Even since I was a kid, I’ve had the desire to get in a car with a full gas tank and then see how far it would go until it ran out of gas. I know that this would be an incredibly senseless, absolutely idiotic, and completely inappropriate act of ultimate stupidity. But it sure would be fun! However being the sensible person that I am, (ha ha) I doubt I would ever do anything to that extent without a qualified professional at my side (and I’m not talking about the type that says things like “hey hold my beer and watch this!”) Since I can’t safely do this, I have decided instead to run a marathon. Made the connection? Although we marathoners don’t really want to admit it, it’s basically the same type of idea. You start out with a full tank of “gas”, and you see how far that gets you. For me I hope that’s the full 26.2 (43.3K for all you Aussies) miles. I have decided to do the Great Ocean Road marathon in Australia which will take place in less than….. 2 days! I’ve done the training these past couple of months and will see if I have enough “gas” to finish it. So wish me luck!
Other than training for marathons’ I’ve been pretty busy. Since I’ve last written in here (it’s been ages) I’ve been back to Texas to visit. I knew immediately that I was home when I heard things like, Ma’m, Sir, Mr. and Mrs. It felt even more like home when I began to hear phrases like, “man you should really try these fried green beans because they’re amazing”, “now Hannah if this cow charges you don’t worry because you just run and I’ll put my hand on her head to stop her (my dad), and “I made bacon cookies!” It was great to hear the Texas accent again, shoot guns, ride 4-wheelers, go to my church, have Mexican food and buy things that were under $5. The most exciting and surprising was probably going to the nursing home. Seriously! I went to visit my lady nursing home friend back in my college town. But she wasn’t in her room and her name tag had been removed from the door. Uh oh. Seeing these types of things make one awfully nervous in a nursing home. However, I breathed a sigh of relief when I was told that she had switched rooms. When I found her sitting in her room I was surprised that her roommate was a man. Upon further inspection I realized that this man was my other nursing home friend I used to visit. Then I saw her give a big smile and utter the words “we done went and got married!” And she’s 93! Then she proceeded to show me photos of their wedding. It was the sweetest thing! I was incredibly happy for them and it was amazing to see the positive change in both of their moods. It was also slightly funny with phrases like “We don’t fight b/c I do what she tells me too and I’m scared of her” or “well he had another lover but…….she died!” It was great to see my family, friends and of course Stephen but it went incredibly fast. And I never saw one single person as much as I wanted to! I spent three weeks at home. This means that I was jest lagged a total of five weeks! As soon as I got used to being home, I got on an airplane (23+hours) and flew back to Australia where it took me another 2 weeks to recover. It was bearable due to the fact that I absolutely love flying. I love airports, layovers and the long 16+ hour flights. You meet so many neat people and what other time are you able to sit down for 16 hours with nothing required of you but to read a book or watch a movie? And you don’t even have to get up to get your food because people bring it to you. I love it! I had a 6 hour layover in L.A Airport but I loved every minute of it (except for whenever I almost tripped over my chair)
I’m still at “uni” and I enjoy what I’m learning. Uni is the name Australians call college because they call high school college so it can get quite confusing. On Wednesdays I have a 6 hour Christian theology class! 6 hours! When I first heard about having to sit in class for 6 hours I wasn’t exactly happy. However, over the weeks this class has become one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken and I actually look forward to Wednesdays. The Christian theology here is so much more liberal than back home and I have some issues agreeing with the professors about particular things. But I still enjoy looking at different sides of an issue and it’s been great to learn about. I would be more at ease if the professor wasn’t always making negative comments about those “Southern Baptists from Texas”. He has no idea that this is where I come from. I also have one class that I find hilarious because when I look around I find that I’m an American, at an Australian college, surrounded by majority Asian students, listening to a Germen talk about British Christian Theology. Talk about culture exposure! By the time that I’m done with all my college courses I should have an Associate’s degree in ministry. I’m not too sure what I’ll do with that back in the states but who knows where God will lead?!
The youth ministry stuff at the church is going great! I finally feel completely at home with everyone at the church. They’re like my family away from home. The thing that really took off these past few months is something I started a while back called “girls group” (mainly because my creative juices weren’t flowing when I created the name). It is…. well you guessed it…. a group for girls! It started out 8 months ago as a failed attempt to get kids from a non church background to come to my meeting. I was in charge of it and expected over 20, maybe 30 youth to come to the initial get together. I had all this stuff set up and all these games prepared. I was pretty excited and nervous about it but only 2 girls from the church came. I did my best to stay positive although I was honestly a bit discouraged. Actually quite a bit. Something kept telling me to just continue with the group although there were only 2 people doing it. Well it wasn’t something but someone and more specifically God. Long story short I decided to just make it a group for girls where we cook, study the bible and have fun. Then they started inviting their friends and now it’s grown quite a bit but more importantly there have been some of the best relationships formed with myself, each other and most notably God. It’s been so great getting to know all the girls. Girls from a non-church background started to come and it’s been amazing to see their curiosity and growth. It’s awesome what God’s doing there and splendid the way it arose out of an apparent disappointment. I think that’s sometimes like life and the way God works. He has a lot of neat plans but a lot of times it isn’t exactly the way we think it’s going to go. In fact it hardly ever it. We just need to remember that and keep plodding along in the midst of seemingly obvious “set backs” to see what happens! If there’s any doubt over God’s power I think all you need to do is look at stuff like this, where you have ill-equipped leaders (speaking of myself. I’ve never even so much as led a mini small group before plus I typically burn all the food we cook), bad circumstances, and set backs all around. Anybody with a brain can see that it’s an obvious fail but somehow, and it still amazes me, it all works out and big things happen.
Funny thing of the week: The following is a conversation I had with a lady at the fruit shop I work in.
Mother: Oh you have such a different accent where are you from? (every other customer asks me this)
Me: Texas
Mother: Oh that’s nice. My son was born there.
Me: Oh really! Wow! And have you ever made it there yourself!
Epic fail. BTW this happening actually made it in the daily Australian newspaper in a section titled “Overheard” where people write in to report all the dumb funny stuff that they overheard people say that say. So I’m famous b/c I made it in a newspaper!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Falling out of planes and Australian sponge cake
If someone told me that exactly 6 months after entering the country of Australia I would be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane, plummeting to the earth at 150 mph, depending on a mere piece of material to open up at the right time and stop me from hitting the ground, then I would have probably said, “stop this planet now. I want off!” While, admittedly, this might have been my thoughts as the plane slowly gained the elevation that would take us to our so called “destination” of nothingness in the sky, it wasn’t my overall thought and most certainly not the summary of this experience. The best description of how I felt about my overall experience with skydiving is a bit less complex and is more like this: “ahhh ahhh Aaaaaahhhhhhhhahhahhah ah ha hah ha **** ahhhhh jfdkjfkdfj.” So in short it was amazing, terrifying, amazingly terrifying and extremely fun. However, after all these descriptions the only thing I could manage to think when I finally touched ground was “I’m glad my parachute opened”. The fact that I decided to skydive is showing me how much this whole experience of living in Australia is changing me (and hopefully for the better). The main thing that has happened during the course of this 6 month experience has been that I’m less afraid to try new things (within reason and morality of course). I’ve done a lot of things that I would have been too terrified to do before and it’s all worked out just fine. So when I decided to get my boyfriend Stephen a skydiving gift certificate for Christmas (it’s something he’s always wanted to do) I had no intention to join him by jumping out of a perfectly good plane. Yet the thought that I was going to sit on the sidelines and watch started to slowly creep in until I couldn’t take it anymore. Although the idea terrified me I wanted to go too! I couldn’t just stand around and watch while he had all the fun so I worked a few extra shifts and bought myself one too. But I have to admit that giving him the present was probably the best part. I made a “gift certificate” with a picture of us both jumping out of the plane but my little stick figure didn’t have a parachute and therefore wasn’t looking too happy. He had no idea and was like “is this for real?” “Yes Stephen but hopefully I’ll have a parachute in the real thing.” Probably the most fun I’ve ever had giving somebody a gift. Well…. I went skydiving but unfortunately didn’t go rocky mountain climbin’ or 2.7 seconds on a bull named “Phu Mon Shoe”.
Other than skydiving we were able to do many other neat things during his brief stay here. For one we got to experience Christmas Australia style. If somebody told me last Christmas that I would be spending next Christmas in Australia with my Texas boyfriend going to my South African friend’s house for lunch, then having Christmas dinner with New Zealanders, while only actually spending it with one Australian in the whole bunch then I would have laughed. But that’s what happened! Momma’s always said that life is stranger than fiction (as well as a box of chocolates. He he) and now I believe her. Life is weird.
The way Australians celebrate Christmas is a bit different than what I’m familiar to but if I were to describe it all on here then we’d be here all day. For one thing, on Christmas day in Australia, every member in the family isn’t compelled to bring 5 different dishes of food for everyone to eat just in case they run the risk of starving. As we all know Texas Christmas’s are a different story. I remember my dear great grandmother saying “do you think we need to open a can of spam” when she saw a centimeter of free space on the table. In Australia, we had some meat, a side or two, and a dessert. This is really all that you need and it most certainly keeps you from gaining 5 pounds (or kilos) during one single meal! However, the dessert we had was a bit interesting. Apparently, eating sponge cake that has been soaked in an overabundance of liquor overnight is quite a Christmas tradition in Australia. I have to admit it had quite an interesting taste but I don’t remember much after that. Just kidding :)
Other than our highly unusual but fun Christmas experience Stephen and I also had an interesting New Years experience. We went into the city to watch the big firework show. However, we ended up walking around the city in the pouring rain; cold, wet and lost. And having the best time! Absolutely nothing worked out according to plan but we were too busy laughing at the situation going from bad to kinda bad to worse that we didn’t even care. We just had fun. In a nut shell we got lost in a building and couldn’t find our way out for nearly 40 minutes amidst a crowd of crazy intoxicated people, got out and realized that it was pouring down rain, got lost outside and missed our tram stop by 100 miles, ate french fries under a tram stop in place of our planed nice dinner, missed the fireworks because the trains left right before the show, and witnessed a domestic on the streets (the man bit the women!). To make matters worse the streets were so crowded with crazy people we could hardly walk. New Years in Melbourne, Australia!
Honestly, Australia seems to be full of weird, scary people that tend to make themselves known around the holidays. Other than witnessing the domestic, Stephen and I encountered a seemingly high number of bizarre people who were a bit scary at times. This might be due to the fact that we used public transport almost everyday. However, it seemed like rarely a day went by that we didn’t witness something alarming or slightly disturbing. The biggest scare came when we decided to go hiking in the Australian mountain ranges. We got on the train to go home and noticed that aside from 2 other men, nobody else was on the train with us. We were still waiting on the train to leave the station when out of nowhere this big, scary looking man gets out and starts yelling at me and Stephen. All his attention was directed at us. He had the craziest eyes! I can’t remember everything he said but he kept telling us that we “were one person who split into 2 people”. I’m serious. Apparently he witnessed Stephen grow a beard out of nowhere. I thought he said something about us being the descendents of Cain and how God will judge us because we are evil. Oh and Jesus has come back and is sitting on Uluru rock in Australia. He just kept yelling at us until he finally walked off. Whew! Then he got back on and continued to yell at us while the other 2 men are just sitting there. He finally sat down and tried to have a nice friendly chat with one of the men on the train. It got completely silent until he looked at us and said “I don’t feel safe with these 2 evil people in here (meaning us!). I’m leaving.” Yeah it was a bit weird but I’m glad nothing happened. For the most part, Australians are nice, friendly, obliging down-to-earth folks who have welcomed me into their lives quite easily. However, you do get a few crazies here and there that have helped me decide that I’m not riding the trains at night anymore.
Many other exciting things have gone on since I’ve last written but if I tell it all then nobody would want to read this! I’ll try to update more often so I won’t have to cram it all in here. Thanks for all your support in reading this!
Other than skydiving we were able to do many other neat things during his brief stay here. For one we got to experience Christmas Australia style. If somebody told me last Christmas that I would be spending next Christmas in Australia with my Texas boyfriend going to my South African friend’s house for lunch, then having Christmas dinner with New Zealanders, while only actually spending it with one Australian in the whole bunch then I would have laughed. But that’s what happened! Momma’s always said that life is stranger than fiction (as well as a box of chocolates. He he) and now I believe her. Life is weird.
The way Australians celebrate Christmas is a bit different than what I’m familiar to but if I were to describe it all on here then we’d be here all day. For one thing, on Christmas day in Australia, every member in the family isn’t compelled to bring 5 different dishes of food for everyone to eat just in case they run the risk of starving. As we all know Texas Christmas’s are a different story. I remember my dear great grandmother saying “do you think we need to open a can of spam” when she saw a centimeter of free space on the table. In Australia, we had some meat, a side or two, and a dessert. This is really all that you need and it most certainly keeps you from gaining 5 pounds (or kilos) during one single meal! However, the dessert we had was a bit interesting. Apparently, eating sponge cake that has been soaked in an overabundance of liquor overnight is quite a Christmas tradition in Australia. I have to admit it had quite an interesting taste but I don’t remember much after that. Just kidding :)
Other than our highly unusual but fun Christmas experience Stephen and I also had an interesting New Years experience. We went into the city to watch the big firework show. However, we ended up walking around the city in the pouring rain; cold, wet and lost. And having the best time! Absolutely nothing worked out according to plan but we were too busy laughing at the situation going from bad to kinda bad to worse that we didn’t even care. We just had fun. In a nut shell we got lost in a building and couldn’t find our way out for nearly 40 minutes amidst a crowd of crazy intoxicated people, got out and realized that it was pouring down rain, got lost outside and missed our tram stop by 100 miles, ate french fries under a tram stop in place of our planed nice dinner, missed the fireworks because the trains left right before the show, and witnessed a domestic on the streets (the man bit the women!). To make matters worse the streets were so crowded with crazy people we could hardly walk. New Years in Melbourne, Australia!
Honestly, Australia seems to be full of weird, scary people that tend to make themselves known around the holidays. Other than witnessing the domestic, Stephen and I encountered a seemingly high number of bizarre people who were a bit scary at times. This might be due to the fact that we used public transport almost everyday. However, it seemed like rarely a day went by that we didn’t witness something alarming or slightly disturbing. The biggest scare came when we decided to go hiking in the Australian mountain ranges. We got on the train to go home and noticed that aside from 2 other men, nobody else was on the train with us. We were still waiting on the train to leave the station when out of nowhere this big, scary looking man gets out and starts yelling at me and Stephen. All his attention was directed at us. He had the craziest eyes! I can’t remember everything he said but he kept telling us that we “were one person who split into 2 people”. I’m serious. Apparently he witnessed Stephen grow a beard out of nowhere. I thought he said something about us being the descendents of Cain and how God will judge us because we are evil. Oh and Jesus has come back and is sitting on Uluru rock in Australia. He just kept yelling at us until he finally walked off. Whew! Then he got back on and continued to yell at us while the other 2 men are just sitting there. He finally sat down and tried to have a nice friendly chat with one of the men on the train. It got completely silent until he looked at us and said “I don’t feel safe with these 2 evil people in here (meaning us!). I’m leaving.” Yeah it was a bit weird but I’m glad nothing happened. For the most part, Australians are nice, friendly, obliging down-to-earth folks who have welcomed me into their lives quite easily. However, you do get a few crazies here and there that have helped me decide that I’m not riding the trains at night anymore.
Many other exciting things have gone on since I’ve last written but if I tell it all then nobody would want to read this! I’ll try to update more often so I won’t have to cram it all in here. Thanks for all your support in reading this!
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas!!!
For the past few weeks I’ve been wondering what that something is that’s keeping me from getting into the Christmas spirit. Then I realized it’s not a specific something but a lack of. No Christmas lights! No Christmas music on the radio stations! No overabundance of high fat packed Christmas desserts! And…… no fat Santa’s! Not to mention I have a sunburn. And I’m sleeping in a 94 degree house (only once or twice) Hot houses and a blaringly hot sun are not the first few things that come to mind when one thinks of Christmas. But as somebody famous once said, I don’t think I’m in Kansas anymore. Or Texas. However, with Christmas only one day away I think I’m finally getting into it and I’m ready. I’m pretty excited to experience Christmas in Australia. Even without the proper amount of Christmas lights I still find it great. Just yesterday we went to a huge Christmas concert in Melbourne were all the famous Australian singers performed. It was great fun except for the fact that we had to wait in line for two hours during the hottest part of the day just to get in. The sun never gave us a break and it was absolutely the hottest, craziest, most resilient sun I’ve ever experienced. We walked right by a girl who had passed out ahead of us from heat exhaustion. Then the other day the youth and I went all around to different nursing homes and got to sing Christmas carols. In short, I’m ready for Christmas! Oh and the best thing about Christmas in Australia is that it comes a day earlier!
One great thing about the hot weather here is that I can finally go swim in the ocean. Unfortunately the ocean harbors many sea creatures that are not my friend. Especially the Australian ocean. I learned this the hard way. A few days ago a friend and I wanted to see how far we could swim in the ocean even though the waves were really bad that day. Normally the water is almost crystal clear which make it great for spotting the sea creatures that I would like to avoid. However, since it was very wavy that day we were not able to see any of those unfavorable water villains. Then I got stung by a jellyfish, caught a cramp, started panicking, and kept choking on the waves. I eventually regained my composure and swam the 10 minutes back to shore. I think that’s how people drown. Why is it that the first time I go swimming in the Australian ocean I get stung by a jellyfish whenever my friends here have been swimming for all their lives and have never gotten stung? Good thing I can swim with one leg. Ha!
The other day I had to do a “children’s talk” in front of church which consisted of getting in front of the church and talking to the kids during the Sunday morning service. It would have been great except for the fact that I got silent stares whenever I asked them questions. Tough crowd. I wrapped up a plastic baby Jesus and then told them that the best present God ever gave us was under the wrapping paper. Upon opening it they just stared at it. Then I was like “a plastic doll! God gave us all a big plastic doll for the entire world to have! How exciting!” Of course I explained everything later but I couldn’t resist.
Not too much else has gone on except for work, Christmas shopping, babysitting, teaching RE and youth stuff. All youth programs are officially over for a whole month. Stephen will be here tomorrow so I have a feeling I might not be writing in my blog as much. Sorry! I’ll do my best though. The church just hired a new, official youth minister. It’s a great thing because we’ve needed one for a long time. So it’s been a big prayer answer for the church. Other than that I’m just ready for Christmas tomorrow with friends and….. friends! Merry Christmas!
Funny Moment of the Month: I had to do a sermon a few weeks ago in front of the church. It all went well except for the barrier in communication that sometimes happens. One of the points I was trying to make was that Jesus was so perfect that when you think of a dart board he would be in the "center". His example is hard to follow much like hitting the center of the dart board. It's almost impossible at times. This was all great and fine except for the fact that throughout most of the service everyone thought I kept saying that Jesus was the "sinner". "Everybody Jesus it the sinner. We can't ever be like him." Eventually they got it and we all had a good ol' laugh afterwards.
One great thing about the hot weather here is that I can finally go swim in the ocean. Unfortunately the ocean harbors many sea creatures that are not my friend. Especially the Australian ocean. I learned this the hard way. A few days ago a friend and I wanted to see how far we could swim in the ocean even though the waves were really bad that day. Normally the water is almost crystal clear which make it great for spotting the sea creatures that I would like to avoid. However, since it was very wavy that day we were not able to see any of those unfavorable water villains. Then I got stung by a jellyfish, caught a cramp, started panicking, and kept choking on the waves. I eventually regained my composure and swam the 10 minutes back to shore. I think that’s how people drown. Why is it that the first time I go swimming in the Australian ocean I get stung by a jellyfish whenever my friends here have been swimming for all their lives and have never gotten stung? Good thing I can swim with one leg. Ha!
The other day I had to do a “children’s talk” in front of church which consisted of getting in front of the church and talking to the kids during the Sunday morning service. It would have been great except for the fact that I got silent stares whenever I asked them questions. Tough crowd. I wrapped up a plastic baby Jesus and then told them that the best present God ever gave us was under the wrapping paper. Upon opening it they just stared at it. Then I was like “a plastic doll! God gave us all a big plastic doll for the entire world to have! How exciting!” Of course I explained everything later but I couldn’t resist.
Not too much else has gone on except for work, Christmas shopping, babysitting, teaching RE and youth stuff. All youth programs are officially over for a whole month. Stephen will be here tomorrow so I have a feeling I might not be writing in my blog as much. Sorry! I’ll do my best though. The church just hired a new, official youth minister. It’s a great thing because we’ve needed one for a long time. So it’s been a big prayer answer for the church. Other than that I’m just ready for Christmas tomorrow with friends and….. friends! Merry Christmas!
Funny Moment of the Month: I had to do a sermon a few weeks ago in front of the church. It all went well except for the barrier in communication that sometimes happens. One of the points I was trying to make was that Jesus was so perfect that when you think of a dart board he would be in the "center". His example is hard to follow much like hitting the center of the dart board. It's almost impossible at times. This was all great and fine except for the fact that throughout most of the service everyone thought I kept saying that Jesus was the "sinner". "Everybody Jesus it the sinner. We can't ever be like him." Eventually they got it and we all had a good ol' laugh afterwards.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Read this
Well it’s been quite a while since I’ve written. The excuse I’m going to use this time is that I was savagely attacked by a wild Australian animal and was near death in the uncomfortable hospital bed with both my hands and feet rendered useless making me completely inept to write a single ingenious word on my blog. But… that’s not true. In reality, I’ve just been busy. It’s a much less exciting excuse but nevertheless true. The hospital bed was comfortable and the animal wasn’t wild. JK
Anyhow much has gone on since my last posting. Gentle spring has become hot, dry crazy summer which is solely to blame for all the sunburns I have had the pleasure of receiving. Flys and mosquitoes quite enjoy my company and on occasion thrill me with an impromptu visit to my room, and upon finding it quite cozy decide to grace me with their presence all night. Thanks to the food packages I’ve received in the mail (thanks Shelia and Jesse!), the American food store by my house and mom loading her whole suitcase up with food I’ve had many opportunities to cook good ol’ Texas food for all the people here. Most of my cooking has not ended up in disaster but there’s always those few times. Yet, most of these people have never tasted that type of food before so I can always say “hey this is how it’s supposed to taste”. “Um… it’s just an acquired taste”. Except for the time when I attempted to cook hushpuppies for the youth. I got the oil way to hot, put the dough in, and immediately the entire church filled up with smoke smelling of burnt hushpuppy. There was to be a wedding ceremony the next day. Ugh. Just blame the American.
Mom came to visit me for two whole weeks! We both had such a great time. Except when I made her hike up a “mountain” that led us to the wrong place and then tried to correct it by making her take a shortcut in the snake infested woods. Or when she went on a bike ride with me and came back unable to sit. Or when she had to walk 2 miles back home with just one flip flop. Or when we got super sun burned at the beach. Or when I yelled at her for missing the train because she didn’t run fast enough. Just a dandy ol’ time. But it really was. We got to go to the zoo, the beach, a day hike in the Australian wilderness, the $17 movies, the huge mall (2nd biggest in the southern hemisphere), the Victorian markets, Wine tasting, Melbourne Christmas parade and heaps of other places. It was hilarious how shocked mom was whenever the youth continually referred to her as “Kristi” instead of Mrs. Wagley. It was such a great experience taking my mom around Australia and showing her all of my favorite places. Oh and she got to see my “sermon” in church at the young people’s service. I told them I would talk for the service but 2 weeks leading up to that I began to get extremely nervous. I had to talk for a whole 30 minutes! But I’m glad mom was there because she helped me with what I was going to say and got to see it all. I’m very blessed because we made great memories and will always go back to that time we were in Australia together. It’s not every day you get to show off Australia to your mom and show your mom off to the Australians (“oh Hannah she looks like she could be your sister?”)
Since mom has been gone I’ve had a lot of down time. All the youth programs are coming to an end for the summer holidays so there will be a while when I won’t have any youth events to help out with. During the holidays the only thing going on in the church is the Sunday morning service. All other programs are put on break. It’s really strange. The past few months I’ve been extremely busy and now that I have more time I’m lost. A lot of the youth and their families go away during this break so it won’t be until the end of January when I see them again. What will I do with all the youth gone? Well, I won’t have to dress up in a koala suite for church anymore (yes I had to do that. It’s a youth thing). I won’t have to be manager for the under 16 boys basketball team while being continually asked if I’m dating one of the players (do I really look that young?). I won’t be burning hushpuppies. I won’t be told that my accent sounds just like a Canadian accent. I won’t have to do skits up in front of church. And I won’t be continually asked by the youth what a Twinkie is. I’ll miss them. But Stephen will come to visit quite soon. And guess when he’ll get here? Christmas day! That certainly gives the “All I want for Christmas” song new, heightened meaning. He’ll be here from the 25th to January 13th. So we’ll try to do a bit a traveling and site seeing.
Funny experience of the month: I teach RE to 3rd graders a few times a weeks. RE stands for Religious Education and in Austria the school system allows the church to come in and tell the kids about Jesus. Well the other day I held up a drawing of Jesus. It was obviously supposed to be Jesus. I then asked the class who they thought this man was. They quickly and confidently replied, “Your daddy!”
Thanks everyone for your support. And thanks to all of y’all who sent me many kind words and food in the mail. It’s all very much appreciated.
Anyhow much has gone on since my last posting. Gentle spring has become hot, dry crazy summer which is solely to blame for all the sunburns I have had the pleasure of receiving. Flys and mosquitoes quite enjoy my company and on occasion thrill me with an impromptu visit to my room, and upon finding it quite cozy decide to grace me with their presence all night. Thanks to the food packages I’ve received in the mail (thanks Shelia and Jesse!), the American food store by my house and mom loading her whole suitcase up with food I’ve had many opportunities to cook good ol’ Texas food for all the people here. Most of my cooking has not ended up in disaster but there’s always those few times. Yet, most of these people have never tasted that type of food before so I can always say “hey this is how it’s supposed to taste”. “Um… it’s just an acquired taste”. Except for the time when I attempted to cook hushpuppies for the youth. I got the oil way to hot, put the dough in, and immediately the entire church filled up with smoke smelling of burnt hushpuppy. There was to be a wedding ceremony the next day. Ugh. Just blame the American.
Mom came to visit me for two whole weeks! We both had such a great time. Except when I made her hike up a “mountain” that led us to the wrong place and then tried to correct it by making her take a shortcut in the snake infested woods. Or when she went on a bike ride with me and came back unable to sit. Or when she had to walk 2 miles back home with just one flip flop. Or when we got super sun burned at the beach. Or when I yelled at her for missing the train because she didn’t run fast enough. Just a dandy ol’ time. But it really was. We got to go to the zoo, the beach, a day hike in the Australian wilderness, the $17 movies, the huge mall (2nd biggest in the southern hemisphere), the Victorian markets, Wine tasting, Melbourne Christmas parade and heaps of other places. It was hilarious how shocked mom was whenever the youth continually referred to her as “Kristi” instead of Mrs. Wagley. It was such a great experience taking my mom around Australia and showing her all of my favorite places. Oh and she got to see my “sermon” in church at the young people’s service. I told them I would talk for the service but 2 weeks leading up to that I began to get extremely nervous. I had to talk for a whole 30 minutes! But I’m glad mom was there because she helped me with what I was going to say and got to see it all. I’m very blessed because we made great memories and will always go back to that time we were in Australia together. It’s not every day you get to show off Australia to your mom and show your mom off to the Australians (“oh Hannah she looks like she could be your sister?”)
Since mom has been gone I’ve had a lot of down time. All the youth programs are coming to an end for the summer holidays so there will be a while when I won’t have any youth events to help out with. During the holidays the only thing going on in the church is the Sunday morning service. All other programs are put on break. It’s really strange. The past few months I’ve been extremely busy and now that I have more time I’m lost. A lot of the youth and their families go away during this break so it won’t be until the end of January when I see them again. What will I do with all the youth gone? Well, I won’t have to dress up in a koala suite for church anymore (yes I had to do that. It’s a youth thing). I won’t have to be manager for the under 16 boys basketball team while being continually asked if I’m dating one of the players (do I really look that young?). I won’t be burning hushpuppies. I won’t be told that my accent sounds just like a Canadian accent. I won’t have to do skits up in front of church. And I won’t be continually asked by the youth what a Twinkie is. I’ll miss them. But Stephen will come to visit quite soon. And guess when he’ll get here? Christmas day! That certainly gives the “All I want for Christmas” song new, heightened meaning. He’ll be here from the 25th to January 13th. So we’ll try to do a bit a traveling and site seeing.
Funny experience of the month: I teach RE to 3rd graders a few times a weeks. RE stands for Religious Education and in Austria the school system allows the church to come in and tell the kids about Jesus. Well the other day I held up a drawing of Jesus. It was obviously supposed to be Jesus. I then asked the class who they thought this man was. They quickly and confidently replied, “Your daddy!”
Thanks everyone for your support. And thanks to all of y’all who sent me many kind words and food in the mail. It’s all very much appreciated.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Crazy Aussies
Total months here: 4
Months to go: 8
Total Magpie attacks: 11
Total Jokes I didn't Get: 5
I have decided to devote this blog to some of the seemingy crazy things I’ve discovered about Australia. Things that will probably seem bizarre to an American but completely normal to an Australian. However, my disclaimer before delving into some of these absurdities is the fact that I think Australia is great and am in no way trying to “bag” (as Aussies say) Australian culture. I’m merly pointing out the differences and lightly poking fun of some of their craziness. I would expect nothing less of them to do the same to me. They’re doing a pretty good job at it.
First up is summer in Australia: I’m a little concerned about the upcoming summer here in Australia. Actually the word little is an understatement. Let me explain: In Texas, I’d say 90% of people have an air conditioner of some sort. In Australia only about 40% of people have air conditioner. Unfortunately, the house I live in isn’t in that lucky percent. This doesn’t mean Australia is any cooler in the summer than Texas. In fact, believe it or not, Australia is hotter. Melbourne got up to 117 last summer. And I can not figure out why, for the life of me, Australians don’t just go out and buy an air conditioner. Yet, they are quite environment friendly and many believe that an air conditioner would have a negative effect on the environment. I’ve noticed that instead of running the air conditioner in the car, the majority of Aussies will just open their window instead. But to be honest, when I’m in bed at night sweating my butt off in 110 degree weather the environment is the last thing on my mind. And that’s exactly how hot it gets inside. Karen, my host, said that last year it got up to 45 degree Celsius inside our house. This didn’t mean much to me when she said this number but I later converted the number and found that it is 113 degrees! Inside the house! 113 degrees! How do you not die? This is absolutely mind boggling to me and I have no idea how I will ever get through the heat of this summer. I’ve come to the conclusion that Aussies are either A.) Crazy or B.) Tough. My hosts told me, in an annoying nonchalant manner, that due to the heat there will just be nights that I won’t sleep because I can’t. Joy. In fact, the schools don’t even have air conditioner. It is a government rule in Australia that when it gets over 95 degrees inside the school they must let it out early for the health of the kids. I’m thinking snow days would be much more preferable.
During the summer at night many Aussies leave their windows and even doors open in hope of catching the tiniest amount of breeze to ease them into a semi sleep. As you can imagine, this brings up a new set of problems: robbers. It’s quite common in the summer months for robbers to come inside and take things. They aren’t being deterred in any sense because in Australia robbers can sue the house owner if the owner injures the robber in any way whatsoever. There have been many cases of this. My host has advised me to leave the house if a thief comes in because I could get in serious trouble if I injure him/her. I can’t even begin to describe how absolutely crazy this is. In Texas was have the castle Doctrine and robbers know they are risking their life when they unwelcomingly enter a home. I think I’ll take wearing gloves inside during winter or running from magpies in the spring anytime over some of the craziness that this summer will bring.
Answer this question- Hint: this is a place in Australia: Name the place where it’s extremely crowded with many people but you’re well advised to keep your head down, not look anybody in the eye and basically pretend that nobody around you exists. Small talk is not welcome and you might find trouble if you try to engage in it. If somebody bumps into you, you most likely won’t get an apology. This place has a high level of assaults and is known for common violence. People are more concerned with getting in, getting out and getting it over with. Where is this?
A.) Australia Prison
B.) Australian Train system
C.) Church
Well if you guessed church then you are wrong! It’s the Australian train system. I found it hard to deal with the first few times I had to use it. During rush hour it is so saturated with people that some literally can’t get on. Forget a seat. Getting on is an achievement. That is if you view success as being neck and neck with sweaty smelly people whose names you don’t even know. It was so weird to me at first how everyone associated with everyone else. Imagine a group of complete strangers elbow to elbow in such a small space for an extended period of time. How does one act? Well apparently the answer is to pretend that the person next to you doesn’t exist and keep to yourself. When I’m on the trains during rush hour I almost want to say “oh hello there! Now somebody forgot to brush their teeth this morning didn’t they? Well since you’re way past my space bubble I thought I’d let you know these things. In fact, you’re closer to me than anybody has gotten in a long while. Sir do you mind not singing out loud to your Liza Minelli song on your Ipod?.” It’s a bit scary too because there’s many incidents on the news where somebody got mugged, hit, slapped, harassed, etc on the train system. I must admit I’m quite proud of myself for a adjusting to this system. Being extremely close to all these people is an accomplishment for a small town girl like me. When in Rome….
I actually experienced a semi scary time on the train a few days ago. I have to take the train to college. I go to college from 9am until 10:30 pm on Tuesdays. It’s a long day and I’m exhausted by the time I get on the train to go home. I put on my ipod and tune out. Yet I begin to notice something that is rare on the train. Somebody talking to somebody else (I’m over exaggerating a bit). It didn’t take me long to realize a man trying to talk to anybody he could in an overly loud voice. There was something not quite right about him. He was being really loud and aggressively sought out people to talk to. People kept getting off at their stop and soon enough I was one of the only ones left on the train and the man had nobody else to talk to. Great. Soon after most the people left he turned to me and tried to get me to take off my headphones. Should I pretend to speak only Spanish? No que? Etas loco. No that wouldn’t work. I decided to do what I do best: I pretended I was in my own little world and was totally clueless (actually most the time I’m not pretending). It worked and he soon gave up. Great! Well except for the fact that he then started to rock back and forth and talk to himself in a very loud and angry voice. Since it was late at night and I still had to find a way home from the station in the dark by myself I was becoming worried. I ended up giving my hosts a call to come pick me up from the station. Even though they don’t seem to mind at all I hate putting them out too much. But I thought it was worth it this time.
Trees. Now you might be asking what can be so weird about a tree. Well it’s not so much the tree that’s strange but rather, it’s the arms that go around them. Better said, it’s the people that hug them that can be a bit on the bizarre side. And Australia seems to have a huge amount of so called ”tree huggers”. In Australia you can not cut down a tree. Simple as that. It doesn’t matter if that tree is on your land. You still can’t cut it down. It doesn’t matter if the tree in your yard is getting old and the loose branches are becoming a danger to your family. You can’t cut it down. In fact, there is a $20,000 reward for catching somebody who is cutting down a tree. Not to mention that there was only about a $1,000 reward for information leading to the capture of somebody who almost assaulted somebody to death. These people are serious about their trees. To be completely fair, there are ways that you can get a dangerous tree removed from your yard. You have to send in a request to the council and they have to decide if it is ok to cut down.
More:
~ Most parents here tell their kids to walk to school. They don’t drive them. It’s a pretty good thing I think because I rarely see any overweight kids. The kids don’t complain and the system seems to work out well. At 9:00 every morning there is a huge rush hour a kids walking by my house on there way to school.
~ People don’t eat out half as much as we do in America. Dinner at home with the family sitting around the table is commonplace. It’s no surprise because eating out is extremely expensive here. I was riding my bike the other day and came across a sign that said lunch special: $15. Ha!
~ People are crazy about their pets here. But rules for the pet owner are very strict. For one, you can’t walk your dog without carrying a “poop bag”. If you are caught without your bag then you are heavily fined. But who do they send to regulate this? The poop police? I just can’t imagine having that job. “Ma’m I just need to check if you have a certified poop bag. No this will just not do. I’m sorry.” In some areas they have a cat curfew. This means that your cat is required to be inside at a certain time in order to reduce newborn complaints about cats.
~ According to my observations there seems to be very few obese Australians. My theory is that A.) It’s too dang hot to eat B.) The temperature in the houses are more uncomfortable than the outside (either really hot or cold). Therefore many Aussies choose to be outside doing stuff than inside watching t.v and eating. That’s just my theory.
Months to go: 8
Total Magpie attacks: 11
Total Jokes I didn't Get: 5
I have decided to devote this blog to some of the seemingy crazy things I’ve discovered about Australia. Things that will probably seem bizarre to an American but completely normal to an Australian. However, my disclaimer before delving into some of these absurdities is the fact that I think Australia is great and am in no way trying to “bag” (as Aussies say) Australian culture. I’m merly pointing out the differences and lightly poking fun of some of their craziness. I would expect nothing less of them to do the same to me. They’re doing a pretty good job at it.
First up is summer in Australia: I’m a little concerned about the upcoming summer here in Australia. Actually the word little is an understatement. Let me explain: In Texas, I’d say 90% of people have an air conditioner of some sort. In Australia only about 40% of people have air conditioner. Unfortunately, the house I live in isn’t in that lucky percent. This doesn’t mean Australia is any cooler in the summer than Texas. In fact, believe it or not, Australia is hotter. Melbourne got up to 117 last summer. And I can not figure out why, for the life of me, Australians don’t just go out and buy an air conditioner. Yet, they are quite environment friendly and many believe that an air conditioner would have a negative effect on the environment. I’ve noticed that instead of running the air conditioner in the car, the majority of Aussies will just open their window instead. But to be honest, when I’m in bed at night sweating my butt off in 110 degree weather the environment is the last thing on my mind. And that’s exactly how hot it gets inside. Karen, my host, said that last year it got up to 45 degree Celsius inside our house. This didn’t mean much to me when she said this number but I later converted the number and found that it is 113 degrees! Inside the house! 113 degrees! How do you not die? This is absolutely mind boggling to me and I have no idea how I will ever get through the heat of this summer. I’ve come to the conclusion that Aussies are either A.) Crazy or B.) Tough. My hosts told me, in an annoying nonchalant manner, that due to the heat there will just be nights that I won’t sleep because I can’t. Joy. In fact, the schools don’t even have air conditioner. It is a government rule in Australia that when it gets over 95 degrees inside the school they must let it out early for the health of the kids. I’m thinking snow days would be much more preferable.
During the summer at night many Aussies leave their windows and even doors open in hope of catching the tiniest amount of breeze to ease them into a semi sleep. As you can imagine, this brings up a new set of problems: robbers. It’s quite common in the summer months for robbers to come inside and take things. They aren’t being deterred in any sense because in Australia robbers can sue the house owner if the owner injures the robber in any way whatsoever. There have been many cases of this. My host has advised me to leave the house if a thief comes in because I could get in serious trouble if I injure him/her. I can’t even begin to describe how absolutely crazy this is. In Texas was have the castle Doctrine and robbers know they are risking their life when they unwelcomingly enter a home. I think I’ll take wearing gloves inside during winter or running from magpies in the spring anytime over some of the craziness that this summer will bring.
Answer this question- Hint: this is a place in Australia: Name the place where it’s extremely crowded with many people but you’re well advised to keep your head down, not look anybody in the eye and basically pretend that nobody around you exists. Small talk is not welcome and you might find trouble if you try to engage in it. If somebody bumps into you, you most likely won’t get an apology. This place has a high level of assaults and is known for common violence. People are more concerned with getting in, getting out and getting it over with. Where is this?
A.) Australia Prison
B.) Australian Train system
C.) Church
Well if you guessed church then you are wrong! It’s the Australian train system. I found it hard to deal with the first few times I had to use it. During rush hour it is so saturated with people that some literally can’t get on. Forget a seat. Getting on is an achievement. That is if you view success as being neck and neck with sweaty smelly people whose names you don’t even know. It was so weird to me at first how everyone associated with everyone else. Imagine a group of complete strangers elbow to elbow in such a small space for an extended period of time. How does one act? Well apparently the answer is to pretend that the person next to you doesn’t exist and keep to yourself. When I’m on the trains during rush hour I almost want to say “oh hello there! Now somebody forgot to brush their teeth this morning didn’t they? Well since you’re way past my space bubble I thought I’d let you know these things. In fact, you’re closer to me than anybody has gotten in a long while. Sir do you mind not singing out loud to your Liza Minelli song on your Ipod?.” It’s a bit scary too because there’s many incidents on the news where somebody got mugged, hit, slapped, harassed, etc on the train system. I must admit I’m quite proud of myself for a adjusting to this system. Being extremely close to all these people is an accomplishment for a small town girl like me. When in Rome….
I actually experienced a semi scary time on the train a few days ago. I have to take the train to college. I go to college from 9am until 10:30 pm on Tuesdays. It’s a long day and I’m exhausted by the time I get on the train to go home. I put on my ipod and tune out. Yet I begin to notice something that is rare on the train. Somebody talking to somebody else (I’m over exaggerating a bit). It didn’t take me long to realize a man trying to talk to anybody he could in an overly loud voice. There was something not quite right about him. He was being really loud and aggressively sought out people to talk to. People kept getting off at their stop and soon enough I was one of the only ones left on the train and the man had nobody else to talk to. Great. Soon after most the people left he turned to me and tried to get me to take off my headphones. Should I pretend to speak only Spanish? No que? Etas loco. No that wouldn’t work. I decided to do what I do best: I pretended I was in my own little world and was totally clueless (actually most the time I’m not pretending). It worked and he soon gave up. Great! Well except for the fact that he then started to rock back and forth and talk to himself in a very loud and angry voice. Since it was late at night and I still had to find a way home from the station in the dark by myself I was becoming worried. I ended up giving my hosts a call to come pick me up from the station. Even though they don’t seem to mind at all I hate putting them out too much. But I thought it was worth it this time.
Trees. Now you might be asking what can be so weird about a tree. Well it’s not so much the tree that’s strange but rather, it’s the arms that go around them. Better said, it’s the people that hug them that can be a bit on the bizarre side. And Australia seems to have a huge amount of so called ”tree huggers”. In Australia you can not cut down a tree. Simple as that. It doesn’t matter if that tree is on your land. You still can’t cut it down. It doesn’t matter if the tree in your yard is getting old and the loose branches are becoming a danger to your family. You can’t cut it down. In fact, there is a $20,000 reward for catching somebody who is cutting down a tree. Not to mention that there was only about a $1,000 reward for information leading to the capture of somebody who almost assaulted somebody to death. These people are serious about their trees. To be completely fair, there are ways that you can get a dangerous tree removed from your yard. You have to send in a request to the council and they have to decide if it is ok to cut down.
More:
~ Most parents here tell their kids to walk to school. They don’t drive them. It’s a pretty good thing I think because I rarely see any overweight kids. The kids don’t complain and the system seems to work out well. At 9:00 every morning there is a huge rush hour a kids walking by my house on there way to school.
~ People don’t eat out half as much as we do in America. Dinner at home with the family sitting around the table is commonplace. It’s no surprise because eating out is extremely expensive here. I was riding my bike the other day and came across a sign that said lunch special: $15. Ha!
~ People are crazy about their pets here. But rules for the pet owner are very strict. For one, you can’t walk your dog without carrying a “poop bag”. If you are caught without your bag then you are heavily fined. But who do they send to regulate this? The poop police? I just can’t imagine having that job. “Ma’m I just need to check if you have a certified poop bag. No this will just not do. I’m sorry.” In some areas they have a cat curfew. This means that your cat is required to be inside at a certain time in order to reduce newborn complaints about cats.
~ According to my observations there seems to be very few obese Australians. My theory is that A.) It’s too dang hot to eat B.) The temperature in the houses are more uncomfortable than the outside (either really hot or cold). Therefore many Aussies choose to be outside doing stuff than inside watching t.v and eating. That’s just my theory.
Friday, October 16, 2009
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!
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!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
At least the Candle doesn’t have 3 ends
So this is bad. Really bad. I haven’t kept up with my blog for a while and in the words of Larry the Cable guy I apologize. I went through a mini homesick stage and then got incredibly busy. So I’ll try to recap everything that has happened. So here goes……
Two New Zealanders, an American and an Australian go on vacation. You might be waiting for the punch line but there is none. This is actually what we did. During school holidays all youth programs take a break. My college was also out for holidays so I had a good opportunity to go with my hosts, Barry and Karen who are New Zealanders, and my friend Kat, who is Australian as well as half Asian, around the countryside of Australia for a week. The mix of nationalities and backgrounds were amazing :) (Interesting fact: Kat, whose whole name is Katrina was born on September the 11th . Katrina. Sep. 11. Yes I give her a hard time.) We stayed in Tacoma, NSW for a few days and drove to Euchuca, Ballerete and finally back home to Beaumaris. Throughout the vacation I have found that there are a few essential rules one must know before partaking on an Australian adventure. I did not know these so I am bestowing my newfound wisdom on you just in case you ever find yourself in the incredibly exotic place know as Australia.
Rule number 1: Do not leave a perfectly dry and warm house to go camp out in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm. You will just return to that house 3 hours later soaking wet, injured and in a bad mood.
Rule Number 2: Waterproof tents are never waterproof
Rule Number 3: Never try to chase an Alpaca who is foaming at the mouth.
Rule Number 4: If one plans to go on a week long camping trip there is a 97.3% chance that a cold front will come in the form of heavy, never ending rain.
Rule Number 5: Wear sunscreen in Australia. It rained more than not on the trip but I somehow managed to get a tan. Think how that will be in the summer when it never rains and the sun always shines.
Rule Number 6: Kangaroos are not scared of cars! Drive slow.
Rule Number 8: When milking a cow do not stand directly behind it or it will pee on you.
Rule Number 7: Wear a helmet when you ride bikes. This isn’t so much to protect your head if you fall off your bike but to protect your head WHEN magpies attack you.
There is a story worth telling based on Rule number 7. One day during the vacation Katrina and I decided to ride bikes around the area. Five seconds after we left we were attacked by the most viscous magpie I have ever encountered. Do birds get rabies? Actually I’m not too sure if even rabies could explain this bird’s behavior. It first ran smack into my helmet with its beak and continued to chase me down the road. If someone was looking out their window at that time they would have seen a girl screaming bloody murder riding down the road and a rather large bird in hot pursuit. I tried to cover my eyes with my hand because I was told they go for your eyes. I continued to scream for my friend who was riding beside me as if I expected her to heroically dive off her bike and tackle the bird. Fortunately, it soon left me and went for her. One minute later we’re almost on the ground because we’re laughing so hard. I now understand why it’s illegal in Australia to not wear a bike helmet. Since being in Australia I’ve had to endure 9 or 10 magpie attacks. According to the locals these numbers are unusually high for one person. Go figure.
The other day I saw a dead magpie on the side of the road and I must admit that I was not moved to tears.
Other than being attacked by magpies I was able to partake in an assortment of good ol’ Australian fun. We visited an Alpaca farm, went wine tasting, milked cows on a friend’s farm, set up tents (but never actually camped out!), went in a gold mine, attempted to pan for gold, spotlighted for Kangaroos, went on a boat ride down the famous Marry river, went to heaps of random museums, played random Australian card games, visited a strawberry farm and paid $6 for a milkshake there. Part of the time during our journey we stayed at the house of Karen’s cousin where I joyfully cooked good ol’ Texas chili and told them they were eating ethnic food. Of course they liked it.
In other news I managed to get a job. Yes I know I’m already busy but here in a few weeks college will be out for a total of almost four months. I decided that I’ll replace the day that I usually go to college with a job. It will be only one day per week and since it will replace college day I shouldn’t be any busier than I already am. The only problem is that I actually got the job three weeks too soon and now for 3 weeks I’ll have a job and college. So if you have wondered why I haven’t posted in a while here’s your answer. I work at a restaurant and coffee shop called Geleontos in the mall by my house. It is the toughtest job I’ve ever had because for 7 straight hours I don’t sit, eat, drink and I get limited time to breath. All day long I serve coffee, make food, work the cash register, bus tables and take orders. Actually to be more accurate I spill coffee, mess up the food, make the cash register go crazy, knock over tables and mess up orders. Of course I’m exaggerating but find that if you can’t exaggerate and learn to laugh at yourself then life gets hard. I actually do ok for someone who’s never had a restaurant job before. In the words of my boss I’m a “fast learner, a hard worker, and have a way with people”. Ha! Oh well I’ll take it. He must have not seen me spill that coffee or trip that customer. The customers are patient because they love my accent! “Oh I’m so sorry ma’m I just spilt coffee all over you. I’ll get that cleaned right up for y’all. No sir I don’t think we serve “servias” here. Oh. A servia is a napkin? Um… yeah I’ll get that napkin for y’all then.” I’m learning now more than ever the differences between Australian and American terminology and accents. I have the toughest time taking their orders in a loud crowded place because I can’t understand what they are saying and if I do I sometimes don’t know what in the world they are talking about. But I’m learning and I think this job will serve to make my Australian experience even richer. I’ve only got 9 more months here and I want to make the most of this experience. It’s funny because the day I came in for training the only people on staff we’re Asians that spoke in very hard to understand English. They were the ones that were supposed to train me. I forgot to mention that training day was on a Saturday during holiday which was one of the busiest days. So all day during training I had to learn 1 million different things but had the added difficulty of understanding what I was being told. But all the workers were so patient with me and I’m thankful that they showed me great kindness.
Other than going on vacation, being attacked by magpies and getting a job I’ve managed to stay busy with other activities and projects such as painting the youth house (bright red, orange, green, blue, yellow), managing the boys basketball team, writing the church newsletter turning in my college essays, starting a youth bike riding group, growing the young girls bible study I do, visiting the nursing home, going to classes, helping out with band practice, planning my “sermon” for the youth church service, building relationships with the youth, making friends, working to promote a new youth study group, and becoming incredibly addicted to caffeine. Of course I also find time to relax, run, keep in touch with God and talk with a few back home. Although there are many I miss that I am not able to talk to. I can’t believe I’ve already been here for over 3 months now. It’s sad to think that in 9 months I’ll have to leave this place. I’ve already gotten comfortable here but can’t imagine how much harder it will be in 9 more months when I have to say bye. As always thanks for reading my blog. I’ll try to post more frequently so I don’t feel like I have to cram in everything.
Two New Zealanders, an American and an Australian go on vacation. You might be waiting for the punch line but there is none. This is actually what we did. During school holidays all youth programs take a break. My college was also out for holidays so I had a good opportunity to go with my hosts, Barry and Karen who are New Zealanders, and my friend Kat, who is Australian as well as half Asian, around the countryside of Australia for a week. The mix of nationalities and backgrounds were amazing :) (Interesting fact: Kat, whose whole name is Katrina was born on September the 11th . Katrina. Sep. 11. Yes I give her a hard time.) We stayed in Tacoma, NSW for a few days and drove to Euchuca, Ballerete and finally back home to Beaumaris. Throughout the vacation I have found that there are a few essential rules one must know before partaking on an Australian adventure. I did not know these so I am bestowing my newfound wisdom on you just in case you ever find yourself in the incredibly exotic place know as Australia.
Rule number 1: Do not leave a perfectly dry and warm house to go camp out in the middle of a thunder and lightning storm. You will just return to that house 3 hours later soaking wet, injured and in a bad mood.
Rule Number 2: Waterproof tents are never waterproof
Rule Number 3: Never try to chase an Alpaca who is foaming at the mouth.
Rule Number 4: If one plans to go on a week long camping trip there is a 97.3% chance that a cold front will come in the form of heavy, never ending rain.
Rule Number 5: Wear sunscreen in Australia. It rained more than not on the trip but I somehow managed to get a tan. Think how that will be in the summer when it never rains and the sun always shines.
Rule Number 6: Kangaroos are not scared of cars! Drive slow.
Rule Number 8: When milking a cow do not stand directly behind it or it will pee on you.
Rule Number 7: Wear a helmet when you ride bikes. This isn’t so much to protect your head if you fall off your bike but to protect your head WHEN magpies attack you.
There is a story worth telling based on Rule number 7. One day during the vacation Katrina and I decided to ride bikes around the area. Five seconds after we left we were attacked by the most viscous magpie I have ever encountered. Do birds get rabies? Actually I’m not too sure if even rabies could explain this bird’s behavior. It first ran smack into my helmet with its beak and continued to chase me down the road. If someone was looking out their window at that time they would have seen a girl screaming bloody murder riding down the road and a rather large bird in hot pursuit. I tried to cover my eyes with my hand because I was told they go for your eyes. I continued to scream for my friend who was riding beside me as if I expected her to heroically dive off her bike and tackle the bird. Fortunately, it soon left me and went for her. One minute later we’re almost on the ground because we’re laughing so hard. I now understand why it’s illegal in Australia to not wear a bike helmet. Since being in Australia I’ve had to endure 9 or 10 magpie attacks. According to the locals these numbers are unusually high for one person. Go figure.
The other day I saw a dead magpie on the side of the road and I must admit that I was not moved to tears.
Other than being attacked by magpies I was able to partake in an assortment of good ol’ Australian fun. We visited an Alpaca farm, went wine tasting, milked cows on a friend’s farm, set up tents (but never actually camped out!), went in a gold mine, attempted to pan for gold, spotlighted for Kangaroos, went on a boat ride down the famous Marry river, went to heaps of random museums, played random Australian card games, visited a strawberry farm and paid $6 for a milkshake there. Part of the time during our journey we stayed at the house of Karen’s cousin where I joyfully cooked good ol’ Texas chili and told them they were eating ethnic food. Of course they liked it.
In other news I managed to get a job. Yes I know I’m already busy but here in a few weeks college will be out for a total of almost four months. I decided that I’ll replace the day that I usually go to college with a job. It will be only one day per week and since it will replace college day I shouldn’t be any busier than I already am. The only problem is that I actually got the job three weeks too soon and now for 3 weeks I’ll have a job and college. So if you have wondered why I haven’t posted in a while here’s your answer. I work at a restaurant and coffee shop called Geleontos in the mall by my house. It is the toughtest job I’ve ever had because for 7 straight hours I don’t sit, eat, drink and I get limited time to breath. All day long I serve coffee, make food, work the cash register, bus tables and take orders. Actually to be more accurate I spill coffee, mess up the food, make the cash register go crazy, knock over tables and mess up orders. Of course I’m exaggerating but find that if you can’t exaggerate and learn to laugh at yourself then life gets hard. I actually do ok for someone who’s never had a restaurant job before. In the words of my boss I’m a “fast learner, a hard worker, and have a way with people”. Ha! Oh well I’ll take it. He must have not seen me spill that coffee or trip that customer. The customers are patient because they love my accent! “Oh I’m so sorry ma’m I just spilt coffee all over you. I’ll get that cleaned right up for y’all. No sir I don’t think we serve “servias” here. Oh. A servia is a napkin? Um… yeah I’ll get that napkin for y’all then.” I’m learning now more than ever the differences between Australian and American terminology and accents. I have the toughest time taking their orders in a loud crowded place because I can’t understand what they are saying and if I do I sometimes don’t know what in the world they are talking about. But I’m learning and I think this job will serve to make my Australian experience even richer. I’ve only got 9 more months here and I want to make the most of this experience. It’s funny because the day I came in for training the only people on staff we’re Asians that spoke in very hard to understand English. They were the ones that were supposed to train me. I forgot to mention that training day was on a Saturday during holiday which was one of the busiest days. So all day during training I had to learn 1 million different things but had the added difficulty of understanding what I was being told. But all the workers were so patient with me and I’m thankful that they showed me great kindness.
Other than going on vacation, being attacked by magpies and getting a job I’ve managed to stay busy with other activities and projects such as painting the youth house (bright red, orange, green, blue, yellow), managing the boys basketball team, writing the church newsletter turning in my college essays, starting a youth bike riding group, growing the young girls bible study I do, visiting the nursing home, going to classes, helping out with band practice, planning my “sermon” for the youth church service, building relationships with the youth, making friends, working to promote a new youth study group, and becoming incredibly addicted to caffeine. Of course I also find time to relax, run, keep in touch with God and talk with a few back home. Although there are many I miss that I am not able to talk to. I can’t believe I’ve already been here for over 3 months now. It’s sad to think that in 9 months I’ll have to leave this place. I’ve already gotten comfortable here but can’t imagine how much harder it will be in 9 more months when I have to say bye. As always thanks for reading my blog. I’ll try to post more frequently so I don’t feel like I have to cram in everything.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Chucky Cheese Paddles
To this day I can still remember quite vividly as a child sitting in my mom’s mini van, about to go a sleepover or party , and being told the consequences of not using “proper manners” to the adults present. To be clear “proper manners” means using ma’m and sir and referring to all adults as Mr. or Mrs. To be even more clear these consequences usually involved being hung upside down for a few days, stuck in a dark room with no food whatsoever for days on end or being spanked by a chucky cheese paddle (c’mon what kind of parent turns your paddle ball toy into a means for punishment when it is broken) No wonder I remember this so vividly. The fear of God was struck in me. Apparently Australian children do not get a similar talk from their parents. I just thought this was something every kid had to endure-like a coming of age necessity. In Australia, things are much more lax. Most kids here call the adults by their first names. Saying ma’m or sir can get you into some trouble because this is often viewed as a smart elic thing to say. I don’t even know the last name of some of my college professors because everyone just calls them by the first name. Needless to say, the first month here was tough. I was even told by the pastoral care worker that it’s ok that I slipped and used the word ma’m. It was if to say that she understood and was not offended. Ha! My pastor is refereed to as John. Not brother John, Mr. Haige, or even Mr. John. Nope. It’s John and sometimes Pastor John. It’s just a cultural difference that I have to get used to. To this day I still have trouble calling everyone by their first name but I’m getting better at it. I still have a mental image of my mom sneaking up behind me with a chucky cheese paddle-even if she’s actually thousands of miles away. Childhood scars.
I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world where an elementary student asks the teacher for a rubber and the teacher never bats an eye. They do this all the time actually. Not saying ma’m and asking teachers for rubbers. Man oh man. I failed to mention that a rubber here is what we call erasers in America. However, it sill got me the first time I heard it and it took special effort to refrain from looking shocked or cracking a smile in the middle of teaching. I go into the schools on Mondays and teach third graders bible lessons during class time for an hour. The government allows you do that here so I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity. I find this to be a neat experience but I’m completely out of my element. I am not destined to become a teacher as this experience has shown me. But I do alright I guess. I would have never dreamed that I would be sitting in a chair while a bunch of third graders gathered around me on the floor, anxiously awaiting what I’m going to say next. Must be the accent.
It’s spring here in Melbourne. I can’t seem to shake the feeling that I’m being robbed of my favorite season of the year; fall. The good thing about Melbourne is that it actually has 4 distinct seasons instead of the typical Texas seasons, kind of hot and hell (saying stolen from Stephen Jones). Each season here gets about 3 months of showtime. The bad thing about Melbourne is that in spring, the wind knocks you down if you are less than 100 pounds (45mph!) and birds try to poke your eyes out with their beaks. You’re having a bad day if you experience both of these simultaneously. Let me explain: In the span of 10 hours I was “dive bombed” by birds on two different occasions. They tried to take my head off. Quite alarmed I asked the locals to explain their strange behavior (Behavior of the birds this time, not the locals.) Apparently it is mating season for a particular bird called a magpie. The magpies are very territorial and if you happen to walk under their nests they try to poke your eyes out or at least get you with their beaks. My goodness even their birds here are dangerous! Aw spring, the season for warm weather, pretty flowers, blue skis and birds that try to poke your eyes out.
I finally got it! Difference between tea, dinner and supper: Read carefully. When someone says “come over and we’ll have tea together tonight” this means we are all going to eat a meal together at night. But if someone says “hey what would you like for supper later tonight?” then they are asking you what you would like for a late night snack. However, you know you hit the jackpot whenever they say “we’re going to give you dinner tonight!” because this means you’re going to get a very nice meal with many courses served. If somebody asks you over for breakfast this means you’re having…….breakfast.
~ I’m just joking about those aforementioned consequences. My mom would never do that! Well actually the chucky cheese paddle is completely true.
I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world where an elementary student asks the teacher for a rubber and the teacher never bats an eye. They do this all the time actually. Not saying ma’m and asking teachers for rubbers. Man oh man. I failed to mention that a rubber here is what we call erasers in America. However, it sill got me the first time I heard it and it took special effort to refrain from looking shocked or cracking a smile in the middle of teaching. I go into the schools on Mondays and teach third graders bible lessons during class time for an hour. The government allows you do that here so I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity. I find this to be a neat experience but I’m completely out of my element. I am not destined to become a teacher as this experience has shown me. But I do alright I guess. I would have never dreamed that I would be sitting in a chair while a bunch of third graders gathered around me on the floor, anxiously awaiting what I’m going to say next. Must be the accent.
It’s spring here in Melbourne. I can’t seem to shake the feeling that I’m being robbed of my favorite season of the year; fall. The good thing about Melbourne is that it actually has 4 distinct seasons instead of the typical Texas seasons, kind of hot and hell (saying stolen from Stephen Jones). Each season here gets about 3 months of showtime. The bad thing about Melbourne is that in spring, the wind knocks you down if you are less than 100 pounds (45mph!) and birds try to poke your eyes out with their beaks. You’re having a bad day if you experience both of these simultaneously. Let me explain: In the span of 10 hours I was “dive bombed” by birds on two different occasions. They tried to take my head off. Quite alarmed I asked the locals to explain their strange behavior (Behavior of the birds this time, not the locals.) Apparently it is mating season for a particular bird called a magpie. The magpies are very territorial and if you happen to walk under their nests they try to poke your eyes out or at least get you with their beaks. My goodness even their birds here are dangerous! Aw spring, the season for warm weather, pretty flowers, blue skis and birds that try to poke your eyes out.
I finally got it! Difference between tea, dinner and supper: Read carefully. When someone says “come over and we’ll have tea together tonight” this means we are all going to eat a meal together at night. But if someone says “hey what would you like for supper later tonight?” then they are asking you what you would like for a late night snack. However, you know you hit the jackpot whenever they say “we’re going to give you dinner tonight!” because this means you’re going to get a very nice meal with many courses served. If somebody asks you over for breakfast this means you’re having…….breakfast.
~ I’m just joking about those aforementioned consequences. My mom would never do that! Well actually the chucky cheese paddle is completely true.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Happy Father's Day!!!
Happy Father’s Day!
I believe there comes a time in every person’s life when they realize, at that particular moment, that they must look completely ridiculous. However they fail to do anything about it because they are having so much fun. I must admit that I’ve had more than my fair share of these moments in my own life but one particular instant came up just a few days ago. It involved me being taught an Australian dance by a few 12 year olds while trying to imitate the Australian accent, failing miserably, with icing spread on my face like Indian war paint. I had that moment. You might ask how this comes to be. All I can say is you might be in the same boat if you volunteered to make dessert with a bunch of 12 and 10 year olds. Kids don’t just make dessert and go home. Nope. Kids make dessert, lick the beaters, drop icing all over the floor, have a food fight, spread the icing all over face, learn new dance moves with icing on face, coax double left footed youth leader to learn the same moves, spread icing all over neighbor’s face, attempt to drink raw eggs, make a cooking show and take 108 pictures of the experience. If only I had this much fun every time I cooked. We made a popular Australian dish called “Pavlova”. Everyone was completely amazed that I’ve never even heard of the dish much less tried it. After trying it I decided that I have to move it to my famous "Wagley's top 10” favorite dessert list. It melts in your mouth and contains zero calories. Just playing. But it really does melt in your mouth.
The big expo night went smoothly. We had a turnout of a little over 100 kids. They all seemed to enjoy it. 90% of the kids responded to the “alter call”. I call it “altar call” because I honestly feel like the well intentioned speaker did it in a very deceiving (not intentional) and vague way meaning that most of the kids had no idea what they were doing. It went something like this “and now if you would like to throw away all the baggage in your life to Jesus come to the front and we’ll pray for you. Please Lord accept their baggage.” Since I’m in charge of follow up my main goal will be to clarify a few things and explain what a Christian is and how one becomes a Christian. My job with follow up is to have a weekly session for the kids wishing to know more about what they did and to help them grasp a basic understanding of Christianity. I’ve had the first session already and out of the 80+ kids who came to the front only 3 came back the following week. This might seem like a failure but I have to remind myself that numbers are sometimes an inaccurate way to measure success. Sometimes it’s about sincerity of heart and if we have even one new, serious believer out of our efforts on expo then it’ll be worth it. Plus I’m the type of person to do better in a small atmosphere and frankly I was a little intimated and freaked out about leading a session with 80+ kids. Yet now I’d say that I’m about 90% inspired and 10% overwhelmed about leading this. A great place to be I must say. So I guess we’ll continue to have the sessions once a week and hope and pray that it’ll grow.
~I’ve been having such a great time with my new bike. However, I find it a bit daunting when I continually get passed by old men on mountain bikes that seem to be out on a midday stroll. They smile at my out of breath and sweaty self and say “g’day” as they slowly pass by me. Grrrr
~I’m leading a skit for the youth to do on Sunday morning church. Yes yes I know please don’t laugh. I’ve had absolutely no experience with drama much less leading a team of overly energetic and caffeinated 14 year olds. But all has gone well so far. C’mon what’s the worse that can happen?
~“What are S’mores”? Yes I was actually asked this by several people in response to an idea I had about roasting marshmallows over a camp fire. This question might actually be even more surprising than the “what are hershey bars” question. I thought everyone knew! Yet this time I was more prepared and gave a much better response. It went something like this: “S'more appears to be a contraction of the phrase, "some more". The informal nature of this term reflects the environment in which s'mores are traditionally served and its meaning hints at the desires of campers who are not satisfied by just one s'more. Some have jokingly surmised that the name originated from people who were so busy eating the tasty treat that they did not have time to speak in complete sentences” Just joking. But I did explain it much better.
~I can’t believe that my classes are almost half way over. I’ve really been enjoying them and find that it’s been such a learning experience for me. All my classes consist entirely of essays. This is essentially a good thing because that means there are no late night study sessions but at the same time I feel like half my life is spent writing away (essays, emails, blogs, facebook, etc...) I bet I’ll become quite good at it in the end.
~Happy father’s Day dad! I know we’ve already celebrated it in America but Australians celebrate it today. Sorry mom (or should I say mum?) but mother’s day is the same day in both places.
~If I’m having a phone conversation with an Australian there’s a 90% chance that there will be a miscommunication in one form or another. To be honest, I have trouble understanding Australians as it is but on the phone I don’t have the benefit of reading their lips and smiling sweetly. There’s only so many whats, huhs, and pardons that I can do before I give up. Texts messaging has helped me tremendously.
~I have just returned from the ever popular AFL game. AFL stands for Australian Rules football and everyone here is absolutely crazy about it. September is the most intense month and I can’t go anywhere without hearing about it or seeing both men and women decked out in appeal. The best way to describe it is to say it’s a mix between soccer and football. They do not wear padding or helmets and it’s often called footy for short (Australians shorten everything). The first few days I was here in Australia I kept referring to it as “footsy” instead of footy. Needless to say that’s been taken care of.
~Australia is so stinkin' expensive
~Sometimes it’s not about the things you marked off your list that day but the relationships that you formed or the time spent with someone else.
I believe there comes a time in every person’s life when they realize, at that particular moment, that they must look completely ridiculous. However they fail to do anything about it because they are having so much fun. I must admit that I’ve had more than my fair share of these moments in my own life but one particular instant came up just a few days ago. It involved me being taught an Australian dance by a few 12 year olds while trying to imitate the Australian accent, failing miserably, with icing spread on my face like Indian war paint. I had that moment. You might ask how this comes to be. All I can say is you might be in the same boat if you volunteered to make dessert with a bunch of 12 and 10 year olds. Kids don’t just make dessert and go home. Nope. Kids make dessert, lick the beaters, drop icing all over the floor, have a food fight, spread the icing all over face, learn new dance moves with icing on face, coax double left footed youth leader to learn the same moves, spread icing all over neighbor’s face, attempt to drink raw eggs, make a cooking show and take 108 pictures of the experience. If only I had this much fun every time I cooked. We made a popular Australian dish called “Pavlova”. Everyone was completely amazed that I’ve never even heard of the dish much less tried it. After trying it I decided that I have to move it to my famous "Wagley's top 10” favorite dessert list. It melts in your mouth and contains zero calories. Just playing. But it really does melt in your mouth.
The big expo night went smoothly. We had a turnout of a little over 100 kids. They all seemed to enjoy it. 90% of the kids responded to the “alter call”. I call it “altar call” because I honestly feel like the well intentioned speaker did it in a very deceiving (not intentional) and vague way meaning that most of the kids had no idea what they were doing. It went something like this “and now if you would like to throw away all the baggage in your life to Jesus come to the front and we’ll pray for you. Please Lord accept their baggage.” Since I’m in charge of follow up my main goal will be to clarify a few things and explain what a Christian is and how one becomes a Christian. My job with follow up is to have a weekly session for the kids wishing to know more about what they did and to help them grasp a basic understanding of Christianity. I’ve had the first session already and out of the 80+ kids who came to the front only 3 came back the following week. This might seem like a failure but I have to remind myself that numbers are sometimes an inaccurate way to measure success. Sometimes it’s about sincerity of heart and if we have even one new, serious believer out of our efforts on expo then it’ll be worth it. Plus I’m the type of person to do better in a small atmosphere and frankly I was a little intimated and freaked out about leading a session with 80+ kids. Yet now I’d say that I’m about 90% inspired and 10% overwhelmed about leading this. A great place to be I must say. So I guess we’ll continue to have the sessions once a week and hope and pray that it’ll grow.
~I’ve been having such a great time with my new bike. However, I find it a bit daunting when I continually get passed by old men on mountain bikes that seem to be out on a midday stroll. They smile at my out of breath and sweaty self and say “g’day” as they slowly pass by me. Grrrr
~I’m leading a skit for the youth to do on Sunday morning church. Yes yes I know please don’t laugh. I’ve had absolutely no experience with drama much less leading a team of overly energetic and caffeinated 14 year olds. But all has gone well so far. C’mon what’s the worse that can happen?
~“What are S’mores”? Yes I was actually asked this by several people in response to an idea I had about roasting marshmallows over a camp fire. This question might actually be even more surprising than the “what are hershey bars” question. I thought everyone knew! Yet this time I was more prepared and gave a much better response. It went something like this: “S'more appears to be a contraction of the phrase, "some more". The informal nature of this term reflects the environment in which s'mores are traditionally served and its meaning hints at the desires of campers who are not satisfied by just one s'more. Some have jokingly surmised that the name originated from people who were so busy eating the tasty treat that they did not have time to speak in complete sentences” Just joking. But I did explain it much better.
~I can’t believe that my classes are almost half way over. I’ve really been enjoying them and find that it’s been such a learning experience for me. All my classes consist entirely of essays. This is essentially a good thing because that means there are no late night study sessions but at the same time I feel like half my life is spent writing away (essays, emails, blogs, facebook, etc...) I bet I’ll become quite good at it in the end.
~Happy father’s Day dad! I know we’ve already celebrated it in America but Australians celebrate it today. Sorry mom (or should I say mum?) but mother’s day is the same day in both places.
~If I’m having a phone conversation with an Australian there’s a 90% chance that there will be a miscommunication in one form or another. To be honest, I have trouble understanding Australians as it is but on the phone I don’t have the benefit of reading their lips and smiling sweetly. There’s only so many whats, huhs, and pardons that I can do before I give up. Texts messaging has helped me tremendously.
~I have just returned from the ever popular AFL game. AFL stands for Australian Rules football and everyone here is absolutely crazy about it. September is the most intense month and I can’t go anywhere without hearing about it or seeing both men and women decked out in appeal. The best way to describe it is to say it’s a mix between soccer and football. They do not wear padding or helmets and it’s often called footy for short (Australians shorten everything). The first few days I was here in Australia I kept referring to it as “footsy” instead of footy. Needless to say that’s been taken care of.
~Australia is so stinkin' expensive
~Sometimes it’s not about the things you marked off your list that day but the relationships that you formed or the time spent with someone else.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Jesus and Jack Black
For my 22 birthday my New Zealander host family threw a “barbeque” for me and I got to invite my friends. So basically New Zealanders threw a party for an American who invited a bunch of Australians. Go figure. It’s been a while since I posted but in a nut shell I turned 22 and Stephen got to visit me for two weeks. This had to be my favorite birthday too. I got a super huge stuffed gorilla, soap, raw kangaroo (which I did in fact eat), camel poop (I did not eat!), 2 cakes, and a box of cereal. They literally sang happy birthday to me 3 times throughout the day which meant that I blushed 3 times that day. For the program that night some of the youth showed a video we had made together. It featured me asking one of the boys to pass the ketchup. Since they don’t have ketchup here they pretend to be confused and agreed that we should catch up. “Ketchup!” I say and they then pick up a cat and say oh “cats up!” “No kethchup!” I continue and they proceed to put the cat in a bowl saying “oh cat soup” Quite clever I must say.
The youth seemed to enjoy Stephen quite a bit. Because of his beard many of the kids thought he looked like either Jack Black or Jesus. I tried to throw in George Clooney but they weren’t too keen on that. Together we got to go to the Mornigton Peninsula, an Australian zoo, a ruby game with the pastor, the Victorian market, Frankston, Australia, the beach, and unfortunately the airport as well. I even took him to my classes. The next time I see him will be in four months and I’m not too excited about that fact.
I’m beginning to feel more settled in now. Australians are great at making you feel welcome and they’ve all gone above and beyond for me. I’ve been so thankful for their kindness over these few weeks. I actually remember most people’s names now! I’m learning so much from my classes here and I’m starting to get more involved with everything. I’ve been asked to do several devotionals since I’ve last written and I feel much more comfortable doing them now. I might be teaching Sunday school soon and in the near future I’ll be teaching bible in the schools to 3rd graders. We’ll see how that goes. I find that I grow more when I’m forced to be put out of my comfort zone at least once a day. If you would have told me that I would be doing this kind of stuff a year ago I would have freaked out. But I find that I have the most fun, make the most impact, and grow the most when I agree to do things that are difficult for me to do at first.
Randomness (as always) :
~It never ceases to make my day when I hear an Australian imitate the ever popular Forest Gump. They tend to do this all the time and it sounds nothing like Forest Gump. I’m not too sure what it sounds like actually.
~I don’t understand that 90% of Australians can’t distinguish what type of American accent I have. They don’t hear the twang or the draw. It’s just an American accent to them and they can’t tell a difference from me and a guy from New York city. I find this highly puzzling.
~I’ve just received my new road bike! I got to test ride it today (first sunny day in a while) and it was amazing. Except for the fact that I continued to get passed up by teams of old men and women.
~ Apparently spitting outside is illegal here. At least that’s what the youth told me. But then again they’ve also told me that an elephant is buried under the church and that it’s illegal to not twirl your umbrella.
~However I might believe it because there does seem to be a few weird laws here. You’re not allowed to cut trees down in your own yard! There’s a $20,000 reward for turning in your neighbor who does so. The ironic thing is there was only a $2,000 reward for turning in a dude who heavily assaulted another person. You can’t own a gun except for a few minor exceptions. If you injure a person who breaks inside your house you have a high chance of being sued. I can’t carry maze. If a burglar comes into your backyard and gets bitten by your dog then its big trouble for you.
~ Remember when I said if an Australian invites you over for tea that means dinner? Well it gets even more confusing. Sometimes if they say we’re going to have dinner and it’s 10 at night then that means they want to have a snack. However, if they say “we're going to have dinner tonight at 6” then that most likely means an extremely nice meal with many courses. Yet if they want to have dinner but it’s breakfast time then I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.
~ I’m going to have a very exciting and busy week due to an important event called “Expo”. This is a huge youth rally that our church puts on twice a year. The majority of attendees are unchurched kids. The goal to get them through the door and show them that church isn’t as scary as they though it was. It’s a night of games, food, bands, and a short but hopefully effective talk. We’re all working hard to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it in your prayers.
~ As always thanks for reading my blogs. More to come soon.
The youth seemed to enjoy Stephen quite a bit. Because of his beard many of the kids thought he looked like either Jack Black or Jesus. I tried to throw in George Clooney but they weren’t too keen on that. Together we got to go to the Mornigton Peninsula, an Australian zoo, a ruby game with the pastor, the Victorian market, Frankston, Australia, the beach, and unfortunately the airport as well. I even took him to my classes. The next time I see him will be in four months and I’m not too excited about that fact.
I’m beginning to feel more settled in now. Australians are great at making you feel welcome and they’ve all gone above and beyond for me. I’ve been so thankful for their kindness over these few weeks. I actually remember most people’s names now! I’m learning so much from my classes here and I’m starting to get more involved with everything. I’ve been asked to do several devotionals since I’ve last written and I feel much more comfortable doing them now. I might be teaching Sunday school soon and in the near future I’ll be teaching bible in the schools to 3rd graders. We’ll see how that goes. I find that I grow more when I’m forced to be put out of my comfort zone at least once a day. If you would have told me that I would be doing this kind of stuff a year ago I would have freaked out. But I find that I have the most fun, make the most impact, and grow the most when I agree to do things that are difficult for me to do at first.
Randomness (as always) :
~It never ceases to make my day when I hear an Australian imitate the ever popular Forest Gump. They tend to do this all the time and it sounds nothing like Forest Gump. I’m not too sure what it sounds like actually.
~I don’t understand that 90% of Australians can’t distinguish what type of American accent I have. They don’t hear the twang or the draw. It’s just an American accent to them and they can’t tell a difference from me and a guy from New York city. I find this highly puzzling.
~I’ve just received my new road bike! I got to test ride it today (first sunny day in a while) and it was amazing. Except for the fact that I continued to get passed up by teams of old men and women.
~ Apparently spitting outside is illegal here. At least that’s what the youth told me. But then again they’ve also told me that an elephant is buried under the church and that it’s illegal to not twirl your umbrella.
~However I might believe it because there does seem to be a few weird laws here. You’re not allowed to cut trees down in your own yard! There’s a $20,000 reward for turning in your neighbor who does so. The ironic thing is there was only a $2,000 reward for turning in a dude who heavily assaulted another person. You can’t own a gun except for a few minor exceptions. If you injure a person who breaks inside your house you have a high chance of being sued. I can’t carry maze. If a burglar comes into your backyard and gets bitten by your dog then its big trouble for you.
~ Remember when I said if an Australian invites you over for tea that means dinner? Well it gets even more confusing. Sometimes if they say we’re going to have dinner and it’s 10 at night then that means they want to have a snack. However, if they say “we're going to have dinner tonight at 6” then that most likely means an extremely nice meal with many courses. Yet if they want to have dinner but it’s breakfast time then I have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about.
~ I’m going to have a very exciting and busy week due to an important event called “Expo”. This is a huge youth rally that our church puts on twice a year. The majority of attendees are unchurched kids. The goal to get them through the door and show them that church isn’t as scary as they though it was. It’s a night of games, food, bands, and a short but hopefully effective talk. We’re all working hard to make sure it goes as smoothly as possible. I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it in your prayers.
~ As always thanks for reading my blogs. More to come soon.
Monday, August 17, 2009
4 days or less
Sorry guys! So Stephen came to visit. I therefore have not had the time to sit down and post. I'll get one up here in 4 days or less. Keep looking and thanks so much for reading.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
"What are Hershey Bars?"
During my brief time here I have come to the conclusion that Australians and American candy do not mix. Much in the same way that Americans and the Australian “Vegemite” do go well together. But I’ll get to the second one in a bit. I want to first talk about one of the most amazing and puzzling questions asked to me by Karen, my Australian host (they don’t use Mr. or Mrs. here. Still getting used to that). We were standing in an American food store that she took me to when she preceded to ask me what Hershey bars were. After getting over the shock of the question I sought to find only the best, most elegant and wonderful of words to describe something as magnificently delicious and simplistic as a Hershey Bar. It was my responsibility, my duty, as an upstanding citizen of America to find the perfect expression to do the candy bar justice. “Um… it’s a big chuck of chocolate’ Looking back this wasn’t the most charming of ways to describe something that I find to be so incredibly amazing. It was then that I realized I must buy a pack of my favorite American candies and pass them around to the people that I know. The best American candy is of course a Reese’s (like I had to tell you) so I bought a bunch of Reese’s minis. Clearly no one would know what a Reese’s was. Even the head youth guy at the Church, who owns and runs a candy factory, had never heard of them. However, it seemed like everybody that I gave one to liked it. Success! Well…almost. One of the funniest moments here so far involved me giving a Reese’s to one of my friends. She opened it up and put the whole thing in her mouth. She was really quite for about a minute and I thought to myself “man she must really like it!” Then I noticed that she had this really funny expression on her face. The question that then came out of her mouth was not what I was expecting. “Um is there supposed to be paper in this candy?” Along with the Reese’s she had put the whole outer dark paper in her mouth too! She just thought it was supposed to be dark chocolate.
Note to Self: Do not send parents Australian food in the mail that has been washed once in the laundry. Even if it looks fine there could be soap hidden within the package and they might mistake the soapy taste for the authentic taste of Australian food. Yeah that did happen. I was so excited to mail my family Australian “Vegemite” but I overlooked the fact that I accidentally washed the package of vegemite with my jeans. However, most Americans might agree that Vegemite wouldn’t taste any worse if it had been washed. I also mailed it to Stephen and his family and I think the unanimous opinion was that it made them want to puke. I must admit the stuff is an acquired taste. I had some on my toast this morning and find it quite appetizing.
So I started my first week of classes on Tuesday and I’m going to be so busy! Over the course of 12 weeks along with my homework assignments and readings I will also have to write 11 essays and do one 35 minute presentation. Ha! I was worried that I wouldn’t be busy enough here! Nevertheless, I think I will really enjoy my classes. I’m taking the Gospel of Luke, Youth Ministry, Practical Ministry Awareness and Spirituality. These are all the types of classes that I wanted to take during my time at Ouachita but couldn’t fit into my schedule. I realized late on Sunday night that I had to report to Mitchum Baptist church early on Monday morning for a college meeting. That meant about as much to me as it does to you. I had no idea what and where Mitchum was. I had never heard of this place in my life. I had no car and I can only run so far. Everyone who could help me was already asleep so I just pulled out all the train maps and figured it out myself. I arrived in Mitchum (almost 2 hours away) but then I had to find the specific church in the city. I had no idea how to do this so I just started walking. I stopped random people to ask if they knew where I should go. Eventually I found the place and got there in the nick of time. I must admit I was pretty darn proud of myself for navigating the train system. I believe it makes up for getting completely lost the first time. Like I said I’ve been pretty busy. Some of the stuff that I’m doing in the near future include: cooking Texas Chili for the youth group (never cooked chili in my life), trying to start a new bible study group, getting to know the nursing home residents, coaching a B ball team, planning a 15 minute lesson, getting accredited so I can teach religion in the schools (you can do that in Australia!), helping out with the big expo event, learning how to become a Chaplin for a middle school and going to all the planned youth events throughout the week. Whew! But I’m glad that I’m busy doing stuff I feel is important because I want to make as much of a positive difference as I can. I feel called here for a reason and I’m leaving behind people that I don’t want to leave behind. I want to make the most of my time here so I know that it was all worth it. So far I think I’m doing just that.
Randomness:
~ It rains quite a bit here. I’m so tired of this rainy cold weather! In fact, I find it much harder to adjust to the weather here than almost anything else. I can’t ever seem to get warm! But what don’t kill you….
~ It’s common in Texas to hear the saying “if you don’t like the weather in Texas then wait a day, it’ll change.” Yet in Melbourne it goes more like this, “If you don’t like the weather in Melbourne then wait an hour it’ll change.” In any given day, I’ll wake up to “warm” sunshine, get caught in the rain on my afternoon run, get blown over by the wind on my walk to the coffee shop and watch the stars on a perfectly calm, clear night. Melbourne is called the “four seasons in one day city” and I now see why.
~ We’re having an upcoming “mystery night” for the youth. It involves things like traveling all over the city, finding one of the church members dressed as a leopard and hiding in a store, searching for a kidnapped girl, and running around a mall . I’m excited about that and I think it’s a great way to help reach the youth.
~ Once people find out I’m American (usually after I open my mouth) they generally ask me one of two things. A.) Have you shot a gun? B) What do you think about Obama? Isn’t he amazing? Hmmm……
~Wagley's Wonderful Weekly Australian Slang Lesson:
Wagging= skipping. i.e: Shelby was so excited about the A on her paper that she WAGGED up and down the hall.
Lollies= candy i.e: Matt chose a Heresy bar for his Lollie but Ken decided to go with a Reese’s. NOBODY ever uses the word candy.
Runners= sneakers or Nikes. i.e: To play basketball Mary had to bring her runners.
Floss= cotton candy i.e: At the fair Jenny had so much floss that she threw up on the ride.
Boy= girl. Just playing
~“Who is Helen Keller?” Some friends and I got into a conversation the other day and this is the question that was brought up. What? Helen Keller! So again, it was my duty as an American to find the proper words to describe this incredible women and her amazing achievement. How can I give them an idea of what she means to us Americans? However all I could get out was “um she was some blind and deaf chick who did some cool things.” Fail. Again. Man I gotta get better at describing things that are common knowledge in America.
~ 2 layers of socks, 3 layers of long sleeved shirts, a scarf, gloves, long johns, jeans, and a jacket. On any given day this is my attire. Not that I wear all of these items of clothing every single day but I’ll wear most of it. It’s particularly off-putting when I see a kid half my age running by me in shorts and sandals. It’s not that Australian winters are any colder than Texas winters but the fact that in Texas, people heat their houses and close their doors and windows.
Note to Self: Do not send parents Australian food in the mail that has been washed once in the laundry. Even if it looks fine there could be soap hidden within the package and they might mistake the soapy taste for the authentic taste of Australian food. Yeah that did happen. I was so excited to mail my family Australian “Vegemite” but I overlooked the fact that I accidentally washed the package of vegemite with my jeans. However, most Americans might agree that Vegemite wouldn’t taste any worse if it had been washed. I also mailed it to Stephen and his family and I think the unanimous opinion was that it made them want to puke. I must admit the stuff is an acquired taste. I had some on my toast this morning and find it quite appetizing.
So I started my first week of classes on Tuesday and I’m going to be so busy! Over the course of 12 weeks along with my homework assignments and readings I will also have to write 11 essays and do one 35 minute presentation. Ha! I was worried that I wouldn’t be busy enough here! Nevertheless, I think I will really enjoy my classes. I’m taking the Gospel of Luke, Youth Ministry, Practical Ministry Awareness and Spirituality. These are all the types of classes that I wanted to take during my time at Ouachita but couldn’t fit into my schedule. I realized late on Sunday night that I had to report to Mitchum Baptist church early on Monday morning for a college meeting. That meant about as much to me as it does to you. I had no idea what and where Mitchum was. I had never heard of this place in my life. I had no car and I can only run so far. Everyone who could help me was already asleep so I just pulled out all the train maps and figured it out myself. I arrived in Mitchum (almost 2 hours away) but then I had to find the specific church in the city. I had no idea how to do this so I just started walking. I stopped random people to ask if they knew where I should go. Eventually I found the place and got there in the nick of time. I must admit I was pretty darn proud of myself for navigating the train system. I believe it makes up for getting completely lost the first time. Like I said I’ve been pretty busy. Some of the stuff that I’m doing in the near future include: cooking Texas Chili for the youth group (never cooked chili in my life), trying to start a new bible study group, getting to know the nursing home residents, coaching a B ball team, planning a 15 minute lesson, getting accredited so I can teach religion in the schools (you can do that in Australia!), helping out with the big expo event, learning how to become a Chaplin for a middle school and going to all the planned youth events throughout the week. Whew! But I’m glad that I’m busy doing stuff I feel is important because I want to make as much of a positive difference as I can. I feel called here for a reason and I’m leaving behind people that I don’t want to leave behind. I want to make the most of my time here so I know that it was all worth it. So far I think I’m doing just that.
Randomness:
~ It rains quite a bit here. I’m so tired of this rainy cold weather! In fact, I find it much harder to adjust to the weather here than almost anything else. I can’t ever seem to get warm! But what don’t kill you….
~ It’s common in Texas to hear the saying “if you don’t like the weather in Texas then wait a day, it’ll change.” Yet in Melbourne it goes more like this, “If you don’t like the weather in Melbourne then wait an hour it’ll change.” In any given day, I’ll wake up to “warm” sunshine, get caught in the rain on my afternoon run, get blown over by the wind on my walk to the coffee shop and watch the stars on a perfectly calm, clear night. Melbourne is called the “four seasons in one day city” and I now see why.
~ We’re having an upcoming “mystery night” for the youth. It involves things like traveling all over the city, finding one of the church members dressed as a leopard and hiding in a store, searching for a kidnapped girl, and running around a mall . I’m excited about that and I think it’s a great way to help reach the youth.
~ Once people find out I’m American (usually after I open my mouth) they generally ask me one of two things. A.) Have you shot a gun? B) What do you think about Obama? Isn’t he amazing? Hmmm……
~Wagley's Wonderful Weekly Australian Slang Lesson:
Wagging= skipping. i.e: Shelby was so excited about the A on her paper that she WAGGED up and down the hall.
Lollies= candy i.e: Matt chose a Heresy bar for his Lollie but Ken decided to go with a Reese’s. NOBODY ever uses the word candy.
Runners= sneakers or Nikes. i.e: To play basketball Mary had to bring her runners.
Floss= cotton candy i.e: At the fair Jenny had so much floss that she threw up on the ride.
Boy= girl. Just playing
~“Who is Helen Keller?” Some friends and I got into a conversation the other day and this is the question that was brought up. What? Helen Keller! So again, it was my duty as an American to find the proper words to describe this incredible women and her amazing achievement. How can I give them an idea of what she means to us Americans? However all I could get out was “um she was some blind and deaf chick who did some cool things.” Fail. Again. Man I gotta get better at describing things that are common knowledge in America.
~ 2 layers of socks, 3 layers of long sleeved shirts, a scarf, gloves, long johns, jeans, and a jacket. On any given day this is my attire. Not that I wear all of these items of clothing every single day but I’ll wear most of it. It’s particularly off-putting when I see a kid half my age running by me in shorts and sandals. It’s not that Australian winters are any colder than Texas winters but the fact that in Texas, people heat their houses and close their doors and windows.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
I Don't Get Australian Humor (Warning: Very Random Blog)
What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor? Help I can’t find my tractor. What? I don’t get this. Australian humor is a very complicated thing and I can only hope to progress (or is it regress?)to that level of understanding during my year here. Ha! I find that I am quickly adjusting to my new way of life. The thick, unique Australian accent is becoming much less noticeable. Now when I speak to people here I think their accent sounds completely normal (what is normal anyhow?). Just the other day I was talking to two girls for a while. One of them eventually told me that they were Americans and had just come to this country to visit. I didn’t notice their lack of Australian accent because it's become so familiar to me! I suppose the next step is to actually sound like one myself. Hmmm that should be interesting. I’ll call it the Australian twang.
Australia still seems like some huge, unfamiliar country where almost anything can happen. However, I think that this makes it more interesting. One of my favorite things to do is to tour the city during my runs and get to know the place I live in. It’s great because I almost never run in the same place twice. I actually live on the outskirts of the city so it’s not so overwhelming to a small town girl such as myself. The most amazing thing is that I live 1200 meters from the beach, a mile away from a huge shopping centre, a mere walk to some quant shops and bakery’s, and right by a few ethnic food places. I find that almost all the restaurants here are privately owned. In fact, the only restaurant I’ve seen that I actually recognize as a chain is TGI Fridays. The rest feature authentic, ethnic cuisine like Thai, Turkish, Greek, Indian, and Middle Eastern food which seems to be conveniently placed by my house. This fact makes me happier than a kid at Christmas.
My youth job seems to be pretty busy but not completely overwhelming. I’m really enjoying getting to know the kids. They’re all great. It’s been a great experience and I’m just trying to build relationships and become somebody that they can come to. And guess what? I’m coaching a girl’s basketball team! Don’t laugh. I know, I know. Most of you have seen me play basketball but this doesn’t mean that I can’t be a good coach. Right? In America, some people would say to me “you’re tall, you must be good at basketball”. But here it’s a bit different. The Australians say “You’re American, you must play basketball.” Unfortunately both groups are wrong and this example just goes to show that assumptions are almost never true. I think I should have a microphone of something when I coach during a game because I’m so quite nobody can hear a word I say. And if they could they still wouldn’t understand it. “Um put your hands up, grab that thing. Yeah I mean the ball. Run fast. You’re the post guard now. Um… I mean point guard. No I mean post. Run fast. Go. Jump high. Punch her in the face” I’m joking about the last one.
“Um… we usually don’t put our feet on the subway seats.” These are the words spoken by my kind Australian friend after I had used the subway seat in front of me as a foot rest for over 10 minutes. I was wondering why she kept looking at my shoes. I thought she was just interested in my super cool cowboy boots. Apparently here in Australia putting your feet on things other than the floor is seen as extremely rude. Oops. I’ve also found that I tend to have some trouble identifying the appropriate bill I should give the cashier. Their money looks so different. It’s extremely colorful, completely wrinkle free and much better looking. Coins here go up to $2. I dread buying something in a store because I fumble with the bills for a while before I decide which one to use.
Randomness:
~ To get a better idea of Australia, it’s best to think of it like America except everything is mini size. The food portions are much smaller and in turn the people are generally smaller (weigh less). Coffee cups are mini size. Sometimes I want to look at the food and say “well that looks nice but do you have something other than the sample”. LOL. The trash cans are mini size! It might hold 2 egg cartons. The grocery stores are much smaller but don’t necessarily have less stuff. Everything is just crammed into a smaller space and people tend to have trouble getting their buggies down the isle.
~ I’ve seen one pickup truck since I’ve been here.
~ I get to do a little nursing home visitation in some of my time and it’s been so much fun. There’s something unique about visiting people that have lived all of their 95 years of life in Australia. They can tell me so much about Australian history plus they love my accent!
~ I seem to become quite enamored with the grocery stores here. They’re a bit different than in America. There is one by my house and I sometimes just go in it to stare at everything. There are so many different types of food! I’m sure the people there think I’m such a weirdo. Some random girl who just stands there and stares at food for long periods of time. That’s me.
~ Oatmeal is called portage, trash cans are called rubage or dust bins (never ever trash cans) shady or creepy is called dodgy, sidewalks are called walk paths, and flashlights are called torches. More to come later.
~I have liked every new Australian food that I have tried. Except one thing: pumpkin. Not pumpkin pie mind you. The Australians eat pumpkin all the time and I just can’t seem to get that stuff down. I even like something called Vegemite and eat it on my toast regularly. It’s a type of spread and I’ve never tasted anything remotely like it before. The Australians said that I was the first American to actually like it. But please keep the Pumpkin.
~ I’ve never been much of a soda drinker before but I’ve fallen in love with a particular soft drink called solo. It’s hands down the best drink I’ve ever had before.
~ Australians tend to be quite lax about all these dangerous creatures living around them. Just the other day this guy in my youth group nonchalantly told me how he picked up a brick, put it down and saw the there was a Redback spider sitting right by his hand the whole time. They say the Redback spider is the 2nd deadliest spider in the world. Second deadliest! They also have these jellyfish swimming around their oceans that can supposedly kill you with one sting.
~ I tend to forget my camera everywhere I go! I hate this because I’ve seen so many cool things but I can’t even take a picture of it! I’ll try to be better about this.
Australia still seems like some huge, unfamiliar country where almost anything can happen. However, I think that this makes it more interesting. One of my favorite things to do is to tour the city during my runs and get to know the place I live in. It’s great because I almost never run in the same place twice. I actually live on the outskirts of the city so it’s not so overwhelming to a small town girl such as myself. The most amazing thing is that I live 1200 meters from the beach, a mile away from a huge shopping centre, a mere walk to some quant shops and bakery’s, and right by a few ethnic food places. I find that almost all the restaurants here are privately owned. In fact, the only restaurant I’ve seen that I actually recognize as a chain is TGI Fridays. The rest feature authentic, ethnic cuisine like Thai, Turkish, Greek, Indian, and Middle Eastern food which seems to be conveniently placed by my house. This fact makes me happier than a kid at Christmas.
My youth job seems to be pretty busy but not completely overwhelming. I’m really enjoying getting to know the kids. They’re all great. It’s been a great experience and I’m just trying to build relationships and become somebody that they can come to. And guess what? I’m coaching a girl’s basketball team! Don’t laugh. I know, I know. Most of you have seen me play basketball but this doesn’t mean that I can’t be a good coach. Right? In America, some people would say to me “you’re tall, you must be good at basketball”. But here it’s a bit different. The Australians say “You’re American, you must play basketball.” Unfortunately both groups are wrong and this example just goes to show that assumptions are almost never true. I think I should have a microphone of something when I coach during a game because I’m so quite nobody can hear a word I say. And if they could they still wouldn’t understand it. “Um put your hands up, grab that thing. Yeah I mean the ball. Run fast. You’re the post guard now. Um… I mean point guard. No I mean post. Run fast. Go. Jump high. Punch her in the face” I’m joking about the last one.
“Um… we usually don’t put our feet on the subway seats.” These are the words spoken by my kind Australian friend after I had used the subway seat in front of me as a foot rest for over 10 minutes. I was wondering why she kept looking at my shoes. I thought she was just interested in my super cool cowboy boots. Apparently here in Australia putting your feet on things other than the floor is seen as extremely rude. Oops. I’ve also found that I tend to have some trouble identifying the appropriate bill I should give the cashier. Their money looks so different. It’s extremely colorful, completely wrinkle free and much better looking. Coins here go up to $2. I dread buying something in a store because I fumble with the bills for a while before I decide which one to use.
Randomness:
~ To get a better idea of Australia, it’s best to think of it like America except everything is mini size. The food portions are much smaller and in turn the people are generally smaller (weigh less). Coffee cups are mini size. Sometimes I want to look at the food and say “well that looks nice but do you have something other than the sample”. LOL. The trash cans are mini size! It might hold 2 egg cartons. The grocery stores are much smaller but don’t necessarily have less stuff. Everything is just crammed into a smaller space and people tend to have trouble getting their buggies down the isle.
~ I’ve seen one pickup truck since I’ve been here.
~ I get to do a little nursing home visitation in some of my time and it’s been so much fun. There’s something unique about visiting people that have lived all of their 95 years of life in Australia. They can tell me so much about Australian history plus they love my accent!
~ I seem to become quite enamored with the grocery stores here. They’re a bit different than in America. There is one by my house and I sometimes just go in it to stare at everything. There are so many different types of food! I’m sure the people there think I’m such a weirdo. Some random girl who just stands there and stares at food for long periods of time. That’s me.
~ Oatmeal is called portage, trash cans are called rubage or dust bins (never ever trash cans) shady or creepy is called dodgy, sidewalks are called walk paths, and flashlights are called torches. More to come later.
~I have liked every new Australian food that I have tried. Except one thing: pumpkin. Not pumpkin pie mind you. The Australians eat pumpkin all the time and I just can’t seem to get that stuff down. I even like something called Vegemite and eat it on my toast regularly. It’s a type of spread and I’ve never tasted anything remotely like it before. The Australians said that I was the first American to actually like it. But please keep the Pumpkin.
~ I’ve never been much of a soda drinker before but I’ve fallen in love with a particular soft drink called solo. It’s hands down the best drink I’ve ever had before.
~ Australians tend to be quite lax about all these dangerous creatures living around them. Just the other day this guy in my youth group nonchalantly told me how he picked up a brick, put it down and saw the there was a Redback spider sitting right by his hand the whole time. They say the Redback spider is the 2nd deadliest spider in the world. Second deadliest! They also have these jellyfish swimming around their oceans that can supposedly kill you with one sting.
~ I tend to forget my camera everywhere I go! I hate this because I’ve seen so many cool things but I can’t even take a picture of it! I’ll try to be better about this.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Australians like Texas Accents. (Warning: VERY LONG POST)
Jet lag is worse than being kicked by a kangaroo. I have come to this conclusion not by being kicked by a kangaroo but rater by experiencing jet lag to its fullest. How do I know this then? Well I’ve seen kangaroos and I have seen their feet which leads me to wonder if I would trade in the feeling of jet lag for the sensation of being kicked by a kangaroo. I might change my mind if for some reason a kangaroo ever actually decides to be so kind as to kick me but for now I’m going to go with that. I usually do not write such strange things in a blog post nor do I really think of such things on a regular basis. However, I think I’ll go ahead and blame it on jet lag. In fact, I’ll go ahead and blame every crazy thing I’ve done these past few days on the awful, awe-inspiring feeling of jet lag.
I have attempted more than half a dozen times to get into the drivers seat when someone takes me for a drive. (Aussies drive on the left side and therefore the steering wheel is on the right side) I have also let out a high pitched yell and covered my face when my friend proceeded to drive on the left side of the road. Why did I do this? Um….jet lag? Less than 24 hours after arriving to Australia I was asked to say a few words in front of the whole church. Everyone was sitting in silent anticipation waiting for the American to say something thought provoking. Um… did I mention I was jet lagged? I actually ended up rambling on to the congregation about how I lived in Louisiana for many years (this had nothing to do with what I was supposed to talk about). I believe I used the phase “I’m really excited to be here” about 13 times during my talk. Right before I was called to talk I had to leave the congregation because of a spontaneous coughing fit. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the last time I had a crazy coughing fit. I also did it on the first day of classes. Yep, jet lag.
The other day I decided to take a train home from the camp that I went to for a week (very good camp btw). Granted I have never used the train before as transportation system but it did seem to be a good idea at the time. It wasn’t. Long story short I took the wrong train, ended up in some random town that had graffiti all over the walls, all the while carrying a 45 pound bag on my back and accidentally knocking over anyone crazy enough to get in my way. But a few hours later I was safely back in the home that I was supposed to be in. In the end it was a good experience for me because it taught me how to get around and rely on myself. Jet lag? Um…yep sure. I also attempted to tell my youth minister and his family a joke from America. Note here that the same meaning applies for the slang term “crabs” in America as well as in Australia (do I really have to explain further?). I’m sure everyone knows this joke. Why don’t crabs share? Because they are shellfish! Well that’s not exactly how I said it. Nope. I proceeded to ask the youth pastor “why don’t we share crabs here?” Jet lag!!! Unfortunately, I’m only able to milk the excuse of jet lag for so long. By the time my next post comes along I would have already recovered and would then have to be fully accountable for my actions. Well I suppose I can always use the justification of “oh that’s just what we do in America” for every single embarrassing thing that I end up saying or doing. Eventually though they are bound to figure out that most of the stuff I do is just because I’m Hannah Wagley.
Since I’m an observer I have found some random tidbits of knowledge during my first week here that I hope you find interesting:
~ Australians are tough, Texans are wimpy. Not really but I have found this to be true when it comes to warming houses in the winter. It is so cold everywhere I go (it’s winter here now). Australians don’t really heat their house very much. I don’t believe many houses have central heating. In fact the normal temperature in most houses is around 50-58 F. This is nuts! And they leave windows and doors open all the time! It’s winter here! Winter!
~ Don’t get excited (like I did) when you weigh yourself on a scale and find the number is 53. This is not pounds! It’s kilograms. Australians also use KJ instead of calories, litters instead of gallons; centimeters instead of inches (ask someone how tall they are. It’s in centimeters!), kilometers instead of miles, and probably most importantly, Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. So again, don’t get excited like I did when you see the speed limit is 100.
~ When someone says “would you like to have tea at my house tonight” this means that they have invited you for supper. Not tea. When someone says “we didn’t get any morning tea” this means that they missed breakfast. However, when someone says “lets have a cup of tea” (which they do quite often) then this means lets have a cup of tea. But sometimes this means lets have a snack and no tea is ever actually served. Very confusing.
~Iced tea is unheard of. Chicken fried steak is unheard of. Fried catfish is unheard of! Ahhhhh! No one that I have talked to yet has ever actually heard of fried okra or even okra for that matter.
~ I’ve never seen so many cyclists and runners in my life. These people are crazy. I live close to the beach and at certain times of the day cars can hardly get past the cyclists on the roads. They are everywhere! I love it.
~ Australians seem to drink from the tiniest cups I’ve ever seen. During a meal I’ll get up several times just to refill my cup. For the most part, Australians don’t really drink with their meals. There’s been many meals that I’ve had were I was dying of thirst and there didn’t seem to be any cups or liquid around.
~ Apparently it rarely rains where I live. And the city of Melbourne doesn’t have many water reservoirs. This means they have very little water to spare. It is strongly suggested by the government that we can only have three minute showers. I’ve noticed how people here go to great lengths to conserve the water. I’ve never seen so many dirty cars. My host family will take the water from the bathtub they used via bucket and put it in their garden. I have yet to see a sprinkler in the yard. Hmmm….maybe this explains why they have such small cups?
~ Australians don’t tip (for the most part). Not even in restaurants. Most waiters make more than $15 an hour so it’s not necessary. This is the way to go!
~ “How did you go? or “How are you going” This was a confusing phrase b/c it wasn’t used in the context I was familiar with. When Aussies say this it means “how did you do?” or “how are you”
~ If you meet a girl in Australia there’s a 50% chance that her name is Kate. Well I’m exaggerating quite a bit but I’ve never met so many girls named Kate (Kat, Katharine, Katy, etc…) than I ever have before.
~Austrian coffee is so much better than American coffee. I’m a bit of a coffee addict and much to my extreme delight I have found that Australian coffee shop coffee is much better tasting than American coffee. However, when they make coffee within their houses it is much different and worse than drip coffee in America. Everyone does powder coffee instead of the real stuff from coffee machines.
~ Australians love Texas accents! I thought they might.
I love Australia and the differences in culture. Australians are some of the nicest, friendliest people you will ever come across. I look forward to my time here and writing about everything I have learned and observed.
I have attempted more than half a dozen times to get into the drivers seat when someone takes me for a drive. (Aussies drive on the left side and therefore the steering wheel is on the right side) I have also let out a high pitched yell and covered my face when my friend proceeded to drive on the left side of the road. Why did I do this? Um….jet lag? Less than 24 hours after arriving to Australia I was asked to say a few words in front of the whole church. Everyone was sitting in silent anticipation waiting for the American to say something thought provoking. Um… did I mention I was jet lagged? I actually ended up rambling on to the congregation about how I lived in Louisiana for many years (this had nothing to do with what I was supposed to talk about). I believe I used the phase “I’m really excited to be here” about 13 times during my talk. Right before I was called to talk I had to leave the congregation because of a spontaneous coughing fit. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the last time I had a crazy coughing fit. I also did it on the first day of classes. Yep, jet lag.
The other day I decided to take a train home from the camp that I went to for a week (very good camp btw). Granted I have never used the train before as transportation system but it did seem to be a good idea at the time. It wasn’t. Long story short I took the wrong train, ended up in some random town that had graffiti all over the walls, all the while carrying a 45 pound bag on my back and accidentally knocking over anyone crazy enough to get in my way. But a few hours later I was safely back in the home that I was supposed to be in. In the end it was a good experience for me because it taught me how to get around and rely on myself. Jet lag? Um…yep sure. I also attempted to tell my youth minister and his family a joke from America. Note here that the same meaning applies for the slang term “crabs” in America as well as in Australia (do I really have to explain further?). I’m sure everyone knows this joke. Why don’t crabs share? Because they are shellfish! Well that’s not exactly how I said it. Nope. I proceeded to ask the youth pastor “why don’t we share crabs here?” Jet lag!!! Unfortunately, I’m only able to milk the excuse of jet lag for so long. By the time my next post comes along I would have already recovered and would then have to be fully accountable for my actions. Well I suppose I can always use the justification of “oh that’s just what we do in America” for every single embarrassing thing that I end up saying or doing. Eventually though they are bound to figure out that most of the stuff I do is just because I’m Hannah Wagley.
Since I’m an observer I have found some random tidbits of knowledge during my first week here that I hope you find interesting:
~ Australians are tough, Texans are wimpy. Not really but I have found this to be true when it comes to warming houses in the winter. It is so cold everywhere I go (it’s winter here now). Australians don’t really heat their house very much. I don’t believe many houses have central heating. In fact the normal temperature in most houses is around 50-58 F. This is nuts! And they leave windows and doors open all the time! It’s winter here! Winter!
~ Don’t get excited (like I did) when you weigh yourself on a scale and find the number is 53. This is not pounds! It’s kilograms. Australians also use KJ instead of calories, litters instead of gallons; centimeters instead of inches (ask someone how tall they are. It’s in centimeters!), kilometers instead of miles, and probably most importantly, Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. So again, don’t get excited like I did when you see the speed limit is 100.
~ When someone says “would you like to have tea at my house tonight” this means that they have invited you for supper. Not tea. When someone says “we didn’t get any morning tea” this means that they missed breakfast. However, when someone says “lets have a cup of tea” (which they do quite often) then this means lets have a cup of tea. But sometimes this means lets have a snack and no tea is ever actually served. Very confusing.
~Iced tea is unheard of. Chicken fried steak is unheard of. Fried catfish is unheard of! Ahhhhh! No one that I have talked to yet has ever actually heard of fried okra or even okra for that matter.
~ I’ve never seen so many cyclists and runners in my life. These people are crazy. I live close to the beach and at certain times of the day cars can hardly get past the cyclists on the roads. They are everywhere! I love it.
~ Australians seem to drink from the tiniest cups I’ve ever seen. During a meal I’ll get up several times just to refill my cup. For the most part, Australians don’t really drink with their meals. There’s been many meals that I’ve had were I was dying of thirst and there didn’t seem to be any cups or liquid around.
~ Apparently it rarely rains where I live. And the city of Melbourne doesn’t have many water reservoirs. This means they have very little water to spare. It is strongly suggested by the government that we can only have three minute showers. I’ve noticed how people here go to great lengths to conserve the water. I’ve never seen so many dirty cars. My host family will take the water from the bathtub they used via bucket and put it in their garden. I have yet to see a sprinkler in the yard. Hmmm….maybe this explains why they have such small cups?
~ Australians don’t tip (for the most part). Not even in restaurants. Most waiters make more than $15 an hour so it’s not necessary. This is the way to go!
~ “How did you go? or “How are you going” This was a confusing phrase b/c it wasn’t used in the context I was familiar with. When Aussies say this it means “how did you do?” or “how are you”
~ If you meet a girl in Australia there’s a 50% chance that her name is Kate. Well I’m exaggerating quite a bit but I’ve never met so many girls named Kate (Kat, Katharine, Katy, etc…) than I ever have before.
~Austrian coffee is so much better than American coffee. I’m a bit of a coffee addict and much to my extreme delight I have found that Australian coffee shop coffee is much better tasting than American coffee. However, when they make coffee within their houses it is much different and worse than drip coffee in America. Everyone does powder coffee instead of the real stuff from coffee machines.
~ Australians love Texas accents! I thought they might.
I love Australia and the differences in culture. Australians are some of the nicest, friendliest people you will ever come across. I look forward to my time here and writing about everything I have learned and observed.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
I’M GOING TO LIVE IN AUSTRALIA!
I have this life list. On it are a few things that I would like to do before I die. It might be more appropriate to call it my bucket list but life sounds much less morbid. I just realized this, but since I have turned 21 I have been able to accomplish four of those life list goals. In the span of a year I have (in order) biked across America, ran a marathon, graduated college, and now I’m going to go live in another country. Australia! I can’t wait to see what my 22nd year brings. Man I must say God is good.
Life is crazy. I think that my initial Bike and Build “Sea to Sea” blog title was much more fitting than I would have ever thought. I leave to go to Australia today. Today! I’ll stay and work in Melbourne, Australia for a year as a youth ministry intern. I’ll also attend college there and study Bible classes. I’m pretty excited but also fairly nervous. I’m sure there will be plenty of ups and downs along the way (leaving certain people) but I’m ready to ride both. I’ve always been one for adventure so I think that this experience will be as my grandma would say “right up my ally”.
So I’m going to use this blog to cover my times and experiences while I’m in Australia. I’ll do my best to keep it interesting. My goal is to update once a week but there will be times when I write more than that. I just felt that this was the best way to share with my family and friends of my time in Australia. To be honest, I think this blog will be anything but boring if I just keep doing what I do. For those who know me well (or at all) then you know exactly what I mean. For those who don’t, um… I tend to make um… “ditzy” (I hate that word) mistakes especially when it comes to navigating myself through a big city. I’ve lived in a small town my entire life. It’s safe to say that my big city navigating skills are a kin to Barney on the Andy Griffith Show. Great. I’m coming from a town of 2,000 people and moving to a city of 4 million! C’mon this is the girl who has a whole post dedicated to getting lost in Dallas for 2 hours, barely making it to her Peace Corps interview, and then accidentally winding up in the HOV lane on the way back while wondering if that was the lane for blind people (see previous post). Um yep I’ll have plenty of stories to tell. Besides doing stuff like that from time to time just makes life more interesting, right? Well I’m sure my next post will be from the great land of Australia so stay tuned. I've got a 20 hour plane ride to get through and I barely slept a wink last night. Joy.
P.S: For those who were wondering, I did finally get accepted to the Peace Corps but have declined. They wanted me to go to Namibia. I felt that right now Australia was the best place for me to be.
NEAT FACT: I have grown up in the small town of Frankston, Texas most of my life. There is only one other town named Frankston in the entire world. And do you know where that would be located? Four miles down the road from me in Australia! The irony is crazy. I go half way around the world and still end up being only a few miles from the name of my town.
Life is crazy. I think that my initial Bike and Build “Sea to Sea” blog title was much more fitting than I would have ever thought. I leave to go to Australia today. Today! I’ll stay and work in Melbourne, Australia for a year as a youth ministry intern. I’ll also attend college there and study Bible classes. I’m pretty excited but also fairly nervous. I’m sure there will be plenty of ups and downs along the way (leaving certain people) but I’m ready to ride both. I’ve always been one for adventure so I think that this experience will be as my grandma would say “right up my ally”.
So I’m going to use this blog to cover my times and experiences while I’m in Australia. I’ll do my best to keep it interesting. My goal is to update once a week but there will be times when I write more than that. I just felt that this was the best way to share with my family and friends of my time in Australia. To be honest, I think this blog will be anything but boring if I just keep doing what I do. For those who know me well (or at all) then you know exactly what I mean. For those who don’t, um… I tend to make um… “ditzy” (I hate that word) mistakes especially when it comes to navigating myself through a big city. I’ve lived in a small town my entire life. It’s safe to say that my big city navigating skills are a kin to Barney on the Andy Griffith Show. Great. I’m coming from a town of 2,000 people and moving to a city of 4 million! C’mon this is the girl who has a whole post dedicated to getting lost in Dallas for 2 hours, barely making it to her Peace Corps interview, and then accidentally winding up in the HOV lane on the way back while wondering if that was the lane for blind people (see previous post). Um yep I’ll have plenty of stories to tell. Besides doing stuff like that from time to time just makes life more interesting, right? Well I’m sure my next post will be from the great land of Australia so stay tuned. I've got a 20 hour plane ride to get through and I barely slept a wink last night. Joy.
P.S: For those who were wondering, I did finally get accepted to the Peace Corps but have declined. They wanted me to go to Namibia. I felt that right now Australia was the best place for me to be.
NEAT FACT: I have grown up in the small town of Frankston, Texas most of my life. There is only one other town named Frankston in the entire world. And do you know where that would be located? Four miles down the road from me in Australia! The irony is crazy. I go half way around the world and still end up being only a few miles from the name of my town.
Friday, November 7, 2008
City Streets make me weep
Here’s an update on my life: So, it looks like there’s a high possibility that I’m going into the Peace Corps. I went for the interview yesterday (more on that later) and got my nomination today. For those who do not know, a nomination means that my recruiter found a spot for me in a certain region of the country that needs my skills. I’ve been told that I’ll be sent to sub-Saharan Africa to (country unknown for now) and the date of my departure is around mid-July. Although my exact job isn’t know yet, it will require biology skills that I’ve developed through majoring in biology. Of course, the dates, region, and job are tentative as of right now but there is a high possibility that I will be sent to do this. So really whether I get the volunteer position or not mainly depends if I get cleared medically and how fast I do this. So what’s next?: the intense and selective medical clearance. Their picky about who they select because they want to make sure that you’re healthy enough to live in a devolving country for two years and be able to survive getting sick many times over (it’ll happen). It’s know to be extremely time consuming. Yet it comes at a great time in the semester because I’ll have a month off for Christmas break soon to work on it. And to be honest I’m not too worried about getting medically cleared. C’mon I just biked across the country. I can handle it.
This next part will either make you laugh or make you think I’m the biggest idiot in the world. Or both. I think the actual job interview itself went well. I was pretty nervous this week because I’ve never been in such an intensive interview before. My past “interviews” went something like this: “You want to work here? You look normal. Ok cool you’re hired.” The PC interview lasted 1hr and 45 minutes and was more intense than I’m used to. But I didn’t get worked up and answered the questions well. Unfortunately, the job interview was the least stressful part of my day. The act of getting there made me want to shoot myself in the foot. I never have nor will I ever live in a city. Ever. It was estimated to be a 4 hour drive but I left 6 hours ahead of time just in case something happened. And something happed. Actually a lot of somethings happened. Of course I took a wrong turn and was completely lost. But no worries b/c I had hours to find the place. After a lot of yelling, close calls, dumb one way streets, and cursing of road signs, I finally found the address. And kept going. And going. Because where does one find parking in this place? A mile later I finally found parking in some sketchy part of town and then high-tailed it in my business suit and high heels through the ghetto…… ignoring the stares. Naturally I couldn’t find the building I was supposed to be in but after asking random people I finally found it. 5 minutes until interview time. I set off the security alarms. I ran into random people. I found the office! 1 minute until interview time. 1 minute! Never have I used the phrase “in the nick of time” and meant it more than I do now. As I was signing in the interviewer came to get me. To think if I had just one more red light I would have been late. Getting back home was easy compared to getting there. I just ended up in the car pool lane. No clue how I got there. I had no idea what the “hov” lane was. A lane for blind people? All I knew is I wasn’t supposed to be there due to the many car honks I received by those stuck in rush hour. After frantically calling my dad and asking what “hov” meant I then gratefully found an exit and escaped ticket free. What a day. But at least I can laugh about it (hysterically) which is one of the main traits they look for in the Peace Corps. Ability to laugh in tough situations. Maybe I’m meant for it after all.
In other news I’m starting my official marathon training on Monday because our last cross country race is tomorrow. I guess running cross country the past few months gives me a great base for starting. I think I’ll essentially just slowly double what I’ve been doing so I have enough endurance to finish. That’s my goal, to finish. Not to get an amazing time but to cross the finish line in one piece and mentally sane. And I think wanting to be mentally sane is pushing it. Ok maybe I’ll just hope to be in one piece. The more I think about it being slightly insane is a requirement if you want to run a marathon. Sane people wouldn’t really attempt to run 26.2 miles.
This next part will either make you laugh or make you think I’m the biggest idiot in the world. Or both. I think the actual job interview itself went well. I was pretty nervous this week because I’ve never been in such an intensive interview before. My past “interviews” went something like this: “You want to work here? You look normal. Ok cool you’re hired.” The PC interview lasted 1hr and 45 minutes and was more intense than I’m used to. But I didn’t get worked up and answered the questions well. Unfortunately, the job interview was the least stressful part of my day. The act of getting there made me want to shoot myself in the foot. I never have nor will I ever live in a city. Ever. It was estimated to be a 4 hour drive but I left 6 hours ahead of time just in case something happened. And something happed. Actually a lot of somethings happened. Of course I took a wrong turn and was completely lost. But no worries b/c I had hours to find the place. After a lot of yelling, close calls, dumb one way streets, and cursing of road signs, I finally found the address. And kept going. And going. Because where does one find parking in this place? A mile later I finally found parking in some sketchy part of town and then high-tailed it in my business suit and high heels through the ghetto…… ignoring the stares. Naturally I couldn’t find the building I was supposed to be in but after asking random people I finally found it. 5 minutes until interview time. I set off the security alarms. I ran into random people. I found the office! 1 minute until interview time. 1 minute! Never have I used the phrase “in the nick of time” and meant it more than I do now. As I was signing in the interviewer came to get me. To think if I had just one more red light I would have been late. Getting back home was easy compared to getting there. I just ended up in the car pool lane. No clue how I got there. I had no idea what the “hov” lane was. A lane for blind people? All I knew is I wasn’t supposed to be there due to the many car honks I received by those stuck in rush hour. After frantically calling my dad and asking what “hov” meant I then gratefully found an exit and escaped ticket free. What a day. But at least I can laugh about it (hysterically) which is one of the main traits they look for in the Peace Corps. Ability to laugh in tough situations. Maybe I’m meant for it after all.
In other news I’m starting my official marathon training on Monday because our last cross country race is tomorrow. I guess running cross country the past few months gives me a great base for starting. I think I’ll essentially just slowly double what I’ve been doing so I have enough endurance to finish. That’s my goal, to finish. Not to get an amazing time but to cross the finish line in one piece and mentally sane. And I think wanting to be mentally sane is pushing it. Ok maybe I’ll just hope to be in one piece. The more I think about it being slightly insane is a requirement if you want to run a marathon. Sane people wouldn’t really attempt to run 26.2 miles.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Update
The whole marathon training thing isn’t going so well because apparently you actually have to run in order to train. The first two weeks of practice I injured my back (SI joint) from overuse and am now slowing trying to get back (no pun intended). One hypothesis from the Athletic trainer is that I might have gotten my back out of line from being hunched over all summer on a bike. Go figure. Ironically, I’m back to road biking but only after I convinced the Athletic trainers that I would rather dip my hand in hot, boiling lava than ride a stationary bike for recovery.
Spending 7 + hours a day biking across the country really gives one time to think. Some of that time was spent thinking about what I am going to do after graduation. After talking to others on the trip and researching it, I’m seriously considering the peace core as my next step. Why not? I’m young, adventures, and able to adjust to uncomfortable situations quite comfortably. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do so I should just go for it. I’m almost finished with my application and if all works out then I could very well be overseas at this time next year.
This past weekend I went and visited Jeff Hunt, a real good bike friend from this summer. He’s from Oregon but his grandma has some relatives down in Missouri so he got “convinced” (funny story how this convincing took place actually) to take her down to visit his all his non-relatives. The weekend was spent with much catching up, much fun, and many old people. Good times.
Other than that I haven’t had time for much else. With 6 am practices, 18hrs of classes (that rhymes), and work, I’ve hardly been able to breath.
Spending 7 + hours a day biking across the country really gives one time to think. Some of that time was spent thinking about what I am going to do after graduation. After talking to others on the trip and researching it, I’m seriously considering the peace core as my next step. Why not? I’m young, adventures, and able to adjust to uncomfortable situations quite comfortably. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do so I should just go for it. I’m almost finished with my application and if all works out then I could very well be overseas at this time next year.
This past weekend I went and visited Jeff Hunt, a real good bike friend from this summer. He’s from Oregon but his grandma has some relatives down in Missouri so he got “convinced” (funny story how this convincing took place actually) to take her down to visit his all his non-relatives. The weekend was spent with much catching up, much fun, and many old people. Good times.
Other than that I haven’t had time for much else. With 6 am practices, 18hrs of classes (that rhymes), and work, I’ve hardly been able to breath.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Roxanne you don’t have to put on that red dress tonight
It’s been quite an interesting experience trying to adjust to the “real world” after 2.5 months of doing nothing but biking and of course building. No sleeping on thermorests, no reaching into a Bike and Build community food dish with just my hands, no second lunches, no nice cool weather, and most certainly no peeing on the side of the road. Just today I was driving in my car when I came on a green light that was going to turn red. Before I thought about it I yelled “stopping” and did the appropriate hand signals that a cyclist does to warn the bikers behind him/her that they are stopping. Oh boy.
One realization that I’ve had from biking across America is how strong my sense of adventure really is. Before beginning this 3,800 miles trek across the country I thought that I would do this one crazy thing, become satisfied, and therefore go back to the normal everyday life. The opposite happened. I realized how much I love doing out of the ordinary, eccentric things like this. They make life way more interesting. So what’s next? Graduate. How unconventional (ha!). But what I decided to do next is to start training for the Austin marathon that will take place in February. Besides I miss the out of breath, tiring, sweat dripping, hardcore sport that long distance running is and I’m excited to suffer like that again. So I guess I’ll blog here from time to time about that if anyone is interested. Also………
Top 12 Things I’ve learned from Doing Bike and Build:
1.) What don’t kill you will only make you stronger……. even if you think you might die (Nebraska).
2.) How happy one can be with so few material possessions. I spent most of my summer living out of a bag that I might normally take for a two day journey, sleeping on a thermorest, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day, taking cold showers at times (if there is one at all. Sometimes it might just be a hose), having 3 changes of clothes, sometimes sleeping under the stars, and not having a car! But it was the best summer of my life.
3.) Peanut butter is great on almost anything. Included but not limited to: bread (wow!), eggs, apples, sausage, strawberry pound cake, pineapple shortcake, gummy bears, bananas, pickles, carrots, peanuts, trail mix, cereal, yogurt, and peanut butter cookies.
4.) Peanut butter most certainly does not go on: deli meat, oranges, grapes, and avocadoes.
5.) The wind sucks so much (or should I say blows)
6.) Do not trust Jeff Hunt. Practical jokes are his forte and mine is apparently receiving them.
7.) Do not pass gas in the van.
8.) Most people you meet along the way are extremely nice and generous.
9.) Some are not
10.) One can become awfully close to 30 people over the course of the summer and it is strange when they are all of a sudden gone.
11.) And finally: Do not sleep between Barbra and Mark. It is loud.
12.) Roxanne never puts on a red dress. Only a red light. Oops.
One realization that I’ve had from biking across America is how strong my sense of adventure really is. Before beginning this 3,800 miles trek across the country I thought that I would do this one crazy thing, become satisfied, and therefore go back to the normal everyday life. The opposite happened. I realized how much I love doing out of the ordinary, eccentric things like this. They make life way more interesting. So what’s next? Graduate. How unconventional (ha!). But what I decided to do next is to start training for the Austin marathon that will take place in February. Besides I miss the out of breath, tiring, sweat dripping, hardcore sport that long distance running is and I’m excited to suffer like that again. So I guess I’ll blog here from time to time about that if anyone is interested. Also………
Top 12 Things I’ve learned from Doing Bike and Build:
1.) What don’t kill you will only make you stronger……. even if you think you might die (Nebraska).
2.) How happy one can be with so few material possessions. I spent most of my summer living out of a bag that I might normally take for a two day journey, sleeping on a thermorest, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every day, taking cold showers at times (if there is one at all. Sometimes it might just be a hose), having 3 changes of clothes, sometimes sleeping under the stars, and not having a car! But it was the best summer of my life.
3.) Peanut butter is great on almost anything. Included but not limited to: bread (wow!), eggs, apples, sausage, strawberry pound cake, pineapple shortcake, gummy bears, bananas, pickles, carrots, peanuts, trail mix, cereal, yogurt, and peanut butter cookies.
4.) Peanut butter most certainly does not go on: deli meat, oranges, grapes, and avocadoes.
5.) The wind sucks so much (or should I say blows)
6.) Do not trust Jeff Hunt. Practical jokes are his forte and mine is apparently receiving them.
7.) Do not pass gas in the van.
8.) Most people you meet along the way are extremely nice and generous.
9.) Some are not
10.) One can become awfully close to 30 people over the course of the summer and it is strange when they are all of a sudden gone.
11.) And finally: Do not sleep between Barbra and Mark. It is loud.
12.) Roxanne never puts on a red dress. Only a red light. Oops.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Hey Seattle
The last post was just way to glomy and didn't really catch the essence of how I feel and what went on. I really can't explain to anyone just how amazing it felt to be running into the pacific coast with my full bike clothes still on. It must have been a site to innocent by standards when 31 bikers in matching attire rode up to the ocean, dropped all bikes on the beach, and ran screaming at the top of their lungs into the icy, frigged waters of Seattle. When we got into the water we then preceded to hug/dunk everyone in site several times over. Of course I forgot to take off my helmet before going into the water so this was even more of a site. At least I remembered to take out my cell phone and camera because not everyone did (sorry Marty and Sophia!) The build up of this actual event wasn't even enough to prepare me for the amazing reality of what actually happened. Many of the rider's friends and family came to cheer us on and watch the entertaining site of all of us plunging into the water. We certainly didn't let them down. I even had the "bright" idea to ride my bike into the salty water. Bad idea. This extremely impulsive decision might have cost me my bike. Afterwards I was told that my whole bike might rust due to the sand and salt water. I cleaned it up right away and now I can only hope for the best.
Aside from the bike accident and telling everyone goodbye, these past few days have been the best and most fun days I've ever had in my life. Sadly this makes leaving Bike and Build so much more difficult. We celebrated my 21st birthday a few days ago which had to have been my favorite birthday ever. Can you say Karaoke? Oh yeah! We had the final banquet on the beach as the sun was setting over the Seattle skyline. I've honestly felt like the last few days have been some amazing dream. The fact that I've gotten here with just a bike still hasn't sunk in. It's going to be so crazy trying to adjust to everyday, normal life. Beds! Hot showers! Fried Food! Yes! I went to explore Seattle today with a few other friends. Seattle is probably one of my favorite big cities I've ever been in (aside from the fact that it rains a lot). The views are amazing and everything is easy to get to. I couldn't see myself living in a big city like this though. I'm a small town girl and will most likely always be one. Well got to go and get my 4 hours of sleep so I can be well rested for a full and exhausting day of travling. Ha! Lack of sleep is the only drawback of these awesome past few days. Check back in for my next and most likely final post that is soon to come. It will sum up th whole trip
Aside from the bike accident and telling everyone goodbye, these past few days have been the best and most fun days I've ever had in my life. Sadly this makes leaving Bike and Build so much more difficult. We celebrated my 21st birthday a few days ago which had to have been my favorite birthday ever. Can you say Karaoke? Oh yeah! We had the final banquet on the beach as the sun was setting over the Seattle skyline. I've honestly felt like the last few days have been some amazing dream. The fact that I've gotten here with just a bike still hasn't sunk in. It's going to be so crazy trying to adjust to everyday, normal life. Beds! Hot showers! Fried Food! Yes! I went to explore Seattle today with a few other friends. Seattle is probably one of my favorite big cities I've ever been in (aside from the fact that it rains a lot). The views are amazing and everything is easy to get to. I couldn't see myself living in a big city like this though. I'm a small town girl and will most likely always be one. Well got to go and get my 4 hours of sleep so I can be well rested for a full and exhausting day of travling. Ha! Lack of sleep is the only drawback of these awesome past few days. Check back in for my next and most likely final post that is soon to come. It will sum up th whole trip
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