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)
Hip Hop and Words Ending in -er
I thought you should know that Hip Hop class is definitely my favorite. We learned a "routine" (and I put that in quotes because everyone in our class is beginners so it was hardly a minute haha) to the Black Eyed Peas song "Imma Be." It was wonderful. I should've video taped it so I could upload it to this blog. hahah it was hilarious :]
So as I was waiting for Photography class today, I was talking with some of the Australians in my Graphic Design classes and they were looking up houses for rent as a kind of joke about renting it and living there with a group of people. It was expensive, about $850 a week, but thats beside the point. We were talking and there were so many times they said things like "wait say ___" or "how do you say ___" and I realized after about an hour of doing this that one of the main differences between American english and Australian english is that we pronounce the "r"s at the end of our words ending in "-er". Australians don't see the need to properly pronounce all their consonants. They leave off the "-er" of these words like mackers, cracker, paper, etc and replace it with an "a." For example: the word McDonalds is shortened to Mackers which is then shortened to Mackas. ridiculous, I know. Same thing for the others. Cracker becomes Cracka, Paper becomes Pape-a. Things like that. They're so "lazy" I guess you could say about their pronunciation that its actually kind of difficult to understand people sometimes. Especially people from New Zealand. I swear New Zealanders don't even speak english. Its Zeanglish. Its so ridiculously hard to understand.
Photography class is definitely one of my other favorites. We're learning mainly about Depth of Focus right now. today we took portraits of other people in the class demonstrating how we can change the depth of focus to include only the person so the background is blurry and gives a nice soft appearance so its more large portions of color and not detail that takes away from the face. I'll post some of the pictures I took at the bottom :] But ya that class is really fun and interesting. Thanks mom and dad for letting me use the nice camera! I promise I'm taking really good care of it!
We're going to the beach tomorrow after our class gets out at noon. If I'm coming to Australia during their summer or end of their summer I will get some color in my transparently white skin. Its annoying when people are asking where Paul is and your confused as to why they can't see you until you realize you're standing in front of a plain white wall.
Anyway, here's a couple of the pictures I took during class today:
So as I was waiting for Photography class today, I was talking with some of the Australians in my Graphic Design classes and they were looking up houses for rent as a kind of joke about renting it and living there with a group of people. It was expensive, about $850 a week, but thats beside the point. We were talking and there were so many times they said things like "wait say ___" or "how do you say ___" and I realized after about an hour of doing this that one of the main differences between American english and Australian english is that we pronounce the "r"s at the end of our words ending in "-er". Australians don't see the need to properly pronounce all their consonants. They leave off the "-er" of these words like mackers, cracker, paper, etc and replace it with an "a." For example: the word McDonalds is shortened to Mackers which is then shortened to Mackas. ridiculous, I know. Same thing for the others. Cracker becomes Cracka, Paper becomes Pape-a. Things like that. They're so "lazy" I guess you could say about their pronunciation that its actually kind of difficult to understand people sometimes. Especially people from New Zealand. I swear New Zealanders don't even speak english. Its Zeanglish. Its so ridiculously hard to understand.
Photography class is definitely one of my other favorites. We're learning mainly about Depth of Focus right now. today we took portraits of other people in the class demonstrating how we can change the depth of focus to include only the person so the background is blurry and gives a nice soft appearance so its more large portions of color and not detail that takes away from the face. I'll post some of the pictures I took at the bottom :] But ya that class is really fun and interesting. Thanks mom and dad for letting me use the nice camera! I promise I'm taking really good care of it!
We're going to the beach tomorrow after our class gets out at noon. If I'm coming to Australia during their summer or end of their summer I will get some color in my transparently white skin. Its annoying when people are asking where Paul is and your confused as to why they can't see you until you realize you're standing in front of a plain white wall.
Anyway, here's a couple of the pictures I took during class today:
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Aluminium and Jelly Jam
aluminum is aluminium (æljʊˈmɪnɪəm, with the emphasis on the MIN)
jelly (like pb&j) is jam.
jello is jelly
Its been a pretty eventful past few days. we went to Hillsong tonight. It reminded me a lot of C3 San Diego. Hillsong is like a mixture between the Rock and C3. Its a little smaller than the Rock, but it still has that "mega church" feeling, but the sermon and worship and everything definitely feels like C3. Anyays, it was great I loved it. I still like C3 San Diego better, though :]
Mardi Gras was hilarious. We didn't go to the after party or anything so there wasn't anything super intense, but we got to watch the parade with all the floats and people in speedos and drag queens and everything. the whole lot. you can look at my facebook album if you want to see pictures from it :] We met these people we (Katrina and I, we got separated from the group somehow) were standing next to. They were super nice and let us share one of their umbrellas and one of there stool things. They invited us back to their apartment for a drink and as tempting as it was haha we declined. All in all, it was a pretty funny night I don't think I'd want to go again, but it was worth going once.
What I'm eating.
mostly everything is pretty normal. They do have a lot of meat pies here that I don't think we have in the states. the best one is the potato pie. its like a little chicken pot pie, but with mashed potato filling with a little bit of meat at the bottom. SO good.
How I talk.
I have now adopted a few words into my vocabulary including: Mackers (McDonalds), chips (french fries), and some others which I can't think of right now...
Who I am living with.
The people at Flo are awesome. Everyone is really nice and theres usually always something going on that I can do. Tonight a group of us went to Hillsong and the to Mackers afterwards. just little things like that. Theres nothing too exciting. Maybe I'll attach a picture of my room to the bottom of this page. Yes, I've made friends. One of the benefits of living at Flo is that I've been able to make friends with Australians, whereas the people in homestays can only really socialize with people from Wesley since when they're at home, they're with their family and not other Australians our age.
My address.
I'm not 100% positive if this is it, but I'm pretty sure it is:
Paul Gaetke
11 The Boulevarde
Lewisham NSW 2049
What Its like
Its amazing is what its like. The style of Sydney is very European with the old brick building tending to be the common style as well as that Victorian look. Its really great. The city itself is a bit dirty, but its not a big deal. I've pretty much mastered public transportation. I've looked at so many maps, I know the city better than most of the people at Flo haha. I actually really like public transportation (minus how long it can take to get anywhere). But its been nice not driving and stuff and since our bus passes were paid as part of the program, its been "free" for me to go anywhere which is really really nice.
How the weather is.
the weather has been pretty good so far. I swear every time I wear a tank-top it rains, and every time I wear jeans its 1000 degrees though. Its actually kind of frustrating. But I guess its not that big of a deal. Soon it'll be autumn and I'll be wearing sweatshirts and then eventually jackets! :D Its supposed to be really sunny on Tuesday though, I'm out of school at noon and a group of us ASCers are planning a beach trip. And then on Saturday, Flo has a harbor cruise planned and its supposed to be thunderstorming. Someone needs to let God know to give Sydney's weather some pills so it can get over his bipolar personality.
How school is.
School has been great. My classes are really fun and exciting. Most of them are art classes which is fun for me since I haven't taken art since high school. And all the people in my classes are super nice. My favorite class by far is Hip Hop. its so great and our professor is this little spunky guy he's hilarious and really really good. He always shows off (which I'm not opposed to). And our class is all ASC kids so its not as embarrassing as it would be if we were in with the Wesley Dance students. haha oh no that's be awful haha I wish you could watch our class. Its hilarious.
My classes.
This semester I'm taking: Hip Hop, Photography, Image Making, Visual Communication in Culture, Life Drawing, The View From Australia, and Indigenous Cultures and Identity. My professors are really great. They're all really really nice and super great. I don't really know much about them yet since I've only had once week of classes which means I've only had each professor once.
Surprisingly, I haven't become too homesick yet. But Its only been a week. I can definitely see the things I will be most homesick for though. Mainly San Diego's beachy feeling. I miss beachy and am not a huge fan of city. Also C3 and all the awesome people there. I miss being plugged into a church and since we have this assignment that we have to go to different denominated churches, I can't go visit C3 until like the 6th week I'm here. super lame. i think I'm gonna try to do one of the assigned churches in the morning and then C3 at night one Sunday.
oh and to call me you have to dial 0011 - Australia's country code (with no zeros before the number) - 0403941356. i think. its free for me if you call (but not for you), but too expensive for me to call you :[
jelly (like pb&j) is jam.
jello is jelly
Its been a pretty eventful past few days. we went to Hillsong tonight. It reminded me a lot of C3 San Diego. Hillsong is like a mixture between the Rock and C3. Its a little smaller than the Rock, but it still has that "mega church" feeling, but the sermon and worship and everything definitely feels like C3. Anyays, it was great I loved it. I still like C3 San Diego better, though :]
Mardi Gras was hilarious. We didn't go to the after party or anything so there wasn't anything super intense, but we got to watch the parade with all the floats and people in speedos and drag queens and everything. the whole lot. you can look at my facebook album if you want to see pictures from it :] We met these people we (Katrina and I, we got separated from the group somehow) were standing next to. They were super nice and let us share one of their umbrellas and one of there stool things. They invited us back to their apartment for a drink and as tempting as it was haha we declined. All in all, it was a pretty funny night I don't think I'd want to go again, but it was worth going once.
What I'm eating.
mostly everything is pretty normal. They do have a lot of meat pies here that I don't think we have in the states. the best one is the potato pie. its like a little chicken pot pie, but with mashed potato filling with a little bit of meat at the bottom. SO good.
How I talk.
I have now adopted a few words into my vocabulary including: Mackers (McDonalds), chips (french fries), and some others which I can't think of right now...
Who I am living with.
The people at Flo are awesome. Everyone is really nice and theres usually always something going on that I can do. Tonight a group of us went to Hillsong and the to Mackers afterwards. just little things like that. Theres nothing too exciting. Maybe I'll attach a picture of my room to the bottom of this page. Yes, I've made friends. One of the benefits of living at Flo is that I've been able to make friends with Australians, whereas the people in homestays can only really socialize with people from Wesley since when they're at home, they're with their family and not other Australians our age.
My address.
I'm not 100% positive if this is it, but I'm pretty sure it is:
Paul Gaetke
11 The Boulevarde
Lewisham NSW 2049
What Its like
Its amazing is what its like. The style of Sydney is very European with the old brick building tending to be the common style as well as that Victorian look. Its really great. The city itself is a bit dirty, but its not a big deal. I've pretty much mastered public transportation. I've looked at so many maps, I know the city better than most of the people at Flo haha. I actually really like public transportation (minus how long it can take to get anywhere). But its been nice not driving and stuff and since our bus passes were paid as part of the program, its been "free" for me to go anywhere which is really really nice.
How the weather is.
the weather has been pretty good so far. I swear every time I wear a tank-top it rains, and every time I wear jeans its 1000 degrees though. Its actually kind of frustrating. But I guess its not that big of a deal. Soon it'll be autumn and I'll be wearing sweatshirts and then eventually jackets! :D Its supposed to be really sunny on Tuesday though, I'm out of school at noon and a group of us ASCers are planning a beach trip. And then on Saturday, Flo has a harbor cruise planned and its supposed to be thunderstorming. Someone needs to let God know to give Sydney's weather some pills so it can get over his bipolar personality.
How school is.
School has been great. My classes are really fun and exciting. Most of them are art classes which is fun for me since I haven't taken art since high school. And all the people in my classes are super nice. My favorite class by far is Hip Hop. its so great and our professor is this little spunky guy he's hilarious and really really good. He always shows off (which I'm not opposed to). And our class is all ASC kids so its not as embarrassing as it would be if we were in with the Wesley Dance students. haha oh no that's be awful haha I wish you could watch our class. Its hilarious.
My classes.
This semester I'm taking: Hip Hop, Photography, Image Making, Visual Communication in Culture, Life Drawing, The View From Australia, and Indigenous Cultures and Identity. My professors are really great. They're all really really nice and super great. I don't really know much about them yet since I've only had once week of classes which means I've only had each professor once.
Surprisingly, I haven't become too homesick yet. But Its only been a week. I can definitely see the things I will be most homesick for though. Mainly San Diego's beachy feeling. I miss beachy and am not a huge fan of city. Also C3 and all the awesome people there. I miss being plugged into a church and since we have this assignment that we have to go to different denominated churches, I can't go visit C3 until like the 6th week I'm here. super lame. i think I'm gonna try to do one of the assigned churches in the morning and then C3 at night one Sunday.
oh and to call me you have to dial 0011 - Australia's country code (with no zeros before the number) - 0403941356. i think. its free for me if you call (but not for you), but too expensive for me to call you :[
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Drop Bears and Vegimite
oh its been quite eventful these past couple days. I have class in about 20 minutes so I'll try to keep it quick.
Well I forgot to tell you that when we landed at the airport last whatever day it was (the days seem to melt together in Oz) we were greeted by these people called Wubblies? They're like students at Wesley that volunteer to help and great and be awesome for the ASC students. well we get of the plane in a strange city ["i'm in a strange city" -guess that movie (David and Nicole)] and are greated by these super nice people and we pretty much completely rely and them and believe everything thety tell us and they lie through their little teeth.
We were told that recently there have been a few cases of drop bear attacks. They are these bears like look about the size of koalas, like a half bear half possum mix, with white-gray fur. They sit in trees and every once in a while drop down on people and maul them. well God knows none of us had heard of these terrifying creatures and our naiive little brains told us these new friends were trustworthy. The first few days in Aussie-land, the entire ASC group spent running underneath trees or avoiding them altogether taking huge detoirs in hopes of finding clears skies to safely stroll under.
Also, a couple days ago, I ventured to try the infamous vegimite. I have to say that I don't think I've tasted anything so horrifyingly awful in all my 19 years of exhistence on God's green earth. It tastes like pure salt mixed with a hint of peanut butter and death with a side note of pure evil. Try it, it makes you want to rip out your tongue.
On a more positive note, Tim Tams are God's gift from heaven.
time for Visual Communication in Culture. I'll probably post again tonight.
We're going to the Op-shops (thrift stores) in Newtown tonight. Everything in Sydney closes at 5. I'm not kidding. But the op-shops in Newtown stay open until about 11 on Thursdays so we're gonna have a little adventure. Apparently they have op-shops that let you fill a bag of clothes for like 2 bucks. we'll see :]
Well I forgot to tell you that when we landed at the airport last whatever day it was (the days seem to melt together in Oz) we were greeted by these people called Wubblies? They're like students at Wesley that volunteer to help and great and be awesome for the ASC students. well we get of the plane in a strange city ["i'm in a strange city" -guess that movie (David and Nicole)] and are greated by these super nice people and we pretty much completely rely and them and believe everything thety tell us and they lie through their little teeth.
We were told that recently there have been a few cases of drop bear attacks. They are these bears like look about the size of koalas, like a half bear half possum mix, with white-gray fur. They sit in trees and every once in a while drop down on people and maul them. well God knows none of us had heard of these terrifying creatures and our naiive little brains told us these new friends were trustworthy. The first few days in Aussie-land, the entire ASC group spent running underneath trees or avoiding them altogether taking huge detoirs in hopes of finding clears skies to safely stroll under.
Also, a couple days ago, I ventured to try the infamous vegimite. I have to say that I don't think I've tasted anything so horrifyingly awful in all my 19 years of exhistence on God's green earth. It tastes like pure salt mixed with a hint of peanut butter and death with a side note of pure evil. Try it, it makes you want to rip out your tongue.
On a more positive note, Tim Tams are God's gift from heaven.
time for Visual Communication in Culture. I'll probably post again tonight.
We're going to the Op-shops (thrift stores) in Newtown tonight. Everything in Sydney closes at 5. I'm not kidding. But the op-shops in Newtown stay open until about 11 on Thursdays so we're gonna have a little adventure. Apparently they have op-shops that let you fill a bag of clothes for like 2 bucks. we'll see :]
Sunday, February 27, 2011
what a week
it has become customary that i get lost on the streets of sydney at least once a day. its quite eventful. the other day an old man sprayed me with his hose.
target is a clothes store.
lollies are all types of candy.
mackers is McDonalds.
its been great here. the people at flo are awesome. we went night swimming at Bondai beach the other night. obviously i didn't go in. when being mauled to death by a shark becomes painless and/or inevitable, heck I'll go swimming all the time. until then, I'll keep my feet on dry land thank you.
todays the first day of classes. i'm currently sitting in my classroom on my laptop because my professor decided not to come. love it. and it rained for about 5 minutes today.
yesterday i went to my first Australian church. theres a baptist church thats affiliated with Flo Harris that most the kids from flo go to so i went there with them. it was pretty uneventful. definitely going to c3 next week. partyyyyy
I really have nothing to talk about. I guess you can comment on any of these if you want to know anything specific :]
target is a clothes store.
lollies are all types of candy.
mackers is McDonalds.
its been great here. the people at flo are awesome. we went night swimming at Bondai beach the other night. obviously i didn't go in. when being mauled to death by a shark becomes painless and/or inevitable, heck I'll go swimming all the time. until then, I'll keep my feet on dry land thank you.
todays the first day of classes. i'm currently sitting in my classroom on my laptop because my professor decided not to come. love it. and it rained for about 5 minutes today.
yesterday i went to my first Australian church. theres a baptist church thats affiliated with Flo Harris that most the kids from flo go to so i went there with them. it was pretty uneventful. definitely going to c3 next week. partyyyyy
I really have nothing to talk about. I guess you can comment on any of these if you want to know anything specific :]
Thursday, February 24, 2011
2/24
I am exhausted. it is the end of day tow and we have been going and going non stop. We had to be out the door by 7:30 in order to catch the buses and get to Wesley by 8:45. Then we had Wesley’s orientation all day (like freshman orientation at colleges in the states) with all the first years (thats what they’re called here, first, second, and third years [they only have three years to get their bachelor’s degree]). It was long and monotonous, and I honestly wasn’t really paying attention. I was talking with this Australian girl Kahlia most of the time (well, whispering, I guess).
At about 1:00 we had lunch and then went into the city for a scavenger hunt with all the new Wesley students. It was pretty fun. It was cool to be able to walk around the city and see some of the cool places and all the pubs and cafes.
But at the end of the scavenger hunt, we had a harbor cruise which was pretty cool. It was just like a 3 leveled boat that we all went on and it sailed around the harbor while we ate and danced and talked. It was a fun orientation, but now the ASCers have to go back to Wesley for another orientation tomorrow morning. I’m in desperate need for sleep because not only am I just tired, but jet lag is catching up to me and I’ve only been in Sydney for less than 48 hours.
goodnight.
At about 1:00 we had lunch and then went into the city for a scavenger hunt with all the new Wesley students. It was pretty fun. It was cool to be able to walk around the city and see some of the cool places and all the pubs and cafes.
But at the end of the scavenger hunt, we had a harbor cruise which was pretty cool. It was just like a 3 leveled boat that we all went on and it sailed around the harbor while we ate and danced and talked. It was a fun orientation, but now the ASCers have to go back to Wesley for another orientation tomorrow morning. I’m in desperate need for sleep because not only am I just tired, but jet lag is catching up to me and I’ve only been in Sydney for less than 48 hours.
goodnight.
2/23
so I didn't have internet until now so here are the posts I made and saved on my computer to update later :]
so here I am. I’ve made it to Australia.
one of the first things you should know about flying abroad is that everyone expects you to know what you’re doing. not only was I surprised that our group didn’t have a supervisor (not that we really needed it, but still), I found that later on in the flight I was cumulating so many questions about customs and immigration forms and granola that it was almost stressful. I brought so much food onto this flight it felt strange that I mark the box “no food items to declare” but I figured customs didn’t care that I had brought along Phinneas and Ferb fruit snacks to keep me company. I was waved through the baggage part of customs anyway so it really didn’t matter. I could have brought a bomb for all they knew and I’d still have it. I shouldn’t have thrown away my granola.
When we arrived at Wesley Institute, we dropped all our luggage off and met in a classroom to go through ASC (Australia Studies Program)’s orientation. It was long and semi-monotonous, but we received so many useful things. a public transportation pass (including busses, trains, you name it), an emergency card, $10 prepaid calling card, maps, bus schedules, cell phones, tourist guides. We got everything.
another thing you should know about Australia is that they eat just as much as Americans do, but they set aside time for it. Today I ate 5 meals: breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. And literally as I was typing this, they rang the bell for evening tea. its truly wonderful here.
Today was satisfyingly uneventful. We did play extreme pictionary (which, in all reality, is really just a combination of pictionary and a relay race).
And here I am at Flo Harris Lodge. it is great. The people seem nice, the food is decent (yes mom, we had meat pies and I ate all of the food given to me), and we even had an optional Bible study tonight (which I opted to go to).
However, I have never been in a place at dinner time with so much noise. Its not so much that the people are making the noise as it is that the walls just reflect it perfectly creating a continuous echo of every word muttered within 20 minutes. I could walk in that room, wisper my name and come back in 15 minutes to a chorus of voices singing, or shouting more like it, “PAUL! PAUL!” Needless to say, I could understand maybe every 4th word said during dinner. My poor housemates probably thought I was deaf asking them what they said or even asking questions already answered; and stupid giving awkward smiles back when I had no clue what they were saying and it was actually a question directed at me.
oh how lovely awkwardness can be.
Goodnight. I have to be up at 6:30 to be at school at 8:25. one of the girls here is driving us. how it takes 2 hours to get to a school 20 minutes away in a car I would like to know and I guess will soon find out.
so here I am. I’ve made it to Australia.
one of the first things you should know about flying abroad is that everyone expects you to know what you’re doing. not only was I surprised that our group didn’t have a supervisor (not that we really needed it, but still), I found that later on in the flight I was cumulating so many questions about customs and immigration forms and granola that it was almost stressful. I brought so much food onto this flight it felt strange that I mark the box “no food items to declare” but I figured customs didn’t care that I had brought along Phinneas and Ferb fruit snacks to keep me company. I was waved through the baggage part of customs anyway so it really didn’t matter. I could have brought a bomb for all they knew and I’d still have it. I shouldn’t have thrown away my granola.
When we arrived at Wesley Institute, we dropped all our luggage off and met in a classroom to go through ASC (Australia Studies Program)’s orientation. It was long and semi-monotonous, but we received so many useful things. a public transportation pass (including busses, trains, you name it), an emergency card, $10 prepaid calling card, maps, bus schedules, cell phones, tourist guides. We got everything.
another thing you should know about Australia is that they eat just as much as Americans do, but they set aside time for it. Today I ate 5 meals: breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner. And literally as I was typing this, they rang the bell for evening tea. its truly wonderful here.
Today was satisfyingly uneventful. We did play extreme pictionary (which, in all reality, is really just a combination of pictionary and a relay race).
And here I am at Flo Harris Lodge. it is great. The people seem nice, the food is decent (yes mom, we had meat pies and I ate all of the food given to me), and we even had an optional Bible study tonight (which I opted to go to).
However, I have never been in a place at dinner time with so much noise. Its not so much that the people are making the noise as it is that the walls just reflect it perfectly creating a continuous echo of every word muttered within 20 minutes. I could walk in that room, wisper my name and come back in 15 minutes to a chorus of voices singing, or shouting more like it, “PAUL! PAUL!” Needless to say, I could understand maybe every 4th word said during dinner. My poor housemates probably thought I was deaf asking them what they said or even asking questions already answered; and stupid giving awkward smiles back when I had no clue what they were saying and it was actually a question directed at me.
oh how lovely awkwardness can be.
Goodnight. I have to be up at 6:30 to be at school at 8:25. one of the girls here is driving us. how it takes 2 hours to get to a school 20 minutes away in a car I would like to know and I guess will soon find out.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Australia Today
the big day is tomorrow!
anticipation is getting to me. I'm so excited.
in a little more than 24 hours I will be on a plane to Sydney, Australia can you believe it?
who would have known that I would have been blessed with this opportunity.
A little background before my blog lights up with Australian adventures:
Most people when they study abroad take general ed classes since there aren't many major specific programs. When I declared my graphic design major last year, I went over a class schedule for the next couple years with my advisor and I had to be taking at least 3 art classes per semester. I had already taken most all of my gen ed classes while I wasn't sure what I wanted to study. This meant that I couldn't study abroad. I had accepted this fact and just decided that I might to a little bit of traveling after I graduated or even teach english abroad with a good organization or something instead. However, one day I was browsing study abroad programs (who knows why because I knew I wasn't going). When I came across the BestSemester program I looked up what ones had art classes and the Australia one popped up. I researched it more and it actually had some of the classes I needed. I talked with my parents and they said the only way it would work (because I was looking at this other program) was if I could keep my institutional aid. Well I didn't think that was possible but when I met with one of the study abroad people at the office, they said that since BestSemester was part of the CCCUniversities (or something like that) I would be able to keep my institutional aid because I wouldn't actually be taking a leave of absence. CRAZY. I went to apply and realized that the date had already passed. bummer. I was a little upset, but when i went back on the next day, it said that there was an extended application deadline. WHAT. I mean, c'mon how many things could just be perfect? needless to say I applied and a day later was accepted into the program.
So in the end everything worked out in some strange crazy perfect way.
now put your seatbelts on and get ready for sarcastic, hilarious adventures as you get to live vicariously through me in the land of Oz. excited? you should be.
anticipation is getting to me. I'm so excited.
in a little more than 24 hours I will be on a plane to Sydney, Australia can you believe it?
who would have known that I would have been blessed with this opportunity.
A little background before my blog lights up with Australian adventures:
Most people when they study abroad take general ed classes since there aren't many major specific programs. When I declared my graphic design major last year, I went over a class schedule for the next couple years with my advisor and I had to be taking at least 3 art classes per semester. I had already taken most all of my gen ed classes while I wasn't sure what I wanted to study. This meant that I couldn't study abroad. I had accepted this fact and just decided that I might to a little bit of traveling after I graduated or even teach english abroad with a good organization or something instead. However, one day I was browsing study abroad programs (who knows why because I knew I wasn't going). When I came across the BestSemester program I looked up what ones had art classes and the Australia one popped up. I researched it more and it actually had some of the classes I needed. I talked with my parents and they said the only way it would work (because I was looking at this other program) was if I could keep my institutional aid. Well I didn't think that was possible but when I met with one of the study abroad people at the office, they said that since BestSemester was part of the CCCUniversities (or something like that) I would be able to keep my institutional aid because I wouldn't actually be taking a leave of absence. CRAZY. I went to apply and realized that the date had already passed. bummer. I was a little upset, but when i went back on the next day, it said that there was an extended application deadline. WHAT. I mean, c'mon how many things could just be perfect? needless to say I applied and a day later was accepted into the program.
So in the end everything worked out in some strange crazy perfect way.
now put your seatbelts on and get ready for sarcastic, hilarious adventures as you get to live vicariously through me in the land of Oz. excited? you should be.
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