Al

My dearest friend Allison Dowell is to be married to Jordan Shepherd come this weekend and I must say I value both of their friendships so very much. I have been preparing to give a toast to them and have had plenty of time to reminisce about all the good times together and I look forward to many more. According to facebook, Alli and I have 111 photos together, I think that probably says something about our friendship.

I love you Al, and I am so so happy for you and Jord. You have such a beautiful heart and I count myself a very blessed person to have you in my life.

some clips from dance this semester

the first clip is from hip hop class which was a total joke- since no one had hip hop background (all americans)

The rest of the clips are from my technique classes with Aussies who are in the dance courses. We made this video for our American class to see what we did all semester. Apologies for the crappy video quality.

farewell Oz

Four months ago I flew to a country I knew nothing about and was somewhere close to being very alone.
Two days ago I flew home with 25 American friends who I practically call my family.

I cannot put into words all of the things I learned while being in Australia this year, but I can tell you it changed my life for good. Every mountain and valley brought me to a better understanding of myself and who I want tobecome. I had so many amazing adventures and met so many incredible people from all over the world. Australia is full of beautiful souls with beautiful stories, I am so blessed to have shared in a small portion of that this semester.
Instead of writing out a long entry of what I learned (you are more than welcome to ask!), I am going to sum it up by telling you just a few of the amazing things God allowed me to do this semester:

-Was in a live audience for 2 national TV shows (XFacotor, Australias Got Talent) and received 5 seconds of fame on national television (also was 10 feet away from Scary Spice!)

-danced with world renowned choreographers four days a week for 4 months

-dove in the Great Barrier Reef with some of the most beautiful creatures known to mankind

- Shared lives and stories with natives from Slovenia, Egypt, Italy, Ireland, India, Norway, and Australia

- Walked the Harbor Bridge and watched the Sydney Opera House dance with colors

- Watched a State of Origins game in the Anglican Archbishop's Castle

-Slept under the stars in the outback

- got to lead and hang out with Australian teens for a week (and watched some turn their lives to Christ :)

- had the privilege of living and learning with a Maori tribe in New Zealand

- Bungy Jumped off the Auckland Habour Bridge in NZ

Petted a kangaroo, ate Vegemite, lived with Greeks, mastered public transport, threw a boomerang, played a digeredoo, sand surfed, parasailed, went to Luna Park, chilled at awesome beaches, danced the night away, met Australian senator, put up with dirt coffee, learned to appreciate a dryer, gained 10 pounds, ate too much Nutella

she wore slippers for a year

Next week will mark my last week of classes here at Wesley Institute.

How did we get here already?

Just yesterday it seemed I was pulling off links on a paper chain to mark the start of this trip, and now I am anticipating its last days. Well, at some moments I am.

I am beginning to see time slowing down in front of me, as if I need to capture some last moments and memories for the sake of recollection in my homecoming. I thank God he is making (most of) these moments precious ones- I would like to share one with you.

During my time in Australia I have been volunteering at Saint Mary’s Parish at their nursing home. I lead my last exercise class there yesterday; I will miss teaching and telling stories and pretending to row a boat across the pacific…

After exercise yesterday, I was in charge of getting some information for records purposes from a resident by the name of Karla. Karla, like many of the residents from other countries, speaks very broken English. At first she didn’t seem comfortable telling me her family history, and when I asked her what her life was like in Slovenia she said, “the past is a horrible thing that I wish not to talk about”.

Eventually when we got on the subject of her only child, Steven, Karla began to let little bits of her story seep through her information giving. Karla escaped from Slovenia with her husband in 1951. She came here to Australia knowing no English, and she was given a job at a hotel where she was told to just remember two words: “coffee” and “tea”. Times were very difficult in her transition to a foreign land, she tells me there was no where to buy shoes and she resorted to wearing slippers for a year. She would often feel so overwhelmed by the disconnectedness that she would just break down in sobs while in public. “But the people here, they wanted to help me learn, and they were so patient,” she said.

You see although she felt completely alone in a country where she could not speak the language or afford to live really at all, she came from a place where warfare ran rampant. Slovenia borders Italy on the west, Croatia on the south, Hungary on the northeast, and Austria on the north. During WWII, Slovenaia was occupied and annexed by ALL of the bordering countries. Karla did not wish to speak of the hard times, but at one moment she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “We would run….we would have to … in order to hide in the forest to stay away from danger. Days would go by of hundreds of corpses just scattered on the streets.” More than 63,000 Slovenes we taken to Nazi concentration camps because German rule got the northern and eastern parts of Slovenia where Karla lived.

14,000 people were killed immediately at the end of the war.

Karla still faces many wars internally. She told me how much it pains her not to see her grandchildren, and pains her more that they don’t visit simply because they don’t care to. She told me how her son has taken advantage of her and she has only raised him on love and generosity- and now that he husband has died, she feels she is fighting alone. I asked her if she prayed for her son. “What does prayer do anymore? Nothing changes.” My heart broke for her. I told her about the importance of faith and I told her that God’s love is unending and he longs for us to talk to him. Even though she seemed to have lost her faith in God a long time ago, Karla broke down when I told her I am going to make it a priority to pray for her. I knew that she knew God was ultimately in loving control of her life. I reached for her hand and we just sat for a few silent moments crying together.

I am so thankful that I got the opportunity to listen to Karla yesterday, and although I may have brought up some painful things, I think it was a time of growth and encouragement for both of us.

I hate that loneliness has to penetrate lives, but I love that we are not alone in our loneliness and pain. Don’t lose the fight, the one who loves you most will sustain you.

I’ve always loved this song, and it is pretty relevant to this story… thank you Sarah Groves and good music for relating to us when we need it most :)

"What Do I Know?" (click title to listen)

Great Barrier Reef

I should be working on one of three papers I have due in the next week, but for my mother's sanity (love her heart) I am updating my blog :)

This weekend I traveled to the Great Barrier reef with 9 other Americans from my program. Our flight was due out at 6 am and public transport does not run in the wee hours of the morning, so we got the bright idea to sleep in the airport. Well, when we got there at 11 pm, we were promptly kicked out because apparently airports close at night in Australia. To Maccas (Aussie name for McDonalds) we went! ...and spent 5 hours waiting there

Once we arrived in Cairns (3 hour flight), Becca Aubrey and I went to find our hotel. Big shout out to Penny and Gary Towler for the hotel, it was a fabulous sleep our first night :)

On Saturday we all boarded our boat for the reef. There were roughly 100 on our boat for the day. We made stops at two different reefs. I signed up for an introductory scuba dive where you go down linking arms with 4 other people and an instructor. The three other people in my group weren't feeling so comfortable with going down, so I got my own little private tour with the guide and I absolutely loved it. I got to swim around on my own and touch clams and coral, and I even found Nemo :) I did lots of snorkeling too- thanks to my roomie's awesome camera, I got lots of pictures of the reef.

We flew home Sunday morning so that we could get back for classes on Monday. I wish I could be back in Cairns, it is a great place and a phenomenal little holiday spent with friends :)

So it is about 55 degrees here and I feel like I am dying of cold. Sadly Sydney has spoiled me into thinking it can be warm all the time. I am wishing I brought warmer clothes right about now. Becca and I do our best to keep warm (and well fed) by eating lots of Nutella and leaving our layers of dance attire on until the morning.

The adventures are still going strong here in the Land Down Under- I do miss home for all new reasons each day. Today it is mostly for mom's cooking and a warm house to come home to. Some days I am ready and other days I think it will be pretty tough to leave this place... I have six weeks left to enjoy it!

Study Camp or vacation with the family?

A handful of high school students chose camp, where they spend eight hours a day in a gymnasium…studying. Students in Australia must take a test at the end of their 12th year in high school, similar to the United Sate’s SAT or ACT. The test is called the High School Certificate, which is comprised of roughly 10 tests, one in each subject that the student has taken. Depending on the student’s score (out of 100), the student can test into pursuing a certain degree at university.This week I had the privilege of leading a group of 100 twelfth graders at what is known as a Study Camp, led by Crusader Union Camps of Australia. The camp lasts one week and the camp guarantees parents that their student will have a total of eight hours of study each of those days. What I find even stranger than 100 students choosing to come to a camp to study, is having 80% of them coming to a Christian affiliated camp as Atheists. Yes, the gospel is preached each day and the students knew they were required to attend when they signed up for this endeavor.

While helping lead this camp, which was part of a Wesley class by the way, I was stretched in my faith in ways I never thought I was capable of. I sat in discussion groups where seventeen year-olds were not afraid to tell me they thought Christianity was a hoax. I stayed up until late hours of the night explaining why I believe what I believe to girls who have all they ever wanted in life. As I had these eye-opening debates and talks, I realized this is so rare in the states. I cannot think of a single time where I lead a retreat or mission trip where I was patronized for my faith, and here I am being questioned by someone four years younger than me. It breaks my heart to see such apathetic hearts, but I rejoice in the Lord for giving me the opportunity to share my faith with such a group as this… a very intelligent and talented group at that.

On top of all of this, I gained friendships with leaders that I wish could last forever. These people are awesome. In between all of the studying and activities, I even got to drive a car! Videos to come when I have better internet.

these are some lovely campers that stayed in my cabin

this is Kat, she was a leader at camp- she has a great singing voice, a sweetheart of a guy, and she was a blast to hang out with :)

Australian Food

So here is my best interpretation of Australian food thus far and my experience in purchasing food in the expensive city of Sydney.

Because Australia is so diverse, their food follows suit. Also, because the food is so expensive, I attempt to eat out as little as possible. However, there are some days that Becca and I feel the need to "forget" to pack our lunch and grab food near campus. Most days I pack a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (sometimes we are lucky enough to find lunch meat in the fridge). If we don't eat Marina's dinner the night before, we take it with us to school the next day. Next, I will show you our most memorable packed lunch. This was the result of not eating leftovers for several days in a row:



Marina is a hoot, she doesn't care how old the stuffed pepper or instant mashed potatoes are, if they are left over, they are officially our dinner. We don't get the fresh cooked dinner if we still have leftovers with our name on them (literal sticky notes with our names on them). Dinners have the potential to be great some nights, but not always :)

When we don't eat at home, we go to either the Thai restaurant close to school or Lashings, a great burger joint. In Australia, $10 is quite typical for a lunch. I don't think I have paid any cheaper than that since I have been here....except for at McDonalds. Oh goodness, I thought I would never eat a meal there again, but there is just something glorious about paying $5 for a meal, no matter how unhealthy is is for me (definitely did not have this mindset a month ago). There is one item at McDonalds that is cheaper in Australia than it is in the states and that is their ice cream cones- only 50 cents here!

There aren't many sweets at home, thus my new addiction to Nutella. There is also a delicious pastry shop we like to go to in Burwood called Bread Top. They have a huge assortment of the freshest baked breads, all loaded with sugar and calories. My favorites are the ham and cheese danish and the pineapple coconut pastry.

So I was pretty excited when told Australia has great coffee. The things is, drip coffee is nonexistent- and coffee shop coffee is unflavored, strangely named, and costs $4 for a small. I drink instant coffee in the morning, and am purchasing a french press very soon- for I do miss my classic coffee. Oh! couldn't forget to inform you that coffee creamer doesn't exist here either...such a bummer.