So I know it’s been a while since my last post. Sorry. I started my first week of classes on Monday and it’s all going quite well. Although it is a bummer because it seems like I have class in the afternoons, when a lot of people have class in the mornings and then go to Bondi Beach while I’m stuck in class…but other than that classes are so great!
Today, being Ash Wednesday, a large group of us went to St. James Anglican Church in Sydney for the service. St. James is a very high form of Anglican churches, and we were told that although Anglican is the main church in Australia, most are not as formal as this one. It was unlike the church services that I am used to, but I really enjoyed it. They purified the church with incense, the choir sang in Greek and Latin, the priest sang his words, and we knelt a lot, but it was a great experience. When our group talked afterward to “de-brief”, I talked with some people about how grand God seemed to be. The music was so formal and beautiful and the church was so vast, that it made us, as humans, seem so insignificant, and God seem so amazing. Much of the service’s emphasis was also about how lowly and undeserving we humans are, begging Christ to have mercy on our souls, which again exemplifies the greatness of God. Although St. James was an extremely different church from what I know and am used to, it was still a place where God was. I felt his presence in the unfamiliar place, and was reminded that He is everywhere. And, walking around Sydney afterwards with ashes all over my forehead was a plus, too. So yay, lent – bring it on. Oh, and I’m giving up shopping haha.
So yeah, that’s really all that’s been happening, sorry this is a little boring. Classes are fun, Sydney is sweet, and vegemite, I learned, in small doses, isn’t really that bad. Still no kangaroos, but you should all be interested to know that there really are as many fine looking surfers in Australia as you may think there are. Maybe I should have given up stalking hot surfers for lent??
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
20 February 2009
It is 6:30 pm on Friday night (although I won’t post this until much later because we STILL haven’t gotten the internet pass code!!), my roommates and I are watching some Australian TV, waiting for dinner, and planning our night of exploration in Sydney. Although we did have an “orientation” of Sydney yesterday, we do not feel confident on how to get around as we ran around for two solid hours on a scavenger hunt of the thirteen most popular spots in Sydney (yes, it was devastatingly hot and yes, there are blisters all over my feet!). After the scavenger hunt (my group unfortunately did not win), we went on a Sydney Harbour cruise and got great views of the popular and breathtaking Opera House and Harbour Bridge. A delicious Mongolian BBQ dinner followed and then we were left free to walkabout Sydney and find our own way home. My roommates and I were fairly optimistic on finding our way home with no trouble, but after conquering the bus portion of the trip (we did have to wait for a second bus because the first once was full), we got lost in the hill-ridden, winding streets of our neighborhood. It was dark, we were all exhausted, and we tried to go into the wrong house. Seriously, we actually walked onto the porch and knocked on the door of a house that was not ours. For all of you who think you know me, what was I doing as we were lost: 1) leading the group farther and farther into the wrong direction; 2) consulting the map printout that our host mom gave us under the dim light of the street lamp; or 3) squatting in a nearby neighbors yard dying of laughter and hoping not to wet myself as I had been due for a restroom stop since we were denied access to the first bus. Yes, I was girl number three.
So now, we have finally finished all of our scheduled orientation events, school starts on Monday, and we are embarking on our first weekend in Australia! And as I said before, tonight is devoted to Sydney, and tomorrow, weather permitting, will be an all day exhibition at Bondi Beach (sorry to all of you are in the blistering cold at home!).
I still have not tried Vegemite (although I did smell it, and it smells like straight yeast), and have not seen a kangaroo, koala, or any of the thousands of dangerous/poisonous animals that infest Australia. I am getting along with my roommates and host family really well, but I miss all of you! I hope to talk to you all on the Internet soon because we are hunting down our host brother Jared for the blasted password!
So now, we have finally finished all of our scheduled orientation events, school starts on Monday, and we are embarking on our first weekend in Australia! And as I said before, tonight is devoted to Sydney, and tomorrow, weather permitting, will be an all day exhibition at Bondi Beach (sorry to all of you are in the blistering cold at home!).
I still have not tried Vegemite (although I did smell it, and it smells like straight yeast), and have not seen a kangaroo, koala, or any of the thousands of dangerous/poisonous animals that infest Australia. I am getting along with my roommates and host family really well, but I miss all of you! I hope to talk to you all on the Internet soon because we are hunting down our host brother Jared for the blasted password!
19 February 2009
I am finally in Australia and finally have a spare moment to write this blog (but we don’t have the password for our host family’s internet so it won’t be posted until tonight); it is 6:30 am. Because of the jet lag my roommates and I were all exhausted at about 9:00 last night and all are up now.
I guess I should start at the beginning, which will be at LAX, where I dragged my over packed luggage from baggage claim, through a long hallway, outside, and to another building that was the chaos of the international terminal. After much searching, and with aching arms thanks to my dear bags, I found my group, checked-in, and passed through security. I now had two hours before boarding time at my gate with the other ASC-ers (Australian Study Center students). We then boarded a bus, which took us to our plane, where we entered our home for the next fifteen hours. My seat was 66C. So yeah, it was a large plane. The flight was rather uneventful, we ate, watched movies, slept watched movies, ate again, and just like that we were in Sydney.
After going through customs and getting our bags, we boarded a bus with directors of our program and some Aussie students and went directly to our school, Wesley Institute, for orientation. We toured our library, lunched, went to a rules and safety information session, and then toured our school and adjacent streets. Wesley is in a quite picturesque neighborhood surrounded by nice-looking homes. Lyons Street, which has a lot of restaurants and shops that the students utilize, is where we will take or bus to and from school.
After the tours, and another information session, we had afternoon tea and met some other Aussie students. Wesley is a commuter school so many students do not live nearby; it is normal for them to travel up to two hours to get to school every day. My host home is only about a 20-25 minute bus ride from campus, and after arvo tea (afternoon tea), my host mom Gerry picked me and my other three roommates up and took us there! Our home is very nice, two girls to a room, and we share a bathroom and a common living area. We do not have many rules or chores, but we are only allowed one five-minute shower a day because Australia is still in a drought even though Sydney did recently receive a great deal of rain. We unpacked, savored all five minutes of a much-needed shower, and ate a delicious dinner where we met our two host brothers, Jared and Conor. After dinner, there was not much activity as my roommates and I were all over due for some sleep.
Today we are going back to Wesley for more orientation, but we are going into Sydney this afternoon! Hopefully I’ll have some great pictures for the next post!
I guess I should start at the beginning, which will be at LAX, where I dragged my over packed luggage from baggage claim, through a long hallway, outside, and to another building that was the chaos of the international terminal. After much searching, and with aching arms thanks to my dear bags, I found my group, checked-in, and passed through security. I now had two hours before boarding time at my gate with the other ASC-ers (Australian Study Center students). We then boarded a bus, which took us to our plane, where we entered our home for the next fifteen hours. My seat was 66C. So yeah, it was a large plane. The flight was rather uneventful, we ate, watched movies, slept watched movies, ate again, and just like that we were in Sydney.
After going through customs and getting our bags, we boarded a bus with directors of our program and some Aussie students and went directly to our school, Wesley Institute, for orientation. We toured our library, lunched, went to a rules and safety information session, and then toured our school and adjacent streets. Wesley is in a quite picturesque neighborhood surrounded by nice-looking homes. Lyons Street, which has a lot of restaurants and shops that the students utilize, is where we will take or bus to and from school.
After the tours, and another information session, we had afternoon tea and met some other Aussie students. Wesley is a commuter school so many students do not live nearby; it is normal for them to travel up to two hours to get to school every day. My host home is only about a 20-25 minute bus ride from campus, and after arvo tea (afternoon tea), my host mom Gerry picked me and my other three roommates up and took us there! Our home is very nice, two girls to a room, and we share a bathroom and a common living area. We do not have many rules or chores, but we are only allowed one five-minute shower a day because Australia is still in a drought even though Sydney did recently receive a great deal of rain. We unpacked, savored all five minutes of a much-needed shower, and ate a delicious dinner where we met our two host brothers, Jared and Conor. After dinner, there was not much activity as my roommates and I were all over due for some sleep.
Today we are going back to Wesley for more orientation, but we are going into Sydney this afternoon! Hopefully I’ll have some great pictures for the next post!
Note:
The title for this blog has been up to much debate before I left home. I wanted it to be creative, yet not cheesy, avoiding everything like “What’s up from down under!” or “A short walkabout Australia”. So despite all the wonderful suggestions (especially from my mother), the title is Kairos, which was an expression given to our group by our director to inspire our semester. It means a unique moment in time, a term that beautifully describes this semester, and is developed even further with this quote:
“The hour [which] is the God-given moment of destiny not to be shrunk from but seized decisiveness, the floodtide of opportunity and demand in which the unseen waters of the future surge down to the present.” (Oz Guinness)
So without further ado, I invite you, all my friends and family, to join me via this blog, on my own personal Australian Kairos!
“The hour [which] is the God-given moment of destiny not to be shrunk from but seized decisiveness, the floodtide of opportunity and demand in which the unseen waters of the future surge down to the present.” (Oz Guinness)
So without further ado, I invite you, all my friends and family, to join me via this blog, on my own personal Australian Kairos!
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