It seems like just a few days ago I was sitting here in the library making one of my first posts to review and summarize my trip. I can't believe it is now only 5 more days until we will be leaving, and about 7 until I'll be back at home and classes will be cranking up. The trip truly has flown by, but I intend to make the best of this last week.
Things have been really busy the last few days, so I haven't had much of a time to do any updates. We have been going to the La Trobe University which is about an hour tram/bus drive from the hostel. We are staying till the mid-afternoon and then either hanging around there or doing some kind of evening activity. Last week we had the chance to go to La Trobe's first Student Life meeting of the semester, which was basically some get-to-know-you games and just socializing time. There were 8 or 10 students and staff there so that was encouraging to see. La Trobe's campus is very active during the late morning and early afternoon, so it's a fun campus to be on. There are lots of booths set up with clubs advertising and trying to rope in new members. Most of last week was doing our specific outreach days at RMIT City and La Trobe, and then some standard days of going to campus and doing Soulariums and meeting with follow-ups.
On Friday we left campus a little bit early because we were going to meet up with some Australian guys to play Aussie Rules Football. We had been practicing some with Geoff and Pat(2 of the 1-year missionaries from the States, who happened to both graduate from Tech) and had learned some of the basics. We also met some guys at La Trobe who gave us some pointers. It's crazy how natural they made things look that were really challenging for us, but I guess the same would apply if they came to the U.S. and tried to pick up on our football with no previous experience. We got to the park and there weren't many Aussie guys there, but they continued to show up as time went on and we finally had enough to make a relatively even game(we figured it would be more fair if the American team had a couple of extras anyway). Once the game started, all the strategy and planning we had done basically went out the window and we were just running around crazily. It was lots of fun and although we lost, we actually had the lead for a good portion of the game and I was impressed we could even compete. The game is exhausting and requires an insane amount of endurance. Playing a semi-real game of it definitely gave me a better appreciation for the professionals we had watched at the MCG.
After footy the project guys and the two STINT guys(Pat and Geoff) went to the Crown Hotel to eat at their all-you-can-eat buffet. We have been saving for the whole trip so we decided to start the last week off right with the $26 buffet. The spread of food was amazing and definitely worth it. After that we headed over to the guy's house and watched The Castle, supposedly the most famous Australian movie. It's kind of like Napolean Dynamite but really just stupid and funny. Not the type of movie critics would like, but I definitely found it entertaining, and we heard we HAD to see it sometime while we were here.
Yesterday(Saturday), we got to sleep in a bit and headed to a place called Green for breakfast. I got banana pancakes which were delicious and got to try alot of different coffee drinks that different people from the group had gotten. Everything there was delicious. That afternoon we met up with a guy from Monash(another University in Melbourne) and Josh, Evan, and I went to the Melbourne Aquarium. It was a pretty standard aquarium but they have a new penguin exhibit which made it worth while. We happened to be there during a feeding time so that was pretty special too. After that, we went to a place called Thalia Thai for dinner. I've only had thai a few times but I've liked it each time. This stuff was the best I've had. I got a chicken paad thai and it was really good. The portions were huge and most of the girls had enough to take home for a second meal. After dinner, we went to a jazz club near where we're staying called Manchester. There was a live 8 piece jazz band there and a dance floor up in the front. It was really cool to just relax and enjoy the music. It was dim-lit and the stereotypical jazz club atmosphere. There were some older couples that had some awesome dance moves and were lots of fun to watch.
Today(Sunday) we slept in again and then went down to the Queen Victoria Market. I won't include too many details here to ruin any surprises, but the market has lots of good deals and some pretty authentic stuff. Tonight we are headed back to the Docklands church. I'm excited for tonight because there is some sort of scholar coming to preach this week....it should be pretty good.
The plan for this week is going to be tiresome, but I guess I have plenty of time to rest on the plane ride. We're going to RMIT Bundoora tomorrow, then Tuesday will be a day to meet with any last contacts we have. Wednesday we are going to La Trobe, and then Thursday will be a wrap up day and preparing all of our stuff to turn over to the Australians. We leave early Friday morning(around 10) and get to LA at 7 on Friday morning..that will be weird. I think the plan is to stay up most of the night on Thursday, but as good as the entertainment selection is on Qantas, I may end up sleeping Thursday and staying up the entire flight taking advantage of the free movies!
I may not be able to update again while in Australia, so if that is the case, I'll definitely do a wrap up entry or 2 once I'm back at home. I've enjoyed doing this again this summer and it is definitely useful for trying to remember all the many activities. Things are going well for the group...people are getting over sicknesses and everyone is still getting along just fine. I think we have had a really good group for the trip and it's been nice to not have any serious issues. Anyway, my time is running out of the computer so I'm going to head out for now. Talk to you all soon, and possibly back in the US!
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The Great Ocean Road
Well I wish I had good news to report about the Collingwood v. Carlton game on Friday night, but unfortunately Collingwood DOMINATED the game. Some die-hard Carlton fans were telling me that it was the worst they had ever seen the Blues play. Oh well, maybe next year. The game was pretty fun still, although the one last week was much more exciting.
Yesterday(Saturday) we went to the Great Ocean Road. I didn't really know what to expect other than seeing the Ocean, but we were told it was an all-day trip so I figured it had to be good. Looking back, the day was incredible. We left at 7 in the morning and got to the beginning of the actual road at about 9:30 or so. We stopped at the ocean and through a footy ball around for awhile while the girls took pictures and tried to make pyramids of each other. After that we drove a little further and got into an area with beautiful rolling green hills to our right, and wide open ocean to the left. We turned up a little gravel road and found ourselves going into a forest type area. Up ahead there were some people standing on the side of the road with a bucket of bird seed and they were COVERED with the red and blue and green birds. I haven't ever seen such exotic birds just sitting around and so common. They were pretty awesome and I thought that was the attraction, but we just kept driving. Soon we pulled up to some cars that were on the side of the road and lots of people standing around looking up toward the trees. I quickly realized that we were in a Eucalyptus forest, and the attraction was KOALAS! They were just sitting sleeping on the branches all around us. As they would say here in Australia...there were heaps of koalas on all sides. We drove up a little further away from the crowds and found some that were awake and almost looked as though they were posing for us. We were maybe 5-10 feet away and I got some really cool pictures. Sometime after that, we stopped for some good ole fish & chips for lunch around the ocean and headed on.
Next we came to a coast line that had tons of people pulled over on the side, and I looked out into the ocean and saw there was a whale a couple hundred feet into the water. I had never seen one so close to shore(in the wild, not counting Sea World). We got out and got some decent pictures. I'm pretty sure it was hump back which are apparently hard to see even on whaling tours, so that was pretty exciting.
Our next stop was bizarre. We pulled off the main road and drove for a few minutes and arrive at a parking lot with some hiking trails. As we started hiking, I realized we were in a rain forest type area. Who would have thought Australia had rain forests? After about 15-20 minutes of hiking, we came to a huge waterfall with tons of trees and shrubs all around it. It was a beautiful site and totally unexpected.
After that we kept driving(I know, I'm getting tired just trying to recall all of this, and all in one day!). and came to one of the main attractions of the Great Ocean Road. It is called the Twelve Apostles. Basically it is these huge rock formations in the ocean that just jut way up in the air. There used to be 12 of them(hence the name), but over time they fall over and erode away, so now there's like 7 or 8 left. The sun was starting to get low at this point, so the pictures were amazing, and the expanse of shoreline that you can see from the lookout point was just incredible.
But that wasn't even the end!
We drove a few more miles down the road and came to the Loch Ard Gorge, an area where two pieces of land create a bottleneck type entry into a gorge that has a nice little beach and is surrounded by cliffs. It's so hard to describe and I wish I had pictures, but it looks like something out of a movie with a small opening out in the water and then a wide contained beach. Toward the back where you walk down, there are cave-type areas with stalagtites and cool formations. It was discovered when a ship wrecked years ago and has been a big attraction ever since.
The next part was a few miles down the road called the Blowhole and Thunder Cave. Basically the blow hole is this big open area that you can look down and the waves come through a tunnel in the ground into the area and then wash out. Again, very difficult to describe, but really unique and interesting. The Thunder Cave is the other side of the entrance where the waves come in, and if you're down at the water level(which unfortunately the steps were under construction), the waves sound like thunder coming in. I realize that probably none of this is making any sense, but I'll definitely post pictures when I get home. From there we got to see the sun set across the horizon while all shades of orange, yellow, purple and blue.
One of the cool parts about the trip is that after you drive through, you can just hop on the interstate and get back in a fraction of the time it took you to go the whole way down the road. The actual road has lots of curves and things to look at, so it definitely was a full day affair. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home and pulled up to the hostel about 9:30 at night. It was full day but absolutely worth it. I'd say this is my favorite touristy thing we've done so far. I really got to see all that is unique to Australia and take in the sites of what untouched natural environments look like. If you ever come to Australia, you have GOT to do the Great Ocean Road.
Tonight is church back at the docklands(it was really good last week), and then preparing for my team's outreach at RMIT City tomorrow. I'm really hoping we get a good response and are able to get alot of contacts. It's hard to believe I am heading home in less than 2 weeks. On one end it seems like I just got here, but on the other it seems like I have been here forever. As always, I hope things are going good back home and am looking forward to catching up with everyone!
Yesterday(Saturday) we went to the Great Ocean Road. I didn't really know what to expect other than seeing the Ocean, but we were told it was an all-day trip so I figured it had to be good. Looking back, the day was incredible. We left at 7 in the morning and got to the beginning of the actual road at about 9:30 or so. We stopped at the ocean and through a footy ball around for awhile while the girls took pictures and tried to make pyramids of each other. After that we drove a little further and got into an area with beautiful rolling green hills to our right, and wide open ocean to the left. We turned up a little gravel road and found ourselves going into a forest type area. Up ahead there were some people standing on the side of the road with a bucket of bird seed and they were COVERED with the red and blue and green birds. I haven't ever seen such exotic birds just sitting around and so common. They were pretty awesome and I thought that was the attraction, but we just kept driving. Soon we pulled up to some cars that were on the side of the road and lots of people standing around looking up toward the trees. I quickly realized that we were in a Eucalyptus forest, and the attraction was KOALAS! They were just sitting sleeping on the branches all around us. As they would say here in Australia...there were heaps of koalas on all sides. We drove up a little further away from the crowds and found some that were awake and almost looked as though they were posing for us. We were maybe 5-10 feet away and I got some really cool pictures. Sometime after that, we stopped for some good ole fish & chips for lunch around the ocean and headed on.
Next we came to a coast line that had tons of people pulled over on the side, and I looked out into the ocean and saw there was a whale a couple hundred feet into the water. I had never seen one so close to shore(in the wild, not counting Sea World). We got out and got some decent pictures. I'm pretty sure it was hump back which are apparently hard to see even on whaling tours, so that was pretty exciting.
Our next stop was bizarre. We pulled off the main road and drove for a few minutes and arrive at a parking lot with some hiking trails. As we started hiking, I realized we were in a rain forest type area. Who would have thought Australia had rain forests? After about 15-20 minutes of hiking, we came to a huge waterfall with tons of trees and shrubs all around it. It was a beautiful site and totally unexpected.
After that we kept driving(I know, I'm getting tired just trying to recall all of this, and all in one day!). and came to one of the main attractions of the Great Ocean Road. It is called the Twelve Apostles. Basically it is these huge rock formations in the ocean that just jut way up in the air. There used to be 12 of them(hence the name), but over time they fall over and erode away, so now there's like 7 or 8 left. The sun was starting to get low at this point, so the pictures were amazing, and the expanse of shoreline that you can see from the lookout point was just incredible.
But that wasn't even the end!
We drove a few more miles down the road and came to the Loch Ard Gorge, an area where two pieces of land create a bottleneck type entry into a gorge that has a nice little beach and is surrounded by cliffs. It's so hard to describe and I wish I had pictures, but it looks like something out of a movie with a small opening out in the water and then a wide contained beach. Toward the back where you walk down, there are cave-type areas with stalagtites and cool formations. It was discovered when a ship wrecked years ago and has been a big attraction ever since.
The next part was a few miles down the road called the Blowhole and Thunder Cave. Basically the blow hole is this big open area that you can look down and the waves come through a tunnel in the ground into the area and then wash out. Again, very difficult to describe, but really unique and interesting. The Thunder Cave is the other side of the entrance where the waves come in, and if you're down at the water level(which unfortunately the steps were under construction), the waves sound like thunder coming in. I realize that probably none of this is making any sense, but I'll definitely post pictures when I get home. From there we got to see the sun set across the horizon while all shades of orange, yellow, purple and blue.
One of the cool parts about the trip is that after you drive through, you can just hop on the interstate and get back in a fraction of the time it took you to go the whole way down the road. The actual road has lots of curves and things to look at, so it definitely was a full day affair. We stopped at McDonald's on the way home and pulled up to the hostel about 9:30 at night. It was full day but absolutely worth it. I'd say this is my favorite touristy thing we've done so far. I really got to see all that is unique to Australia and take in the sites of what untouched natural environments look like. If you ever come to Australia, you have GOT to do the Great Ocean Road.
Tonight is church back at the docklands(it was really good last week), and then preparing for my team's outreach at RMIT City tomorrow. I'm really hoping we get a good response and are able to get alot of contacts. It's hard to believe I am heading home in less than 2 weeks. On one end it seems like I just got here, but on the other it seems like I have been here forever. As always, I hope things are going good back home and am looking forward to catching up with everyone!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
First Week on Campus
Well we've almost finished our first week on campus so I figured I'd do a quick summary of the week's events.
Monday and Tuesday we were on the RMIT City campus, which was definitely full of activity. We started the mornings handing out fliers for "O Week Questions", which prompt people to log onto a website and fill out a survey. Based on their results and if they indicate they're interested in hearing from us, we call the numbers they provide and ask when a good time to meet up would be. So far we've have a good response from the RMIT City campus, but haven't had much luck getting in contact with the students. Apparently the results continue to come in for a few weeks after the fliers are handed out, so I'm still optimistic. In the afternoon we have been going around doing "Soularium" with people. Basically the Soularium is a survey based on pictures. There are 40 or so cards with pictures on them and we asked different questions to people where they have to choose a picture that represents their answer. I really like this form of survey because it allows people to be creative and caters to different types of thinking.
On Wednesday we went to the RMIT Bundoora campus which is about an hour tram ride away. The campus isn't in the city so it's a very different climate. Since there is no on-campus housing their either, students basically just attend for class and then leave. It's hard to find people sitting around by themselves or relaxing in between classes, making it difficult to do the surveys. We passed out O Week Fliers there as well, and got some really quick responses. We have just followed up with a few of them, but they have been promising so far. Josh(one of the guys from Tech) is going to be going with Nathan(a student leader at RMIT Bundoora) to meet with a guy interested in Student Life next week. Hopefully we will have more meetings set up from the O Week responses as well.
One of the highlights of the day came from the east campus side of Bundoora which is really secluded and has almost no activity. Nathan had told me that he passed some kangaroos on his way into school that morning and bet they were still there. It didn't take much more than that to get me headed over immediately. It turns out we came across 3 kangaroos sitting in a field right next to the campus. They were 30 or so feet away and weren't really doing anything. There was a big wall on the back side of them so I decided to climb the other side to get closer. I ended up coming up right on the other side of them and getting some great pictures. I tried to scare them toward the rest of the group but they would only hop a few feet away from me. They are such interesting creatures and it was awesome to just see them in the wild. Nathan told us a story about gorge that was in between the campus and his house where he saw a heard of 50 or 60 of them one day when riding his bike. I can't imagine that. 3 was cool enough for me...50 or 60 would just be too much to handle.
Today(Thursday), we went back to Bundoora since La Trobe(the other university we'll be working on) still isn't back in session. Tomorrow we'll be going to RMIT City and then taking the afternoon a little bit easier.
Tomorrow night we are going to a footy game again. This is a big rivalry game between the Carlton Blues(the team I'm going for) and the Collinwood Magpies(the team the rest of the team except for 2 others are going for). They're both Melbourne teams and it's in the 100,000 seat arena so it's going to be intense!
Saturday the plan is go to the Great Ocean Road which is a road that...goes along the ocean, imagine that. Apparently there is an opportunity to see "heaps"(a really common word here) of koalas and some beautiful sites, so I'll definitely be taking the camera and hoping to snag some good shots.
It seems like it's a pretty constant stream of activity here. The weekends are going to be packed with touristy fun stuff and during the week the days are long and full with ministry stuff, so I predict being pretty tired when it's all said and done. I figure I can rest when I get home, but I definitely want to make the best of my time here.
Hope things are going well. I'll definitely update after the weekend with hopefully good footy results and some koala sitings!
Monday and Tuesday we were on the RMIT City campus, which was definitely full of activity. We started the mornings handing out fliers for "O Week Questions", which prompt people to log onto a website and fill out a survey. Based on their results and if they indicate they're interested in hearing from us, we call the numbers they provide and ask when a good time to meet up would be. So far we've have a good response from the RMIT City campus, but haven't had much luck getting in contact with the students. Apparently the results continue to come in for a few weeks after the fliers are handed out, so I'm still optimistic. In the afternoon we have been going around doing "Soularium" with people. Basically the Soularium is a survey based on pictures. There are 40 or so cards with pictures on them and we asked different questions to people where they have to choose a picture that represents their answer. I really like this form of survey because it allows people to be creative and caters to different types of thinking.
On Wednesday we went to the RMIT Bundoora campus which is about an hour tram ride away. The campus isn't in the city so it's a very different climate. Since there is no on-campus housing their either, students basically just attend for class and then leave. It's hard to find people sitting around by themselves or relaxing in between classes, making it difficult to do the surveys. We passed out O Week Fliers there as well, and got some really quick responses. We have just followed up with a few of them, but they have been promising so far. Josh(one of the guys from Tech) is going to be going with Nathan(a student leader at RMIT Bundoora) to meet with a guy interested in Student Life next week. Hopefully we will have more meetings set up from the O Week responses as well.
One of the highlights of the day came from the east campus side of Bundoora which is really secluded and has almost no activity. Nathan had told me that he passed some kangaroos on his way into school that morning and bet they were still there. It didn't take much more than that to get me headed over immediately. It turns out we came across 3 kangaroos sitting in a field right next to the campus. They were 30 or so feet away and weren't really doing anything. There was a big wall on the back side of them so I decided to climb the other side to get closer. I ended up coming up right on the other side of them and getting some great pictures. I tried to scare them toward the rest of the group but they would only hop a few feet away from me. They are such interesting creatures and it was awesome to just see them in the wild. Nathan told us a story about gorge that was in between the campus and his house where he saw a heard of 50 or 60 of them one day when riding his bike. I can't imagine that. 3 was cool enough for me...50 or 60 would just be too much to handle.
Today(Thursday), we went back to Bundoora since La Trobe(the other university we'll be working on) still isn't back in session. Tomorrow we'll be going to RMIT City and then taking the afternoon a little bit easier.
Tomorrow night we are going to a footy game again. This is a big rivalry game between the Carlton Blues(the team I'm going for) and the Collinwood Magpies(the team the rest of the team except for 2 others are going for). They're both Melbourne teams and it's in the 100,000 seat arena so it's going to be intense!
Saturday the plan is go to the Great Ocean Road which is a road that...goes along the ocean, imagine that. Apparently there is an opportunity to see "heaps"(a really common word here) of koalas and some beautiful sites, so I'll definitely be taking the camera and hoping to snag some good shots.
It seems like it's a pretty constant stream of activity here. The weekends are going to be packed with touristy fun stuff and during the week the days are long and full with ministry stuff, so I predict being pretty tired when it's all said and done. I figure I can rest when I get home, but I definitely want to make the best of my time here.
Hope things are going well. I'll definitely update after the weekend with hopefully good footy results and some koala sitings!
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Another Update!
I have a few minutes before we are leaving to go to church(at 6 on Sunday night), so I figured I'd update on our week/weekend activities.
On Thursday we had some training time where we discussed using some different materials on campus as well as how to follow up with the students we will be meeting. That night we went to China Town here in the city and ate at a dumplings place. It was really good and an order of 15 dumplings was only like $6, which is pretty unheard of price around here. That night some of us went to see Harry Potter at a little cinema around here. Apparently the theatre normally only gets indie films and smaller cultural stuff, but I guess HP is big enough of a deal. I thought it was pretty good...not alot of action, but I don't have much to judge it against since I haven't read the books.
On Friday we divided up into groups that we'll be planning special outreaches on the campuses. I'm working with three others from our group to plan an outreach for the RMIT(The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology...I know, pretty awesome name) City campus, which is the one located nearest to us. We planned to set up some tables at different hot spots around the campus and get people to come give their opinion on different questions. For instance, at one of the tables we will have a question like "List three words you would use to describe your life." and "List three words you wish described your life.". From there we will try to transition into more of a conversation and get the person to really talk with us. As an incentive to participate, we're going to be giving out "Tim Tams" which are a specialty of Australia. They're chocolate covered cookies with different filings in the middle. Absolutely delicious. There's tons of different kinds(dark chocolate, mint filled, double coated, etc. etc) and we are trying to try them all while we're here. I'm definitely going to be bringing some home, don't worry. After planning, we met up with some of the Australian RMIT students to let them know our plan and see if they thought it would be a good idea for the campus. After that, we headed over to Jane's house(the Australian project leader). Her and her husband James had prepared a big cookout for us which was great. The food was delicious and there was plenty for everyone. It was so good to have a home-cooked meal and to relax in a house setting!
On Saturday our plans fell through to go to Phillip Island because we couldn't find enough rides, so we decided to go to the Aussie Rules Football Game at the MCG(the 100,000 seater). The teams were the Collingwood Magpies(from Melbourne) and the Hawthorne Hawks from Tazmania. Josh and I have chosen to go for the Carlton Blues(another Melbourne team) but almost everyone else on project is a Pies fan. The Pies are like arch rivals of Carlton, so we obviously went for the Hawks, and they won! The game was really intense and it's lots of fun to watch in person. We are definitely going to go back next Friday because Collingwood is playing Carlton at the MCG. Since they're both from Melbourne, and they're such big rivals, it's expected to be a huge game(and basically packed). I loved the game and could watch it pretty regularely I think. Maybe I can get them online back in the States or something.
Today has been pretty laid back. We had our free pancake breakfast this morning, but the guy making them had never done it before, so they were really thin and undercooked. I guess I took for granted how good homemade pancakes are that are done right(thanks Dad). After that we went to meet up with Carlson(one of the guys from Australian who came to Tech on a summer project in December). He graduated and it working in the Melbourne area, so we won't get to work with him much, but it was good to catch up a little. We headed over to the Queen Victoria market and walked around for a little, and headed back to the hostel.
Starting tomorrow we will beginning our work on campus. Campus life is very different here in that almost everyone is a commuter. There is rarely on-campus housing with the exception being foreign students. That makes it very difficult to establish a community. Many students just come to the university for their classes and then head home, as most have a trip close to or over an hour home by train. I'm excited to get into what I thought of as the main purpose of our trip. We're going to be doing "O Week Questions" where we pass our fliers to try to get people to fill out online surveys. The surveys will ask them questions about life and see if they're interested in any kind of follow-up. I don't know how that's going to go, but I'm optimistic. Hopefully I'll have a good report by the next time I update.
Other than that things are going well. We're really settling in and I feel like I am understanding the area pretty well. Wednesday is our half way point for the trip which is really hard to believe. It's one of those situations where I feel like we just got here but I have been here forever....strange.
Thanks so much for following and for the thoughts and prayers. I hope everything is going well back in the States for everyone and I'll talk to you all soon!
On Thursday we had some training time where we discussed using some different materials on campus as well as how to follow up with the students we will be meeting. That night we went to China Town here in the city and ate at a dumplings place. It was really good and an order of 15 dumplings was only like $6, which is pretty unheard of price around here. That night some of us went to see Harry Potter at a little cinema around here. Apparently the theatre normally only gets indie films and smaller cultural stuff, but I guess HP is big enough of a deal. I thought it was pretty good...not alot of action, but I don't have much to judge it against since I haven't read the books.
On Friday we divided up into groups that we'll be planning special outreaches on the campuses. I'm working with three others from our group to plan an outreach for the RMIT(The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology...I know, pretty awesome name) City campus, which is the one located nearest to us. We planned to set up some tables at different hot spots around the campus and get people to come give their opinion on different questions. For instance, at one of the tables we will have a question like "List three words you would use to describe your life." and "List three words you wish described your life.". From there we will try to transition into more of a conversation and get the person to really talk with us. As an incentive to participate, we're going to be giving out "Tim Tams" which are a specialty of Australia. They're chocolate covered cookies with different filings in the middle. Absolutely delicious. There's tons of different kinds(dark chocolate, mint filled, double coated, etc. etc) and we are trying to try them all while we're here. I'm definitely going to be bringing some home, don't worry. After planning, we met up with some of the Australian RMIT students to let them know our plan and see if they thought it would be a good idea for the campus. After that, we headed over to Jane's house(the Australian project leader). Her and her husband James had prepared a big cookout for us which was great. The food was delicious and there was plenty for everyone. It was so good to have a home-cooked meal and to relax in a house setting!
On Saturday our plans fell through to go to Phillip Island because we couldn't find enough rides, so we decided to go to the Aussie Rules Football Game at the MCG(the 100,000 seater). The teams were the Collingwood Magpies(from Melbourne) and the Hawthorne Hawks from Tazmania. Josh and I have chosen to go for the Carlton Blues(another Melbourne team) but almost everyone else on project is a Pies fan. The Pies are like arch rivals of Carlton, so we obviously went for the Hawks, and they won! The game was really intense and it's lots of fun to watch in person. We are definitely going to go back next Friday because Collingwood is playing Carlton at the MCG. Since they're both from Melbourne, and they're such big rivals, it's expected to be a huge game(and basically packed). I loved the game and could watch it pretty regularely I think. Maybe I can get them online back in the States or something.
Today has been pretty laid back. We had our free pancake breakfast this morning, but the guy making them had never done it before, so they were really thin and undercooked. I guess I took for granted how good homemade pancakes are that are done right(thanks Dad). After that we went to meet up with Carlson(one of the guys from Australian who came to Tech on a summer project in December). He graduated and it working in the Melbourne area, so we won't get to work with him much, but it was good to catch up a little. We headed over to the Queen Victoria market and walked around for a little, and headed back to the hostel.
Starting tomorrow we will beginning our work on campus. Campus life is very different here in that almost everyone is a commuter. There is rarely on-campus housing with the exception being foreign students. That makes it very difficult to establish a community. Many students just come to the university for their classes and then head home, as most have a trip close to or over an hour home by train. I'm excited to get into what I thought of as the main purpose of our trip. We're going to be doing "O Week Questions" where we pass our fliers to try to get people to fill out online surveys. The surveys will ask them questions about life and see if they're interested in any kind of follow-up. I don't know how that's going to go, but I'm optimistic. Hopefully I'll have a good report by the next time I update.
Other than that things are going well. We're really settling in and I feel like I am understanding the area pretty well. Wednesday is our half way point for the trip which is really hard to believe. It's one of those situations where I feel like we just got here but I have been here forever....strange.
Thanks so much for following and for the thoughts and prayers. I hope everything is going well back in the States for everyone and I'll talk to you all soon!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Quick Update
Hey everyone,
Everytime I come to the library in hopes on updating the blog, I end up spending so much time sending e-mails and doing stuff on facebook that the time runs short! Anyway, I'll just try to get in a short update before we start our stuff for the day.
This week we have been doing some different training and preparation for our work here, since the students are still on their winter break. They come back on Monday, so next week will be a big week of meeting people and trying to establish some primary contacts.
This weekend was full of fun and excitement. Since we were just getting back from the Mid-year conference, we had the weekend off to relax and take life easy. Instead, we took the time to explore the city and ended up more worn out than when we started. There is a huge market area in the city called the Queen Victoria Market where lots of vendors set up little shops of all kinds. I bought a jacket that says Australia across the front and has a flag above it...pretty touristy but I figure it'll get some comments back in the States. The market also has tons of food vendors and pretty much anything you could ever be looking for, so we spent most of Sunday morning/afternoon checking that out.
Sunday night we went to church in Carlton(the part of the city that the footy team I chose to follow are from, the Carlton Blues). It was called a "unichurch" because it targets university age students. Everyone there was in the late teens or early to mid 20s, with a few exceptions. It was alot of fun to see how church operates here and how there are many similar aspects.
That's been one very encouraging thing to me as I've been here in Australia so far. When going through some of the basic foundational training at the mid-year conference, I realized that the teaching here is the same as the teaching with Campus Crusade in the States. It's comforting to know that such Truths are international and do not depend on gender, location, race, or whatever else could break them down.
Monday was a really busy day. One of the student leaders here had prepared a scavenger hunt for us to do around the city to see some of the special sites and to get more acclamated with our surroundings. It took all of the morning and most of the afternoon to go all over the place. We got different points for finding the locations and taking pictures at them. We got some extra points for having a random Australian in the picture with us so that made for some pretty funny encounters. The city of Melbourne has lots of attractions so it was really cool to get to see alot of them all in one day.
On Tuesday we rode all over the city checking out the different campuses we will be doing work on. Here in the heart of the city we are going to RMIT City and Melbourne University. A little bit outside of the city we are going to RMIT Bundoora and La Trobe University. It took most of the day to tram and bus all over the place and we walked around each of the campuses and had some time in prayer for the work we'll be doing and the student we'll be trying to reach. Much of the university life is different here, as there is little to no on-campus housing. Almost everyone commutes to school and so there is a strong lack of community in all aspects. There are also lots of intenational students from all over the place, so there are some language and cultural barriers that we will have to deal with as well. It was good to connect with some of the campuses and really see where we'll be working. I am anxious to get on and begin talking with students and hearing their perspectives.
Today(Wednesday) we'll be doing some training on cultural differences and really preparing to go onto the campuses next week.
For the rest of the week we are going to be doing some different things to prepare for our work and the weekend should be lots of fun with a cookout on Friday at one of the staff member's houses, an Aussie football game on Saturday, and whatever else kind of fun we can find on Sunday. I'll try to do another update this weekend, but as busy as it seems around here, I won't make any promises.
Thanks for following and please continue to pray for us and the students we'll be interacting with.
Allen
Everytime I come to the library in hopes on updating the blog, I end up spending so much time sending e-mails and doing stuff on facebook that the time runs short! Anyway, I'll just try to get in a short update before we start our stuff for the day.
This week we have been doing some different training and preparation for our work here, since the students are still on their winter break. They come back on Monday, so next week will be a big week of meeting people and trying to establish some primary contacts.
This weekend was full of fun and excitement. Since we were just getting back from the Mid-year conference, we had the weekend off to relax and take life easy. Instead, we took the time to explore the city and ended up more worn out than when we started. There is a huge market area in the city called the Queen Victoria Market where lots of vendors set up little shops of all kinds. I bought a jacket that says Australia across the front and has a flag above it...pretty touristy but I figure it'll get some comments back in the States. The market also has tons of food vendors and pretty much anything you could ever be looking for, so we spent most of Sunday morning/afternoon checking that out.
Sunday night we went to church in Carlton(the part of the city that the footy team I chose to follow are from, the Carlton Blues). It was called a "unichurch" because it targets university age students. Everyone there was in the late teens or early to mid 20s, with a few exceptions. It was alot of fun to see how church operates here and how there are many similar aspects.
That's been one very encouraging thing to me as I've been here in Australia so far. When going through some of the basic foundational training at the mid-year conference, I realized that the teaching here is the same as the teaching with Campus Crusade in the States. It's comforting to know that such Truths are international and do not depend on gender, location, race, or whatever else could break them down.
Monday was a really busy day. One of the student leaders here had prepared a scavenger hunt for us to do around the city to see some of the special sites and to get more acclamated with our surroundings. It took all of the morning and most of the afternoon to go all over the place. We got different points for finding the locations and taking pictures at them. We got some extra points for having a random Australian in the picture with us so that made for some pretty funny encounters. The city of Melbourne has lots of attractions so it was really cool to get to see alot of them all in one day.
On Tuesday we rode all over the city checking out the different campuses we will be doing work on. Here in the heart of the city we are going to RMIT City and Melbourne University. A little bit outside of the city we are going to RMIT Bundoora and La Trobe University. It took most of the day to tram and bus all over the place and we walked around each of the campuses and had some time in prayer for the work we'll be doing and the student we'll be trying to reach. Much of the university life is different here, as there is little to no on-campus housing. Almost everyone commutes to school and so there is a strong lack of community in all aspects. There are also lots of intenational students from all over the place, so there are some language and cultural barriers that we will have to deal with as well. It was good to connect with some of the campuses and really see where we'll be working. I am anxious to get on and begin talking with students and hearing their perspectives.
Today(Wednesday) we'll be doing some training on cultural differences and really preparing to go onto the campuses next week.
For the rest of the week we are going to be doing some different things to prepare for our work and the weekend should be lots of fun with a cookout on Friday at one of the staff member's houses, an Aussie football game on Saturday, and whatever else kind of fun we can find on Sunday. I'll try to do another update this weekend, but as busy as it seems around here, I won't make any promises.
Thanks for following and please continue to pray for us and the students we'll be interacting with.
Allen
Friday, July 10, 2009
First post from Melbourne!
Well I finally have some time to make a post on this thing! Everything has been very hectic since we first got here, so I'll try to recall it as best I can.
We got here on Friday(July 3rd) in the morning. We left on Wednesday afternoon from Dulles and from LAX about 7 hours later. From LAX it took about 15 1/2 hours to get to Melbourne. I was really dreading this part of the trip, but it turns out it wasn't all that bad. The first flight was rough because there wasn't alot of entertainment and the movie was "Return to Witch Mountain"....not something I would generally choose. We were planning on having a 3 hour layover in LA but it ended up only being over an hour after some delays getting there. Unfortunately we were in the international terminal which was in the process of being built and had little to no food options(other than a See's candy stand, which thanks to Aunt Nancy, I am a BIG fan of). When we walked down the terminal to get on our Qantas 747 jet to take us to Melbourne I was shocked at how huge the plane was. It was by far the biggest I had seen and had 3 seats on one side, 4 in the middle, and 3 on the opposite side across which stretched back over 100 rows. I was really fortunate to have no one next to me on that flight and to be on an aisle seat, which allowed me to stretch my legs out and almost...enjoy the flight! There were tons of free movies, TV shows, radio channels, and even books on tape. One of the coolest features was a camera on the back wing tip of the plane that you could watch in flight. It was awesome watching the take off and landing. Anyway, to things that matter more...after 15 1/2 hours, breakfast, lunch, a bunch of snacks, really good customer service(all with Aussie accents) and almost no sleep, we landed in Melbourne.
From the airport we went through customs and a quarantine section. It's always comforting when you see tons of people in the airport with masks on their faces....they really are freaked out about swine flu here. We took a bus into the city and it dropped us off at a station where some of the full time staff people met us to take our bags to the hostel.
When we got to the hostel we got settled in and I unpacked all my stuff(since I really like being organized and trying to establish a routine). A few minutes later, Dan told us that we would be leaving for the conference a couple days later and had to move everything out. Fortunately I was too tired at that point to be upset.
Those first couple of days are a blir. We went to bed at 9pm the first night and 10pm the second. It was a struggle making it to those times the first couple of days, and I was waking up at random times throughout the night.
The third day(Sunday) we loaded up on buses to head to the Mid-Year Conference for Student Life(Australia's version of Campus Crusade for Christ...apparently 'Crusade' has a bad connotaion here...not sure why haha). The conference consisted of students from Melbourne(in the state of Victoria) and its surrounding suburbs, and Sydney(in New South Wales) and its suburbs. There were a few hundred students there which was really encouraging. The Sydney movements are much more developed and have been around longer, but still are growing very rapidly. The movements here in Melbourne are only 4 or 5 years old and are changing quite a bit each year. It was a great way to start the trip by meeting students from all over the country and getting to know the culture. The conference was very similar to Virginia Tech's fall break, with praise and worship, a key speaker, meals together, training sessions, seminars, and then some fun recreational stuff. We played some soccer and ultimate frisbee and really got to bond with some of the students that we'll be working with.
I think the conference was a great way to start the trip and will be really rewarding once we start working on the campuses. Currently the students here are on their "winter" break, and start classes back in 2 weeks, so this week we will be doing some training and just overall getting familiar with the area. So far I've only made one tourist purchase - an AFL scarf. We have watched a couple of Australia Football League games on TV and I really do enjoy it. I would say it's a combination of soccer, american football, and rugby and is almost constant action. I bought a scarf for the "Carlton Blues" which is a team we are going to watch play next week in the MCG - a stadium here in Melbourne that holds like 100,000 people.
Anyway, my time here on the public library computer is about to run out, but I feel like this has been a decent update. I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to update will be - but I'm definitely going to try for once a week.
Overall things are going well. No one in our group has gotten sick, and I think everyone has adjusted to the times pretty well. Please continue to pray for us to be prepared to do the work on campuses that we'll be doing, and that the hearts of those that we interact with will be softened. I'm really excited to see what is to come within the next couple of weeks and can't wait to share it with you all!
Talk to you soon,
allen
We got here on Friday(July 3rd) in the morning. We left on Wednesday afternoon from Dulles and from LAX about 7 hours later. From LAX it took about 15 1/2 hours to get to Melbourne. I was really dreading this part of the trip, but it turns out it wasn't all that bad. The first flight was rough because there wasn't alot of entertainment and the movie was "Return to Witch Mountain"....not something I would generally choose. We were planning on having a 3 hour layover in LA but it ended up only being over an hour after some delays getting there. Unfortunately we were in the international terminal which was in the process of being built and had little to no food options(other than a See's candy stand, which thanks to Aunt Nancy, I am a BIG fan of). When we walked down the terminal to get on our Qantas 747 jet to take us to Melbourne I was shocked at how huge the plane was. It was by far the biggest I had seen and had 3 seats on one side, 4 in the middle, and 3 on the opposite side across which stretched back over 100 rows. I was really fortunate to have no one next to me on that flight and to be on an aisle seat, which allowed me to stretch my legs out and almost...enjoy the flight! There were tons of free movies, TV shows, radio channels, and even books on tape. One of the coolest features was a camera on the back wing tip of the plane that you could watch in flight. It was awesome watching the take off and landing. Anyway, to things that matter more...after 15 1/2 hours, breakfast, lunch, a bunch of snacks, really good customer service(all with Aussie accents) and almost no sleep, we landed in Melbourne.
From the airport we went through customs and a quarantine section. It's always comforting when you see tons of people in the airport with masks on their faces....they really are freaked out about swine flu here. We took a bus into the city and it dropped us off at a station where some of the full time staff people met us to take our bags to the hostel.
When we got to the hostel we got settled in and I unpacked all my stuff(since I really like being organized and trying to establish a routine). A few minutes later, Dan told us that we would be leaving for the conference a couple days later and had to move everything out. Fortunately I was too tired at that point to be upset.
Those first couple of days are a blir. We went to bed at 9pm the first night and 10pm the second. It was a struggle making it to those times the first couple of days, and I was waking up at random times throughout the night.
The third day(Sunday) we loaded up on buses to head to the Mid-Year Conference for Student Life(Australia's version of Campus Crusade for Christ...apparently 'Crusade' has a bad connotaion here...not sure why haha). The conference consisted of students from Melbourne(in the state of Victoria) and its surrounding suburbs, and Sydney(in New South Wales) and its suburbs. There were a few hundred students there which was really encouraging. The Sydney movements are much more developed and have been around longer, but still are growing very rapidly. The movements here in Melbourne are only 4 or 5 years old and are changing quite a bit each year. It was a great way to start the trip by meeting students from all over the country and getting to know the culture. The conference was very similar to Virginia Tech's fall break, with praise and worship, a key speaker, meals together, training sessions, seminars, and then some fun recreational stuff. We played some soccer and ultimate frisbee and really got to bond with some of the students that we'll be working with.
I think the conference was a great way to start the trip and will be really rewarding once we start working on the campuses. Currently the students here are on their "winter" break, and start classes back in 2 weeks, so this week we will be doing some training and just overall getting familiar with the area. So far I've only made one tourist purchase - an AFL scarf. We have watched a couple of Australia Football League games on TV and I really do enjoy it. I would say it's a combination of soccer, american football, and rugby and is almost constant action. I bought a scarf for the "Carlton Blues" which is a team we are going to watch play next week in the MCG - a stadium here in Melbourne that holds like 100,000 people.
Anyway, my time here on the public library computer is about to run out, but I feel like this has been a decent update. I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to update will be - but I'm definitely going to try for once a week.
Overall things are going well. No one in our group has gotten sick, and I think everyone has adjusted to the times pretty well. Please continue to pray for us to be prepared to do the work on campuses that we'll be doing, and that the hearts of those that we interact with will be softened. I'm really excited to see what is to come within the next couple of weeks and can't wait to share it with you all!
Talk to you soon,
allen
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
To the Down Under!
Hey everyone,
I sit here writing this blog highly anticipating the next few weeks in front of me. I'll be leaving tomorrow to embark on my 2nd summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ. Last summer I went to San Diego, California for 10 weeks and it was truly an amazing experience. I learned alot about myself and even more about life. My horizons were broadened and I really began to see that living as a Christian in this world is a lifestyle, not a 1-and-done decision. I learned that there are thousands of people, many of them in our neighborhoods, places of work, and friend groups who do not recognize God's love for them and the satisfaction and happiness that comes through a relationship with Him.
Coming back home last summer I felt refreshed and ready to take on the school year. Throughout that year, I began to realize that although my horizons had expanded, my heart for the world had not. Serving on the "Prayer and World Vision" team in San Diego may have played a part in that, but really I just realized how narrow my scope of the world was and still is. This summer I will be traveling to Melbourne, Australia with Campus Crusade for Christ on an international summer project. Unlike last summer, this trip will only last 6 weeks, and I won't be getting a job. The focus of this project is campus life, and reaching out to the students in the Melbourne university system. Our goal is to make contacts with people and plug them into the very new movement in Australia(which by the way was started in a large part due to Tech grads seeing a need in Australia). We will also be talking with people and seeing where they stand on issues of spirituality and religion. I'm very excited to see what this summer has to offer, although I could do without the 15+ hour plane ride from LA to Melbourne.
I will be trying to update the blog at least once a week, but with limited internet access and a busy schedule I'm not going to make any promises.
Please pray for me and the group(there are around 15 of us). We will need prayers for adjusting to the time changes and culture, as well as for the work we'll be doing on campuses and around the city of Melbourne. Thanks so much for all of your support and I can't wait to talk to you all in August.
Allen
I sit here writing this blog highly anticipating the next few weeks in front of me. I'll be leaving tomorrow to embark on my 2nd summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ. Last summer I went to San Diego, California for 10 weeks and it was truly an amazing experience. I learned alot about myself and even more about life. My horizons were broadened and I really began to see that living as a Christian in this world is a lifestyle, not a 1-and-done decision. I learned that there are thousands of people, many of them in our neighborhoods, places of work, and friend groups who do not recognize God's love for them and the satisfaction and happiness that comes through a relationship with Him.
Coming back home last summer I felt refreshed and ready to take on the school year. Throughout that year, I began to realize that although my horizons had expanded, my heart for the world had not. Serving on the "Prayer and World Vision" team in San Diego may have played a part in that, but really I just realized how narrow my scope of the world was and still is. This summer I will be traveling to Melbourne, Australia with Campus Crusade for Christ on an international summer project. Unlike last summer, this trip will only last 6 weeks, and I won't be getting a job. The focus of this project is campus life, and reaching out to the students in the Melbourne university system. Our goal is to make contacts with people and plug them into the very new movement in Australia(which by the way was started in a large part due to Tech grads seeing a need in Australia). We will also be talking with people and seeing where they stand on issues of spirituality and religion. I'm very excited to see what this summer has to offer, although I could do without the 15+ hour plane ride from LA to Melbourne.
I will be trying to update the blog at least once a week, but with limited internet access and a busy schedule I'm not going to make any promises.
Please pray for me and the group(there are around 15 of us). We will need prayers for adjusting to the time changes and culture, as well as for the work we'll be doing on campuses and around the city of Melbourne. Thanks so much for all of your support and I can't wait to talk to you all in August.
Allen
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