So as you may know, this weekend I went to Cairns, Australia (pronounced "Cans") and took a boat ride to go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. I can easily say that it was one of the best weekend in my life. I'll give you the low down.
Day 0 (Thursday night):
we arrived at the ariport at 11:00pm for our morning flight at 6am because we couldn't find public transportation to get us to the airport on time the next morning for our flight. We just planned on crashing in the terminal and sleeping there. No big, right? wrong. A half hour after we get there, we get kicked out because they closed the airport... which is a strange concept. The guy told us to walk to Maccas about 10 minutes down the street. So there we are carrying/dragging our luggage through the icy cold air walking along sketchtown almost getting hit by cars trying to find our safe-haven at Micky D's. So we get there about midnight, stay up for a couple hours and then some of us passed out.
Day 1 (Friday):
We wake up at 4am, walk to the airport through the chilling air to make our flight at 6am. We check in, get to the terminal, take our flight, land in Cairns. YAY, we made it! We got picked up by our hostel's shuttle, put our stuff down, changed into our swimmers (as they're called here in Oz), and left for the Esplenade. If you don't knwo what the esplenade is, click here. Its like a large pool they put right next to the lagoon since there aren't really any beaches in Cairns (ironic, right?). We spent the day there laying in the warm sun, catching some rays, getting our tan on, getting sun burned, but I mean it's whatever. Needless to say it was amazing. We ate dinner at a restaurant called The Whoolshed (because we got a free meal there everyday from staying at our hostel), then went back to our hostel to sleep and wake up the next morning for scuba diving!
Day 2 (Saturday):
We wake up at the buttcrack of dawn again and get ready to leave for the marina to board our boat for the day. We get there, check in with this mathematically-challenged guy trying to tell us our total. We had to ask to use the calculator from him, tally it up ourselves, and then tell him how we were paying. It was needlessly confusing. Sowe boarded the boat and were on our way! I'll just say the whole trip in general was amazing. The boat was nice, the people were nice, the weather was perfect, the water was warm, there weren't any sharks, the reef was beautiful, the sun was hot, it was GREAT. :] Scuba diving is easily one of my favorite hobbies (if you can call doing something once a hobby). We went down about 30 feet and just swam around with the fishes, saw ginormous clams, held huge sea slugs, took a bunch of pictures and videos, and just had a great time. Its weird to not be able to talk to people at all though. The only thing you can here the whole time is yourself breathing. Its a pretty unique experience. I highly recommend scuba diving to anyone. Its amazing. I have tons of pictures that I'll upload when I'm on my laptop instead of the school's internet :] And yes, I found Nemo. It may not seem like it just because I don't really know what to say, but scuba diving in the Great Barrier really was amazing!!
After the trip, we went back to the Whoolshed for dinner and then went dancing at a place that doubles as a club and a hostel called "Gilligan's." It was interesting, but we had a lot of fun :]
Day 3 (Sunday):
The next day we woke up and went to the factory outlets just outside of Cairns. I bought a $5 dollar cardigan (look at me and my shopping skills). Then we went back to the Esplenade and spent the rest of the day there, watched the sunset, the usual business. That night we had a movie night. We watched "Easy A" which is a bit inappropriate, but a really great movie I thought. Then we packed our bags and crashed.
Day 4 (Monday morning):
woke up, took a tax to the airport, took our 6am plane back to Sydney. From the airport we went straight to uni to class. Kind of a bummer ending to such a fantasic weekend :]
Open a Bottle of Adventure
Monday, May 9, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
C3 Presence Conference 2011
what an incredible experience.
I feel so blessed to have been able to attend such an unbelievably amazing event with God.
This week I have learned so much. Phil Pringle, Bill Johnson, Marcos Witt, and Kong Hee have blessed me in so many way. And lets not forget to mention Kari Jobe. When I think of angels, its her voice I hear. She has an incredible gift.
Such powerful messages were spoken this week, such wonderful songs were sung, so many people were healed, so many people were led to Christ, and so so many people were blessed in ways they never thought possible. God is moving in C3 church. I honestly have never felt so blessed in my entire life. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain this enthusiasm, fire, and passion for Christ and not have to hide under a veil like Moses because God's light has faded from my life. I don't know if you still can, but if you can, you need to watch the podcasts or recordings from this conference. These messages were amazing. And I was even able to listen to Kari speak on worship. Incredibly blessed.
and excited to see what God has in store :]
I feel so blessed to have been able to attend such an unbelievably amazing event with God.
This week I have learned so much. Phil Pringle, Bill Johnson, Marcos Witt, and Kong Hee have blessed me in so many way. And lets not forget to mention Kari Jobe. When I think of angels, its her voice I hear. She has an incredible gift.
Such powerful messages were spoken this week, such wonderful songs were sung, so many people were healed, so many people were led to Christ, and so so many people were blessed in ways they never thought possible. God is moving in C3 church. I honestly have never felt so blessed in my entire life. Hopefully I'll be able to maintain this enthusiasm, fire, and passion for Christ and not have to hide under a veil like Moses because God's light has faded from my life. I don't know if you still can, but if you can, you need to watch the podcasts or recordings from this conference. These messages were amazing. And I was even able to listen to Kari speak on worship. Incredibly blessed.
and excited to see what God has in store :]
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Send Me Mail. Thank You.
Paul James
ASC - Wesley Institute
PO Box 534
Drummoyne, NSW, 1470
Australia
ASC - Wesley Institute
PO Box 534
Drummoyne, NSW, 1470
Australia
After the Storm
there is no after the storm in Sydney. My life is a constant storm. homework, beach, clubbing, eating, sleeping, there's no time for relaxing. But I'm okay with that.
This is what my past week entailed:
Monday - class (9am-7:30pm. every week.)
Tuesday - class then went to Manly Beach again
Wednesday - class then went to bed early
Thursday - class then hanging with the Flobians
Friday - we went to the Australian museum for my "Indiginous Cultures, History, and Identity class. It was pretty interesting. There was a section that we stayed in for the main part about the aboriginal people and special artifacts they had and how they lived before the white people took over. Its very similar to the Native Americans that we think of. Well we were separated into groups and were told that after we walked through, we would have to give a small presentation to the rest of the class.I'll tell you the presentation I gave on behalf of my group.
Saturday - went to Coogee beach (Bondi's next door neighbor) and then went on another Sydney harbor cruise, but this time with the Flobians and Peter and Ruth. It was really fun and nice to see the harbor again from a boat. A large group of us went clubbing afterwards and danced the night away like it was nobody's business. good times. good times.
The Future Music Festival was also this day. It was pretty much just a huge concert with a bunch of famous artists (including Ke$ha). I didn't know about it until we drove by it on the way to Coogee and my friends and I wanted to go so badly, but it was like too expensive so we didn't. But whatever we'll go to something else. Maybe the "Supa Fest"
Sunday - We had a church service at the Baptist church affiliated with Flo as a kind of Flo-Student-Accomidation-Introduction-Happy-Beginning-of-the-Year Service. We had mroning tea, the church service, and then lunch with all the students at Flo. After that, Aaron (an ASCer with me at Flo), Matty (an Aussie at Flo), and I went to Coogee beach for a while. it was really nice weather and we had a good time.
Well that was pretty much all you've missed in the last week. :] let me know if you want to know about anything specific. I now have internet in my room so I can better communicate with everyone! hurray :]
This is what my past week entailed:
Monday - class (9am-7:30pm. every week.)
Tuesday - class then went to Manly Beach again
Wednesday - class then went to bed early
Thursday - class then hanging with the Flobians
Friday - we went to the Australian museum for my "Indiginous Cultures, History, and Identity class. It was pretty interesting. There was a section that we stayed in for the main part about the aboriginal people and special artifacts they had and how they lived before the white people took over. Its very similar to the Native Americans that we think of. Well we were separated into groups and were told that after we walked through, we would have to give a small presentation to the rest of the class.I'll tell you the presentation I gave on behalf of my group.
So way back when, there were these two aboriginal men named Eagle and Crow. One day, Eagle was going to go on a hunting trip with some of his mates, but he needed someone to look after his baby (because, apparently that's not what his wife could do. Idk maybe she was picking berries or something). So he goes to Crow's abode and is like "Crow, can you look after my baby? I need to go hunting." And Crows like "heck no, that baby is just going to be loud and obnoxious and crying and annoying like babies are." Eagle was persistent, however, "Please I'll give you a portion of what we find hunting I promise blah blah blah look after my baby, please." Crow is still talking about how he's never going to look after the baby and eventually gives in. "Fine I'll look after you baby blah blah don't take too long.
So Eagle leaves on his hunting trip and Crow is left looking after this drooling blabbering ball of fat. So as Crow is sitting with this baby, it is just crying and yelling up a storm so Crow's like "this thing needs to be quiet." So he goes out and gets a club, comes back into the house (no joke) and bashes the baby on the head. The baby is now dead. so he's like "Finally. Now I can go do the things that I need to do." So he builds a little cradle thing and gets busy doing stuff. Later, Eagle comes back from his hunting trip and goes to Crow's house to get his abby and sees Crow bent ovetr the cradel contraption and hears him cooing the baby and singing to it and stuff so he decides not to bother them and goes and gets the meat prepared for the village. A little while later, he goes back to Crow's house and is like "Crow I'm ready to take my baby back" and Crow's like "No no you can't its in a really deep sleep, don't wake it." But Eagle, being persistent and wanting to see his baby, says "No I think I want to see my baby and hold it and all that jazz." So he goes over to the crib and picks up baby Eagle and notices that there is blood dripping from the baby's head. Crow high tails it out of that joint. Eagle, furious, gathers the villager men and goes into the bush (kinda like the Outback, but not really) to get his revenge on Crow. The know that he is hiding in a certain place, so they surround it and set it on fire in hopes that he'll jump out and they can capture him. Well while it starts burning, they see a black bird fly out of the bush and perch on a nearby tree. Crow's punishment for his crime was turning into a crow. And that's how crows came to be.
Saturday - went to Coogee beach (Bondi's next door neighbor) and then went on another Sydney harbor cruise, but this time with the Flobians and Peter and Ruth. It was really fun and nice to see the harbor again from a boat. A large group of us went clubbing afterwards and danced the night away like it was nobody's business. good times. good times.
The Future Music Festival was also this day. It was pretty much just a huge concert with a bunch of famous artists (including Ke$ha). I didn't know about it until we drove by it on the way to Coogee and my friends and I wanted to go so badly, but it was like too expensive so we didn't. But whatever we'll go to something else. Maybe the "Supa Fest"
Sunday - We had a church service at the Baptist church affiliated with Flo as a kind of Flo-Student-Accomidation-Introduction-Happy-Beginning-of-the-Year Service. We had mroning tea, the church service, and then lunch with all the students at Flo. After that, Aaron (an ASCer with me at Flo), Matty (an Aussie at Flo), and I went to Coogee beach for a while. it was really nice weather and we had a good time.
Well that was pretty much all you've missed in the last week. :] let me know if you want to know about anything specific. I now have internet in my room so I can better communicate with everyone! hurray :]
Monday, March 7, 2011
5 O'Clock at Night
You may or may not be aware that I come from a land of stay-up-lates and party-all-night-longs. Southern California knows how to keep it real all night. 24 hour fast food, malls closing at 9pm at the earliest, clubs open 'till the early hours in the morning, we know how to have a good time. Hungry at 3am? no problem. Run down to Taco Bell and get some burritos. I have found that this cannot be said for the land of Oz. When Dorothy was traveling down her beloved road of yellow bricks, she must have had to turn in fairly early every evening because of the lack of motivation during the night.
You may all think that I could be being a bit dramatic, but hear me out. I tell nothing but the truth when I say that Sydney closes its doors to fun and food at 5pm every night. This unorthodox practice can be seen as I walk down the road back to school at 6pm (dinner time, mind you) and notice that the vast majority of restaurants have closed their barred doors to block out the poor blokes drooling with grumbling tummies at the entrance. I have yet to have someone say "wanna catch some dinner?" because we both know that there isn't a place in all of Sydney that serves this meal.
When I first ventured into this strange city, this was a rather large disappointing shock. How are we supposed to have a life if everything is closed after I'm done with classes? Well, I'll tell you.
Community.
There is a lot that can be learned from the Australian sense of community. Everything closes early because everyone goes home early to spend more time with their friends and family. Living at Flo, I have come to realize this thanks to the lovely people named Peter and Ruth. These fine supervisors require that everyone at Flo Harris Lodge mark on a sheet of paper if they will be present, absent, or late for dinner everyday. Although this can become almost a chore of "how am I supposed to know if I'm going to be here for dinner next Saturday if its only Sunday today?" I have come to appreciate the values behind it. This dorm-like building is more than dorm, its a community. Eating dinner with all the students here forms a bond that means something.
You wonder why some families in the states are broken and/or falling apart, and I can tell you that part of it is because of the community. People in America are so caught up in work and school and friends that they don't take time to sit at home and share a meal with their family. People feel like strangers in their own home because they don't spend the time to get to know their own family members.
I've realized how important it is to maintain community. Sydney's lack of nightlife may be a letdown, but its something I've grown to appreciate. How can you complain about not being able to go shopping at 5pm when you know that you get to go home and have a meal with people who care about you? Theres just some things that you can't argue against. I have yet to find a valid argument for having any of Sydney's stores staying open past 5 o'clock at night.
You may all think that I could be being a bit dramatic, but hear me out. I tell nothing but the truth when I say that Sydney closes its doors to fun and food at 5pm every night. This unorthodox practice can be seen as I walk down the road back to school at 6pm (dinner time, mind you) and notice that the vast majority of restaurants have closed their barred doors to block out the poor blokes drooling with grumbling tummies at the entrance. I have yet to have someone say "wanna catch some dinner?" because we both know that there isn't a place in all of Sydney that serves this meal.
When I first ventured into this strange city, this was a rather large disappointing shock. How are we supposed to have a life if everything is closed after I'm done with classes? Well, I'll tell you.
Community.
There is a lot that can be learned from the Australian sense of community. Everything closes early because everyone goes home early to spend more time with their friends and family. Living at Flo, I have come to realize this thanks to the lovely people named Peter and Ruth. These fine supervisors require that everyone at Flo Harris Lodge mark on a sheet of paper if they will be present, absent, or late for dinner everyday. Although this can become almost a chore of "how am I supposed to know if I'm going to be here for dinner next Saturday if its only Sunday today?" I have come to appreciate the values behind it. This dorm-like building is more than dorm, its a community. Eating dinner with all the students here forms a bond that means something.
You wonder why some families in the states are broken and/or falling apart, and I can tell you that part of it is because of the community. People in America are so caught up in work and school and friends that they don't take time to sit at home and share a meal with their family. People feel like strangers in their own home because they don't spend the time to get to know their own family members.
I've realized how important it is to maintain community. Sydney's lack of nightlife may be a letdown, but its something I've grown to appreciate. How can you complain about not being able to go shopping at 5pm when you know that you get to go home and have a meal with people who care about you? Theres just some things that you can't argue against. I have yet to find a valid argument for having any of Sydney's stores staying open past 5 o'clock at night.
just some pictures
I thought I'd upload some of my favorite pictures I've taken since I've been in Australia so that those of you who aren't facebook friends with me can see the pictures I've taken :]
the pole dancer on one of the Mardi Gras floats
Aaron (one of the ASCers living with me at Flo), with Emma and Kym (both Australians living at Flo)
the pole dancer on one of the Mardi Gras floats
Aaron (one of the ASCers living with me at Flo), with Emma and Kym (both Australians living at Flo)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)