Vivid

Sydney Vivid Festival of Lights has been going on for the past two weeks and it’s been a pretty amazing show!  Light shows and sculptures have been filling the streets and projected onto all the buildings, showing different scenes and artsy things.  The city is packed with people and the colorful lights light up the city so much it almost seems like the day time.

The other night we wandered around the city exploring the different displays and watching street performers then we had the chance to go on the top of one of the city’s hotel roofs to see a spectacular view!  (One of the host families’ sons manages the place).  The roof also had an outdoor hot tub which we took great advantage of :) Though it was more like a warm tub and quite hard to get the nerve to jump out of since it was pretty chilly up there.  Sarah convinced Ronnie to jump in the pool too (which she told him was about the same temperature).  Needless to say he was out of there pretty quick and we all had a good laugh over that.  Our time here is coming to a close!  But before it ends, some of us are traveling to the Great Barrier Reef in less than 24 hours!!!!!  I’m so excited to go snorkeling with the fishies :) Hopefully we don’t get too lost haha.  I don’t have the best track record with directions and transportation… 

Sydney Entertainment

Mutemath (an American alternative rock band) comes to Sydney for the first time!  An Aussie friend of mine had an extra ticket so we went.  It was a packed house in Hi-Fi- arena in the Fox Entertainment district.  When I say packed house, I mean mosh pit.  Somehow we found our way to the center front row!!! At times the crowd got so intense I literally thought to myself… “this is it, ‘American Student Dies in Sydney Mosh Pit’”…  Haha, but it was a pretty cool experience as a whole.  The band was the most interactive I’ve been seen in concert.  The main singer was in and out of the crowd, and interacting with the front row the whole time and the drummer (who duct-taped headphones onto his head and bright red afro once he got on stage) threw his drums on top of the crowd at one point then started playing on top of them…  there was a bunch of crowd-surfing and confetti flying as well.  I won’t forget that night haha! 

A few days later I experienced the opposite extreme in regards to Sydney entertainment.  Last night Megan and I decided last minute to get all dolled up and go to the Sydney Opera House to see if we could buy student rush tickets for the night performance of the Sydney Symphonic Orchestra.  We were able to buy them and they were great seats!  The coolest show!  It was whole concert of Gershwin’s compositions: Jazz, Rhythm and Blues.  Some of my favorite Jazz songs were done in such amazing arrangements!!  Tracy Dahl (an American Soprano) was flown in to sing with the band and a jazz drummer from Melbourne, David Jones, was INCREDIBLE!!!!!!  Their version of “Fascinating Rhythm” was so much fun!  The Opera House was BEAUTIFUL inside!  The décor was kind of sea-themed, the chandeliers reminded me of jellyfish.  Overall, it was a great night…  I much preferred it over the rock concert. Although I have to say that was pretty fun too  :)

This weekend I spent a bunch of time working at the BakeHouse which was fun.  I’m loving the people there and the Italian family is just to die for!  Some of them keep saying to me, can’t you just stay in Sydney???!!! :)  The regulars all know me now too and like to hear about my ventures in their homeland.  The espresso is addicting, the pastries are amazing and the fresh bread and sandwiches are way too good!  It’s been a really fun addition to my abroad experience! 

Friday some of us took a tour of the Quarantine Station at Manly Beach across the harbor.  This was a place, during the Spanish Influence Epidemic, where the sick were quarantined after they arrived by ship.  The buildings were old and very interesting, our tour guide was creepily hilarious for our “ghostlike tour,” and the location/view on the hilltop area was stunning!  In fact, during our tour there was a wedding taking place on the beach of the property and we got to sneak a peak at the reception area while the ceremony was still going on and it was so ornate and beautiful! 

Saturday five of us girls went with some of our Aussie friends two hours north to NewCastle where we went sailing on MacQuarie Lake, a salt water lake.  Despite the lack of wind… we had a really fun time together and met new Aussies.  The day was gorgeous too!  That night we came back into the city for Church by the Bridge and then to China Town for dinner.  In China Town, it literally felt like I had entered a whole new country!  And the Chinese waiters and hostesses were so aggressive to have you eat at THEIR restaurant they would practically pull you into a chair and tell you what to order! 

Just some more adventures in the Land Down Under for you ;)  who knows what’s next! 

Sunrise on the Beach

Thursday class canceled??? Score!  Sarah and I slept over Megan’s house Wednesday night and we all dared to get up at 4.25am and brave public transportation to Bondi Beach, where we would see the sunrise!!!  It was quite the adventure because the train/bus connections were very close together and Sarah (not a morning person…) was moving at snail’s pace.  We got on the first train and most of the seats were taken up by full-grown men, sprawled out on the seats, asleep…  But after an hour or so we arrived just before the sun started to rise and we saw a beautiful sunrise over the Pacific ocean.  Although the day was supposed to reach about 80 degrees, the morning was very cold. We put on many layers and cuddled close for warmth.  Surprisingly there were quite a few surfers and joggers on the beach at such an early hour!  AND the deadly sand raker that almost ran us over… multiple times.  Did we make a move? Nope, too cold to move. But we’re still alive so all is good :) 

After the sunrise we made our way to Macas (what Aussies call McDonald’s) for coffee and breakfast.  The sun was warming up the beach by this point and we shed a few layers before talking the coastal walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach.  The cliffs, rock pools and beach trails weave in and out of many different beaches on this trek, so cool!  OH and before the walk began, I made a fun discovery… There was a large pink and rainbowed horse (with wings!) stuffed animal and a little stuffed, talking gerbil on the side of the trail, with no owner!!!  So I became the new owner.  Strapping them into my backpack, Seamore (the horse-thing) and Cuddles (in honor of Megan’s first pet) joined our pack.  However, Seamore didn’t make it.  He was voted off the island because he was too big and kept falling out of my backpack.  Not to mention the looks we were getting was driving Sarah crazy though I couldn’t care less haha. Cuddles remained though, but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to make him talk!  It was more of an evil laugh but nevertheless, the thing only talked when the other girls got it to work…

We stopped many times along the way to take pictures and watch some old Italians in an intense lawn bowling tournament.  Finally arriving to Coogee, a more secluded beach, we spent the rest of the day soaking up the sun :) Another really fun adventure in Australia! 

Sunrise on the beach? Check that one off the bucket list too!

AFL

Friday after two museum visits (Sydney Historical and the Art Gallery of NSW), we were successfully able to surprise Rachel (it was her birthday) with a afternoon of Mexican food at The Beach Burrito!  Finally some great Mexican food!!!!  She was so surprised and crying happily at the sight :) that was fun!

Sydney Swans vs. Adelaide Crows = epic challenge… Saturday night I experienced my first Professional AFL game  at the Sydney Cricket Stadium!  As an ASC group of students, we saw one of the most confusing games of sport imaginable… but the players were probably the most fit athletes imaginable too.  The game was back and forth the whole night, ending with a 5 point (one scoring point) defeat by the Crows… we weren’t routing for them but it was still super exciting!  

Birthday Weekend!!!!

SARAH’S BIRTHDAY!!!!!!  Megan and I have been doing a little planning… we tried to combine all the things that Sarah has been wanting to do and wanted to surprise her. We showed up at her house around noon to wake her up and make banana chocolate chip pancakes (which they don’t have here in Australia… long story but she’s been a little bitter about it).  Then we met up with about 17 of us and went to the Sydney Olympic Park (on her bucket list).  Of course we got very lost getting there thanks to me and Megan’s directional skills.  ALL PART OF THE ADVENTURE RIGHT?!!?!?!  Eventually we made it to the park, which was beautiful and HUGE! We played mini golf (one of her favorite pass times) at the Golf Centre. But here it’s called Putt Putt.  It was an epic Putt Putt game… oh and by the way, I killed everybody with a total of 44 and 2 hole-in-ones… no big deal ;P It must run in the family since Momma Bear is a national champ (not to brag or anything..)

We missed church thanks to Sydney’s wonderful public transportation.  But we chilled at Flo (the student housing place) for dinner and movie… The Lion King.

Sunday, I spent my day serving pastries and lattes at the BakeHouse.  Once again, customers LOVE to make fun of my accent and ask, “Canada?”… close enough eh?

After work we went to this HUGE indoor rock climbing gym right outside of Sydney.  I’ve never seen anything like it!  It was so much fun.  We spent about 2 hours there,  interspersed with Foosball comps so that our forearms could take a break from shaking…  and then… MEXICAN FOOD!  Which is almost unheard of here in Australia.  There’s heaps of Thai, Asian and Greek food here but try to find a Mexican place to eat… so hard. But Mad Mex called our names and we said…mmm yes please.  And to add to the Australian Adventure, of course we had to get lost on the way home.  Good times, once you embrace it :P

.... only 6 weeks left here... where has the time gone???!!!!!

True Aussies

Michael, my host Dad had knee surgery the other afternoon so I offered to cook dinner.  You’d think that I had made a 5 star meal… they were so cute!  They loved it and it was really fun to cook again finally!  But what really blessed me was the fact that the whole night was full of friends, church members and family visiting and calling the family asking about how he is doing and offering prayers.  They are so loved! 

Yesterday was Anzac Day (kind of like our Veteran’s Day) and we had the day off of school.  I slept over some friends’ house and then we got up early for a trek to the Blue Mountains!!!!  There were about 10 of us Americans and we met up with my friend, James, from one of my classes.  He lives up there and he and two of his friends wanted to be our tour guides :)  

We had a truly authentic Aussie experience!  We hiked through the rainforests, rocks and landslides in the mountains from about 10am to 5am… probably about 12 miles or so.  We went out to a “Ruined Castle” (rock cliffs on the top of a mountain where we rock climbed at the top and almost got blown off by the incredibly strong gusts that were constant!  It was an absolutely beautiful day with clear skies and crisp fall air (the leaves were changing too… I didn’t even know that happened out here!).  The Aussies made us a makeshift fire in a cave at the top and we cooked toast over it!  It was pretty hilarious actually.  After the long hike, which we all completely successfully… Thank God… they had us over to James’ house for a Barbie!  They even got us apple pie for us Americans! 

Pretty much none of us had experienced such hospitality that was so generous by new Aussie friends.  We laughed all day so hard and had an amazing and long day.  After hours on the train too, we got home exhausted and so satisfied with our day off :P 

This day will not be forgotten by any of us… so much fun!  

Outback Trip!

This week our ASC group left for our long awaited Outback Trip!!!  The 37 of us students, 3 leaders and Ian (our Aussie bus driver) left for Mount Verathumble (at least that’s what it sounded like…).  We took off on a 12 hour bus trip to the middle of nowhere, it was so much fun!  The Outback was dry, red and so amazing.  I’ve never seen anything close to that before.  The farm we went to for our retreat was owned by a brother of one of the home stay families.  They owned 45,000 acres of land where they harvested crops, farmed sheep, cattle and horses.  We were housed in the old sheep shearers’ courters across from the “haunted” sheep shearers shack. However, a few of us never even stayed in the bunk rooms, instead we “slept” under the stars in the back of the yard.  The stars were absolutely incredible.  Never have I seen (nor will I probably ever again see) so many stars shining so brightly!  So many shooting stars, a clear view of the Milky Way and the Southern Cross bid me goodnight each night :)  Although the last night at around 3 am, Bandit and Mo (two of the farm dogs) decided to riverdance on my head for about ten minutes.  Since I couldn’t stop laughing they couldn’t get enough of it…  It was too funny yet so awkward and annoying at the same time.

Highlights of the weekend:  Kangaroo safaris on the back of Utes (Jeeps with back beds that we all stood on), Kangaroo night safaris, swimming in the freezing and nasty creek by our camp (we were going for a no-shower-week), watching Joe try to chase a bunny at night and Ronnie running after a herd of sheep, laughing so hard at stupid board games and star tripping, life stories by the campfire and jamming to acoustic worship music in front of an amazing Outback sunset. 

There really is no explanation that can do this trip justice.  It was incredible.  The red dirt was caked on each of us so thick by the end (or even the first day) I think I’ll be finding it on my for a week!  Oh, another fun aspect was that the host couple that brought us are both chefs so the food was SO GOOD! 

The coolest part, I think, was how much our group really bonded and grew together as a family.  We had the best time and even our leaders were saying that is has been such a blessing to have this group (it’s unusual for it to be going so smoothly and fun!).  We all are really great friends and love spending time with each other.  

It’s good to be back and showered and in a real bed but I will NEVER forget that experience and I would love to go back some day.  We all had a hard time leaving and thought about just turning around and driving the 12 hours right back to Mt. Verathumble but unfortunately… exams and midterm papers are due this week.  dun dun dun….