I'm alive.
love, Paul
Open a Bottle of Adventure
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 :[
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