I can't think of anything to put here

So great news! Mamma’s coming in on the 8th of November and staying until the 24 of November. I’m really looking forward to it. Knowing her though she’ll bring her own helmet and a tennis racquet so she can be protected against magpies. Other great news! Stephens’s coming on the 25 of December. Yes I know that this is on Christmas day and almost all transport from the airport is shut down that day. But he’s the one who booked the tickets. I might just bike the 100 kilometers to the airport if I have to so he won’t be stuck at the airport alone all day on Christmas. Who can say they spent Christmas day biking to the airport on the free way, dodging cars just to reach an airport where they’ll willingly spend the whole night there singing along to the off pitch Christmas carols that come on over the speaker and drinking cheap machine made stale coffee ? But I’ve always said it isn’t the place but the company that’s important and in that case it will be the coolest Christmas ever. More great news! I get to come visit America on March 24 through April 14! Yes this has been a time of intense airline bookings but has ended in success.

Now the bad news. I actually removed this in my previous blog because I wanted to make sure it was completely out in the open before I reported it. So some of you might have gotten it before I removed it but for those who have not: my pastor, Pastor John will not continue with being the pastor at Beaumaris Baptist. He is a very kind man and will be missed. I’ve enjoyed his friendship during my time here and wish him the best. On April 2010 he will leave Beaumaris Baptist to follow wherever he’s called.

When reviewing this week I can’t think of anything else out of the ordinary that I can write about. This week was busy (won’t bore you with the details) but went about in typical fashion. My highlight was getting a free salmon sandwich from work, singing hymns with a few blind elderly people at the nursing home and telling a hopefully inspirational devotional to the basketball team that took a while to plan. The devotional started with the Joke: what did the fish say when he ran into a huge concrete wall? Dam! But I tied it into the fact that you can’t control what happens to you sometimes but you can control how you react. Then I told the story of Joseph in the bible and then had to relive some of my athletically lacking days by telling them the story of how I kept shooting the basketball in the other team’s goal. But at least I don’t call the referee the umpire like a lot of people here do!

Work has been going well. Except that my boss continues to get frustrated with me because I have so much trouble understanding him. He speaks very fast in an Asian accent and very low. He then walks away. I’m always left standing there with my dish towel trying to figure out what he wanted me to do. Was it sweep the floor? Shut the door? Close down the store? Stand on my head and sing? Well it wasn’t the last one because he looked at me funny when I did that. JK. Other than a few minor communication difficulties work has been going well.

It’s been rainy and cold here as usual in Melbourne. I’m wondering when it will begin to get warmer. A month has gone by and it seems like it hasn’t gotten any warmer. I’m beginning to wonder where they got the term “sunny Australia” and I hope that it will be warmer by the time my mom comes. The good thing about spring here is that most trees don’t lose their leaves and therefore don’t have to grow them back. So no pollen and no allergies! The big thing to do here in the spring is go to the Melbourne cup. It will be coming up soon very soon I think. It’s a series of horse races that are apparently so important that all of Australia shuts down for a day to see them. It’s a national holiday!