I'm baaaaaack!

Wow, a lot of things have happened since I last wrote! Let me try to catch you up a little.

Hmm, where did I leave off? Well, I think I was on my way to Sydney, if I'm not mistaken. I made it safe and sound to Sydney, although I was extremely sick on the way there. I managed to get through the flight, thankfully, and also chatted up my poor neighbour. I think he enjoyed it though, and he definitely seemed like a nice man. He was only staying in Australia for 5 days, which absolutely blows my mind, as I am perfectly happy to not step foot onto another plane for another three months. Ahhh, the poor guy.

Anyway, once I arrived in Sydney, things got slightly complicated. Oh right, did I mention that I didn't sleep on the plane from San Fran to Sydney? That's right. I spent about 14 hours on a plane, overnight, and the absolute maximum amount of sleep I got was about one hour. Ah, yes. How lovely. Anyway, I managed to make it through to Sydney, which was great, but once I arrived things started to unravel slightly. As I was only flying from Sydney to Brisbane, I was told to go towards the domestic transfers area, where I would have to pick up my baggage, make my way to security, get my visa, go through security and customs, and get to my flight... in about 45 minutes.

Well, turns out, after getting my visa, waiting around FOREVER for my bags, and going through customs, that, in fact, I was flying on an international transfer and therfore was in entirely the wrong area of the airport.

Lovely.

So, I went and talked to a wonderfully helpful security guy who told me where to go, and took me as far as he could. That was great. I made my way upstairs, and then got lost again. Haha. I looked around forever for those screens that tell you the departure gates and everythig, but I couldn't find any. Anyway, I eventually found one, thankfully, and realized that I had absolutely no idea where Gate 35 was! (I was looking between gate 50 and 65 or something like that!) I asked another wonderfully helpful security guy and he helped me find my gate.

Now, downstairs in customs, a man told me that I would be able to get my boarding pass upstairs at my gate, and that my baggage would be transfered through, so I wouldn't need to worry about any of that.

As I arrived at my gate, I walked up to the man at the desk, and told him very nicely that I was told I would be able to get a boarding pass here. He looked at me, really snobbishly and said, "Nope, I can't get you on this flight now. You needed to go to the transfer desk."

Please, keep in mind, that I had now been travelling for close to 36 hours and this was the last leg of my journey (only a 1 hour flight!) and so I wanted nothing more than to just get to Brisbane and see my aunt and uncle. Also, keep in mind the fact that I had no sleep, that I was sick, and that I had been oh, so misdirected for the last hour and a half or so.

So, instead of saying all of that, I said, "Oh...okay..."

And the tears started coming.

Then the poor man just looks at me, like it's his fault that all of this happened. You know, this poor little puppy dog-like Canadian girl is sitting here crying because he can't get her on a flight. So, he all of a sudden cramps up (like men do around girls crying!) and says "Oh, um, well, uh, let me see what I can do."

And within about 2.5 minutes I am sitting comfortably in seat 63A. Gotta love it.

Well, once I got to Brisbane, my aunt and uncle were right there to pick me up and take me home, and what a relief it was!

Amazingly enough, I have not needed to deal with jet lag at all!!! It is possibly the most beautiful thing in the world! We went to "The Chemist" yesterday, which is basically a pharmacist. Apparently Aussies are huge fans of going to the pharmacist instead of going directly to a doctor. I got some cold/flu medicine I've been taking and it seems to be working well!

My uncle Paul preached today in church, which I thought was wonderful, as he's studying at Malyon College here in Brisbane, to be a pastor. I met some wonderful people at church this morning, especially some young adults. They're having a BBQ and one of the guys in the C&C group plays in a band, so we're all going to go to one couple's house and t hen to go see him! It sounds like a wonderful time, and from who I've met, they've seemed to be really great people.

The culture is pretty different here than in Canada, which I find sort of surprising. I thought it was going to be very much similar to Canada, and in a lot of ways it is, but in others it's quite different.

Words here are taken very differently as well. It's funny... as soon as I arrived in Sydney, I looked for a washroom, and they don't exist. They're called Toilets here. I find that slightly amusing. And it's not Men and Women labeled washrooms, it's Male and Female.

Another thing is that the toilet is in one room and the bath/shower and sink are in another room entirely! Weird, eh? Oh yeah, and you know in Canada how if we go into a home and it feels warm and comfortable, we would call it "homey"? And if we're being condescending or whatever, it's called "homely", right? Well, it's the exact opposite here. So I'm going to have to watch out. : )

I was talking to my aunt today, and we were walking outside, and I said something along the lines about "It's so good when you have people rooting for you!"

Well, "rooting" here, has the same or similar connotation of "the f-word" in Canada. Oops! You can count on me to come out with something like that! Hopefully it won't come out again!

I got to meet aunt Cass's brother and his wife and kids today, which was a load of fun. They have three kids. Olivia, 5, Max, 3, and Sofia, 1. They are cute. Crazy running around and all that, very energetic, but a wonderful time. It was so fun to play with kids. I think kids always make me feel at home wherever I am... : )

So, Australia is fantastic. I love every aspect of it so far. I haven't taken any pictures but I'm hoping to soon enough! I'm just getting settled in right now. My aunt and uncle are wonderful - very similar to my family at home. It's great, and I feel very comfortable with both of them.

I'm happy about this trip and I'm feeling that it's come at exactly the perfect time. It's going to be a great time to get things in life straightened out, and figuring out priorities and goals and whatever else for when I'm back in Canada.

I think that's about all I have to say so far, but please keep keeping in touch! : )

Love ya!

Bec*