Wednesday (28th)- Saturday (31st)

So, because my internet wasn't working I have been writing my blogs on a word document... and here they are!

WEDNESDAY. 

Wow. What a day, or should I say days?

So we got into Adelaide, Australia on Wednesday after about twenty hours of flying and many layovers along the way.  Our travels consisted of some stories, a few not-so-nice flight attendants, and basically traveling with a family from Iowa who we shared flights with until we arrived in Sydney.  The worst part of the travels was the 14 hour flight from San Francisco to Sydney.  I've never wanted to be able to move around so much in my entire life, it was extremely tiring.  When we got into Adelaide we were greeted by our site contact person, Helen Lockwood.  Helen used to live in the states for three years, so she understands where we're coming from.  Helen is very sweet and has shown us great hospitality.  

The first thing Helen was take us out to lunch at a restaurant at Hinley Beach.  It was fun to see 

the coast, but I am not used to peop

le driving on the other side of the car and street.  There have been many times where I've taken a gasp because I thought we were turning onto the wrong side of the street.

(Ellie, me, and Hilary at the Hinley 

Beach)

We then got a mini tour of the things on our way to our housing at Hosanna Heights.  My room consists of a bed, built in closet, sink, desk, and a window air conditioner that isn't properly working at the time.  Very simple, very small, very beige.  Hosanna Heights is mostly occupied by Asian students, but a couple of other countries are represented as well.

Due to the large Asian population most meals that are served here are Asian dishes.  I enjoy Asian food, but I don't think I will by the time I return to the states.  I've had my first adventure with the food when I bit into something that looked like a dumpling, instead it felt like I was biting into cartilage.  I forced myself to finish eating it, and it turned out it was squid.  I worked at a sushi restaurant in the states and enjoyed the squid there, b

ut something tells me that the Asian food at a school cafeteria in Australia won't be quite the same.

It will take some time getting adjusted to the bathrooms (or should I say "toilet") here as well.  Our floor is co-ed, which includes sharing the toilets and shower room... and let's just say that boys here are smelly.

Ellie and I went on a walk to try to see what was in the area... but we found out that it probably wasn't the best idea to go on a walk while the sun was setting in a foreign country.  It wasn't bad, it just took us a little longer to find our way home.

My last thing to talk about from my first day arriving is the temperature.  When we landed we were wearing long pants, sweatshirts, and many layers.  However, it w

as 45c or approximately 117F outside in Australia.  It was the hottest day in Australia in 7 years and the hottest night in Australian history.  Let me tell you what, it is warm :).

THURSDAY

Well today it was just as hot as they day before, this heat wave is expected

 to last a week or two.  It is so hot here that they have to shut down the electricity to parts 

of the city throughout the day because they cannot provide enough energy for all the people here.  The Australians keep telling me that I came at a terrible time because it is never usually this hot.  The secretary at Hosanna Heights told me that it is quite possible to melt your thongs to the cement in this heat.  Part of me wants to try it, the other part things it would be a terrible walk back to my room without shoes.

This morning at Hosanna Heights our housemother greeted us at brea

kfast, she is a very sweet older woman.  She told us that the students here call her grandmother, the main director of the facility is called uncle, an the cooks are called mama.  They are very homey here, it is nice.

Today we went on a more in depth tour of Adelaide and saw the many sites we will be working at while in Australia.  A few of them include Magill- the main place we will be working, Sefton Park, the National Lutheran office, the District Lutheran office, and Blair Athol.  We also met many of the people we will be working with, they are all very friendly and I am looking forward to the opportunities that are ahead.  

One of Australia's most scare resources is water.  People are not allowed to water their lawns or have strict watering rules, and many rivers and lakes are dried up.  At first I didn't realize the extremity of the water shortage until Helen was preparing lunch for us and wanted to use cool water to wash the strawberries (every once in a while we will be eating something other than Asian food :) ).  Helen turned on the cold water faucet and was wait for the water to cool down before rinsing the fruit.  After about five seconds of wasted water Helen put a plug in the sink and said she shouldn't be wasting water like that.  Helen then used the water in the sink to do the dishes.  Seeing this caused me to better understand the need to conserve water.

This evening we went out to dinner with Helen and her husband (Peter) and helen Schulz and her family (Klaus- husband, Simon 20, Jeremy 22, and Katarina 14- children).  Helen and Helene are two of the main people I will be working with while I'm here.  After dinner Helene and her family took us to Mount Lofty, which offers a spectacular 

view of Adelaide.  On our way up the hills we saw kangaroos in the wild!  

(They really aren't as cool as you think they are in person... they look and act like slow, oversized rabbits)

We pulled over and got out to take pictures, we are such tourists right now.  Once we go to the top we had a great view of the city of Adelaide, it is so beautiful!  You can see how large the city is (population 1 million), and there is a square about the side of a kilometer by a kilometer that is the central part of the city.  The surrounding area is a lot of green space that they have fought to keep there.  Outside the green space (parks) there is a lot more of the city and housing areas. There is also a great view of the cost from this spot, it is all absolutely beautiful!  One other fascinating thing about this place is that the lights twinkle at night.  There are only two places in the world where if you are overlooking a city at night it appears as if the city lights are twinkling.  Really, it just has something to do with the atmospheric pressure and how it can trick your eyes.  None the less, it is a sight to see.

(me at sunset on Mount Lofty... you can see the coast in the distance)

FIRDAY

Today we walked to Magill, it is about 2.8 kilos (I'm struggling with converting things to inches, feet, miles, etc)  from Hosanna Heights.  We met Julie who works at Magill site once a week and has the title of "parent encourager."  This basically means she teaches people how to become better parents.  Helen does a lot of pre-marriage counseling, Emily does relationship counseling, Helene is the registrar, and I'm not quite sure what Di does.  Julie, Ellie, Hilary, and I stuffed and addressed envelopes and put together packets of information about what resources Lutheran Community Centre (LCC) offers.  After lunch Helene needed to go to the post office so she dropped us off at a shopping centre where we could exchange money, go to Kmart, and a fruit and vegetable shop.

Then we returned to Hosanna Heights and had yet another interesting meal.  WyWy and King, two Asian students, attempted to fix my internet... it was working temporarily, but is now down again.

 

For an evening activity the Schulz family took us to Hinley Beach.  It sounds  weird to think about going to the beach at night, but here the sun is stronger and causes many people to go to the beaches later in the evenings.  It was very warm, and we took some pictures of us "moon bathing."  I also learning and attempted to skim surf... keep in mind the word attempt.  I wasn't very good, but it was fun!  The Schulz family is very nice and extremely funny... they are a riot!  Australians are a lot more sarcastic as a whole than Americans, and this family is no exception.  I really enjoy their personalities.  

P.S. today was another hot day.

SATURDAY

I tried to sleep in a bit (my sleeping schedule is still off- I woke up around 3:30, 6:00, and 7:30) and went on a long walk this morning.  We are staying in a more suburban part of the city, so it is about a mile from any type of shop.  I walked a few miles to get acquainted with the area, and it has proved to help when I'm out and about trying to figure out where things are.

To no surprise, it was another hot day.  We decided to go into the city to Rundle Mall where we could shop in a well air conditioned place :).  Unfortunately, we were so unfamiliar with the bus system that we waited at the bus stop for 45 minutes.  We later found out that it was because it was a weekend, however, all Australians will tell you how unreliable any sort of public transportation is [I've been realizing that I'm beginning to use Australian words and sayings... in my previous statement I would typically say any type of public transportation- not sort.]  From the mall Helen picked us up and we had a wonderful dinner at her house, watched a little tennis, then went to the movie Gran Torino.  I really enjoyed the movie, but I hope that isn't how Australian view America. 

(After about 10 minutes of riding the bus Hilary looked over and saw a sign that says "These seats are reserved for the Elderly and Disabled."  We had no idea! Ha)