Macca's and Muesli

Day two in Sydney begins with a prompt internal-clock-awakening at 3:00am. Sit straight up for a moment or two and try to figure out where the sun is, eat a granola bar, then tell yourself it’s still time to be chasing fluttery dreams of koalas and kookaburras while you lay back down to go to sleep. 

For those who maybe haven’t caught on yet, I am studying abroad in Sydney, Australia this semester. While I read facebook posts of friends back at Judson being about to go on Spring Break, we are just beginning our semester here. We will be in class until the middle of June, when we will then travel to New Zealand for a bit before returning to the US.

Our second day in Sydney found us joining the other students at Wesley Institute (the school we are attending here) for their orientation sessions. We then all proceeded, as one massive migratory group, into the downtown area of the city for an afternoon scavenger hunt, followed by an evening boat cruise in Darling Harbour.

In Australia, they have a lot of “tea.” The first day we arrived, we all felt like we had stepped into Tolkien’s land of Hobbits when we were given breakfast, then “morning tea”, followed by lunch, afternoon tea, then “evening tea”, which is supper. And dinner. Lots of food. Also, coincidentally, a lot of tea! : ) Mmmmmmm food. By day three of this, we could barely go two hours before our stomachs clamored for yummy bickies (cookies), muesli bars (granola bars), or Macca’s 50 cent ice cream cones (McDonald’s). It’s a good thing we’ve been walking, on average, everywhere, in the we-have-a-hole-in-our-ozone-layer-here-so-it’s-much-stronger-and-brighter-than-other-places sun. Warmth is glorious, and I shall gladly share it with all who are preparing to get Chicago’s final, inevitable snowfall in late April, just when you think the winter is officially over (You all know it’s coming. Please don’t frown at me).

Our scavenger hunt led us to take pictures of things like the red telephone booths downtown (evidence of British take-over, or strategically-placed tourist decorations?), the aboriginal street performers playing didgeridoos, and our groups making human sculptures of the Sydney Opera House, which is where we all met up afterwards to go on the harbor cruise.

I should comment here on the wonderfulness that occurs when you get a large group of people together who all happen to be going to a school for the arts: Drama, Dance, Music, etc. When you are stuck waiting for the next event to occur, and you are in a wide open space, creativity ensues. I’ve included some pictures below of a grand ol’ game of charades instigated by the Drama students while we waited to board our boat. Just …. You know …. Sitting on the steps in front of the Sydney Opera House…. known across the world as the iconic symbol of this vast landmass ….. playing charades …. chillin’…….like …. whatever ….. no big deal ….

I needn’t say that it has been a really surreal couple of days.

I must be going! The first picture below is of me and my roommate this semester, Allana! She is from Oregon, but goes to Seattle Pacific University. Dual citizen of the US and Australia. Oober-sweet. Drinks too much V and loves both Milo and Brad. She introduced me to Shapes. And we both happen to like Nutella and Coke and hoop earrings. I would say it’s a small world, but if you, reading this, don’t like Nutella and Coke, then we must have a chat. 

Tin Cans

I have found that 14-hour plane flights are easier if you pull an all-nighter the day before, and then sleep for 9 out of the 14 hours in the sky-bound tin can. But make sure to have the people sitting next to you poke you when food comes by. And when you’re in the exact center seat of the entire plane, make sure to go to the bathroom when others are already up, and not try to climb over them with the grace of a drowsy and atrophied gymnast while they sleep. Brush your teeth before trying to convince the customs officers that they should let you into their country. Don’t try to bring peanuts into an island nation, or Tuberculosis.

Also, Qantas puts a video camera on the outside of their plane, so that you can remember that you’re flying in a miracle, and see the city as the plane breaks through the clouds to land. I think whoever thought of that should be given a hug, because it is an excellent gift when you’re in a non-window seat.

After months of expectations and impatient waiting, I am finally in Australia! Thank you to all who prayed, all who advised, and to all who keep loving me no matter what patch of land I wake up on from one day to the next. 

Goodbye Seattle

Life is excruciatingly and beautifully not fair most of the time. The rest of the time, when it IS fair, it is generally being lived in apathy or complacency, and so shouldn’t be counted as living anyways.

Today I have to say goodbye to my best friend. It has been wonderful to spend most of my school break in Seattle. I’m very thankful that we are often given amazing opportunities, but when it comes right down to it, find them to be wrapped in the nice neat gift of that which we deem as pain. Yes, it sounds strange to describe a study abroad semester in this manner, but there it is.

My last few days in Seattle summed up in my favorite writing style, a list! :)

Wide noodles at Thai Tom’s and Salted Caramel from Molly Moon’s

Wishing for a tripod during a sunset at Gasworks

Eric understands what isn’t meant to be understood in The Big Bang Theory

The Gypsy Wagon is being lazy

Pumpkin will probably be dead soon : (

Being in a house with a vegetarian, a Methodist Pastor, and someone who is Lactose Intolerant AND allergic to Gluten is the most awesome thing ever (and will be greatly missed)

Shampoo weighs a lot

There is never traffic when you want there to be

How to run into a wall

Some images from around Ballard, in Seattle.

 

 

 

Wear a wet suit

What do you do on a sunny day during a Seattle winter? Go to the beach! 

Eric and I ventured to Golden Gardens Beach today to experiment with his old Minolta film camera, and to soak up some of the sunshine. The stars are out tonight, so it should be a nice day tomorrow, too. While on the beach, as I took pictures, a man stopped and asked if my feet were cold. I looked down at the bare toes curling themselves up in their attempts to hide from the crisp wind that was shaping the sand around us, and told him that, yes, they were.

He thanked me for my honesty, buried his face in his scarf, and walked off.

My days in Seattle are winding down, but it has been glorious to spend some time outside, taking in final views of the Olympics and Cascades - sights that take my breath away anew each time the clouds clear. Yes --- it sounds cliche to say that. 

And, yes --- if you have not seen it for yourself, you should. 

Other things today included: 

Brunch with my roommates at the Rusty Pelican

Coaxing the cat the get off the kitchen table

McDonald's coupons 

Star Trek

Hot chocolate

British Comedy

I am sixty-one

 Thought I'd share an excerpt from one of my favorite books ...

From Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water (page 74): 

"I need not belabour the point that to retain our childlike openness does not mean to be childish. Only the most mature of us are able to be childlike. And to be able to be childlike involves memory; we must never forget any part of ourselves. As of this writing I am sixty-one years old in chronology. But I am not an isolated, chronological numerical statistic. I am sixty-one, and I am also four, and twelve, and fifteen, and twenty-three, and thrity-one, and forty-five, and .... and .... and ... 

If we lose any part of ourselves, we are thereby diminished. If I cannot be thirteen and sixty-one simultaneously, part of me has been taken away ... For growing up never ends; we never get there."

 

Zoo Moo Goo Boo Roo

On my way to Australia --- Monday! 

Oh --- This is an emu. 

In the zoo. 

In Seattle.

Guess I don't need to go to Australia anymore ...

In a State of Sunshine

  

Disney day two! No more rain! We:

drank lots of free Coca Cola

became crash-test dummies

blasted to pre-history in the company of Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye the Science Guy (with the help of Jeopardy's Alex Trebek)

slammed doors

applauded America

flew to California JUST to smell the oranges

avoided the the Aristocat 

Ponchos and Pipe Dreams

 

A couple weeks ago Eric and I embarked on a journey to Florida's heaven-on-earth with his brother, Peter, and Peter's fiancee, Sally. 

Our first day at Disneyworld was riddled with moments of the "OMG" variety (as my 17-yr-old sister Kayla would literately choose to describe them, if she were there): Things like rides that take your breath away, then give it back to you, only to take it right back away again and laugh at your joyfully petty fright. Things like torrential downpours of the deluge capacity that go on for 4 hours straight (never seen so many Mickey Mouse ponchos make so many individuals so ambiguous SO quickly in my life). I learned a lot about water-proofing that day. 

Moment one of ride number one on day one of Disney: we boarded a roller coaster in Animal Kingdom. Halfway through the roller coaster? The ..... abominable ..... snowman (I kid you not, family), and his silhouette-of-alpine-destruction eats us, and all the other coaster cars he can manage.

Moment two, finding ourselves on the same roller coaster as moment one, we actually manage to not grip the car for dear life in anticipation of having a potentially successful quest through the mountainous terrain. We get eaten again. 

I despise you, abominable snowman.

Moment three of day one is a safari, complete with a Rhino bypass and the answer to 40-DOWN on the airplane crossword: "A relative of the giraffe." The Okapi!

After moments four and five and six being spent huddled closely together with 50 strangers under an awning awaiting the rain, moment seven held a spectacular stage-version of Finding Nemo. Dory wears knee socks, fish fly like kites, and there is a song about Sydney. I am going there! 

Moment eight found us on our way to Disney's Hollywood Studios, where moment nine was comprised of strawberry funnel cakes for dinner. Yes, we are grown-ups. : )

Moment ten, tied with moment one for fright-factorage, was the ride in which you question sanity, engineering, structural stability, and ask the "Who on earth came up with this as a form of entertainment" question as you fall 30 stories in an elevator shaft. Quickly the Disney mantra of "Where your dreams come true" is brought to life as you recall all those dreams where you fall off of a waterfall, or a skyscraper, or out of an airplane, or down a cliff, or into the ocean ......... 

Hooray for day one! More on days two, three, and four later!  

Above: A Google-images Okapi, in case you are in doubt of exactly what one looks like. : ) Disney! Many things are stuffed! So I found this image to be fitting.

Bright Copper Kettles

Some favorite things lately: 

Bottlecaps

Raisins on granola

Pink bus transfer slips

"In a Sunburned Country" (By Bill Bryson)

Hearing the mail being pushed into the slot by the door