The Rocks

Yesterday for the ASC class we went on a tour of The Rocks, an area of Sydney where the Europeans first settled. We split up into smaller groups and were given a list of places that we were supposed to find. It was a pretty interesting place to explore and it was so odd because one moment you're in this old looking, antique type area, then all the sudden you're in modern Sydney with all the high rise skyscrapers, busy roads, etc. We went to one place called Observatory Park and the view was AMAZING, I could see so much! There was also several churches that we saw and were able to go in them as well and they were very neat.

After we had finished exploring The Rocks, we were technically done for the day and were free to do what we chose, but a group of 8 of us were going to an ASC family night at Kimberly's (the director) house. There are going to be several family nights throughout the semester, but we were only supposed to sign up for one and I signed up for this weeks. This is just meant to be a time to get to know fellow students better in a smaller setting. We all helped to make tacos for supper, then sat around and talked for a while. For dessert we had ice cream and one of the flavors was called honeycomb something or other, but it was REALLY REALLY good! It had pieces of honeycomb in it. After dessert we played this game called loaded questions. One person would draw a question from a box and read it to the group. For example "if you could smash any one thing, what would that thing be?" Then each person in the group had a piece of paper and they'd write their answer on it and hand it to the person sitting next to the one who just asked the question. Once all the answers are in, the reader reads off each answer and the person who asked the question has to guess who each answer belongs to. Each person gets a chance to ask a question. It was a really fun game and there were some very strange questions.

Today I had my first service project meeting. For those of you who don't remember, my service project is with Hillsong church. Today's meeting was just training, we don't actually start the ministry untill next week. Normally, I will be going to the Hillsong campus in Waterloo, but for the training session, everyone was meeting at the Hillsong campus in the Hills. Yes, there are two Hillsong campuses in the Sydney area. It was quite a pain to get to the Hills campus. First I had to take a train to one station and that took about half hour, from there I had to catch a bus and that took another half hour. Also, the bus/train/ferry pass the school gave me didn't cover that far out so I had to pay for the bus, which kind of sucked, but oh well. Then, after the training was over I went to catch a bus back to the train station and found out they only come once every hour and the one for the current hour had just left, so I had an hour to kill. Me and the other girls from ASC that were also with Hillsong walked to a nearby shopping center and had lunch then caught the bus back.

The plan was to go to Manly beach after Hillsong, but with all the bus and train delays and such that we ran into, we didn't get to the ferry until 3 and the next ferry wasn't leaving till 3:30 maybe 4 and it's a 30 min ride, so we wouldn't have even gotten to the beach until about 4:30. So, a few of the group decided they still wanted to go, just for a little bit, but me and one other girl from ASC, Becca, went back to Becca's homestay and swam in the pool there. It was quite fun! I haven't swam in way too long and I love the water, so it was good.

First Week of Classes

This week was the first week of classes. So far I've enjoyed them, I like how laid back the Australians are. I'd have to say my favorite class so far is my photography class, but I still haven't gone to my New Testament class yet, so we'll see. There is a TON of reading for the class required for ASC. That class in particular will be a challenge I think, simply because I am an awful procrastinator and with all the reading we have to do there is no way I can procrastinate.
Here's my class schedule for anyone who wants to know:

Mon 8:45-12 The View
Mon 2-3:40 Photography
Tues 9-12 Theological Foundations
Wed 2-5 New Testament Background and Methodology
Fri 9-whenever The View

The bus system is very annoying at times. They can't seem to be any place on time, they are either late, or very very early. Monday morning Amy and I were just walking up to the bus stop 10 min early and the bus had just pulled away. We had to wait for the next bus, which even if it was on time would get us to school exactly when class started, which would be pushing it. Well, this bus was about 10 min late! Go figure. We were just about to go hail a taxi when the bus came, and maybe we should have because we probably would have been on time that way. So I was late to class on my first day.

Tuesday I went to Bondi Beach with a few other ASC girls. It was a nice beach, but there was definitely a few things that I was not expecting. I loved the color of the water, I've never seen an ocean that color in person before, the kind of bluish green teal type color. I forgot to put sunscreen on my legs and I would have been fine, because I was flipping over regularly or sitting criss-cross applesauce where my legs weren't getting any sun, but I fell asleep and now my legs are very very burnt. But it's a weird burn, it's just the front of my legs, a big red stripe down the front of both my legs. Despite this I still had fun.

Wednesday I was able to sleep in because I didn't have to be at school till 1. Wesley has their chapel, which they call The Gathering, on Wednesdays at 1 and they don't take attendance or anything, so technically they don't know if you're there or not, but they would like for us to come and support the school. This week The Gathering was just a time to introduce all the staff, so it wasn't too interesting, but I'm excited to see what it's like as the semester gets going. After the gathering I had my New Testament class. Now, on my schedule the class was listed as in room H101. Well, I went to this room and it was full of older people, no young students, so I began to doubt whether I was in the right room or not. I asked the lady at the table next to mine and she said she was there for a counseling class about some legal and ethics stuff. I was definitely in the wrong class, so I went to the registrar to ask what classroom New Testament was really in. It took her about 10 min of asking people and searching on her computer, but she finally figured it out. Once I got up to the classroom, I was already ten minutes late, so I wanted to make as inconspicuous an entrance as possible. I got to the room and turned the door knob to go in, well, the door knob turned, but nothing happened when I tried to pull the door open, so I'm standing there turning the knob different ways, trying to get the door to open. A few seconds later there was a click and the door opened with the teacher standing right there. The door had been locked. So much for my inconspicuous entrance. However, after all that, I still loved the class and am very excited for it!

Wednesday night, I went to a church called St. James, which is what we call in the states Episcopal, but they call it Anglican here. Wednesday was Ash Wednesday so they were having a special service. It was a very interesting experience, very different, but also interesting. At one point in the service everyone went to the front and two priests drew a cross on your forehead with ash. We also took communion. Their music was gorgeous! They had an excellent choir and a pipe organ.

First Weekend In Sydney

This weekend has been amazing! I am sad to see it end. On Friday, Amy and I visited the girls in student housing. It was supposed to be about an hour to an hour and a half walk (yes there's buses, but walking's more fun) but they got a little lost so it was about a two hour walk. That was fun, then Friday night a bunch of us went out and did a few things in Sydney. Sydney at night is so pretty! Saturday, I was going to go to the beach, but it was raining off and on, so Amy and I decided to explore Burwood some more. We stopped in several cute little shops and walked through Burwood Park, then we went to a little cafe called George's cafe. It was a cute little cafe and the milkshakes there are wonderful!

Sunday, my host brother Anthony took me and Amy to
Hillsong Church. This Sunday they were having the service at the Capital Theater instead of the regular place. The theater is 140 or so years old and was very neat looking! I absolutely LOVED Hillsong and will definitely be paying them another visit. They have a college group on Wednesday nights thatI am looking to get involved in while I'm here. Amy and I met some new friends at church today that we spent most of the day with. A girl named Florence from France, a girl named Paivi from Finland/Australia, a girl named Esmerelda(I think) from Mexico, and Keith and Ashton from the states. Going around the picture clockwise: me, Paivi, Florence, Keith, Esmerelda, and Amy (Ashton had left at this point).

We went to the Royal Botanic Gardens down by Sydney Harbor. They are so beautiful! I don't have any pictures of them yet, I left my camera at the house in my rush to leave for church that morning, but I will be going back at some point and will take pictures then. We then went and say for a while at a place that overlooks Sydney Harbor. Then Amy and I headed back home, only to find an invitation to join some people from our ASC group for a film festival that was going on that night. So we ate a quick dinner and hopped on the train back into Sydney. The film festival was interesting, they played several short films and some of them didn't make much sense to me, but overall it was good. I have been trying many new things since coming to Australia, even though I've only been here a few days. I ate a meat pie today. A meat pie is alot like what we call pot pies, but slightly different. The pie was full of beef and gravy and topped with mashed potatoes and mashed up peas. It was pretty good, but I didn't care too much for the meat part, it had kind of an odd taste to it. I also ate an ice block. I know, that brings up a very interesting mental picture, but it's not what you think. What they call an ice block is the equivalent of what we call a popsickle.

I am beginning to get more familiar with getting around by public transportation more and more. However, my sense of direction is like zero, so, I'm still trying to figure out where things are and such.

Tomorrow (or rather today I guess by the time I post this) I am starting classes. I am excited to see how the Universities in Australia are run and I'm excited for my classes. On Mondays I have my photography class and I am really looking forward to that. I love taking pictures and want to learn more about the art and technique of it.

A Day In Sydney

Today our group went into downtown Sydney and did a photo scavenger hunt.
We split off into small groups and had to find different sites and take pictures at them.
It was very fun and I enjoyed seeing more of Sydney, it is a lovely city!
We then went on the Harbor Cruise that took us all around the harbor outside of Sydney.
It was very windy on the boat, but it was refreshing amidst the heat and humidity.

After the cruise we went to a place called Mongolian BBQ which is the same thing as Mongolian Grill in the states. It was very delicious! I had never eaten at one before, but I loved it.

From there some students opted to go back to their homestays, but some decided to stay in Sydney for a while longer and explore. I chose to stay and explore more, which really didn't turn into much exploring. A group of us walked a few blocks to an ice cream place where we sat and talked for a while and then headed back to our homestays.

The bus systems are a new thing for me. They are very confusing and I'm not sure how they are in the states (because I've never ridden them there) but here the driver won't stop unless you stand on the curb and stick your arm out (which is called hailing a bus) and when you want to get off the bus, you must press a button before you get to your stop. This proves to be difficult when you are not exactly sure where your stop is. I missed the stop for the school this morning, but thankfully a man next to me said if I was going to Wesley, I should have gotten off there, so I pressed the button and got off at the next stop. I had to walk a little further, but if that man hadn't have said anything, I would have just kept going for who knows how long!
Later, when I took a bus home from Sydney I just told the bus driver the area I wanted to get off at and asked if he could let me know when we got there, because I had no idea where it was.

The pictures from top to bottom:
1)The Sydney Harbor bridge
2)A view of Sydney from the Harbor cruise
3)The Sydney Opera House
4)Me and my roommate Amy on the Harbor cruise
5)Another view of Sydney from the Harbor cruise

First Day In Australia

I have arrived! After a long, very long, 14 hour flight, I have finally arrived in Sydney, Australia.
If you have never been in the LA airport, let me tell you, it's crazy. I don't know if I've ever been in an airport that had so many terminals and was so crowded with people. Then, even though I was at the gate my flight was to depart from, we still had to board a bus and ride about 5-10 minutes away to get to the plane, then the plane drove around for at least 15 minutes, if not longer before it finally reached the runway and took off.

At the Sydney airport, I had to go through customs and that whole spiel, but thankfully everything went smoothly. From there the group of us were bused over to Wesley (the college I'll be attending for those of you who didn't know). We had a kind of orientation thing where safety and rules and such were discussed and we were given a tour of the campus. I have a feeling I will get majorly lost the first day of classes, because although we were shown where everything was, all the buildings look the same for me. It didn't help that during the tour we kept going in circles.

In Australia, apparently tea time is an essential meal of the day, two meals of the day acutally. There's morning tea and afternoon tea. Also, as most of you probably know in Australia they drive on the opposite side of the road from the USA. That is definitely something I'm going to have to get used to! When the bus that took us from the airport to the school suddenly started moving, I freaked out and said "how's the bus moving if there's no driver?" Well, I soon realized I was looking on the "wrong" side of the bus.........haha. As we were driving down the street I kept expecting to get in a head on crash with people, but we made it safely everywhere we drove.

I am now at my host family's house and it is a lovely neighborhood! There is so much green everywhere and there's alos houses everywhere. I haven't at this point in time met everyone staying in the house yet, but the ones I've had a chance to meet seem very nice.

The Adventure Has Begun

No more sitting around the house waiting, no more thinking this can't be real; it has begun!
I spent quite a good chunk of the evening last night gathering everything together and packing.
It turned out to be quite an art form attempting to fit everything I needed and wanted to take into 2 medium sized suitcases. I had to pack, and repack and then repack again until I could finally zip my suitcases shut.

This morning, my parents and I were off to an early start, leaving the house around ten in the morning to catch a flight down to Long Beach Airport. It was an interesting two hour flight.
On one side of me was an elderly man who barely said two words to me the whole flight, and on the other side was a women who had family in front of us and across the aisle from us and she barely stopped talking the whole flight.

From the airport, we picked up a rental car and drove around Long Beach in search of food. We decided on Outback. I had a chicken breast topped with melted cheese, sauteed mushrooms, and bacon. It was DELICIOUS!!!!

Next we proceeded to our final destination for the day: my aunt and uncle's house in Fullerton. On the way there we drove down a freeway that split into 7 lanes, though normally it was 4. It's been years (well, since the last time I've been in LA) that I've seen such a large freeway. In Oregon, most freeways are only 2 lanes, maybe 3 if you're lucky, so 4 lanes full of traffic even at almost 9 at night is an impressive sight for me.