Monday, January 2, 2012
In 2011...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Summer fill-ins
Currently reading: The Hunger Games (well just finished all three and must say they are the best books I have ever read- can't wait for the first movie in March!)
Currently listening to: Matt Kearny's album - check up on it
Currently digging: Pintrest recipies
here are a couple I have already tried and love:
Mozzarella, Tomato, and Avacado salad
Looking forward to:
Fox's new show, NEW GIRL
ahh, what to blog about when you have neglected to blog all summer...
Perhaps an overview of the past few months, the painless and concise version of course.
A return home from Australia came with minor doses of reverse culture shock and a communicable diseases.
I felt strange being able to drive a car wherever I wanted and driving on the other side of the road at that; Somewhere decided what a waste bottled water was; Started making my bed (thanks mama Marina); Realized how fortunate I am to have a dryer; and started missing some amazing people in the land of Oz (and 20 beauties from the states).
I began working at Allisonville Meadows in July. There, I was helping create and lead activities for dementia residents in the nursing home. After a couple of weeks, the Mono hit. Eight needle stabs and two yellow eyes later, I was diagnosed with Jaundice and had to stay home for several weeks. This was not a pleasant experience, but I was so very thankful to have a wonderful Great Aunt Sue and mother dearest to take care of me.
I spent the weeknights in Westfield with Aunt Sue and weekends in Marion. In the course of the summer all three of us in Aunt Sue's house were in some sort of indisposition. I got the mono, Blue (the dog) nearly lost his life in a high speed rabbit chase across the highway, and Aunt Sue seemed to develop some sort of leprosy. Thankfully, we all survived and only Blue still saunters in a state of disarray with metal rods in his hips and a slight drunken walk. I must say I went out of Aunt Sue's house with a bang....literally. After barely missing my car in the driveway all summer, Aunt Sue finally plowed into it last night. We had a good laugh and sat in lawn chairs while waiting for the police to arrive at 11 PM for an accident report. I won't be parking in the driveway anymore when I visit...
Today was my last day at Allisonville and I must say it was tough leaving those oldies that I have grown so fond of. Working with dementia patients can get quite stressful and often disheartening, but I found myself among some of the sweetest people who make God's love radiate in the darkness of a discouraging illness. Being able to help them remember the good times of their lives makes living mine at this age feel like an immense blessing that I know I do not deserve.
And it is indeed a blessing....I am headed to Anna Maria Island with some of my favorite women this weekend and tonight a little end of the summer celebration with friends at The Jazz Kitchen in Indy.
I hope to be back writing more regularly!
Thanks for reading friends,
Hannah
ps: after a 10 year battle, I stopped biting my nails.... incase you wanted to know
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Al
Thursday, June 23, 2011
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.
Monday, June 20, 2011
farewell Oz
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
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
she wore slippers for a year
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)
Monday, May 9, 2011
Great Barrier Reef
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 :)