said “Not you. I don’t want you here. You need to leave.”

Bizarre right? Corey, Kenny and I all looked at each other, very confused, but we wanted to be respectful so we left. But it was totally weird. Why you gotta kick me out Jane? I thought we had a nice time last week. What’s up with that?!

Later the other team that was in there said that she is not always all there in the head. She confused me for someone else, and thought that I was high on cocaine. Later Corey jokingly asked me "How long have you been using?" I told him "Apparently for the last 30 minutes". I'm glad Jane was there to let me know. I need to get my act together.

So that was kind of a weird start to my day. But after Street teams, we walked to Central station and I took the train back home. At home I did some homework, took a nap, then got ready for church. I was going to meet my friend Glenda at the bus stop. Long story short, I got lost in the massive train station that is Central Station (Seriously, there’s like 30 platforms!). So I ended up not getting to sit by Glenda during the service. But I did get to see her afterward. She is just cute as a button!

Service was really neat. Christine Cain spoke. I had never heard of her, but apparently she’s a big deal, and after hearing her speak I can see why. If you get the chance, look her up.

After service, I figured there would be another get together like there was last week. I ended up meeting a lot more people. I met a lovely girl from Norway named Ingville. Two sisters from Wallongong named Ester and Molly. A really cool Vietnamese/Australian woman named Linh. A Brazilian man who I think was named Steve. He basically looked like Tarzan. Or, for those of you who go to APU, freshman year Remy Goodes. We ended up going out to a random Portuguese deli/burger joint. It was really cool chatting it up and hanging out with these people.

Afterward, Linh connected me with a group of four Indian men who all live fairly close to me. Daniel, James, David and Johnwesley. (I'm not sure if that last one is right, but that's what I heard so that's what I'm writing). Daniel had driven into the city so he offered to drive me home. (It was totally not weird and I was completely safe. So stop worrying Mom!)

 They were all so sweet and super interesting. Daniel had gone to school to be an engineer but now he is a youth pastor studying to get his masters in Divinity (what a boss). He is in his last year and his ultimate goal is to go home to India and start a church. Totes presh.

When Daniel found out that I was a graphic design major he asked me if I could help him make a logo. And he was just too precious I couldn’t say no. So it looks that I have some pro Bono work in my future. Small price to pay for the cutest new friends!

Beets and a Fried Egg

3/9/12

Friday. In class, we watched a movie called Ten Canoes. It’s about aboriginals. It wasn’t a documentary. It was more of a story that captured the essence of aboriginal lifestyle. It is very much a story telling culture. It was rather interesting and I would highly recommend watching it if you ever get the chance.

For the second half of our day, we were to meet at the Hyde Park Barracks outside of St. James station. Some people were going to take the bus into the city with Kimberly, others were just going to meet down there. I wanted to go home for a bit so I could ditch my heavy backpack. So I went to the bus stop and waited. However, the buss took too long to get there and I didn’t think I would have enough time to make it home and then back into the city. If it were any other class, I may have risked it. But Kimberly scares me and I didn’t want to chance being late.

So I ended up catching the 504 bus with the group. We got off and walked to the Hyde Park Barracks. There we got a tour of some of the buildings that the convicts built and where they lived. We got to see the living quarters and got to lay in the hammocks in the sleeping quarters. It was pretty cool, but I wouldn’t have wanted to live there when there were rats and diseases running about.

Afterward, my group went to the NSW state library to get our cards. We would have stayed to work on our group project, but the library was going to close soon. We ended up going to a library closer to home that was open later.

When we got home we watched t.v. until dinner. Tonight we had burgers, Aussie style. This burger has all the properties of an American burger (patty, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, grilled onion, tomatoes sauce (aka ketchup)), with the addition of beets and a fried egg. And it was delicious! New favorite ingredients to a burger.

To end the night Carly and I ended up watching The Devil Wear’s Prada with Michelle. All in all, a very nice Friday.

Soggy Muffin

3/8/2012

Today it rained. It poured. I am fairly certain there was an old man snoring somewhere. I had to get to class and I really didn’t want to go in the rain. But I had to get there…

Michelle had made us some muffins earlier in the week so I decided I would take a muffin to go. By the time I got to the bus stop it was extremely soggy. I didn’t really want to carry a soggy stump of a muffin all the way to school. So I left it on the bench at the bus stop.

At the next bus stop, I had to wait for quite some time. All while standing in the shallowest puddle of water I managed to find on the nearly completely submerged sidewalk.

When the bus finally came, I found Steve and sat by him again. We have another class together first thing Thursday morning. So I finally got to school, soaking wet, and certainly not looking forward to a soggy rest of the day. (Our lecturer ended up being about a hour late because so many roads were flooded)  

Later I had my first drawing class. Drawing is what I added in place of Graphic Design History. I actually liked it a lot. It probably helps that I’ve already taken drawing only a few semesters ago. In the class there are lots of ASC and a lot of second years who are in my Ad Design class. Peter, Casey, Sam, Ella and Blake. They are all very nice. Drawing class is way more interactive so you get to know people more. As opposed to in design classes where everyone sits behind computer screen.

After class, ran into Julian. He offered to drive me to camera shop that I needed to get to next Thursday. I figured I could get away with not having my attachment for photo class for one extra week. If it means that I don’t have to take twenty thousand buses in the rain, I’ll take it!

It had finally stopped raining. (I was really glad because I didn’t bring my gondola to school.) I took the bus home with Peter. Peter is a 6 foot, 4 inches of a goober. He is just so silly. I am really enjoying getting to know him.

Later I realized I didn’t have my rainjacket or my waterbottle. I was fairly certain that I left them on the bus and I would never see them again. Mind you I had lost my Bible earlier in the week so I was striking out all over the place, and anyone who knows me knows that this is completely out of character. You win some you lose some. But apparently I lose a lot of things.

I Just Want Some Twine

3/7/2012

Wednesday. Today I didn’t have classes, but I did have to go to school anyway to get started on a group project about Australian Immigration. I got there around 9:20, we worked for a while. We also had to turn in a paper on our goals for our service placement along with a chart of the proposed hours we will do. And wouldn’t you know it, I left my charted hours at home. So even though I had only arrived a few short hours before, I had to run home to pick it up. “Running home”, is not exactly an easy task, but I didn’t mind because I wanted to ditch my heavy laptop.

And to my surprise, I made it back in time for “the gathering”. I don’t remember if I’ve talked about it, but the gathering is basically chapel, but it’s only once a week and it’s not required. However, Kimberly says we ought to go, so I go.

Afterward, I met a nice young man named Julian at the library. (Shout out to Anna, we talked about you for a little bit!). While I was at the library I was looking up camera shops because I need to buy an attachment for my camera for my photo class. It’s called a hotshoe and it is what you use to sync studio lights to your camera. There was a place fairly close that sold them, but it was too expensive. I found another place that had it for cheaper but I wouldn’t make it there before it closed (because everything here closes around 5). So I decided I’d save it for tomorrow. Thursdays are “late night” shopping. Some stores are open as late as 8pm! SCORE!

I figured I would have time to get to the shopping center on my way home though. So I went to various stores and bought some art supplies for my classes. I really wanted to get twine. But after looking at 3 different stores, I could not fid what I wanted.

What’s a girl gotta do to get some twine around here, eh?

I blame the fact that ‘Pinterest’ has not become a thing here yet.

I also talked to a store clerk about the logo for their business. It’s called “School’s Out Designer Kids Wear”. They basically sell really upscale children’s clothes (which is a silly concept to me in general. They're going to grow out of that $80 sweater before you can even get it on them!) But their logo is not a good reflection of the market they're trying to reach, so I’m hoping to redesign it for one of my classes.

Overall, I spent a lot of time on busses today. More than average. But I also got a lot done, so that’s always good.

Just Follow Dad

3/6/2012

Today we went into the city for one of my classes.  But before I talk about that, can I just say that me and my roommates have quickly adopted our familial roles. I'm Dad. Megan's Mom, and Carly and Erica are our children. In this little family, I am often in charge of directions. By 'often' I mean 'pretty much always'.

I knew exactly where we were supposed to meet the class, what station we had to get off at, where we had to walk, etc. I quizzed the rest of the family on where we were going, and like a predicted, they didn't know. They just follow Dad. Carly's exact words were "Well, I know when dad's here we're in good hands," At first I was flattered. But then I thought:

I'M NOT GOING TO BE AROUND FOREVER KIDS!

Moving on.

We went to the customs house off of Circular Quay,  where they have a really cool model of the whole city of Sydney. But the cool part is, it’s under the floor. So you can stand right over the building you’re in. (I don’t have a good picture, but I’ll try to get one and post it later).

 After that we walked to the botanical gardens where Kimberly gave us a brief talk about some history of Australia. She then showed us where the New South Wales state library was. We had ordered library cards online to the NSW state library but we had to go to the physical address to pick them up. You would think we would have been able to pick them up then, considering we were outside the building and all. However we did not. It was merely to show us the location we would have to go to pick up our cars on our own time.

What a tease.

Then we walked around The Rocks for a little while. We congregated in a place that I think was called “Foundations Park”. It was a little area that had the foundations of a previous house, one that was built by the convicts who settled there. All of the bricks were made by convicts. They had their own form of tallying on the bricks to show their supervisors who they are and how many bricks they had made that day. You can still see a lot of the etchings in the stones.

 Yaye history!

Later there was a scavenger hunt type of thing. But there were a handful of us who had to get back to campus because we had other classes. I had Graphic Design Studio V followed by Advertising Design. In Advertising Design, I got to talking with a handful of the Aussie students in there. It seems to be a Aussie favorite to find out things you haven’t eaten or drunk and then make you try it. A girl named Casey told me all about her favorite chocolate called Kinder Surprise. It’s like a Wonderball back in the states, but the chocolate is a better quality. Anyway, Casey was eager to take me to the servo (gas station) to buy me one during our class break. What a doll.

It even came with a super bizarre toy of a bear in a green trench coat with a magnifying glass. (Quite the choking hazard if I do say so myself.)

After class I took the bus back with a couple friends. I’m beginning to realize that it is not very often where I take the bus and no one I know is on the same bus. Especially in the mornings. Even if you think you’re sure to be the only one at the bus stop, you’re bound to run into 5 or more of your closest ASC/Wesley friends.

I’m not complaining, I would much rather spend my time with them that a pack of schoolgirls!

Huntsman

3/5/2012

Monday. I have been in classes for a full week. Crazy.

Anyway, today I went to school. I had Photography. I am becoming more and more comfortable making friends in my classes. There’s a guy in my class named Steve. He rides the same bus that I do to get to school. So me and my roommate chatted with him on the bus on the way to school. I told him how I was nervous to see a huntsman spider (since I had yet to see one). He was kind enough to google a picture of them when we got to class. Then later he told me there was a dead one in the design lab and was happy to show it to me. Even dead, they are scary and look like they crawled straight out of hell.

If you haven’t seen one, google it.

You really don’t want to? Allow me:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Huntsman+Spider

Freaking Scary RIGHT?!

I’m not looking forward to seeing one alive. Apparently they’re really fast. Which only adds to the scariness. There not poisonous, but who needs venom when you can scare your victims to death?

Pray for me people.

"I Told You So"

3/4/2012

Today, we went to a surf competition at Cronulla Beach. Well, that was the original intention. I ended up just sitting on the beach, not really paying much attention to the competition. It’s so hard to see them anyway, and it’s not like I know anything about surfing.

It took ages to get there. We had to take a train to Central Station, meet up with the group (there was probably around 12 of us). Then take an hour train ride south to Cronulla. It was a very nice day. Sunny with a breeze. This breeze eventually turned into a very uncomfortable gusts. And despite applying sunscreen at least 5 different times throughout the day, I managed to get a pretty bad sunburn. So that was awesome.

When we got home, I took a shower and got ready to go to another church. For one of my classes we are required to visit four different types of churches, Assembly of God, Catholic, Uniting, and Anglican. Our house is located about 2 blocks from St. Mary’s Catholic church, so we attended the 6:00pm Mass. It’s not really my style of church, but I can check the church visit off of my things to do.

After church I took a bus to the store to buy some aloe lotion for my burns. This made me late for dinner with the fam., but they didn’t mind. They all found my burn funny more than anything. They were very eager to say "I told you so" as they had definitely warned us about the harshness of the sun and how every year they have students that get burned.

Michelle made us some muffins and cookies for our lunches this week. I am excited to try more of her delicious food.