Take My Breath Away

So I'm on the road again. I had a great time at home seeing friends and family. Most people who read this I probably saw, so I'm doing to say again that it was good to see you.

I'm on my way back to Sydney and designed a two day layover in Auckland. The flight over the US and to NZ were a bit dodgy; it was windy in LA so our landing left a few people scared and then on takeoff we kind of bounced off the runway. But nevertheless, I arrived in one piece in what has to be the most beautiful country in the world. Our approach flight took my breath away, as the green mountains of the north island danced before me. It was quite cool.

Upon landing in Auckland, I had little to no specific plans. I simply wanted to walk around and explore the city. First impressions, at 9 AM, was that it was a ghost city. Compared to Sydney, no one was here! There were no weird people walking the streets, despite the early hour. A lot of Auckland reminded me of Sydney: it's a harbour, a large tower, and a small and simple layout. I went to the Ferry terminal thinking that it would be a good idea to see where the ferries went. I spoke with a lady that told me about the newest 600 year old volcano on Rangitoto, or the walks that one can do around Waiheke Island. I chose Waiheke, with the desire to see beaches in the back of my mind. So I jumped on the ferry and headed over.

What I saw next was sheer beauty. The islands dotting the harbour were all a lush green, and I just imagined how great it would be to explore them. I kept taking picture after picture, a theme that would be common for the day. As I drew near the island, I studied the map of Waiheke and plotted out the course I took. I studied the beautiful landscape and was excited for this little journey.

I started out and enjoyed the twisting trail that ran along the coast of the island. It was a gorgeous scene every time I glanced into the water. Couldn't have been better! The trail wasn't that hard, but the sun was vicious. I had no sun screen. Whoops. Houses were dotted along the trail. I tried to imagine myself living there. What a dream. An interesting event happened during the beginning of my walk. A seagull was flying around one spot of the trail, and as I approached it, the bird started to dive at me. It did this three or four times, as it would come in from behind. I ducked down, not sure what it would feel like to take a bird's beak to the head and had little desire to find out. I imagine that it was a mother protecting her eggs, because as I got further away, it didn't follow.

The rest of the first leg went smoothly, although I didn't have any water either. Again, whoops. So by the time I made it to Onorea Village, I was parched. I bought a water and had the best orange I've ever eaten. The juice was delicious. At this point I noticed I was already burnt. Oh well.

My second leg of the journey was to walk from Onorea back to the wharf where I had gotten on the ferry. This proved to be a difficult and arduous walk, but about two hours of struggling up and down the sides of cliffs, I made it all the way back. It got a bit scary at times, mostly because I was hungry, tired, dehydrated, and not to mention jet lagged. It was a truly remarkable experience, and one I would be glad to repeat--perhaps with a bit more food and water. Til next time.

Missing

Less than six days till I go hope. I can barely contain my excitement. Can't you tell? I miss America. Never thought I'd say that.

This past week has been a little more hectic than usual. Yes--work, work, and more work. But Tuesday and Wednesday were great. Tuesday night I went to the Beckham game. Quite the spectacle. But more about that later. Wednesday I headed up to Manly and helped Mrs. Curl teach scripture at the public school in the area. It was interesting to think that in public schools in a secular country like Australia, they allow the Bible taught in school. Quite a peculiar situation. But the ramifications of that would be something to study.

The beach was fun. It was so nice. The water was turquoise blue, although a bit cold once you got in. But to be in the water in November? Totally neat.

The rest of the week was just work. I found out last week that the more money I make, the more taxes I lose. It's kind of thrown my budget for a loop, but I'll rally.

Today I went to a concert that paid tribute to John Williams. Such a quality time. The Sydney Symphony orchestra played songs from such movies as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter,Indiana Jones, and of course all six Star Wars movies. It was epic. Can't wait to get home and get a John Williams greatest hits cd.

I'm out for the rest of the weekend. Back once more before I hit the States.

The Good Life

Ahhhh, the good life. That’s what I’ve been doing recently. All I do is work, read or watch TV shows, and take it easy. A number of my friends have left, which makes things a tad depressing, but my countdown til home has now reached 11 days. I’m getting real excited, and hope to see as many people as possible.

It was quite sad to be overseas for Thanksgiving. I did get to enjoy a nice dinner last night with a few friends, but nothing can replace time with family and eating turkey, gravy, stuffing, and an assortment of any delicious pies.

In sporting news, Beckhem mania has hit Sydney. The LA Galaxy are in town for a friendly with the home side Sydney FC. At the match on Sunday night, the Galaxy were introduced to the crowd. The Cove’s reaction was quite negative, espousing their usual hatred for the opposition. But the chants included mean things about Posh Spice and how Beckham was a waste of money.

Tonight is the friendly, and I’m excited for it. Getting to see Beckham for some reason really has me intrigued. I don’t know what it is, but I also think there is a hint of American pride at getting to see an MLS team match up against an A-League side. Kind of one league vs. the other. Also excited because I’m in the process of writing something up from the game for a soccer website. We’ll see how that goes.

Hope everyone is well and that I see you over break. Who ever you are.

Holiday

Well, not much going on here. Holiday seems more like workaday. I've been in everyday this week. Maybe I'll take off this Friday. But who knows. I need the cash flow, I guess.

One thing that's been troubling recently is the question of what to do with my life. A lot of nagging fears dangle over my head. I've sort of put off that question while taking this year adventure, but I'm heading right back to square one. I understand that one doesn't figure out what to do with the rest of your life right after graduating college, but still. I guess I'm frustrated at not having a better idea of what to do with myself. I'd like to work with a large publishing company, but there are hesitations there. I'd like to take a crack at sportswriting; again, various hesitations there. Only time will tell, really. I like sports. Working in sports in some capacity would be pretty sweet. I don't know. Enough about that.

Today is Thanksgiving in the States. Not here. And while that is sad to think that the last 21 years of my life I sat around and ate Turkey (ok, maybe not the last 21, but the point is made), it's fun to realize that I am living in a foreign country challenging myself. Let me add a disclaimer to that: I'm not saying those who are in the country aren't challenging themselves; realizing that I'm missing the holiday because I'm on this little journey makes up for it. A little bit.

Working has been alright. The experience of being in the corporate world hasn't been all that bad, but at the same time, nothing to write home about. I go in, do some work, go home, do some reading, go to bed, repeat the next day. The nice thing about it is the weak US dollar means that I'm making more; still I'd rather see the AU dollar fall to it's level of two years ago. .50 on the dollar would be stellar.

Of note, the Australian elections are this weekend. I found out from one of my co-workers that it is compulsory to vote. Every citizen has to, otherwise they are fined around $120. Kind of makes me wonder what would happen in the States if it was mandatory to cast a vote each year. Would it be a good thing, or would it be a bad thing? And is there any way to test this theory?

Relax [Take it Easy]

Haven't been back for awhile. That could be due to the fact that not much has been going on recently. I recovered from my experience with tonsillitis/strep throat and have been just going to work and hanging out around the Village. In all honesty, that's it. That's my life. But I'm not going to leave a post with just that. So I will go into some detail as to what I've been doing.

I decided that once Uni was over, I would walk home from work everyday. This happens to be close to a three mile walk, so I'm getting a good amount of exercise in. It also gives me a lot of time to think about life and what's next on the agenda. It's funny to think that I came here to delay "real life", but end up facing the same issues posed to me during senior year. People have asked me what I want to do or what my plan is, and it's kind of scary to think about the future. I know that I'd like to work in the print/new media field, spreading information around to other people. I'd enjoy bringing truth into people's lives; it's depressing to think that the media is hesitant to tell people what is actually going on. Although I am not one to be the judge of that. I jest with people and my response falls into the line "if someone will pay me to read and write, I'll be happy." And the quote has some truth to it, but I don't want life to be that simple. I see people at work day in and day out and wonder to myself, "what are they doing with themselves?" Obviously, again I am no one to categorise what people are doing and what value it has, but I want to feel like I'm accomplishing something.

It's weird to think that Christmas is right around the corner. When the high temperatures are hovering in the mid to low 70s, Thanksgiving and the Holiday season is far from my mind. I usually associate a cool fall day with Thanksgiving, and hopefully a white Christmas. Usually doesn't happen, but it is fun to hope for. Oh and I've definitely started listening to Christmas music.

Just for kicks, the countdown to being home is now at 18 days. I've never wanted to be back more than now. Not that homesick, just miss the security of it. I guess.

Rain

Finally feeling better. My throat still likes to flare up now and then, but eating has now gone from tolerable to almost enjoyable again. No longer do I think a series of knives pressing themselves into the back of my mouth.

That lovely image aside, I spent the first full week of summer vacation at work. I'm still on the fence on what to do: either work my butt off and see less of Australia, or take it somewhat easy and go to the beach every weekend. My initial thoughts are to choose the latter. Heck, you only live in Australia once. I don't want to waste that working at a Legal Publishing House 50 hours a week. 40 should suffice. And I've had thoughts of trying to pick up a bar job on the side, but I don't need to work myself to death.

Home is now a little less than a month away. I'm very excited about this. Despite the fact that I'll be going from a warm, summer climate, into the freezing cold of the Eastern US, I can't wait to see friends and family. A level of uncertainty of where I'll be has me a bit worried, but I'll figure out.

One interesting event of the week: I went to an NBL game this week. The NBL is the Australian professional league; not bad, but no mind blowing skill on display. Midway through the first quarter, my friends Eamonn and Paolo noticed that the stars of the And 1 Mix tape tour were courtside. Mainly they noticed the Professor, the white dude with a mad handle. Sitting next to him was Escalade, a 375 pound, 6-10 black guy. He was huge. So we yelled to the Professor, and asked for a pic. He gave us the head nod to come down. Seemed like a nice guy. So Eamonn and Paolo got their pictures taken with the Professor. I didn't really care all that much to be honest. The game itself was exciting. Sydney won in the end, beating Brisbane, the defending champions. At the end of the game we ran into more of the And 1 guys. All in all, a cool night, although I wish I knew more about the mix tape tour.

Time to go and relax. Took the day off. It's been raining the last two weeks here. Not so much fun.

Game Over

I'm done the first semester of grad school. Unfortunately, that has been accompanied by a nice sore throat. And painfully swollen tonsils. As a result, I've sat in bed the last two days, getting up to only finish the two papers I had done. But I'm done. And it's a nice feeling.

Sydney FC won a game! It was awesome. We mobbed each other after each of their three goals. And we also got on Australian TV when they scored. That's all that has been going on for the past fews days. I'm done, it's summer, and I'm ill. Awesome. Here's to cutting my own tonsils out.

Oh, and interestingly enough, they have Daylight Savings Time here. So now the US and I have a 15 hour time difference.

The Fly

As summer approaches, my thus far great enjoyment of Australia is already being put to the test. First and foremost, it is not. Not like Taiwan hot (that would be murderous to live in. Oops), but a much drier hot. And while less humidity is nice, the sun is malicious here. It wants to make you feel dehydrated and sick after getting exercise. I don't understand how the cricketers across the street do it.

The second and even bigger nuisance--had to to look that word on Google, I'm shameless--are the flies. They seem to be nowhere and everywhere all at once. Today I was playing basketball, and I thought I swallowed at least three of them. They are shameless. They just think they can come and fly onto your face and hang out there. Not sure what to do, but kill them all.

In scholarly news, as I was walking back from work yesterday, it dawned on me that I'm getting a Masters Degree here. I know, it happens to be the end of my first semester and a little late for this realisation, but it's not like the work isn't hard. Just that I'm going for a higher degree and it kind of just feels like going through the motions. But it's going to be sweet to have a Masters. And to have lived in Australia. Two awesome things going on at once. Anyways, just wanted to rant about the heat and the flies. Be back soon.

Cheers.

My Interpretation

So I'm in the library, trying to make headway on my last paper. I've completely finished two, need revision on one, and the last one is in the opening stages. I have eight books checked out, have been reading and studying them for an hour, and still have nothing. The end is so close though. So close.

The weekend was nice. Sydney FC dropped another game on Saturday, and I was there. Lots of fun, but I'm still waiting to watch that inspiring first win, should they ever get there.

Sunday was an epic trip up to Manly. The beach was breath-taking! And to think that I live only an hour from up to 6 different beaches is a wonderful feeling. I went to church at St. Matt's that night. It was an incredible experience. There was a pastor from Indonesia who spoke about the last few years of his life. And how difficult they were. You can read a lot about it here: http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/news/news_archives/000659.php. Long story short, he taught the necessity to forgive fellow human beings who have done you wrong and love one another. Now, I know that people aren't perfect, but we Christians have really left a long line of failure in our path, especially recently. I could go on a political rant here, but will refrain. But needless to say, listening to a man from Indonesia speak about some of the craziest events that happened in his life (meeting a man that was ordered to kill him, the mastermind behind the Bali bombing of 2002 among other things) has made my trip almost worth it in itself.

And this example represents one of the many reasons I wanted to come here. When in a thousand years, would I get to hear about Indonesia if I lived in America? I wish all people, especially in our country, would expand their horizons. Dare to do something different and outside the box. Because it would leave the world a better place, of that I'm convinced.

Ok, my philosophical/spiritual/political rants are over. I should just have a separate blog for it. This week I've had no class and had to work everyday thanks to XML training. It's been kind of cool. I'm almost positive that I could get a job at any of the 29 Thomson locations around the world. And that might be what I do. I'm kind of torn between trying to go after sport journalism, or just play it safe. I don't know what to do with myself. Email me some suggestions. Oh and please come visit.

In Limbo

Well I'm at an awkward time right now. I have two papers done, and two left to write. Then I will have successfully completed one semester of graduate school here in Sydney. It's kind of a cool feeling. Also a bit strange, almost as strange as the sight of cricketers dressed in all white playing across the street.

This past week flew by. It was also kind of mundane. Went to work on two days, and worked on my papers for the rest of the time. I did have a meeting with the lady in charge of internships here at USYD and I'm trying to find a place to work one day a week between Jan-June. My dream is to score an internship at Four Four Two Australia. I can only imagine what doors that would open up, and to have someone pay me to write about football would be insane.

I did take some time off to go to a pub and watch the Red Sox play the Indians, to do some trivia, and explore Darling and Sydney Harbour. One of my favorite things about Uni here is the proximity to the water. I absolutely love going out at night and being able to walk alongside Cockle Bay. Tomorrow I'm off to Manly for a day of writing papers and (hopefully) swimming in the ocean.

It is a daunting thought to realize I have 4 months off from school. I finish October 31 and return to classes on March 3. A long time indeed. But I plan on over working myself and taking a number of weekend trips around Australia. If there is no limit to how much I work, I might try and clock in with 50 hours a week. If I'm paid by the hour, might as well make the most of it. Couple that with the fact I can take off days whenever I want to sets me up for a good amount of working and exploring. Trying to figure out where to go in this country is difficult. I'm tossing around the notion of flying up north and driving back down the coast to Sydney. That would be one way to explore. The only drawback is that it costs me an extra $30 a day to rent a car due to being under the age of 25. Crappy rules. Hope everyone reading this is doing well, and please feel free to email or call me.

Cheers.

My Body Is a Cage

I love this place. It's quite a rush knowing that I'm currently living about 9,869 miles away from home. Love it.

Not too much from the past week to recap. On Monday, went to work, then had class. I got my first mark for the term (yep, I'm using the British/Australian lingo). It was a "D". Don't worry, that stands for distinction, which is good. Quite a relief to know that I'm pulling down grades that meet my standards. The next day, I wrote about 1,000 words for my essay that was due on Friday, went to class, and then walked all the way out to Waterloo for a Connect group that I had been set up with through Hillsong church. It was good time, we grilled out and had burgers, talked about Encounterfest, and just hung out. I found it difficult to come into a group of guys that all know each other, but I'll give it time.

Wednesday was the same as Monday: work, class, got another mark. An "HD" this time. And no, that doesn't mean High Definition, but High Distinction. So I'm on a roll now. Thursday was kind of a repeat of Tuesday. Work on the paper, class, come back and finish the paper. Not the most glamourous week, but I was done that night. Around 8 PM I went to the Rocks with Hol-lee and Eamonn. Pretty low key, as we were only out for a couple of hours.

Friday brought a new spin to the week. I walked to the Mills building to turn in my paper. I panicked a little when I couldn't find the MECO drop box, but my fears were relieved after a few minutes of searching. I managed to catch the right bus up to work and spent another day in the legal library, filing away. No fun, but it pays the bills. After a day at work I went to the Landsdowne for dinner.

That night I decided to head to the camel races. Yeah, that's right, camel races. Who goes to camel races? Well apparently, a lot of Australians do. Racing and betting are two of Australia's favourite past times, but to the break out of equine flu with horses here, the race tracks have been shut down. This means that the tracks are all losing money, so they cooked up a camel race to stir interest, and more importantly, get people out there to buy beer and food from them. And so they came. It was a good crowd, but the races were quite underwhelming. They would last just one straightaway of the track, and the camels weren't particularly fast. In fact, every race there would be one camel that wouldn't even run. This gave me a good laugh, and we would make small bets here and there to make things a bit more interesting. Post races, we went down to an area of the track dubbed as the "Neverending Poker Room" and watched Sydney FC take on Perth. A few of my friends decided to play in a $10 tournament and I would watch the game and follow what went on at the table. Upon return, I quickly went to bed with plans of going to the beach on Saturday.

Unfortunately, cold weather greeted me in the morning, and I made the call to put it off until either Sunday or perhaps next week. Dave and I ended up going to the Sydney Aquarium (most impressive) and the Australian International Motor Show. Quite an interesting experience, seeing lots of cars that most people there would never be able to afford. I felt like it was almost worth the $17 entrance fee. But coming from someone that tries not to care about cars at all, a little bit steep.

After the show, we returned to the village, where I quickly threw on a change of clothes and basketball shoes and played pick-up for about an hour and a half. At the end of the games, my end hurt and I couldn't see straight. I was dehydrated and tired. Today, I'm sore and my body kind of hates me. A bit of a bummer, as I decided to stay in that night and take it easy. All the walking and running had wiped me out.

Today I got a nice taste of home as I watched most of the Red Sox-Indians playoff game. It's funny to perceive the Australian reaction to the games (some claim it to be boring--try watching cricket though) while others try and learn how it's played. But, for the most part, I only watch it with Americans. Due to the length of the game I have managed to get no work done and didn't go to Manly. Hmmph. Life goes on, but I'm down to the home stretch, with only two weeks of class left. It has been quite a good ride this first semester. I'll try and post more thoughts and less boring stories later this week.

Heat Wave

So I've been back for a week now. Lots to report, but first, final thoughts from Taiwan:

-An interesting trip. Never been in a place where I couldn't speak on read a bit of the language. The concepts of different languages and why we speak them confounds me a bit.
-Singapore Airlines is awesome. Fly them when you get the chance. Superb service, great food, watched a ton of movies, and enjoyed it.
-Airplanes amaze me. How do they get off the ground? One of the planes we took looked as though it was going to fall to pieces on take-off. Obviously it didn't.
-The food in Taiwan is overrated. I'm sure it's good, just hard to find and order.
-Can you say humid?

With those thoughts out of the way, time to share the events from the last week. After landing, I bought a Mountain Dew at the airport train station at 7 AM (yes it was awesome), hopped on the train, and came back to the good ol' Sydney University Village. Felt good to be back. The whole day I was useless, sleeping from about 1 PM-5 PM. I missed class. Oops.

So when I said there was a lot to catch up on, I may have been exaggerating a bit. Wednesday and Thursday I was back at Thomson. This time I was put in the Law library. Sorting and filing assorted laws was not the most stimulating job, but hey, money is money right? There were a few laws that intrigued me. For example, I'm pretty sure Prostitution is legal. Breaks my heart. Most of this country does though, just seeing the brokenness and depravity. Anyways, I had no class Wednesday night because of the holiday on Monday (go figure) and Thursday my favorite Network class.

Friday was interesting. A few weeks ago, I had signed up for Encounterfest, a youth retreat put on by Hillsong Church. For those of you who don't know who that is, Hillsong is a mega church here in Sydney with over 18,000 people attending each week. It was quite the interesting time, to say the least. The church is Pentecostal and Assembly of God, so whatever that means. People are really spirit-led, which I don't have a problem with (too badly) but I am not going there. No, what really grinds my gears about Hillsong is the appearance of a business it carries. Sure, there is biblical teaching there. And the message preached by Jonah Smith was awesome. I even saw a presentation by a 15 year old named Zach Hunter, an abolitionist (yes, there are millions of slaves still in the world). I am skeptical of a church that spends $28 million on a spot of land in Sydney. That releases a CD every year. That has its own business entity. That asks you for tons of money. They take in millions a year. Is that church? I can't tell you for sure, but I don't look upon it with favor right now.

I am now fired up to make a change. To try and fight for peace, justice, and against poverty. To love people. Put their interests before my own. We live in a world that is run by selfishness. Hate, anger, and violence, dominate the headlines. And yes, good does happen. But we need to thrust it to the forefront of our society. These tests and trials are what I was looking for when I took this trip.

But I'm not here to complain about Hillsong. They have plenty of quality people there, and I will dabble there. But I prefer St. Matthew's up in Manly. Much more emphasis on Biblical teaching, and I'll take the word of God over someone telling me what the Spirit should be telling me. No thanks.

So on Saturday I decided to skip the conference and do work. Semi-successful, although not as much as I would have liked. Sydney FC was on Saturday, and we went. It was awesome! They were playing the arch-rival Melbourne Victory, and it was pandemonium before the game as police were in place to ensure there was a limit to violence. Eamonn and I only managed to catch the tail end of the squabble, although once we were in the Stadium, the Melbourne fans began to throw flares amongst the Sydney fans across the field. Unfortunately, Sydney lost 1-0 in a tight match. One of the better games I've seen them play this year, but still a loss.

After that, it was time for rugby, as the world cup reached the quarterfinals. England and Australia squared off against each other, and I watched with a mixture of Englishmen, Australians, and Americans. Quite a fun experience, although kind of a dull game. England won, 12-10, without scoring a single try. Kind of boring.

Sunday was a trip to the Curl's for cooking, laundry, and relaxing. It is quite the experience hauling my packed suitcase and two plastic bags full of cooked stir-fry and pasta. I had a good laugh, and it is so nice to have an actual house to go to and hang out. Manly is a ridiculously nice place as well.

Today was quite ho-hum. I had another day of work, finding me in the library once again. Class dragged on for a long time as I was fighting off a headache the whole time. Post class, Eamonn and I went to the Marly for steaks, after which I came back here to watch the Office and do some reading. That's the latest. Email me if you want to hear more, but that covers most of it. Hope all of you are well.

Waterfalls

Well, spring break is now complete. I’m sitting in the gate for my flight from Singapore to Sydney. While sitting and doing nothing is fun, I’d figure I’d share the rest of my time in Taiwan.

One point I forgot to mention in my previous post: Taiwan has Costco. Now, I know that being in a foreign country, one should indulge in the culture and experiment with food. Personally, I feel like that is bullocks sometimes. There is no reason to not make yourself feel at home while overseas. So Sarah and I went to Costco for dinner on Tuesday night. I had a hot dog and a slice of Hawaiian pizza. Delicious. With that out of the way, it is time to continue on my adventure.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, Sarah had to work. That meant I was stuck by myself for up to eight hours at a time. Instead of going out into the town of Sijhih, I stayed in for those three days, getting some Uni work done. Fine by me. If I had my way, I would have travelled around the whole island. But since I was there for a person and not the destination, I was content with planning out a few papers and essays that I need to start writing.

Friday night, I picked up Sarah from work, and we headed towards Shilin night market. We caught the bus near to place of employment, caught the MRT, and went searching around for the market. Since most of Taiwan is sweltering during the day, most markets are conducted during the night time. This makes enough sense. We cruised around, trying to find a bite to eat. We finally found a place that was making some kind of meat-doughy-dumpling type food. Not bad. I ordered myself a Pearl Milk Tea, which I had read somewhere was well known in Taiwan. Boy was I wrong. There was some weird food inside of it (the pearls I guess) that made the entire drinking experience bizarre. I neglected to drink the whole cup. Couldn’t force myself to do it. Just about the weirdest drink I’ve had.

The food aside, there was nothing spectacular about the market. Just a lot of people in one place looking to either peddle a trade or purchase clothes, foods, or other trinkets. So we caught the MRT back to her place and went to bed.

The next day Sarah was given the day off, so we decided to explore another part of the country: Wulai. A small mountain town about an hour and a half from Taipei, Wulai is most well known for having one of the largest waterfalls in all of Taiwan. Pretty neat, but consider that Taiwan isn’t all that big to begin with. So after a long ride on the MRT, plus another bus ride, we were at the small town.

It was a pretty neat scene. The whole town consisted of a one lane road running through a series of shops and vendors. A river ran parallel to the side of the town we were on, so we had to cross a bridge to continue walking through Wulai. We wanted to make our way to the waterfall, so we searched through the town. Neither of us were certain of how to get there; we were lucky to stumble upon signs in English indicating some kind of small train located above the road. We ascended the steps and walked up to investigate.

The sight that greeted us was fairly comical. The “train” was nothing more that four small cars linked together. They could hold two people per seat, so pretty much like a roller coaster. It was about a 10 minute ride to the falls, and it provided a nice, scenic view of the river.

We arrived at the makeshift station and walked towards the best view of the falls. This was directly across the river, on an overlook that was no more than 30 feet from the river and the falls. It was a nice view. After checking that outlook, we walked up the mountain, as there were different paths constructed taking you up. It was both fun and exhausting; because of the humidity we were both left soaked in sweat. Definitely worth the effort, as we got to see a pretty unique view of the whole valley and the falls. Once we were done there, we caught the next “train” back to the main part of Wulai. There we bought dumplings at a 7-eleven and drank iced coffee at a café.

After finishing off the coffees, we decided to head back. Walking to the bus station was not fun; the mosquitos were feasting on my legs and it wouldn’t stop raining. I can’t imagine living in the country; it rained so much. But I’ll touch on that later. We took the bus back to the MRT station, and went to our next stop: Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall.

Exiting the MRT station at the memorial, we were accosted with people handing out different pamphlets written in Chinese. As I had no idea what they were saying, we walked by them without taking any. Bizarre to think they would give it to us. Couldn’t even begin to understand it. Anyways, I have no idea who Chiang Kai Shek was and why he is famous. The memorial to him is in a very nice place. It is in a large open space; quite unusual for Taipei. Facing the memorial, on your left and your right are two buildings of similar oriental design: one is a performing arts center and the other a museum. I don’t have internet right now, otherwise I would do a bit of research and not sound like a complete ignorant fool. We didn’t linger at the memorial for very long. After leaving, we headed towards Taipei Main Station, grabbed a bite to eat at an Italianish restaurant and called it a night.

Sunday was to be my last full day in Taiwan. We had decided to check out the hot springs near Beitou; again, another stop on the MRT line. We wondered around for a long time, looking for Hell Valley, a lake that was the source of the hot springs in the area. The temperature of the lake is 70 degrees Celsius. However, after a frustrating search, we ended up deciding to go to the hot springs, since were going to try and have a nice meal out on our last night. That didn’t work out either, as the hot spring closed for 45 minutes through out the day for cleaning. As a result, we walked back near the MRT station and enjoyed a meal at a Japanese fast food place. Not bad.

After lunch, it was time to finally make it to the hot spring. It was quite the experience. The water is streamed directly from the source of the lake; this creates quite a hot experience. We met a Taiwanese man who said he went to the springs 4 or 5 times a week. He was retired and looked in good health for a 74 year old. He explained each of the temperatures to us: the hot spring had four different pools on the far side of the area; these were the hot baths. As you went down a level, the temperature was cooler. The hottest pool was 42 C, the next 40 C, the next 35 C, and the last 33 C. On the other side were two “cool down” pools. They were set up to give you a time to cool down after spending a long time in the hot spring. We made sure to spend at least a minute in each pool. Even working our way up to the hottest. 42 degree water is hot! Yikes.

Once we were done at the hot spring, it was time to head back. We caught the MRT and bus back to Sarah’s apartment, changed, and went into Taipei for a last meal together. We ended up at one of the nicest restaurants I’ve ever eaten at. It was a five course meal. I ate escargot (delicious), French onion soup, Caesar salad, NY strip steak, and a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. While the restaurant was very American, the portions were much smaller than normal. It was both satisfying and delicious.

So as I write this latest entry, I’m sitting in the airport in Singapore. I’m getting tired of typing, so I’m going to try and post this and share my final thoughts on Taiwan in another day or so. We’ll see.

Rainbows All Over Your Blues

Greetings. Still in Taiwan, and have had an action packed few days.

The first day here, we took things easy. I was in no urgent mood to do anything, as I was still recovering from the jet lag (I know, only two hours, but still). Sarah had to work a majority of the day, and fearing that I would get lost in my new surroundings, I didn't venture out of it, save to pick her up. That night we stayed in and watched Arsenal crush Derby County (I need help).

I've shared some of my first impressions of Taiwan, but I'll focus first on Sijhih. It's a suburb east of Taipei, and while it seems small, there is a large urban feel to it. The apartment complexes are quite large, each with at least 20 floors of apartments . The biggest change is the lack of sidewalks. In Sydney, sidewalks are everywhere. You really can't go anywhere without one. Here it is much different. Sarah holds my hand walking down the street, and remains calm and collected while I imagine getting run over, whether by bus, scooter, or car. The drivers have no intention of hurting you and I really shouldn't be scared of anything, but I am anyway. Moving on, the neat part about the country is the mountains. They seem to surround Sijhih on the side facing away from the city. Hopefully we'll get a chance to explore those. Only time will tell. I'll share more impressions as I catch up on our latest activities.

Adventure called on Sunday. We decided to head to Maokong Gondola. Or Sarah decided to take me there, as I had made no plans and trusted her with my itinerary. The gondola is 4 km long and takes you out from Taipei into the mountains. Getting there, however, takes quite an effort, seeing as though we had no means of transportation aside from train or bus. Regardless of that, we made our way to the bus station, and I had the most uncomfortable bus ride of my life. That isn't saying much, as my experiences on buses is limited. However, it was interesting. Instead of paying before riding, you paid while leaving, and with either a hi-tech card system or a low tech coin bucket (not really a bucket, but exaggerating is fun). I didn't get a seat on the bus and had to grip onto the handles hanging from the ceiling. We made it to the train station and Sarah bought me my ticket, seeing as no ATM in the whole country wants to give me any money from my Wachovia account. Doesn't help that I refuse to call them and let them know I'm in Taiwan. A bit stubborn of me, but oh well. The train system was very clean; there are fines and charges levied to those who eat or drink on the bus. The other neat thing was the single fare method. Instead of a paper ticket, you received a plastic coin with some kind of sensor that would trigger the gates. I thought it would be wasteful, but at the end of a trip you insert the coin into the gate to exit the MRT system. Pretty neat. Back to our trip. We had to switch trains to make it to Maokong, so it was a pretty long trip. It took us near to the Taipei Zoo, which is apparently well known for its Koala exhibit. Having both seen Koalas in Australia, neither of us was to keen on stopping at the zoo.

As we approached the gate to the gondola, a large crowd greeted us. And it wasn't a protest; it was a massive queue. We made our way to the end, and heard it was a two hour wait (yikes). However, nothing else seemed to be like an attractive option, so we waited it out. And it was quite worth it, even though it ended up being only an hour tops. The ride took up and over the mountains. Taipei 101 was easy to spot from our gondola. On top of that, the rain started again (no surprise), but we spotted two or three rainbows on the way up. The coolest part was we saw the spot where the rainbow began. Alas, there was no pot of gold, although we would get even closer to another rainbow later on. The ride was beautiful, and took us up to Maokong.

We disembarked at the top and got out. The line to get back down seemed to be as long as the line to get up was, as it snaked all the way around and out of the complex. There were several signs greeting us, directing us in both Mandarin and English pointing to different tea houses. We went to the left. No idea what else we would do, so we just walked along the road. It was a nice mountain town. Calm serene, with little tea houses littering the street. While walking along, we saw the bottom of not one, but TWO rainbows. It was sweet, but alas, no little Irish men with pots of gold. I looked. But more rain came and forced us into a tea house. There we were greeted with the waitress. She handed us the menus, all written in Chinese, and ask "can you understand?" We shook our heads, and she walked over to another table and tried to roust up a translator. The next five minutes we became a sideshow for another table of Chinese people, who stared at us as a guy translated the menu for us. We managed to order green tea and fried rice. The lady came by and served us our tea. We got to brew it ourselves. They gave us a tea kettle with boiling water, a small tea kettle with leaves in it, a smaller filter device to pour the tea, and then the two cups for us to drink out of. It was some of the best tea that I have ever had, and when we got our food. We had ordered beef and pork fried rice and it was delicious. I used chopsticks to eat it, and it was a treat. After our meal we paid and explored Maokong a little longer.

The town was nice. We had a splendid view of Taipei 101 lit up at night. We spent a little more time walking around and exploring the night streets. There wasn't a whole lot going on, but it was a fun experience. It felt great at night, but we were ready to head back into the city. We called it a night and had another glorious ride down the gondola, now lit up by the city lights.

Our next day, we decided to head to one of Taiwan's beaches. Our destination was Fulong. Sarah wasn't exactly sure how to get there, but we walked to the train station in Sijhih to try and find out. Unfortunately, things were a little hectic and we missed the train at 12:38 that would have taken us out there. Instead, we would have to figure something out or wait for four hours. Since waiting was out of the question, we went to the ticket window to try and figure something out. The lady there tried explaining to us in broken English to take the train to Badu and go from there. So we were handed new tickets, another lady took us upstairs to another train official, and we had to wait for the next train. This next one took us up a few stations, and then we were told by the ticket officer to get off at Cidu. We knew this was wrong, but before we could blink, we were stuck there. So we went to another official, who pointed somewhere across the way and said "Platform 2!" That was easy enough, but there was platform 2A, 2B, 2C. Which one went to Badu? We eventually made it to a three-car train, where we would then wait for the next train that would finally take us to Fulong. At least we hoped.

After a half hour wait at Badu, we were finally on the right train to Fulong. It was an uneventful ride, save for the crowded cars that made us ride on the floor for half the trip. We eventually found seats, but were thrown out because apparently some seats were reserved (couldn't read anything that told me that). After walking back along the cars even further, we found two more seats and were able to enjoy the ride from the comfort of a seat.

We finally arrived at Fulong Beach after that wonderful ride. Even then we made a wrong turn, and it took us a good 15 minutes to actually find the beach. It cost 90 NTDs each for us to go. But at last, we were at the beach! It was an interesting sight. There was a bridge that crossed a river that took you onto the actual beach, and we were there. It wasn't a particularly nice day, and the water was cold, so we just sat near a washed up log and enjoyed the surroundings. To the right of the beach was a seemingly tall mountain that had a few temples littering the sides. It was a nice sight, but unfortunately not much else was there. It was a fun time, and cool to see a beach in such a foreign place. But nothing unusual happened. After a few hours, we meandered back to the train station and hopped on the next train to Sijhih.

On Tuesday Sarah decided we were going to head into Taipei. There is heaps to do there, so we made the decision to play it by ear and figure out what to do when we got there. As we exited Sarah's apartment, it was a nice day, complete with blue sky and no sign of rain. So we decided to go to Taipei 101. For those of you who don't know, Taipei 101 happens to be the world's tallest building, complete with the world's fastest elevators. We took the bus to the train station, and were at Taipei 101 by 1:00. It is built over a mall, so we went through the food court and into the mall. We didn't care to explore the mall much (after all malls are all over America). I tried my ATM card at 5 different banks with no success once again. Bummer. Sarah bought the tickets and we hopped into the elevator which took us up 90 stories in 38 seconds. The lift reached speeds of 1010 meters per minute. Pretty fast.

The view from the top was breathtaking; there is a significant amount of pollution in Taipei so it is limited. But it was fun and interesting nonetheless. It was cool being at the top of the tallest building in the world. Afterwards, we explored Taipei some more, going to a park called the Peace Park which had a cool looking building with a fountain. A neat place. All in all, the last three days have been full of fun and new things that I would never experience in other places. I'll be back with another update soon, although not with today. All I did was sit in her apartment and read. No fun, but it's too hot and I don't want to get lost.

Travelin' Man

My latest post comes from Si-Jhih City, a suburb of Taipei. I'm in Taiwan. Goodness gracious.

The last week or so has seen more of the same. I have finished nine weeks of class and am currently on spring break. As far as class goes, I haven't gotten a single grade back yet; therefore, I'm slightly worried about what my grades might end up being. But that aside, I'm getting the hang of things. It's one thing to meet new people and start over after school, but doing that in a whole new country, in my opinion, brings a whole other slew of challenges. Not only am I adjusting a to a new culture, I'm in a place where there is a lot of people, but each is up to his or her own thing. Some people are studying abroad, some full time students, others here for only a semester. I don't take that into account, however. I'm prepared to make new friends if some are leaving at the end of the semester. But it is all part of the experience. All part of growing and learning who I am, what the world is like, and how I can learn from the past and hopefully make the world a better place. At least through my own individual actions.

One interesting encounter happened this week. I was spending time with some friends, two of whom happened to be British. My American friends in the group and I were talking about Thanksgiving; what we were going to do, "have a thanksgiving in the village." Or something like that. One of the Brits piped up with "Can I ask a stupid question... what is Thanksgiving?" That answer in itself was funny enough. But the response of the other Brit was "it's when we came over and killed all the Indians. Now they celebrate it. It's rubbish." A pretty humorous exchange nonetheless.

So anyways, I'm in Taiwan for the next ten days visiting Sarah. And let me tell you, it's a trip. I haven't even been here for 24 hours and the what I'm doing isn't lost on me. First impressions aren't too positive: it's hot. The humidity swallows you up as you step outside; even if it's raining, it still is miserable outside. And this is coming from someone who has been outside only once. Window air-conditioning units are everywhere. I get stared at for being white. I fear for my life walking down the street, paranoid being hit. It reminds me, in a lot of ways, of Israel. Existing and living in a place where not many people speak English and I have almost no idea of how I'm going to get around. That's where Sarah will come in, and we'll have some stuff to do while I'm here. Funny thing, as I'm typing this I'm watching the Yankees game LIVE. That is incredible. Really funny.

Anyways, I'm doing well, learning about a new culture, and hopefully spending a lot of time with a great girl. Hope everyone is well.

Cheers.

Money

Well, so much for blogging at least once a week. Shame on me, right? I guess for all 10 of you reading it you don't know what I've been up to. There is a stunning (saracastic) development in relation my new job as a "Casual Admin Verifier". Lord knows what that means. After two weeks, I still don't know exactly as to what I'll be doing. So far it has meant being an assitant to the Contracts Administrator, and little more. And by assistant I fax contracts to myself so that the company here can convert their paper records into digital format. Easy enough. I hope to be doing more post break after my boss returns from leave. Should be alright. Plus it is a source of income, as well as being something to throw on my resume.

The Uni part of life here continues as usual. I have three assignments all due next week prior to my visit to Taiwan to see Sarah, which is where I'll be a week from today. I'm really looking forward to that trip. I am learning quite a bit about the intricacies of publishing, both in class and at my job. Unfortunately, the company I work for only publishes Legal & Regulatory information (hence the name). This doesn't bode well for my interests, but I get to see another side of publishing. And I've already had inclinations of going to law school a few years down the road.

Mostly, life here goes on as us what is now the usual for me. Classes, some assignments, time to hang out with friends, meeting even more people, it goes on. I met with a guy from Hillsong who will be leading my connect group when I make it. He works at the church and showed me around. It was good fun. Anyways, I'll make another post a little more details, but I'm heading out for now. Remember to root for Sydney FC (where I'll be tonight) in the morning (game starts at 6 AM US).

Cheers.

We laugh Indoors

Time for a weekly update. I'm pretty content with myself if I post in this every week. A new goal of mine.

My life just got a whole lot busier. I went to my first day on the job today. It was a good experience; not the most interesting, but I'd never worked in an office situation before. And this place is huge! I think around 500 people are in the building. My company Thomson (www.thomson.com.au) occupies the top three floors of a red-brick, warehouse-looking building. I feel very important there, mostly because I get a photo-ID card. I'm totally sweet. Today I didn't do anything but look through files and update different sheets. Not sure if things will get better, but I think I get my own computer/desk. Sweet business.

The last week of classes was fairly low key. We received news of an assignment due within two weeks of the class. My Russian friend, Ilya, was all panicky. I on the other hand, remained my cool, collected self. As usual. But we have to Chinese students in our group, so I'll get a better sense of what working with them can be like (I'm sure a real pleasure.

Over the weekend I went to another Sydney FC game. And as usual, it was awesome. They conceded first, but then scored twice. Unfortunately, Adelaide managed to equalize right after. But the second goal was surreal. I was in the Cove (Sydney FC supporters section) and when striker Alex Brosque scored off a brilliant through ball from Juninho, I was showered with beer. I had never experienced anything like that. For a second or two, it was raining beer. My friend Eamonn, holding two schooners of his own, looked around, thought about it, and decided to hang onto his. No one else seemed keen too. As a result, my hair and arms were a sticky mess, not to mention the shirt on my back. It reminded me of the week before, when I walked home and got soaked in the pouring rain. But no worries. The match ended a 2-2 draw. But nevertheless good fun.

The next event of note occurred last night. Arsenal was playing at 10:30, and like a loyal supporter-wannabe that I am, I headed over to the Marly to catch as much of the game as I could. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes into it, the bar starts to crowd with a very gothic-looking crowd. But their all girls. I look up from my table, slightly confused. My confusion changed to discomfort. Then, after the over head music was cut out, delirium ensued. This group of girls (when I say girls, I mean women in their mid-20s that aren't well... you know) has a guitar. They start singing songs. And when I say singing, I mean screaming at the top of their lungs while I try and watch Clichy set up Fabregas for a goal. Or something like that. I think Summer of '69 was my favorite cover they did. I wish I could make up stuff like that, or that anyone reading this could have been with me to laugh at the situation. Completely and utterly ridiculous. But that is what I signed up for; I never in a million years would have been in a situation like that in Harrisonburg. Being pushed and challenged by so many different kinds of people will grow me and make me a stronger person, capable of loving whomever God choses to put in my path. And that is good. Cheers.

I Feel Free

Today was one of the first days where I am beginning to feel actually adjusted. Moving to a foreign country, even one that speaks your language, is no easy task. But a challenge is what I was up for; and I got what I wished for indeed.

The weekend was quite enjoyable. Friday night found me at Sydney Football Stadium, for the opening match of the A-League. It pitted Sydney FC against the Central Coast Mariners. It was good fun. A bunch of folks from SUV came along, and we stood and watched from the supporters section, watching the game and singing along to what we could pick up. It rained on and off during the whole game, and it wasn't until after the fact that I decided to make a four mile walk home... in the pouring rain. It was awesome. Right now I'm surprised to not feel that ill.

Saturday was another good day. I met up with Megan and some of her friends from Hillsong. I enjoyed a three course meal over in Randwick and then headed over to Edgecliff for delicious Thai Food & Max Brenner. We feasted on all kinds of chocolate... better than you can imagine. Trust me on that one. If you're in the Manhattan area, find the Max Brenner on Broadway. It's unreal. After Edgecliff, I made it to a pub and caught some English football. Chelsea v. Pompey in a snoozer. Lampard's strike in the first half proved winner, and I was relieved to see that the Gunners eked one out against City 1-0. It proves quite difficult to watch EPL when the first game starts at around 10:30. No worries though.

The rest of the weekend involved various elements of reading and writing. I watched some of the A-League match (Perth v. Newcastle) and made it to Hillsong for the 7 PM. That always proves an experience, a service at Hillsong. You find yourself inundated with images and colors and sounds that are supposed to help you worship. It has been hard, but last night's service was the best. Plus I know people there now. So here's to having a few more friends, and a few more laughs from these past few days. If anyone's reading this from JMU, enjoy class!

Thrills

Well, week 5 of class is over. Can't believe that almost seven weeks have elapsed since I first left America. That is just crazy talk! I got a chance to catch up with some folks back at JMU. Weird thinking that classes start on Monday and I won't be there to take part. Ho hum. Life goes on, and I know that this is where I'm supposed to be.

Not too many highlights from the past week. I ventured into the unknown depths of microwave-only cooking. I made a beef teriyaki mess that was made delicious by my rice cooker (for those of you left wondering, I had rice included in my meal). Tonight I made Chicken Parm. Not the best, having microwaved chicken patties designed to heat in an oven, but I feel full.

I did a lot of reading over the past few days for classes, and tonight I'm thinking about getting a head start on a number of my assessments that are due in the next few weeks. Unfortunately, I am not scared by the prospect of writing 500 word assignments. Maybe when they approach 10,000 words (doesn't exist), then I'll fell a bit petrified.

But in all seriousness, while I never expected to make it to graduate school, it's been a great experience so far. Today in Network class we discussed the advantages and disadvantages to strong ties versus weak ties. Apparently, having a greater number of weak ties increases the diversity and differences you have in your life, therefore finding a job through contacts easier (not sure what I think about that). But aside from the academia of it, I felt like the formula applied to me. I'm afraid to make ties here because they won't be as strong as they are back in the States. According to theories behind Networks, that's not a good move. Having fear over meeting new people shouldn't hold me back. Just cut loose and enjoy life (note: not really sure what it means for me to cut loose). I'm only going to be here once after all.

PS - My second book is now listed on Amazon.com. Yes, I'm a completely vain person that searches for his name on Amazon (only to laugh at myself, I promise).

Check this out:
http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Stress-Girls-Guides-Emotions/dp/0766028577/ref=sr_1_2/104-1264231-4335115?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1187849679&sr=8-2

Deep

The last few days have been up and down. First, saying goodbye to Sarah at the airport was not enjoyable. But I have hope that I'll see her again. It hits harder now that I've returned from class and she wasn't there (like it had been last week).

Enough self-pity. The weekend was an enjoyable experience. Friday I played some basketball and had a few drinks down at the Well (the bar under our apartment). The next day was a trip out to Manly to watch the Curl family. Or, more specifically, Nick, Blake, and Tyler. My job was to make sure they behaved themselves and did their chores. Hardly an insurmountable task. Their house up in Manly is beautiful; a five minute walk to the beach included. I spent the last two nights there, returning here with a full stomach and a sense of excitement.

A deep thought from today: I feel handicapped by a fear of the future. I frustrate myself with a desire for an easy life; to get what I want and for things in my head to play out exactly the way I want them to. Such is not the case. Life for no one is easy. If that was the order of life, where would the fun be? Part of the reason that I went on this excursion was to delay the inevitability of working behind a desk everyday from 9-5. Unfortunately, that prospect offers comfort that I need to seek elsewhere. Because I can't rely on myself to overcome the weight of the world, now can I?

Blinded by the Light

So my mom told me to update my blog. Here I go. After a particular crazy Saturday last week, (involving some of the funnier Australians I've met) my girlfriend arrived Sunday in the early AM. I picked her up at the airport at 7 AM and we came back to the Village, dropped her stuff off, and then took off for the Blue Mountains.

Having already visited the mountains during my prior visit to Australia, I was put in charge of our trip. This didn't bode well, as I had neither the patience for it or the itinerary planned. I had initially thought it was going to be just Sarah and I going, but a few other from my building (Artee, Janelle, Gail, and David) joined us because of the lack of quality provided by Colourful Trips. Dave proposed a stop off at Featherdale Wildlife Reserve to see some Australian animals up close and personal. I had no problem with this, seeing that I had little planned for our trip to the Blue Mountains. We caught a bus to Central Station, hopped on a train towards Doonside, and after an accidental detour (we didn't know we had to get off the train at Blacktown) we made it to the Wildlife reserve.

The reserve was an interesting place. They let some animals (Kangaroos and an Emu) roam around the park at certain points, and had others behind cages. They had a couple of Cassowaries (really large birds that resemble dinosaurs with fur) behind cages as well as Koalas. While the Koala is one of the most underwhelming animals I have ever seen, it was slightly different when they had a station set up to "pet the koala". After spending a solid portion of our day at the Wildlife reserve, we moved on.

The next stop was Katoomba. Unfortunately, we arrived at about 4:30. Lacking knowledge of the town, I didn't know if any bus/trams existed that would take us to Echo Point to see the Three Sisters. We ended up walking and catching the sunset. It was a beautiful sight! After watching the sunset we left and made it back to the city at around 9 PM.

The rest of the time here with Sarah was awesome. On Monday we went into the City, saw the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, and the other famous Sydney sites. Tuesday we walked from Maroubra to Bondi Beach, a gorgeous but strenuous walk along the Pacific Coast, Wednesday we went to Manly, home of our teammate Ashley Curl, and then yesterday climbed a part of the Harbour Bridge and had Pancakes on the Rocks. Last night we parted ways (for now) as she takes off for a year in Taiwan. All in all a good trip.

Outside of that not much is going on. I have some reading to take care of and stay on top of and I'm waiting and praying about a job opportunity that I am waiting to hear from. Til next time, Cheers.

Come and Go Blues

Greetings. Not a lot going today so I thought I'd take the chance to catch you up on the latest rumblings from Sydney. The past 9 days or so have been interesting; I've learned lots about the people in Australia, the differences of American-Australian culture, and the surprising lack of class time for a Masters Degree.

In terms of my classes I absolutely love them. Every single one of them has my full attention. This past week we wrote a pitch for a potential magazine story; my pitch was voted "best" of my group. I know, I'm so modest. They all seemed to be interested in the 500 word report that I had quickly jotted down in 15 minutes. I have this uncanny ability to vomit words onto a page as quickly I can think of them. What needs to happen next is direction: I need to work on said skill in the proper way that will allow me some semblance of a career. But, as they say down here, no worries.

Yesterday saw me at the first job interview of my life. It's for a part time position as an Editor of Thomson Legal & Regulatory Publishers. That's right, they publish law books. If I get said job, I will not only pick up a variety of skills in regards to working with strict deadlines, but also learn XML and have a nice resume builder to pick up on.

One of the toughest parts about the near month I've spent here has been the stark contrast to JMU. Having left a place teeming with some amazing people who I knew so well, I feel like I'm in a desert. But that is to be expected. I spent the last four years with some of those people, so I come here having left them and it won't be easy to come CLOSE to the kind of relationship I want to pick up. Patience only brings rewards, however, so I'm not going to complain about it; there are some great people here, it will just take time to get to know them well. It is funny though when someone from home asks "how is Australia?" I want to sell it as the best thing in the world and totally amazing. Don't get me wrong, it is awesome; I am having a great time. But I am also learning and growing a lot. I want life to be a cakewalk that has no obstacles for me. This is not true. A lot of work and effort is required if you want things to return to normal, regardless of being in Sydney or Harrisonburg.

Roll With It

So I'm almost at the three week mark. That will be on Sunday, for those of you keeping score at home. Today marks the end of my second week of class and there is a lot to report.

The first is the style of class. Having been an American student for the last 22 years of my life (ok maybe less than that) I find myself trying to figure out the education system here. Their grading is completely different. Their teaching styles are different. Heck, even the language they use is somewhat different. But I'm just going to roll with it. I've come to two conclusions about the kind of classes I'm taking: they aren't going to be excruciating to pass, but to get the highest marks will prove some effort. And that's what I'm here to do. I'm going to give this year of my life my academic all--I'm going to leave satisfied with my level of effort and the knowledge that I've gained. The second conclusion, after going off on a tangent, is that I'll learn as much as I'm willing to put into it. And that is another reason why I'm going to increase my level of work.

The second conclusion hinges on the kind of people I'm around. It's great here--a complete melting pot of cultures and ethnicities. At JMU, you wouldn't run into someone from the United Arab Emirates in your dorm. That didn't happen. I am looking forward to learning about interacting with people of different backgrounds and who have seen a much different part of the world than I am familiar with.

The third conclusion relates to the difficulty of the task at hand. I've never been in a situation like this before--meeting new people, so far from home, so little around me that I'm familiar with. But challenges are designed to be overcome, and I know that I'm going to leave Australia (one day) a changed man. And that has me excited. In fact, I know that these few weeks have already done quite a bit.

Lucky Star

So week one of classes complete. As I post this week's update, let me say, first and foremost, that I'm lucky to be here. This experience was something that I had dreamed about for a long time. And now to be experiencing this is truly great.

That aside, now to an update. The first week of class was great--the classes that I'm taking are as follows:

Advanced Writing for the Media
Australian Magazine and Print Culture
Book Production and Publishing Business
Network Society

In a nutshell, these classes will teach me a great deal about publishing--and not only just book, but all three: Internet, Magazine, and Book. Each class requires a substantial amount of reading and writing. I plan on working real hard on all subjects. I'm searching for freelance work and a part time job in Sydney, but we'll see what happens. Not much more to report. I went to Manly today and had a home cooked meal at the Curl's house which was awesome. I'll be sure to post more frequently.

Walkin'

Greetings. Apologies for not posting sooner. I figure a lot of people aren't reading this anyways, so it is more for my own good.

My last week here has been up to my expectations. There are times of loneliness and boredom that I try to pass in productive ways. For example, I'm now trying to formulate a spread sheet complete with a budget, but along with that, tracking every dollar I spend. Kind of intense.

One of the most interesting parts of this is the way it feels like freshmen year of college. You meet new people, are unsure what to do with yourself at times, and have a downright sense of being clueless in a big city. That is a difference from JMU. Harrisonburg does not compare in one bit to the gargantuan city that is Sydney (or from my perspective it is really big).

A few big events of the past week: Orientation for International Students, which was a comprehensive lecture covering everything you need to know about Sydney and Australia. We learned how to use the transportation system, how to protect ourselves from the sun, what to do, where to go, and generally everything you need to know. I love hearing about the box jellyfish. I can't imagine a creature that carries a sting that makes you scream even while unconscious. I met people from all over the world at the orientation: Germany, China, Ghana, Mexico, Spain, Italy. Such a cool feeling to know that so many people are going through the same thing (being in a totally new place) and that they aren't from your country too. Although most of my time I still spend with Americans, I am excited to meet and hang out with some Australians (who knows when that will happen but I'm sure it will).

I am learning a lot about myself now too. For example, the question of "going out" and hitting a bar. With such a tight budget, it is something very low on my list of priorities. I would much rather travel to Melbourne, Perth, or just about anywhere in this region than have $100 nights out. Last night I made an exception, watching All Blacks v Wallabies in the deciding match for the Tri-Nations and then Japan v Australia in the Asian Cup. I'm going to start a serious job hunt come tomorrow using the resources I have in front of me. Oh, and I read the last Harry Potter book yesterday. The whole thing.

Classes are starting tomorrow. Between searching for a job, working on another manuscript, and starting my novel writing process, I will have plenty to do. Hope everyone is well.

Sydney

Holy heck, I've made it. My flight arrived safely at Kingsford Smith Airport. I got my bags soon enough, headed through customs, and found a taxi over to the University Village. There is so much to talk about and not a lot of time, thanks to the fact that the internet costs money here (stupid I know!). I'm kind of thankful for that though. It will help me remain focused on the important things, like studying.

Funny side note: in Australia it gets pretty cold. I stepped off the plane and it was around 10 degrees C. You do the math on that one. But I'll address that much later.

After my cab ride I found myself in a bit of a pickle. No one was at the reception desk! How was I supposed to get into my room then? Fortunately, I met my first friend, another American named Eamen from Boston. So we figured things out and we tracked down an RA to let us into our rooms.

Unpacking took me no more than 10 minutes. I threw my stuff in the closet. I was ready to go.

We first walked through the campus, which was beautiful. If you didn't know, USyd is Australia's first University, and the quad is full of architecture that looks either really nifty or real ugly. Not sure. Also, they have lawn tennis courts here! No one else is probably excited about that, but I sure am. We walked through campus and decided to go all the way into the city.

Moving towards the city was like living a dream. I couldn't believe that I was back! Paddy's Market, Darling Harbor, the Rocks, and the Quay were all familiar sites. It was a cool feeling to be back at a place you never thought you'd see again. After walking around all day, we headed back to the Village and took it easy. The night was no fun. Having failed to purchase sheets, and thanks to the jet lag, I was asleep until 2 AM. Then the elevator on the 5th floor kept opening and closing. All night. And it squeaked and squealed and drove me crazy. I didn't manage to fall asleep again until around 7 AM, and that was only because I met Holly, who kindly lent me her heater. But other than that little mishap, all is good! I'll post more about classes and such later. Make sure to email me at tcla5974@usyd.edu.au or gmail if you want to hear more. Later.

The Waiting

So bored. I arrived here in LAX at 10:30 AM local time and have yet to do anything of substance. All I've done is complain and complain about how tired I am. And that is a result of not sleeping much in the past 36 hours.

I guess the only highlight of the experience was talking to this random guy who was on his way back from Cincinnati. He talked about everything, from the difference between East and West Coast weather, to the overcrowded situation at the UC system.

Another item of note: it has begun to sunk in what I'm actually doing. The absurdity of going 10,000 miles away from home is something I have yet to adjust to. But here's to an adventure. Only four hours til my flight takes off. Next update will come from Sydney.

Going Back to Cali

Well here goes nothing. I know that blogs are lame, but I can't think of a better way to keep a large group of people updated with my life.

Right now, I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am leaving Berwyn, PA at around 3:15 AM and heading up to Newark. From there I catch a 6:15 AM flight to LA. Unfortunately, an hour lay over in Cleveland also awaits. After that a layover of around 11 hours in LA awaits me. Not sure of what I'll do; maybe I'll see the sights but most likely just cower in a corner of the airport and hope nothing happens to impede my journey.

I'm leaving America for good at 11:55 PM PST on Qantas flight 150 (for those of you following the flight at home. I hit the streets of Sydney at 7:30 AM on Sunday July 15th. Interesting that something I've been working towards and planning for so long is actually happening. I'm updating my address on facebook, and shoot me an email if you want more details. I'll leave you with some words from the inspiration for this post:

"When the lala hits ya lyrics just splits ya
Head so hard, that ya hat can't fit ya
Either I'm witcha or against ya
Format venture, back through that maze I sent ya"