Bollywood!

Just a couple photos since I've been able to get them uploaded:

In Australia they use an Easter Bilby rather than a bunny because (as the story goes) when the rabbit was introduced into the area it actually did a lot of damage and as a result people don't really like them I guess. They still have lots of chocolate bunnies etc, but I was excited to take a picture of the chocolate Easter bilbies.



I think I mentioned that the other night Hilary and I ate at a fast food restaurant called Red Rooster, which was the one that had a poster that commented that it was different from "those American chains that flocked over." I made Hilary take a picture of me outside, 1) because I don't always take many pics of myself when I am travelling, and 2)I love this shirt, which of course meant that it was quite a shame when it started unravelling later on in the evening. That makes 2 shirts who've started to fall apart on me this trip.

Hilary and Jeremy playing tennis, turns out they're equally competitive I think. If nothing else, Hilary is more :-D. She got pretty into it, and she was pretty good.

OK, now down to business. It is Friday and I have taken some time to come into the office to use a computer to get blogging that I haven't been able to do in the last couple days done. Its been really difficult for me since my computer went down because it was my main source of connection to home and resource to find things like bus schedules etc.

On Wednesday afternoon we had the Safe Place trainings which covered the Lutheran Church of Australia's policy and procedure when there is Sexual Abuse or Harassment in the office. After it we had cake to celebrate Wayne (the facilitator)'s birthday. Throughout the day there was a bit of back and forth about the trip to Renmark this weekend. We are going in order to provide a structured creche (child care) and possibly an activity for child and parent together. At one point there were only going to be 10 kids, and it didn't seem like we would need to go. This was exciting because we have been invited to a couple things since agreeing to help with this that are a bit more exciting. For example, a free trip to a wildlife reserve and other sightseeing in the area. Within an hour, though, we were told that 40+ more kids had been signed up and our help would be required after all. During the afternoon I also did a bit of research working on how we might be able to get my computer fixed, and was able to find a contact for Dell Australia and enough info to know that they should be able to help. Trevor, the IT guy happened to be here and he took the info and said that they would try to call on Thursday. Helene dropped us home and we rested for a bit before being picked back up for the Ash Wednesday service at their church. It was neat because it was a bit traditional, vs the somewhat contemporary that most of the service's we've attended have been. Afterwards, Morgan went to have coffee with the small group and Hilary and I challenged Helene to a match of Table tennis. It only figures that she would be quite skilled too. I had fun though, and she very graciously toned down her aggressiveness a bit for me. After a while Jeremy returned with Morgan and they came upstairs. I let Morgan have a shot at Helene and sat down for a bit. Hilary played carpet bowling (like lawn bowling) with Simon. I convinced Jeremy to play kings corners with me for a bit. I can't say I wasn't thrilled that I won more than he did. He just decided that I was cheating. I'm not sure how one would cheat while playing that game though. We went home a bit earlier knowing that we'd be up a bit earlier the next morning. I was scheduled to go to Calvary to see the shelter and programs there and figure out when I will be able to be out there. This meant getting on a but at about 7:15am though. When we arrived home Hilary had a minor medical emergency which would prove to change our plans. When I woke up on Thursday morning I checked in on Hilary to see how she was doing. We made our calls to see what Helen and Helene thought and it was decided that Hilary should stay back for the day. I stayed back with her just to make sure nothing happened. It meant that I got to sleep and rest for a bit, since I had my own issues to stress over throughout the day. Helene brought us lunch and visited with us for a while. She let me know that things with my computer seem to be progressing, but it will still take 3-4 days to get anywhere with it. It was also decided that Hilary will stay with Helene and her family for the weekend rather than go to Renmark.
Tanya, one of the worship leaders at Helen's church had invited me to potentially help lead a service this Sunday. She was able to come to the Magill office to meet with me and work on learning the service. She even picked me up from Hosanna Heights. I went straight from working on that to the City with Emily for our free session of a bollywood dancing class. We stopped at a shopping center to have a look around. It was the first mall that I had seen. There were a lot of discount stores in it though. When we arrived for the class it took us a bit to find the exact place where it would take place. The class was interesting, but a bit challenging in some ways. The woman who was leading it clearly had the knowledge and experience with dancing, but did not seem to have much experience teaching. I don't plan to attend any further courses, but it was a great experience. We worked out a short routine as a group and set it to music. It could definitely be good exercise for a person though. Emily dropped us off at Hosanna Heights and then I finally had a chance to eat supper. I was SO hungry. I ate a vegetarian quiche that I'd bought earlier. The rest of the night was spent visiting and getting settled for the weekend. I met a new person living at Hosanna Heights. Her name is Lalita (sp?) and she is about 31 yrs old. She is from Malaysia and has been working there for some time before she decided she wanted to go to school. She was very nice and I was excited to meet her. She offered to help us with any activities for children since she has worked as an outdoor ed instructor for some time.

This morning was pretty easy going. I got my stuff for Renmark together and packed it up. I have now walked to the Magill office and here I sit, typing up a long blog.

As far as my thankfulness lent devotion has been going. On Thursday I was thankful for the telephone and the ability to communicate that way. I was very glad to have been able to be in contact with home on Thursday and I know that it was a blessing for Hilary to have been able to contact home in her situation too. Today, Friday, is a bit more difficult. I am thankful for music. I am glad to still have my ipod, even though my computer isn't with me or working. Music is something that helps me relax and work through issues. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have music, or if I lost the ability to hear it.

Shrove Tuesday = Pancakes!

Yesterday (Tuesday) when Helene dropped us off at home we all went to our room to chill a bit. I went to my room to pretend that I wasn't upset about my computer crashing and having nothing to do. Really, I guess I was hosting a bit of a pity party for myself. I decided that it would be best to go to the game night at Helene's house with a young adults group from their church, rather than sit and sulk. It turns out I am glad that I did. Timing is a little difficult because the Buses only run hourly in the evening so we had to decide whether to be early or late if we were going to take the bus. Then there was the issue of supper. We decided we would take the bus down to an area where there is a shopping center and a couple restaurants, which is about half way to Helene's house. We had fish and chips at Red Rooster, which is similar to KFC/Long John Silvers. It has a poster that boasts that it is Australian, unlike those "American chains that flocked" here. Hilary and I both found the poster amusing. We ate outside, which was actually cooler than inside because the building was mostly made of windows which had a greenhouse effect. When we finished we walked the rest of the way to the house. We made it in good time. We went upstairs and met a couple new people who were visiting upstairs, not having chosen any games to play yet. A group of four decided to play a game called Blokus, which is a game where you take turns lying out 1 tile at a time, trying to use as many of yours as you can before you run out of places to put them. The game was only a four player game so the rest of us watched and had a chat. After a game I had kind of lost interest and was excited when someone mentioned making pancakes, and I asked if I could help. I spent the next 45min or so making pancakes with Simon in the kitchen. The pancakes here are made with a thinner flour and are a bit more like crepes than our fluffy pancakes. It was amazing to be able to cook, though, and really helped me realize how much I've missed it. It made the idea that we're moving to a house where I'll be able to cook even MORE exciting. Helene helped us cook a bit and even demonstrated how to flip the pancake without a spatula. I was sure we were going to make even more of a mess, but it actually went pretty well. Simon showed me how to top the pancake with sugar and lemon juice. (I'm sure some of you will know that Lemon Juice is about my favorite flavoring to add to anything so I was quite excited about this.) Because the pancakes here are treated more like crepes, when eating them they get rolled up, which I did try, but was not very successful at. While cooking I had a nice chat with Simon about our upcoming move, which he was excited for us about too. After seeing Hosanna Heights recently he made his own judgements about the place, and to be honest, he didn't think too highly of the place. When all the pancakes were made we took the plate up and I got to try my own with a bit of sugar and lemon juice on it. Yummy! Shortly after most of the other people who had come decided to head home. That meant that it was time to start playing table tennis! So as it turns out, surprise surprise, I am not a stellar table tennis player. However, I had a whole lot of fun. We played in different pairs for a while and just had some fun. It ended up being 1:30am by the time we left. It was definitely time for bed when we got back.

The reason that we had pancakes was because it was Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday as I would call it) and Lent begins the next day. Thinking about Lent I decided that I did want to do something, but something that matches up with my views of the true meaning of the season. I think that often times people spend a lot of time focusing on giving something up for lent, as a temporary thing. My plan is to actually add something to my routine. My goal is to find something/someone different to be thankful for every day, and try to use that positive thing to focus my attitude throughout the day. I'm planning to use blogging to hold myself true to that and put it in my writing. So for today, Wednesday (Ash Wednesday), I am choosing my health. I am very thankful to be a (relatively) healthy and fully functioning person.

CRASH!

Just a heads up, my computer has completely crashed and after being looked at by an IT guy here it appears as though it cannot be fixed without some intervention from home. I haven't figured out what that will mean, or whether it can be done yet though. I won't be able to blog as I have been for a bit so please be patient and I will get to it as often as possible.

Since I have time at an office computer I will try to update the things that I can since I was last able to blog.

On Monday morning Yvonne (the exec. director of LCC) picked us up from Hosanna Heights (HH). It has been decided that for the next chunk of time we will be working mostly with/through her. She transported us to Sefton Park (Her home office) but got lost on the way. When we finally made it we came into the office to meet with her and Sharon about what activities we were planning for the next month. It quickly became evident that Morgan and Hilary have really identified and found things that they'd like to be involved in, and my calendar was still pretty empty. We made the contacts for the things that I would like to work with after the meeting though, and I am excited to be officially starting my individualized activities this week. There are still plenty of frustrations, and frustrations that I know will arise later, but I just need to be patient. I will be spending my time between three different activities. I will be working with Emergency Relief Services through Blair Athol, which involves interviewing individuals in crisis and providing services as applicable such as food vouchers or parcels, bus tickets, or referrals (for example.) I will also be heading down to Calvary where there are a couple shelters and a transitional housing program that I can get involved with. This is the aspect I have been most looking forward to. The third aspect of my activities will be working out of Sefton Park on some more office or administrative tasks. After our meeting we were transported to Blair Athol to start our day there. My first task was to meet with Sharon and Audene about how I can get involved with the Emergency Relief program. It was explained to me and I was plugged right in to observe the appointments that were left for the morning (they only have appointments in the morning). Unfortunately there was only one more appointment left and they actually didn't show up at all. It was still a great opportunity to visit with the volunteer who was doing the interviews at the time. She showed me a bit about how the computer database works and what kind of information we use. I spent a short time in the shop helping after lunch, and then went back to help with more office tasks inside. We talked to Yvonne to find out how we were getting home and discovered that she had been able to get in touch with Calvary and the woman running it would be out to meet me on Tuesday morning. Overall it was a really productive day. While waiting for Yvonne to pick us up I learned how to answer the phones and how to enter more data into the system. Yvonne drove us home and we settled in a bit for the day. After supper we got a call from Helene letting us know that she'd be willing to watch a movie with us that night. We settled on a time and when it came the three of us began our walk to Helene's house. It was a longer walk than any of us acknowledged, but we made it. We had a cup of tea with the family and then watched The Castle, which is another classic Australian Film. I really believe that it was an Australian version of Joe Dirt (a film in the US poking fun at "white trash" or "hicks" if you will). Here that group of people are called Bogans. There were some truly awful hairdos and outfits in the film, which only added to its humor. In reality it isn't an amazing film, but it was amusing to see and be able to watch with an Australian family. We sat and visited for a bit afterwards, but then Jeremy drove us home before we fell asleep where we were. The night was bit hard for me because there is a lot of sarcasm used in the humor here, and as most of us know I am just not very good at it. By the end of the night my self esteem was a bit deflated from feeling a bit stupid at not getting jokes. I made it a point to go to bed right away, especially since it was already 1am.

Tuesday morning started with my crisis. When I got up and tried to turn on my computer it would not start. I spent a half hour messing with it before I had to give up and get ready for the day. I am thankful that I was able to make a phone call home to Tim to help me calm down, or else I might have been hysterical all day. I decided to pack up the computer and take it to Sefton Park with me since I knew that the IT guys worked out of that office. When we got there we set up the computer right away for Matt to look at it. There were no breakthroughs while we were there though. Hilary and I were brought to Blair Athol for the day. I spent the morning sitting in on Emergency Relief Interviews and getting to know more about the program. By the end of the morning I was putting data in the computer myself. The program has certain important guidelines set up. One is that in order for a person to be eligible they must live in the area. The program is funded through grants from the Government specifically to serve people in the area. Other guidelines include that a person can only have 3 appointments in a 12 month span of time and they can't come within a fortnight (which is 2 weeks). The services really are intended to help tide someone over for a couple days until they receive their next welfare check or payday. I really enjoyed visiting with the volunteer who was doing interviews today. Her name was Ruth and we talked about some interesting things which varied from our speculations on one of the appointments to the cultural differences of Marriage between the US and Australia. This stemmed from my discovering that individuals can still receive welfare payments even if they are married to someone who is employed. Even after becoming a family there is still an emphasis on the individual rather than just the household. I believe that the US definitely looks at this differently when deciding how much assistance a family can get. After the meetings were done for the day Hilary and I ate lunch and then she went to work in the shop while I worked a bit more in the office on tasks that needed a bit of help. While doing this Helen happened to come into the office and offered us a ride to Magill. We decided to take it since we didn't know how else we were going to get home. It also gave us a chance to blog. In the process of leaving we called over to Sefton Park to see how things had gone with my computer. Matt had not been able to get anywhere and said he would need the restoration disks to get anywhere. This is a real struggle because they, along with any of the warranty info, are at home in my closet in Waverly, IA. Besides that, if they have to restore windows I will not have any of my programs like i-tunes, yahoo messenger, or skype. It would be a bit expensive to download any or all of those programs again here. I am having trouble deciding if it is worth it or if I should just try to make due without it. Regardless I am really frustrated and upset about it since it is a new computer, and I have only had it since September. We did get a bit of good news, though. There is a house that we will be able to move into on the 9th of March which will allow us to cook our own food and solve some of the problems we've been having where we are staying now. It will cause some other issues, I'm sure, since we will be living in even closer quarters. We will have easier access to things though, and there are things like a washer and refrigerator that will be very helpful. It has been a hard day, and I am looking forward to getting back to my own space to think, and probably sulk, a little bit.

Problem Solved

On Saturday, while the girls were at the beach I got Skype to work in my room, which is incredibly exciting. I feel a bit left out that I didn't get to go to the beach, but overall I guess its a good thing, and knowing that I finally got the change to use Skype really makes it worth it. I also accomplished something by deciding that after no one had followed up on taking care of my broken bed that I would take care of the problem myself. I moved the bed frame into the hallway and situated the mattress on the floor. A while later two boys whom I have met and discovered are related to David (the head honcho) came to move it away. I assured them I didn't need them to find another bed frame and was fine with the mattress on the floor. One was quite relieved, while the other a little unsure. I convinced them though.

I met the girls in the city to have supper around 7/7:30pm. This meant that I took my first independent bus ride. I am a bit proud of myself since it was entirely successful. We found a restaurant called Primo to eat at. Before choosing we read menu's in the front of restaurants all down a more popular street, and settled on this one since it seemed to have the most options. We sat at a table to check out the menu and observe how the ordering process worked. Eventually we discerned that we needed to go up to a counter and order (and pay) for our food. I tried a lemon/lime bitters to drink (pictured below), which is actually quite popular here.

As we read through the menu we also discovered that at supper time customers receive a free pancake with their meal. We spent a bunch of time taking pictures of them since they were so interesting. They are much thicker than those that we are used to at home, but they are almost like a doughnut. They came with a bit of cream and a bit of syrup. They were DELICIOUS.

After supper we headed back to Hosanna Heights. The girls were tired from their day at the beach, and I didn't have anything more to do in the city. I actually made it to bed pretty early and was excited to sleep on my non-slanty bed.

This morning (Sunday) we went to church with Helene again. Hilary stayed home because she got sunburt at the beach yesterday. The service was good, and we actually sang two songs that I knew. One of them was called "Days of Elijah," which I used to sing at camp, so it took all restraint to keep from doing the actions with it. We also did another that I only vaguely remembered from Holy Trinity (the church we went to in Milwaukee). After church there was a meeting about plans to start a youth group at Glynde that we were invited to attend and talk about our experiences with youth ministry in our lives. It was fun to use what I'd learned from experiences at Holy Trinity and to hear about how they are going about their process. They also had dominoes pizza to eat there which was actually yummy. I'm eating a lot of pizza here it seems. Helene invited us to come have coffee/tea at their house after the meeting. It was nice and it was far less awkward to sit around and talk with their family than it has felt in the past. I hope this is because we are getting more used to each other. I know I really like their family, and appreciate their hospitality. Besides that they are all fun and interesting people. Helene was ready to us back to Hosanna Heights after tea since she needed to get to the grocery store before it closed at 5pm. She also wanted to check in on Hilary and her sunburn. It took a couple minutes for Morgan and I to understand that she wanted us to come with her. We kept saying we'd just walk to the bus stop so she didn't worry about us and she kept responding that she wanted to go check on Hilary. Eventually we just got in the car, and upon later thought and discussion figured out what was really going on. Helene spent some time mothering Hilary and then dropped Morgan and I off at a shopping center so I could do a little shopping. I had an slight wardrobe malfunction during this experience. A hem on the shirt that I was wearing began to unravel and I was messing wiht it trying to figure out how I would fix it later, but instead it just unravelled more. Like the stupid person I can be I just decided to pull it. This actually meant then that the entire cuff on the top of the shirt and the straps came apart (it was a knit "spaghetti" strap shirt, but not really spaghetti, more like fetuccini since they were thick straps). By this point the shirt no longer looked like something I could wear out of the bathroom. It was lucky that I just happened to have purchased a shirt at the store so I coudl put that one on. Morgan and I found a rather reasonably priced Sushi place which was actually open later than 5pm so she and I got some shushi and ate it outside. I tried sushi with cucumber and avacado in it, a vegetarian one, and a prawn and avacado one. They were all really good. Morgan even liked them (better than the others she's tried here so far) and she is practically an expert at Sushi. I was super amused by the soy sauce packets that were plastic and looked like fish.

After we finished I was all ready to catch the bus, but Morgan was planning to walk back to Hosanna Heights. Of course in the process I missed the bus so I got to walk back too. This is about a 2 mile walk, which feels like it is uphill most of the way. And I might add that it was hot and I was now wearing a black thick T-shirt rather than my light tank top, had an extremely full stomach, and was wearing flip flops. I thought I was going to die and had to stop to buy some water on the way. I did make it though, and am quite proud of myself. I marched right up to my room to sit in air conditioning for a couple hours before I emerged. The rest of the night has been spent chilling out. I borrowed Hilary's memory card so I could grab some of the pics that she took for me when I couldn't get them right on my camera. I am going to put them down at the bottom the page here so it is clear which ones are from her camera. (Thanks for letting me put them up Hil.)

This is Morgan and I dancing in our safe corner we found Thursday night at the Casino.

These girls are so good at taking pictures of themselves and groups.

Hilary's amazing mother sent her a great package which I got to be there for her to open. The package was quite expensive to mail as I understand it.

She even sent me afterbite for my enormous mosquito bites. THANK YOU!

Meet Radar, our local Huntsman spider. Believe it or not he is the most harmless.

Koala Crossing

On Friday morning we walked to work not sure what to expect. When we got there we sat down to catch up with Helen and Helene. Helen gave us some ideas to contact/e-mail some of the folks that we are starting to get connected with as far as some of the independent things we want to work on. Helene gave us our tasks for the day which turned out to be checking out some touristy/historical things. We sent our e-mails and then were on our way. Our first task was to walk to the Magill interpretive trail, which was just a couple blocks away.

This was a walkway that had different artwork and bits and pieces about the history of the Magill area. The piece of information that stuck out to me most was on the first plaque which said that in 1842 there were at least 650 aboriginal people in the area, but by 1852 there were only 180. The history that Australia has with its native peoples is actually quite similar to what has happened in the US. It is just amazing to me, though, that they can actually put numbers to their history and to think that they reduced the population that much in 10 years.

I took this opportunity to take a picture of some magpies that were around. These birds are one of multiple species that make VERY strange noises. They are also supposedly known for diving at peoples heads, but I haven't (and hope to not) experience that.

After we finished the trail we walked to the Pepper Street art gallery. The gallery feature art by local artists and the ongoing exhibition was by a man who has painted landscapes of Australia with watercolors and oils etc. It was interesting to see some of the color choices. We tried to sign up to be used as models for a sketch class that is ongoing at the gallery, but they only needed one model and it was only for a date in June. We walked back to the office to have our lunch. Over lunch we discussed some important ocean safety tips, like how to survive a shark attack. This actually stemmed from a conversation about Canada and how one of the women who was eating with us has always wanted to go to Canada, but is afraid of the bears. Apparently the most successful approach to surviving a shark attack is to hit or kick it in the nose which is where most of its sensory receptors are or something like that. I just hope I never find myself in that situation in the first place. After lunch we gathered our things and headed into town on our second task of the day, to check out the Immigration Museum. As it turns out the museum was incredible. We spent about an hour and a half walking around and didn't even get through it all. We all want to go back to finish it, but we just didn't feel we could take in any more info at the time. There was an example of Filipino history which included a bit about US involvement, which was not something I feel we really learn about in the US. The most interesting part for me was the larger section that talked about the immigration movement to Australia, which was during the same time as the immigration wave to the US. From some of the information that I read it seems like Australia and America were really the two choices for people wishing to move to a new world. About 32.something million people came to the US, where as only 3.5 million came to Australia. There were some of the original posters and other advertisements on display at the museum. During that time there offered things like free passage to Australia for workers with desired skills and their families. At first they even gave away land to those who came. There were certainly issues of discrimination and of different groups that would try to come to Australia.

We checked out the Library after we finished in the museum, hoping to get library cards. Admittedly, I mostly want one as a souvenir. We will need to come back with proof of address in order to get one though. From here Morgan headed to Blair Athol to check out the hip hop night that we'd tried out the last week. Hilary and I headed back to the Magill office to get our stuff and to do some blogging and such on their computers. When we'd finished we walked back to Hosanna Heights. On the way we saw a Koala Crossing sign along the road and found it amusing.
Supper was in full swing when we arrived back to Hosanna Heights so we stopped to eat right away. When we went upstairs Hilary decided to call Matt, the boy that we'd gone to see play on Thursday night. She planned to ask for advice for what we should do on a Friday night, and in response he said he wasn't doing anything and that he'd be happy to come get us and show us around town a bit. Unfortunately this meant we had a relatively short time to get ready. He picked us up shortly after 9 and we headed downtown. We spent a bit of time looking for a parking spot and then walked to a street where there were a couple bars. We chose one that was pretty quiet at the time. When we got in Morgan realized she didn't have any cash with her so Matt walked her to an ATM and Hilary and I settled in to look at the drink menu. When Morgan and Matt returned we got ourselves drinks and visited for a bit. Things picked up and quite a few more people came into the bar. We went next door to see what that was like and it was actually a bit more interesting. There was a DJ in both places, but there was a dance floor space, which Hilary, Morgan and I took advantage of for a short time. It was interesting though, in the US usually it would be women that were dancing a lone, and possibly men would dance if they were dancing with the women, but here it was not like that at all. At one point there was a ration of 2 women to 7+ men dancing on the floor. It wasn't anything to do with sexual orientation, as most of the guys had a woman with them that was simply choosing not to dance. I guess the men here just feel more comfortable dancing? After a while we decided that we were ready to go and we left the bar. Matt decided to take us to see what the Fringe is about. The fringe was a very busy festival that started on Thursday. It goes on for a while and during that time there will be music acts and art shows, but for now there are food stands, beer tents, and a couple freak show tents. I mean that literally. It was interesting to see though. Matt had some nachos and then noticed that the Hilary and Morgan were chilly (I had rather intelligently decided to wear a sweater :) and we all decided to go home.

When the kids are away...

It is 8:48am on Friday now.
Yesterday all three of us went to Ingle Farm. When we got there we split up to experience the two groups that met in the morning. Hilary and I sat in on a session called "move and groove." It is led by a man named Laddie who was described to us as out there, in your face, and similar to Richard Simmons. You can imagine how curious we were at this description. The session had 50 people in a small room. It is a session where parents bring their toddlers to participate in songs and actions with them. We did some that Hilary and I knew like "wheels on the bus", "the hokey pokey", and "twinkle twinkle little star" (which has multiple verses by the way). There were also a bunch that we didn't know. One of the most interesting ones was the ABC's because some of the letters are pronounced different here. Laddie was actually really great with the children, and his wife and 3 children were there and participated. I really wish I could/would have taken pictures of it because I think it is really hard to imagine a scene like I am trying to describe where parents and children are singing and playing together without much reserve. In general I am more and more convinced that the systems here are set up with far more concern for the child and programs and activites are set up with participation from parent and child. This is especially true with the playgroups that I have witnessed. I still cannot think of anything like them in the US where parents bring children to a facilitated session where they stay to play with their children. I sometimes wonder whether there might be different cultural expectations on how long a mother or parent will stay home with the child after birth, or just generally if stay at home moms/dads are still the trend in Australian culture.
After the group was over the children had a snack of fruit, which parents brought to share, and we had a chance to visit with Laddie shortly. As it turns out he seems like a very down to earth man, not Richard Simmons-esque at all. He is actually just a father who has volunteered to lead the group so that it did not cease to exist. I find this admirable. After this group there wasn't much to do until the afternoon so Hilary and I decided to have a bit of fun and try out the toys in the playroom and outside. The wall outside has been painted by people participating in groups and programs at the center. As a part of the wall there is a wombat painted, which was an animal that Hilary, Helene and I spent quite a bit of time trying to find a picture of the other night.


Inside there are a conglomoration of different fun toys, including a trampoline. We may have had TOO much fun with them. Have no fear, we got permission first from one of the staff members to play.


There was one group that met yesterday that I had been told had requested help with bringing in presenters to groups for Women with infants. There was some confusion about whether they were planning to meet and for a while I thought they weren't coming, but sure enough there was suddenly a group of moms with small children gathering in the playroom. The site supervisor had left for the day to go to an appointment so she wasn't there to introduce me. When one of the other staff said it was the right group I approached them to introduce myself. It was a very strange feeling. I introduced myself as a student who was working with Lutheran Community Care for a couple months, and let them know that I had heard about their interest in some presenters coming to their group. I told them that I would be happy to help contact some resources to set it up if they would like to let me know what kind of things they were interested in. The women responded that they hadn't actually thought about it. They said that they were really only there for the social aspect of the group for themselves, and of course for their babies. They said they would give it some thought. I must admit that I felt more like it was a polite dismissal. They didn't seem very interested in meeting me or anything I was saying. I keep looking back at what I said wondering if I somehow offended them or something, but I can't really think of anything I said that could have been taken the wrong way. I let Karen, the site supervisor, know that I had introduced myself and offered to help with that and little about their response(mostly that they had said they didn't really sound interested). It was a bit of a shame because the way that the day ended up going it turned out that there really wasn't anything for us to do at the site all day, and we were just waiting for this group to come so I could meet them, and it didn't seem very succesful. We waited around a bit longer and then Dianne took us home. We rested a bit and got ready to go downtown to hear a 40's swing band play at the casino (free admission). Simon actually knows one of the guys in the band and he came with us, though he didn't seem too keen on taking the bus. I was excited to wear my new dress, which I bought after realizing that EVERYone (female mostly) here wears dresses, especially when they go out.
Morgan helped me take pictures of it since I was so excited about it. Admittedly I might have been more excited about my clever plan to feel more comfortable in the dress by wearing Jersey shorts under it. They even matched the dress. We took the bus downtown and made our way to the casino. We had to have our IDs checked, and were informed that if we hadn't had our passports with us the bouncer wouldn't have been able to let us in. We struggled a little to find our way to the bar area where Matt (Simon's friend)'s band was playing. When we found it they were still setting up so we got ourselves drinks and settled ourselves at a table to wait. Hilary and Morgan were quite excited to be at a bar (rather than a pub) which meant they could get the mixed drink/cocktails that they couldn't get before. We ended having to move when the band started to be able to see them as the room had a few large pillars that blocked the view. There were some really good swing dancers that came out to strut their stuff on the dance floor. It made me more than happy to stay in my chair and just in my seat.
Although, at one point the three of us found a corner almost out of sight to dance in on the way to the restroom. The show was supposed to last until midnight, so we deliberated and decided that we would take a cab home since the last bus left at 11:20pm. You can imagine our frustration when they ended their show at 11:30pm. We sat and visited a bit longer before leaving to find a cab. Matt asked if we wanted to go to the Fringe (a festival that has just started) but after thinking about it we decided that since we had to work in the morning it would be a better idea to just head home. I was glad we had chosen this when we got outside since the night had cooled down significantly. We hailed a cab and were on our way. The cab driver was a major frustration, as it turned out, because he ignored our directions when we told him to turn even though he said he was following our directions and we knew he could hear us. When we finally got back to Hosanna Heights we were all just glad to get out of the cab and most likely do what we can to not have to take a cab again. I went to bed as soon as I could because I knew the morning was going to come faster than I'd like.

$7 footlong.

It is 10pm here on Wednesday.

This morning Karen picked me up from Hosanna Heights. She is the supervisor at Ingle Farm. The site is bit farther away and focuses on support groups for moms and creches for kids. The first thing I did when I got there was meet everyone there. One woman that I met is Dianne, who runs the Creches (childcare). They even do Mobile Creches (what I previously thought were connected to Car Crashes) which go to various places where there are support groups and take care of kids while the groups are meeting. The second thing that I did was read an article she provided me about volunteering in Australia. I talked with Dianne later about my reaction to the article and found that there are a lot of common approaches to volunteering, but that they are not quite the same. One clear difference is the approach of instilling volunteering early in youth in the US. There are obviously exceptions here, but it didn't seem like one would ever find a high school that required any amount of community service or anything like that. Iryana, who was working at the reception desk asked for a little help using excel so I felt intelligent when I was able to help her complete her task that she seemed to be having trouble with, even though I didn't do it with excel. I sat in on a support group for parents and learning efficient methods of discipline for children. The first thing that struck me about the system that they were teaching was that the man in the AV resources did not have an Australian Accent. I suspect that he was American because of an off hand reference he made to Green Bay Packers at one point. The system was generally aimed at releasing the stress and trying to encourage parents to make sure that they are not getting too worked up in the process of disciplining children, in part because the child will feed off of the emotions put out by the adult. It was very interesting, but I realized that I still had a couple questions at the end. I asked two of them to the presenter, but I wondered if the approach could be used in caring for another persons children, for example. Ironically enough, when working with the kids at a Creche later, one of the kids was pushing me and hitting and I had no idea what the process was to let him know that was not OK. After the Creche was over I spent time visiting with other staff and thinking on suggestions that were made about other programs we might be interested in. Karen took me back to the Magill office around 3pm and I met up with Morgan and Hilary there. Emily ended up giving us a ride home. I almost feel lazy that I didn't walk hardly at all yesterday. Its a first. When I got home I got on the computer and talked to Tim for a bit. (A bit being long enough to skip supper.) Hilary and I decided to investigate Subway in the city, which she called and found out that they happen to be open until 9pm. We took the bus out there and found Subway quickly. I had my veggie sub, but was quickly frustrated that the toppings and sauces didn't taste the same at all. I should have known this would be the case, but none the less I was still a bit sad. For example, the Chipotle Southwest sauce tasted like ranch and thousand island dressing mixed together. Hilary and I walked around a bit after we finished eating. We decided to go back to Hosanna Heights before too long though. When we got back I settled into my room and started my blog. Morgan came to my room to talk to me, which is good, and I think we were successful at hashing some things out. I was beat by the end of the night and ready for bed. Mornings always feel like they just come too early.

Steaks and Pizza!

It is 12:25am on Wednesday right now.
This morning I walked to work alone to have some time to think. When I arrived I got settled and visited shortly with Helen and Helene. When Hilary and Morgan arrived we got settled and waited for Emily. Emily took Hilary to the Domestic Violence shelter to participate in a self defense course and to get to see the site. We will be switching off going on Tuesdays while we are here. Next week is my turn. While Hilary was there Helen talked with us a bit about our logistics of things we will be doing and narrowing down our specific interests a bit. I have indicated that I am especially interested in the Emergency Relief programs and the Calvary site, which is a shelter for families and a bit of a transitional housing program. I was set up to try to use my computer at the office today to Skype with my mom, but unfortunately the Internet did not work in the spare room. Helen offered to download skype onto her work computer so that I could try to communicate home which was a very generous offer, especially considering it meant the cost of download (which the process is not free here) and giving up her desk for the time that would be spent Skyping. I was excited to be able to try a video chat with my family, even though I couldn't plug my camera into the computer because when I tried it caused a power surge. It was still great to see the fam and hear about things going on at home. The rest of the afternoon I spent on some office tasks and some more visiting with Helen when Hilary returned. The girls tried to get their doses of Internet in case their Internet was still not working when they got back to Hosanna Heights. Hilary and I walked back together at the end of the day. When we arrived back we headed to our rooms only to find that the Internet was not working at all. We went back down to the office to talk to David (the head honcho) about it, and to ask if we could do anything about the broken bed, and found there was a package for me. We asked our questions and I got my package, which was from Tim. I couldn't even wait til I got to my room to open it. When we got to our rooms our Internet still wasn't working and we were supposed to wait for one of the students to come to our rooms. Before too long it was time for supper so we made our way downstairs right at about 6:30pm (when they start serving). There was a long line already. While in line one of the girls who was working in the kitchen asked if we would like some pizza, steak, and salad to eat for our meal. We all jumped at the idea of pizza, and even the other girls expressed an interest in a bit of steak. I said I didn't need any steak as I am doing the vegetarian thing. I still waited in line to get rice and veggies in case these meal items didn't turn out like we were hoping. It turns out it was good I did since the pizza turned out to be sausage and Canadian bacon. (Later I was informed that I should expect pizza to have meat on it unless I specifically order it otherwise. This is good to know) The girl also brought 2 large T-bone type slabs of steak to our table. I enjoyed my rice and veggies and some of the fries that came with one of the steaks. We shared one of the steaks with a table next to us that had noticed our feast. After supper we made our way back upstairs only to discover that all of the power had gone out. Somehow this also meant that there was no Internet. I made a phone call and then went in search of Hilary. I was a bit disappointed because I had hoped to watch the movie Tim sent me, Madagascar 2. Hilary and I talked about it and decided to ask Helene if there was any chance that we could watch a movie at her house. Not only was she OK with it, she even came to pick us up. Even better, we watched the movie twice. We got a ride home and arrived home just now. To our relief, the power is all up and running. On another note, Radar, our huntsman spider, is back at his perch at the top of the stairs. I tried taking a picture but it didn't turn out so well. I will have to try again when the lights are on. Sadly I don't have any pictures to add today. It was a good day though.

Adelaide's Got Balls!

It is 10:12pm here now, and I have just gotten to my computer for the night after Hilary and Morgan have used it to check their e-mail...and of course facebook.

This morning Morgan and I walked to the office while Hilary got ready. Her alarm didn't wake her up and she only woke up when I called her before Morgan and I were went down to breakfast. At the office we did devotions and then caught a ride to Blair Athol. I think we're finally starting to feel a routine, on Mondays at least. We went right into the shop and were ready to work. The volunteers working decided it would be a good time to take morning tea, but I chose to continue to work to give myself some time to think over things that had been discussed that morning. While Morgan and I walked I instigated a conversation about defensiveness. There have been some definite tensions between the three of us which have been a constant struggle for me, and which I fear are going to become obvious to those around us if they haven't already. The biggest give away is the way that we all get very defensive when talking to each other, to a point where we are often defending our opinions, whether they have been challenged or not.

This portion of the blog has been removed out of respect to Morgan. I am glad to have talked with her about it.

The conversation that I had with Morgan was a step in the right direction, I hope. The end result was trying to encourage her to confront Hilary and I about what she's feeling to be sure she gets it straight from our mouths and doesn't assume we're trying to be unwelcoming when we're actually trying to do the opposite. The end of the conversation occurred within earshot of Helen and Helene and as a part of it we prayed for communication and patience in our devotion. It is also a positive thing because it is evident that we will need to have our own separate experience, which has not been the case so far. On our car ride to Blair Athol Helene talked with us about it being OK for us to talk to them about changing things up if they aren't working right now. We've already set up a meeting to evaluate how things are going with Helen tomorrow afternoon. Helene also asked if we might be interested in helping a bit with the planning for an Emergency Relief training on Dealing with Difficult People. I am thinking that this may be an entirely exciting and helpful thing considering the morning.

After the volunteers and Hilary and Morgan were finished with their tea we all worked our butts off getting donations sorted because there were a HUGE amount of them. Even the volunteers said that we did about a weeks worth of work today. I was excited because we found a purse for me, to replace the one that broke, and it was only $2. Perfect price for me. I am glad that I waited. The other girls also found some 70s clothes for the 70s night at the retreat we are going to in March. After helping clean up in the shop we took a bus into the city. We had some time to shop around a bit and wander. All of the shops closed at 5pm in the city so we headed toward CitySoul, where we were headed to help pack some bags to be handed out to students during O-week, which is their orientation week (next week). We were early so Hilary and I decided to sit outside the building and read while Morgan walked for a bit longer. We saw one of the leaders of the church arrive and helped him carry up the stuff and set up the room to pack bags. He was very welcoming and we must have set up the room pretty effectively because the task was completed in about 40 min, compared to his thought that it would take at least 2 hrs. We stayed around and cleaned up and visited for a bit. We left just in time to catch our bus back to Hosanna Heights. Unfortunately both of the girls Internet isn't working, but they've been able to use my computer. Hilary got some exciting news. She has been invited to come to a meeting along the lines of the foster care project she has been working with Andrea on. I am glad that her week is looking up. Also, on the upside I am feeling a bit better than last night, but am worried that it may have to do with not having eaten anything from Hosanna Heights today. My next project when I finish is to see if anything can be done to fix this broken bed, since my back was a bit upset with me today.

These pictures of the "Balls" which we have been told we must see. Simon and Jeremy actually thought we were ridiculous for having missed them when walking around in the city. Well, we found them today and had to take pictures. We got stared at by the people walking around as we were in the middle of an outdoor mall, where people see these balls everyday.

What is American?

It is 10pm on Sunday right now.
Yesterday was really wonderful. The three of us all took a walk to Coles/Woolworths/the shopping center nearby. It was another warm day, but definitely bearable. I bought some more sun dried tomatoes and cheese to use for lunches at work. I also got some chocolate since I was craving it. We chose to purchase a cake to bring to Helen's, since they were having us over for supper. While walking back we got into a conversation about possibly cooking an "American meal" for the women at the office before we left. The conundrum we found was that we have no idea what is American. Our heritage comes from so many ethnic backgrounds put together that it is quite a difficult question to answer. About the only food we thought of was a sloppy jo/sloppy jane. I decided that things are more immersed in our culture, like hot dogs/beer/baseball, or pizza/beer. The pizza is definitely originally American. This will definitely be a question we have to continue to ponder. When we got back to Hosanna Heights we had a bit of down time before Helen was planning to pick us up. She called and asked us to bring things to stay overnight as it would be significantly easier to not need to make extra trips. We also brought our laundry as Helen offered that we could do that. On the way to Helen's we stopped at a liquor store to get some wine for dinner, and to meet her son Steven. Steven has worked quite a few odd jobs it sounds like and has ended up at this one for now. He and I talked briefly about Fantasy Football/Baseball leagues, which he said have taken over his life this year. When we got there we commenced washing our clothes right away. Supper was ready rather quickly so we headed into the dining room to eat. Helen had asked what we missed as far as food from the US, and we couldn't really come up with anything in particular. They cut up various vegetables and cheese to put into tortillas. It was very yummy. Peter had made a sort of lemon pudding that was really good for dessert. We decided to watch Muriel's Wedding after supper. Muriel's Wedding is what we have been told is a very Australian movie. I really enjoyed it. It is the story of Muriel who comes from a rather disfunctional family and becomes obsessed with getting married. The true philosophical issues at the movie's center are about the things pointless that we strive for in our lives like popularity and living up to other people's standards. The film is really great, and it has plenty of twists and turns as apparently is common in Australian films. I would recommend it to anyone who can get their hands on it. We were all pretty tired after the movie was over and spent a little time reading before hitting the hay. We were able to sleep in a bit in the morning because church didn't start until 11am. We went to Helen and Peter's church in the city today. It was a very unique service, especially in consideration of the music. The music was very hippie-esque. It was very enjoyable though. The congregation is not very large, which is very common in the Lutheran Church here. There aren't any mega churches like those developing in the US. The pastor was a very good preacher and we were very welcomed. After church there was a lunch that is a community event with a Chinese community that holds a service in another room of the church during the same time. We enjoyed meeting some people from the congregation and getting to meet the pastor. We had a look through their library and I selected a book to borrow on the history of the Christian church in Australia to use toward my RE credit that I am working for while here. We went to have coffee with a couple of the people we met. One was named Tanya and she invited us to come up to her home for the next weekend. She also asked if I would like to possibly help lead the Holden Evening Prayer, which is exciting since it is my first real opportunity to sing here. We decided we would work on it next weekend while we are staying with her. After coffee we walked around the city a bit while Peter and Helen tried to shop for clothes for their Daughter's upcoming wedding. When we met up we tried to work on getting a sim card for the one phone we have acquired to use here. It is going to be used only for work, though. We returned home and couldn't believe it was already 5:30pm. Hilary and I went for a walk to debrief about our day and how we were feeling while Morgan used Skype on one of the computers at Helen's house. She caught up with us as we walked though. We stumbled upon our first really beat up building. It was a many story high building with almost all of its windows graffitied and broken. As we walked into the parking lot in front of it a police officer (in a car) followed us in. We were all startled as he confronted us as to what we were doing there. We assured him we weren't planning to go in and asked him what it was. He told us it was an old part of the surrounding hospital and that it was condemned but obviously people continued to tresspass. We stayed and talked about the building after he pulled away. We asked Peter and Helen about it when we got back to their house. It was the old mental ward as a part of a hospital that is now called SA Disability. It was apparently originally called something like "the home for the incurables." Now, like most institutions in the US, is changing its approach to placing clients/patients into smaller group homes in communities. This was very interesting to me since it is directly related to my job at home. Peter made veggie patties (literally he mashed up various steamed veggies and fried and baked them) for supper, which were great. When we finished eating we finally tried some of the cake that we had brought. We lounged about for a bit until Helen decided it was time to bring us home. It wasn't until we were halfway home that it occured to her that she could have just had us stay the night and brought us to work with her in the morning, which would have made a lot more sense. Plus, it would have meant I could have slept in a non-broken bed one more night. My back was so thankful for her bed last night. As uncomfortable some of the aspects of Hosanna Heights are, I may be thankful for my own space as I am seeming to be have some unfortunate effects from something I've eaten. Hopefully a good nights rest will help with that though.

another day at the office

It is 11am on Saturday here now.
When I think about yesterday I realize that I am beginning to sense a bit of a routine in our activities. We all headed to the office after Morgan got back from Helen's and had time to get ready. When we got to the office we continued to work on tasks from the previous day and such. We had morning tea and lunch with Helene and then continued back to work. Jude, another staff member that we've met, invited us to come up and spend time Jetskiing on the Murray River. In the end though we would have needed to take a bus up there and it would only have allowed us a couple hours there, which is not worth it. It was a shame that we had to turn it down. In the process of searching the internet I also discovered that there is a concert coming next Tuesday that I would love to go to, but the tickets are almost $90, which is more than the airfare we found to go to Alice Springs. Part of me wonders if American music and concerts are just more expensive here. Towards the afternoon we headed to Ingle Farm to see another site. At Ingle farm there is a Creche, which is like day care. Until last Tuesday, I thought that they were calling them a Crash, which was only more confusing when they'd call them Mobile Creches, which to me sounded like something to do with a car accident. But now I'm straightened out. We got a quick overview of their activities and arranged to all come out there next week for a more indepth experience. Afterwards we went to Blair Athol where they hold an activity for youth there. They bring DJ equipment and give young males a chance to rap and let out energy that way. The girl have a chance to dance. This is meant to divert attention away from violent activities that could otherwise be going on outside in the neighborhoods. It was the first day back after 2 weeks off because of the heat. It was really interesting to see. It was a abit awkward at first since we were the only white people there. Also, before the girls arrived the boys were a bit rude, but nothing we wouldn't expect from a group of boys in this age. We observed for about an hour, dancing some with the girls at times, and then Helen gave us a ride into the city. On Friday nights the shops stay open later so we thought it might be a good chance to check out the city a bit more. We ate at the same Italian Restaurant that Simon, Hilary, and I ate at the night before. At supper we talked a lot about how we were feeling about what was going on. We all are having somewhat different impressions of things. It is very evident to me that we are guinea pigs right now. As a result I am gathering my reactions to make recommendations at the end of my experience about how things could/should go different next time. The three of us are also struggling a bit with financial things. As we know from information we've been given the financial breakdown is usually not given to students, but more than anything this concerns us. We are all a bit worried about the amount of money that is being invested into Hosanna Heights for food, when we're really not eating there often, and when we do it really isn't sufficient. Besides that there are constant issues with internet, air conditioning, and even just getting help from the man who runs the place. We are well aware that things are different here, but I am starting to think that these are things that will be an ongoing struggle throughout our time here. I would hate to go home having spent so much of my time hating rice for example. On the other side of things, the staff at Hosanna Heights are so amazingly hospitable and have welcomed us into their homes and along on activities. It just isn't fair that they should have to provide so much of the things that we are paying for here at Hosanna Heights. Admittedly I haven't found the balance and what I should really do about how I'm feeling, but it seems that this woudl be a place that I can express that. Anyway, after supper we took a walk in the city, aiming for a certain spot. Of course, we ended up going the wrong direction. But isn't it amazing how sometimes you need to go the wrong direction to find things? We ended up stopping in a church organization to get directions when we realized we were lost. Its called Sanctuary Surfers. They are a ministry that involves a surf shop and daily surf trips. Morgan and I are pretty sure we might want to try it sometime. The woman working was able to help give us directions to take us back where we needed to get. There was also a purse there that I really liked, and since the only one I brought has broken I am in the market I was excited about that. I shyed away when I saw it was $25 though. After leaving I started thinking, I wonder if I'm just a cheapskate? We made it back to the bus stop and waited for our bus. I was so tired I was falling asleep on the bus. When we got back we checked our mail and were delighted to find we all had packages. Our care packages from the study abroad office were a plesant thing to have come the day before Valentine's Day. I looked through it when I got to my room and really appreciated it. I decided to crash right away so I could get up at 4:30am to talk to Tim on the computer. Of course, after talking to him for a couple hours this morning I went back to sleep.

Jazzercise

It is 9:30am here on Friday now.
Yesterday Hilary and I didn't have to be into the office until 11am, but did we sleep in, no! We got up and went to exchange money and look around at a shopping center instead. We took the bus out there and then decided to hop back on it to get back to work. When we arrived there was a list of things for us to do. I worked on a flyer for one of the classes that Helen is teaching. I was excited to be able to use one of the photos from a wedding I went to (Bienemann). After the flyer was done I spent time watching videos that have been produced by the government about relationship issues like living together, having a child, and combined families. We were asked to write a recommendation about the videos and how we thought they could be used. Helene returned around lunch time and we sat down together for the meal. After lunch I started on new task for Helene compiling feedback from a series of Emergency Relief training for a grant report. Its nice to feel useful, but I have a feeling that it will take me a little time before I am completely comfortable, and confident with professional tasks. Hilary and I were invited to a Jazz musicians CD release by Simon. This took some working out because of time, but Hilary really likes Jazz so it was a great opportunity to be invited to. Helene brought us home around 5pm so we could have some time before heading to their place for a ride into the city. Unfortunately, when it came down to it because of when the bus came we didn't have hardly any time. This was frustrating for me because I was hoping to have a chance to talk to Tim, but that had to be cut short to catch the bus. And then, of course, the bus didn't come on time at all. We waited at the bus stop for at least 30min before one came. On the way into the city Helene asked if we could take a detour to see the Torrens River (which is actually a lake). Apparently, there was a bit of a blunder and the lake was drained. This comes at an unfortunate time for a couple reasons. The night before a city council member had been interviewed regarding an intentional draining of the lake to which he responded that doing would have many negative affects. Imagine how surprised he would have been when he woke up the next morning and it had been accidentally drained. There are also a couple festivals coming up that will take place near the area which will now have a fewer aesthetic qualities and probably a strong stench. After walking along the now drained waterway we headed into the city. Hilary and I hadn't had a chance to eat so our first order of business was to find some supper. Of course, what side of town would we end up on but Chinatown. We are a bit sick of rice so we were happy to search out any restaurant that didn't serve dishes over rice. We ate at an Italian place and shared some brushetta and a pizza. Simon, Hilary, and I shared some good conversation while we sat about music and other things. We headed to the Promethean (the venue where the CD release would be) after paying. The musician was very talented and it was neat to hear his stories about making the CD as he performed. It was strange to hear him talk about all the time he spent in the US making the CD though. He played for about an hour or so. Afterwards we talked about what we wanted to do and were a bit indecisive. I suggested walking around for a bit to see the city at night. No one really moved until Simon suggested he would show us around the city so we could see it at night. Sounds a bit like my suggestion huh? We walked for quite some time around the city. He showed us the areas where there are quite a few bars and things like that. Jeremy was somehow convinced to pick us up and he even gave us a ride all the way home. I was pretty tired at the end of the night and glad to head for bed right away.

The above pictures are of the recently drained river Torrens. G'ma: I took the pic of the black swans (which are native here) for you. I took a couple more but it is not letting me upload them right now.

The first pic is of me with my double seat belt from the previous post. The second pic is of the tomato sauce (ketchup) that Helene has made and given us a bottle. She bottled them in old Cooper's beer bottles and made her own labels.

Double Seatbelt Duty

It is 9:30am on Thursday now.
The first thing that I did yesterday was attend an Occupational Health and Safety meeting representing the Magill office. The other staff members that I went with complained a bit about the meeting and laughed that I was attending since it will be SO boring. I was excited, though, to be sitting in on a meeting, especially representing our office. The meeting went well and it was interesting to see the different interactions between some of the other staff in the meeting. After the meeting we went back to the Sefton Park office, which is the administrative office. Helene was in a meeting there and was quite excited to get back to Magill when it was finished. We left Hilary at Sefton park so she could work more with Andrea on her Foster Care proposal. Back at Magill I was able to sit in on a presentation that Yvonne and Helen were giving to a group of Seminary students on Lutheran Community Care and find out a bit more about programs and the history of the agency. What I found most interesting in the course of the presentation, though, was the reactions and comments made by the Seminary students. There was one who very pointedly said that because of the way that Australia's economy is set up the people who are in poverty are there by their own faults. I struggled greatly with this comment, but I didn't feel it was my place to comment. For a little bit after the comment I would swear you could cut the tension in the room with a knife. Eventually we moved on with the presentation and the tension calmed down. I spent the rest of the afternoon putting the final touches on the newsletter that I was working on last week since there were new additions for me to add. Since Yvonne was there she checked it out and gave it her stamp of approval. At the end of the day we headed to CitySoul which is a very new church that is starting in the city. It is above a Death Metal concert venue. The group was really welcoming and it was a great time. They had food and after eating they gathered up and one of the pastors did some business type thing and talked about the events that they have going on. A DJ gave a presentation about mashing music together in connection with their series theme about mashing the faith and culture together. The other pastor gave a message about the different perceptions that Christians have in regards to other religions. This part was information that had been presented in my World Religions class sophomore year so I was able to file it quickly. It made it easier to talk about when the group broke into conversations about the topic. Overall it was great. Morgan went home with Helen because she is traveling with Helen today. Andrea brought Hilary and I home. When I got into her car I was unable to get her seat belt to stretch (since it wasn't normal) to the clasp. We all quickly broke into laughs, and I finally was able to pull the middle seat belt through the over the shoulder one to make a make shift harness. Andrea said I looked like I was harnessed into a race car. We got safely back home around 9:30 or 10pm. Hilary and I were excited that we don't have to go into work today until 11am, but we still have other things we want to do. We are heading out right now to catch a bus to a shopping center quick before heading to the office where there are lists of things for us to do waiting. Sadly the picture adder isn't working right now so I will have to wait til another blog to try to add pictures.

Growling Koalas and CRICKET!

It is 11pm on Tuesday night.

Last night after I blogged the three of us went for a walk in the conservation park. It was an amazing 24 C outside and perfect weather for walking. On our way into the park we saw a bunch of Koalas sleeping in the trees. (Which makes sense since they are nocturnal.)

We decided to take the path to Giants Cave, which was at the top of a set of stairs.
When we were getting ready to leave we suddenly heard this loud growling noise coming from who knows where. Hilary and I were a little shaken, but Morgan was content to continue taking self portraits. She said she wasn't worried cause she would just take off running. Well eventually we walked back down the steps and made it out of the park, at a quick pace. When we got back to our rooms we immediately searched online to try to figure out what it could have been. All we could find was a Growling Frog. Imagine how silly we felt. I went to bed pretty quickly last night since our morning seemed to be pretty early again today.

This morning we headed to the Magill office for a WHOLE days worth of training. The training was required for anyone working with children, which we will be, and was about Manditory reporting for child abuse. It was strange because I know that I contributed ideas that I've learned through various activities and courses I've participated in which were new to the presenter and others taking this training. The training lasted from 9am to 5pm and definitely felt that long. At the end of the day, though, we got to go to the last international Cricket match of the season. It was great. We were told to try to sit "on the hill," which turned out to be a well known place.



It was a lot of fun learning about Cricket, which actually has a lot of rules and is quite complicated. We went with a man named Jon that we've met through Glynde Lutheran Church and he was kind enough to explain about the game. We ended up winning in the end and it was great. The most fun part of the night, though, was getting to get a little insight into some of the young adult culture here. It turns out its much like that atmosphere of sporting events in the US. The area where we were sitting was predominantly from our age group and they were enjoying themselves. There were a couple fights and the police made frequent stops in the area. At one point the group started what they call the Mexican wave here which is the same as the wave we use in the US, except that as it goes by everyone throws their beer cups or whatever they are holding in the air. It was apparently banned for a while because of this, but it went over fairly well tonight. All in all it was an insightful night.