another typical week...

This week has been full of homework, hanging out with friends, exploring, riding ferries and busses and trains and stuff like that. It's been good. On Saturday I went to the Glebe Markets. Glebe is a part of Sydney that is very alternative and hippy-ish. That was fun! After shopping around there I went to Manly beach and explored the nearby cliffs with Ty. I love exploring! The scenery was AMAZING and it felt like I was in the middle of the movie set for the Chronicles of Narnia.

Monday morning I had to give a group presentation on the Australian stimulus package. It was really interesting to learn about. The most recent package was $42bn aimed at getting the Australian economy from going down-hill so quickly. Much of what happens over in the States effects life over here- especially in the area of the economy. Being in another country I'm realizing how much the world really is effected by globalization.

Speaking of global... for lunch today I went to a Thai restaurant that's about a minutes walk from school with my Australian friend Emma, my French friend Florence, and two of my American friends Becca and Jess. There are tons of Thai restaurants all over Sydney! Australia doesn't really have a national food, they just have a mixture of ethnic foods. My favorite foods at the moment are sushi, Greek salad, gelato, and dried Iranian figs. 

I'm leaving for my two week break trip this Friday so I might not be able to post for a while. After I come back, though, I'll be sure to post all the pictures I took of the Australian rainforests, the great barrier reef, and the northern beaches.

one of those weeks

This week has been kinda rough. Today was a long day. I left my house at 7:30 this morning and just got back home again at 11pm. It was very hard not to fall asleep during my Romans class this afternoon. It's such a good class but it's 3 hours long and whenever I sit in one spot for too long my eyes start drooping.

While I was in Canberra last weekend I found out that my grandpa died. It's been difficult not being able to be at home for my family. On top of that, today my roommate it sick, yesterday my host mom was sick, and one of my host brother's friends is dying of cancer. I'm realizing that life is one of those things you can't control. You take it as it comes and enjoy each moment for what it is.

We talked about the concept of Kairos in one of my classes. It basically means "a unique moment in time" and it's more formal definition is, "The hour [which] is the God-given moment of destiny not to be shrunk from but seized with decisiveness, the floodtide of opportunity and demand in which the unseen waters of the future surge down to the present." Life is meant to be lived to the fullest. One of my favorite quotes is by Fanny Crosby, "Live in the moment and make it so beautiful that it will be worth remembering!"

Anyway... this week has also had plenty of good moments too! Last night Heather and I went to our friend Ish's house to make dinner. Ish is from Zimbabwe and goes to our uni. I love how there are so many people from so many places. There's a guy in my Romans class who's Irish and he has the coolest Aussie/Irish accent ever! He shared his Moroccan pizza with me tonight. 

God has blessed me with some super great American friends here too. I am with the 26 other American exchange students so much between being in class with them, traveling, working on assignments and presentations together, and that sort of thing. There is a group of five of us that have become pretty close. Tonight we had a Bible study together and it was so good after a long day. For our "fall" break the five of us are going to spend 16 days exploring the eastern coast of Queensland together. We'll be hiking through rainforests, camping, exploring some islands, snorkeling on the reef, stopping at towns along the coast, going to different beaches, and who knows what else! We fly up to Cairns April 3rd and I can't wait!

Sorry this got kinda long. I was typing while I was waiting for my pictures to upload and they are taking a long time so I just keep typing. I'll stop now and add more pictures later because I need to sleep.

Canberra Trip

This past weekend I went to Canberra, Australia's national capital, with my American class. The  picture above is most all of the girls in our group in front of the "mall". Back when they were planning the capital city (not too long ago) the two largest cities, Sydney and Melborne, both wanted to be the capital. As a compromise, the capital got built from scratch right between the two cities in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

A lot of people, both Australians and tourist, think that Canberra is very boring but I really enjoyed it. We got to go to Parliament house and watch the senate, we went to the British and Indonesian embassies to meet with their ambassadors, we went to the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum, and the National Art Gallery, and the War Memorial. I guess if you didn't like art, history, and politics Canberra probably would be boring. The Embassies are neat because they are in a neighborhood and each embassy is designed and decorated like it's straight from the country it's representing. 

One of my favorite things to visit was the Aborigine Tent Embassy set up outside of the Old Parliament House. It's basically a permanent protest the Aborigines have had going on for about 15 years. They have been treated so terribly! It wasn't until 1967 that aborigines were considered citizens. Before that they were classified under flora and fauna. Right now the aborigines are fighting for more land rights. 

the war memorial

Aussie lingo

I haven't done such a good job picking up the Aussie accent so far. It sounds very silly when Americans try to talk like they're Australian. I have learned some new words and phrases though:

how ya goin?......how are you?

no worries..........you're welcome

servo...................gas station

fair dinkum........real, true, genuine

bodgy..................low quality, sketchy

ice block.............popsicle

lollies..................candie

Maccas...............McDonald's

good onya..........good for you

jumper...............hoodie

muso........music major

mobile................cell phone

biscuit................cookie

uni..........college, university

and that's the start to my Aussie vocabulary!

random pictures

Manly Beach!

George Street at night (my favorite street in Sydney)

beware of the bluebottle!!!

(above) Bondi Beach

(below) Me and my dugong friend at the Sydney aquarium

a bit of what i've been learning

Headed home from school today I felt very smart. It was a bit awkward getting on and off the busses with my arms full of heavy theology books on Romans and righteousness. I got a lot of funny looks. I am learning a lot here already (like how to do homework effectively on public transportation for example) and I really love the classes I’m taking! The way most of them work is that they meet only once a week, there aren’t any tests, and the grade is based on a few essays on topics of your choice. The teachers are so laid back and they all have sweet Aussie accents. It’s great!

Today I only had one class: The View from Australia, which is specifically for the group of American students in my program. We had a panel of Australians come talk to us about Australian culture and what makes it unique. It’s really interesting. One huge difference between American and Australian culture is that Americans tend to be very confident and optimistic. We have an attitude of thinking that we can accomplish anything while Aussies are much more critical and insecure. Australia has been rather looked down upon over history and is often neglected so it makes sense that they think of themselves as unimportant. I mean seriously… how much do most people really know about Australia? I try to remember their prime minister’s name but I keep forgetting it. I feel bad because Australians know SO much about American politics they could teach me. Everywhere I go people get so excited to be able to talk to an American about our government and Obama and all that.

So yeah, this week I have mostly been a nerd except for a couple trips to the beach and a few movie nights. Oh! Last Saturday I had my first encounter with Australian wildlife. I was jumping around bodysurfing in the waves at Manly Beach and this blue stringy thing started wrapping around my stomach. I brushed it off but it started stinging and that’s when I realized that I was getting viciously attacked by jellyfish. I started hopping around and making pained faces and ran as fast as I could back to shore. The stings swelled up a bit and stung for a few hours but the lifeguards gave me a ready-made ice pack and that helped. Bluebottle jellyfish stings hurt! Unfortunately I don’t even have any scars to prove I was stung. It was painful but it’s not going to stop me from swimming! I made a friend this week that is going to teach me to surf! I can’t wait!!!

week 2

I've already been here two full weeks! It's hard to believe it's been that long. I've been busy doing homework, getting trained for my service placement, going to the beach, going to different church services, and figuring out how to read bus schedules. I've had some interesting conversations with people on the bus though. Australians are super friendly.
Every morning I have to wake up early to catch bus 492. The public transportation around is really good but it can get annoying having to wait around for busses and trains and ferries all the time. 

The picture to the left is the bus stop in Burwood near where I live. The picture below is the street I live on. It's a really pretty neighborhood. I love going on runs past all the plumeria trees, hibiscus, picket fences, exotic birds, palm trees, and cactus.

This is my host brother Anthony. He's cool.

And these are aborigines in the city performing and making lots of money. I love all the sounds in the City. There are always live performers, tons of people speaking languages from all over, lots of busses, trains, and boats, and random city noises.