Australian Adventure Continues

Today I began like any other day… getting lost in Sydney.  Public Transportation and I do not get along well.  But as Kimberly has been telling us, “It’s part of the Australian Adventure!”  well, I left extra early for school so I was ok, just had to walk a bit after the bus driver said, “I don’t go that way,” as he looked at me with eyebrows raised.  Stupid Americans…  I don’t know if I’ll ever get the hang of this thing but I’m making lots of friends with the bus drivers, who always seem to sound friendlier with their Aussie accents.  No where near as intimidating as New Yorkers or Bostonians… Thank goodness! 

Eventually me and a few girls ended up at our service placement which is at The Sisters of St. Joseph’s, an elderly home nearby Wesley.  I wasn’t too sure I was going to be comfortable or enjoying my time here (I’ve never had good experiences with nursing homes) but I actually loved it!  I met such adorable old people, had morning tea with them, watched them do their daily exercises and played bingo with them!  I especially made a good friend in Georgetta, an Sicilian old woman who must have told me a dozen times that she wants to take me to her “home” to meet her family.  She is determined to marry me off to her grandkids.  I’m not sure that’s gonna happen, but she was precious and I loved my time with her.

Hillsong!!!

Ok so… not a fan of “Awesome Church,”  As convincing as the name may be… Sam, Tamara, Monika and I tried it out yesterday and all walked away saying… “see ya!”  But then three of us hit the Rozelle markets which they hold in a nearby town.  It’s an outside market opened on Saturday and Sundays where locals pretty much sell whatever the heck the want and indi chill-bands get to play their favorites. 

Hillsong “At the Hills” (the main and very first Hillsong campus EVER!)  was last night.  AMAZING!!!!!  We had to get there an hour early to grab a seat.  Brooke Fraiser led worship with the team and Jerry Seville was visiting from Fort Worth to speak on Determining If Your Dreams are From God.  Since he was speaking, it was “American week.”  This entailed a procession of cowboys fighting Indians, cheerleaders and football players, line-dancing cowgirls, the Blues Brothers, Uncle Sam and an army man running around the place with an American flag while someone sang American songs.  Then a big black woman came out to sing the Star Spangled Banner while all the actors came on stage and waved sparklers in the air.  On the finale of the song the let red, white and blue balloons fall from the ceiling!  By this point the 6 of us girls from ASC were laughing and looking at each other with a confused combination of thoughts: “where am I?” “Is this really what they think of when they think of America?” and “This is amazing!”  Anyway, Hillsong was a great experience.  It’s a little ways away but Don, the maintenance man at Wesley Institute, drove us all and he’s such a cute and fun old man!!!

It was after 8 by the time we stopped for dinner on our way back, which was an unanimous vote for “Pancakes On The Rocks.”  How could you pass that one up???  Dinner was a stack of Bananarama Pancakes (pancakes, bananas, butterscotch, cream and ice cream…  In the words of Rachel Ray, “YummO!!!”  It was a great night J

Adventures at Manly Beach

Surfing in Australia!!!  It didn’t take me and Sarah more than two minutes at Manly Beach to run over to the Rental Surf Boards booth J  so fun!  Not very pretty but we’re getting there!  We had Carl, an Aussie, there to try to teach us.  Needless to say, there were many MANY laughs and mishaps.  My abs are tired today from laughing and pushing myself on the surfboard.

We wondered over to the beach volleyball courts to try to hop in a game and we happened to join a group of exchange students from America!  Haha, that was funny.  None of us were that good, but it was a lot of fun.  The first people in a while who actually had heard of, or knew where New Hampshire was…  It’s like I’m from outer space out here.  However, some remember hearing of it after a little while and reply with, “You are the first to vote! Right?”  well, at least we’re known for something J

We traveled via ferry back to the city.  The ferry is GORGEOUS!!!!  So cool.  It’s like a little tour of Sydney every time we have to cross the harbor.  On the way over we saw a massive wipeout by a wind-surfer.  That was entertaining, accompanied by a loud, “OOOO!!!”  from us, the audience on the deck.  Good show!  Or if I was an Aussie speaking, “Good on you!”

Came back to the house for a spaghetti dinner, where Sue (my house mom) and Shirley (my house grandma) took one look at me and just ooo’d and awed at my red sunburn…  Shirley came up behind me, running her hands up by bacon-like legs saying, “We need aloe!!!”  I guess I’ll be going to the market today to find some…

After we cleaned up Sam and I met a bunch of students from our group in the city where we split up.  Some of us walked around the Opera House and then over the Harbor Bridge.  Everything was lit up and so beautiful!  Although at the end, by 11 pm and a full day in the sun and city, we were exhausted and had to travel via two trains and a walk back to our house.  I successfully walked back from the train to my house at midnight which I was pretty thankful for. Tomorrow’s promising two churches and the market, should be good!  Hopefully this will be the first day I DON’T get lost in Sydney…

Public Transportation... Not My Best Friend

After a long day of sessions at Wesley, a bunch of us ASCers thought it would be a great idea to go to the mall nearby to set up our local cell phones before the weekend.  We got to the mall around 5:00 only to find out that the malls (and for the most part, all stores) close at 5:30 in Australia… we didn’t make it to the Virgin Mobile store in time so we headed to the bus station… 

Sam and I looked like the perfect lost American tourists, running after buses (which ended up being the wrong one anyway), finally getting on the bus only to go way too far on it and having the sarcastic turban-headed bus driver laugh at us, getting on another wrong bus and then walking back a good 30 minutes to the Tomasetti’s house.  This was only after asking more than a dozen Aussies, “How can we get to Anandale?” (our “home” town, which we are not able to pronounce like they do).  Needless to say, we never thought we’d be so happy to spot the sketchy “Victoria Hotel Bar” sign that shouts neon at us from across our front door. 

On the upside, I forgot to mention… We’re getting a puppy a week from today!!!!! An adorable mini goldon doodle!!!!  His name is Pete and the Tomasetti household, including Sam and me, are SO EXCITED!!!!

Orientations Day - Hello Sydney!

Early arrival to WI, where we met up with some first years for a breakfast of BBQ eggs, toast and pancakes (they even BBQ their breakfast!) and some typical orientation stuff.  Then more tea and info and tea and info.  THEN!  After pizza, we took a bus into the city!  This was really fun.  We were split into smaller groups to travel into the city and then we all explored a bit.  We walked around to the Opera House, where their was a spectacular view of the bridge and city!!!  The Opera House really is amazing to see.  We played some silly games like charades and a few others while we were waiting for our private harbor dinner cruise to arrive… yep, pretty awesome.  The cruise was absolutely gorgeous and so much fun to talk with the ASC students, orientation crew and first years.  The sunset was pretty amazing and after dinner (which was accompanied by their favorite drink, Lemon Lime Bitter – pretty much a sprite and raspberry lemonade concoction) we broke it down with the live band on the first level.  Australian dance parties are hilarious! 

Sam and I traveled via bus home which took about an hour, getting us in at about 10pm.  We were pretty exhausted at this point so we headed straight to bed.  Another early start tomorrow.

AussieLand!!!

I’m in Australia!  After 37 hours of traveling, we were landing in Sydney, watching the Sydney Opera House and the Harbor Bridge pass us by.  That’s when it sunk in…  I’m in Australia!  Once the 37 of us ignorant American students passed through customs, we were ushered by over-excited ASC staffers to a bus where we traveled to Wesley Institute.  The 30 minute excursion was accompanied by an extremely entertaining native, narrating our trip with stories of the outback.  Some true, some not.  Of course I believed them all like they were straight from the Bible.  The “Drop Bears” were the most frightening new discovery for me. Apparently they’re fuzzy creatures that drop from the trees, the females fall and knock their victims to the ground while the males come up from their burrows in the ground and attack.  I was freaking out picturing myself walking around the city, constantly looking above my head for fuzzy bears that are gonna kill me… 

The Aussies are apparently extremely sarcastic, funny and adventurous...  I love it!

The ASC group (the American group of 37 students) seems to be really fun so far.  A lot of different personalities, and I can already find myself making great connections with certain people. 

The staff so far have overwhelmed us with information, tea, warnings, excitement, cookies, tea, run-around games and more snacks, with TEA!, to keep us awake.  So far it’s working but crash time is soon to come…

My host mom is adorable!  A middle-aged mom of four grown kids, Sue is a smallish woman who fits every description of a sweet Aussie mom.  Sue (has to be said with an Aussie accent) came to pick me and my roommate, Sam, up today and brought us back to her house where we met her 82 year old mother, Shirley and her 21-year-old daughter, Georgia. She lives in an absolutely adorable house in town with a small patio-type terrace that joins to an apartment-type part of the house where we will be living above Shirley.  Shirley is hard of hearing so the soap operas will be a constant companion I’m guessing…  She’s a cutie J 

Sam and I are now unpacking and waiting on dinner.  Dinner will be sure to set us up for the final food coma of the day, except this time, we can actually crash afterward!!!  And tomorrow’s going to be a busy and early day…

I’m so thankful that God has really been changing my outlook and attitude already.  I know that this semester’s going to be chaotic and unexpected…  I can hardly wait.  It doesn’t mean I’m not a bit nervous still J

I'm On My Way

It’s about 1.30 LA time.  I’ve been up for over 13 hours now, going from airport to airport.  Now I wait until 10.20 until my longest flight takes off.  To be honest, I’m freaking out. I have no idea what to expect or what I’m doing and all I can think is, “Becky, what are you doing?  Turn around, turn around!!!”  But I know that is not what I’m supposed to do.  I am scared though.  I don’t know where I’m living, what the people I’m living with are like, what school will be like…  Why would I choose to go for four months away from my family… half way across the world!! 

I wonder why I feel this way because I know this is what I’ve been looking forward to for months now.  I should be out of my seat excited, but I want to break down. 

So I turn to the psalms. 

God is my refuge, He is my guide and wherever I am, I know I’m in His arms and at home. 

Easy to say, but right now it’s hard to convince myself of. 

As the hours pass though, God has been increasing my sense of peace and excitement for what is to come. This is part of His plan for me right now, and it’s such an amazing opportunity!  So faithfully and mercifully, God has been changing my heart to one of gratitude and adventurous excitement… I’m about to be in Australia!