go the swans!

last night we got to go to an afl game. now, on the surface afl (australian football league) seems like rugby. but apparently it's not. i guess the ball is a little bit longer or something and there are some slightly different rules. if you call it rugby in front of an aussie you will get at least 5 minutes worth of lecturing on the differences. basically, this is how it works: there are 3 different things--afl, rugby league, and rugby union (also they will say football, or soccer, which isn't even the same sport so i don't know why they include it in there). in new south whales (where sydney is), they call afl aerial ping pong because apparently it's not as hardcore as the others. but in victoria it is the big one, and everyone likes it more. if you refer to "footie," you could be referring either rugby league or afl (depending on where you are or where you're from. in victoria afl is footie, but in sydney it's rugby league). rugby union is just "rugby." and gridiron is american football. it's all very confusing... but i think i'm getting the hang of it.

anyway... it was heaps of fun. here are some pictures from the game:

esther, me, and elle in front of the stadium. check out the red and white... we have team spirit :)

so... we were going for the sydney swans (i know... very intimidating mascot). we didn't have any swans gear so we drew some on our face. turns out people don't really do that here... haha.

haha... we were cheering hardcore. actually, at this point we were just practicing. hehe

some things you should notice in this picture: 1-look at the swans' awesome socks! 2-look how freakin short those shorts are! 3-they are wearing NO protection. and i mean NONE. rumour has it they aren't even allowed to wear underwear.

i would have to say that rugby (my bad... afl) might be my new favorite sport to watch. it never really stops and they are hardcore and all over the place. it's a toss up between this and soccer... but i will say that afl players are in the best shape of any athletes i've ever seen. hands down.

now i have something more serious to write about...

last wednesday mark driscoll from mars hill church in seattle was here for this thing called "burn your plastic jesus," which i really wanted to go to but didn't really realize that it was going on until the last minute and it was sold out. actually some kids in one of my classes had an extra ticket, but scott just did a series that seems like the exact same thing at flatirons which i listened to online, so brittany went instead. anyways... today i found out that he was gonna be speaking at this little baptist church that some of the asc'ers go to, so i decided to go check it out. i get kinda cynical about famous pastors, so i didn't really have high expectations, but i went anyway. i'm so glad i did. seriously, there is a reason he's so well-known. we went early because even though it was kept pretty much on the DL that he was gonna be there, they expected a lot of people. this church was super tiny, so they had us all cram on the pews. i ended up in the front row (literally directly in front of him. like 3 feet away. like spit zone close. it was somewhat uncomfortable, but no one else wanted to sit there so a couple of the other girls and i took one for the team.) anyways... he was freakin awesome. i guess usually he's really funny and energetic, but the topic tonight was pretty serious, plus i think he was tired (he's doing like 30 talks in 11 days or something crazy like that). but he was still good.

he talked about the doctrine of propitiation. sounds super lame and boring, but it was actually one of the best sermons i've ever heard. i took like 4 pages of notes, but i'll try to make this short. basically, it was about sin and how God is holy, and we are not, so we are basically His enemies. people always focus on God's love, but they ignore His wrath and the fact that it is because He loves us that He gets angry when we sin against Him. sin breaks relationships, and because of our sinful nature our relationship with Him is flawed, and He hates sin for that. but just because God is capable of being angry doesn't mean that He just flies off and shows His wrath. God is perfect, and therefore His anger is perfect. His anger is slow to come and it's often delayed. it can be turned away, like it has been in all kinds of Bible stories. also God's wrath is shown in 2 ways: active and passive. most people think of the active side, like Him smiting people and stuff, but the passive side is what happens more. that's when He hands us over to sin and lets us do what we want. that's when stuff gets really screwed up, and that's when people try to blame God for their own decisions. so it all sounds angry and crappy, but that's where the doctrine of propitiation comes in. it basically means this: we are all guilty sinners, and God's wrath is on all of us, which we deserve. but He sent Jesus to become our sin and God poured out all His wrath on Jesus so that we can live. it's pretty much the basic gospel message, but it's so much deeper than just that. he talked about exactly what the crucifixion looked like and what it meant. it was seriously so powerful. i'm still just overwhelmed and in awe of what a huge deal it is!

one thing that he talked about that really made me think and that i want to look at more is the whole "love the sinner, hate the sin" thing. do you know where that phrase came from? Ghandi! that is not actually biblical at all... it's from a hindu man (i'm not dissing ghandi... i'm just saying he was not so much a theologian). the bible actually mentions multiple times that God hates sinners. so where is the line between us being sinners that God hates and being sinners saved by grace because He loves us? i wish that i could have talked to mark driscoll and picked his brain about that, but i'm definitely gonna look into it more. anyways... it was pretty great. i'm glad that i went :)

o jeez

it is incredibly overwhelming and frustrating being a christian. today in the view from australia we talked about our last reading (and by reading, i mean skimming... hehe), which was about economics and consumer behavior. then we had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about consumer behavior in australia and around the world, as well as how to deal with finances as a christian. i feel like i've heard more about economics and justice and consumerism and everything that goes along with all that so much in the last year. i guess a big part of it has to do with the fact that i've just been learning so much more about the world in that time. one of the first things we talked about was this thing called "affluenza." apparently in australia, one of the richest nations in the world, there is this thing where people never feel like they have enough. now, i already knew that australians as a nation tend to feel like they have somehow been given the shaft in the world--like they are the little brother that everyone kinda just tolerates. but i didn't really realize how much that extends down to individuals, and how, although they put on this carefree front, most australians feel like they don't have enough. and i know it's obviously not just australians (seriously... america is the most consumer-driven nation ever. and i'm pretty sure the whole world wishes they could have more). but i guess it just opened my eyes to the fact that it is not just america. after that we talked about our role as christians in the world's economics. how much is too much? how much of what we have should we be giving away? is it wrong to spend money on yourself when you know that there is someone in the world who doesn't have enough to even survive? these are all questions that i've wrestled with over and over and over again. and to be perfectly honest, i don't know. but the speaker was actually incredible and he talked about "God's economics." he used examples of how God had the people set up societies in the Bible. one of the central and most important aspects was justice. He made sure that the poor were provided for (with the whole saving the edge of the crops thing.). He provided for the widows. He allowed for some shifting in the distribution of wealth, but He also made a time where all debt was forgiven and everything was given back. i wonder how the world got so far from this model of justice? how have we gotten to the point where we buy so much into what advertisers tell us that we forget about the rest of the world? i guess it just really made me think. do i want to sell all my possessions now and live on the streets? no... and i don't think that's what i'm meant to do. but i do think i need to be more aware, and to start taking the smaller steps that i can toward justice. i don't think anyone can ever really have it just right. but i definitely think there are things that, as Christians, we definitely can and should do to try and help the world.
this post really doesn't even come close to describing how i feel exactly, and it probably doesn't make much sense at all. but it's just me pouring out some of my thoughts from today...

let me just tell you about these conversations...

this morning bekah and i had a breakfast date. it was great :)

then i had my service. i hung out with jim the ladies man most of the time. he spent about an hour telling me all these stories from when he was in the army. then he looked over at joe, who had fallen asleep (he does that a lot) and this is how the conversation went:
jim: "he's sick of listening to all this baloney i'm telling you."
me: "you mean none of that stuff is true?"
jim: "nope. it's all lies. i've been making it up as i go."
then he started laughing a lot! what the heck... little turd :)

then jim left and i was talking to joe. i asked him about how he met his wife. this is how it went down:
he had a friend that owned a clothing factory, and joe stopped by to say hi to him at work. he pointed over at this girl and said, "hey, who's that brunette over there?" and his friend said, "that's my sister, mary." so joe went over and talked to her, then 2 weeks later they were married! i asked him how that happened and he goes, "i said to her: 'you're lonely. i'm lonely. and i have a house.'" haha... how funny is that!

it was a pretty good day... now i have to sit through 3 hours of class during dinner time.

aquarium and pictures!

i'm using the internet in the house today, so it's easier to upload pictures. these are super random... i need to get some of my flat and stuff. but for now...

today we had mandatory roommate day, and we went to the aquarium! it was very fun.

these are just some of the asc girls a couple weeks ago... we're standing in front of the real world house! i want to go back and get pictures in the day... it's very exciting.

this is the coolest guy ever. his name is steve and he works at the aquarium... he showed us all the coolest starfish and let us hold them, then he took us around and showed us some secrets of the aquarium. i can't write them on here... he said we can't tell anyone. but he also told us a funny story about a koala. ask me when i get home and i'll tell you.

2 of the roomies and me by a shark... haha, hippy steve took it.

the tunnel of awesomeness! seriously... there were so many sharks. and there was a giant stingray! it was sweet.

haha... this is my host brother keiran. he's a big dork... but i like him :)

things that being abroad has taught me so far...

-getting mail has the power to make my day *hint hint*
-not having a phone is glorious!
-not having a phone also makes life a little more difficult...
-no matter how great an accent is, being around it all the time makes it not quite so exciting.
-time flies. seriously.
-sometimes first impressions are exactly right.
-sometimes they are not.
-walking to my pigeon hole and seeing a letter makes me happy *more hinting*
-praise the Lord for public transportation.
-sometimes it would be nice to have a car.
-most of the time it's great not having a car.
-it's a lot more expensive to send stuff from australia than from the states *seriously*
-not being able to talk to your closest friends whenever you want sucks.
-but it's also a blessing in disguise.
-God is good (already knew that one... but He reaffirms that every day.)

...

sometime i just really don't feel like writing. that's how i've been the last few days. and it's crazy because i've had so much on my mind...
on tuesday in my view from australia class we had a speaker come in and talk about christianity in australia. then we broke into our processing groups and talked about what he had to say and also our church visits. one of the topics of discussion was finding a church that keeps you awake and entertained but doesn't just focus on that. hillsong was mentioned a lot and how they have such great worship and all this great media, which is great. but they focus a lot on the "health and wealth" or "prosperity doctrine," which says that if you trust in God He will bless you financially and physically. everyone in the group agreed that is really not okay. one of the girls asked: "how do i find a church that i don't fall asleep at, but that still agrees with my doctrine?" everyone in the group seemed to think that it's almost impossible to find a church that uses expensive media to help their message, but doesn't try to tell people that they will automatically be rich if they have enough faith in God. i guess i've just been so spoiled with flatirons, because i think they do an awesome job of finding that balance. that conversation made me really miss flatirons. even though hillsong is great, it definitely does have that "health and wealth" air about it. i'm trying to keep a good attitude about church here, though, because really i'm only gonna be here 3 more months.
one of the things that has been the hardest for me here is just staying in the moment. it's so hard not to focus on what's going on at home and what i miss. it's not even so much that i'm homesick (even though i miss everyone heaps). i just can't wait to share the things i've experienced. i'm so excited to get home and see everyone again and tell stories and make food and just be together. but i don't want to spend my time here just looking forward to that. i want to be here, in the moment, soaking up everything that's going on. it's so easy for me to just put things off, thinking i have plenty of time to do them. but i don't! i've already been here over a month, and i've hardly done anything on my list.
i did finally go to the beach though! i went to bondi on tuesday after class with brittany and cameron. before that we went to pancakes on the rocks. let me just tell you about pancakes: i have heard about this place from day 1 and how i have to go there. i love breakfast and especially pancakes, so i was pretty excited. o. my. gosh. it was so wonderful. and i would not consider it a breakfast place. almost all of their pancakes have ice cream on them, and they have all different kinds. i got some with grilled bananas, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and a scoop of chocolate ice cream. it was freakin good, but i think next time i won't get ones with chocolate. they were so rich! but seriously... so delicious. the beach was amazing too! bondi is world famous and i've seen tons of pictures and stuff, but i was actually really surprised at how small it is. it's probably the length of 3 football fields and crescent shaped, with cliffs on either end. but it was gorgeous and there were tons of surfers even though it was freezing and the sand was so soft! i will be at the beach a lot from now on.

ace!

yesterday was such a good day! seriously... relaxing, good conversations, good church, good people. wonderful. i basically got to sleep in, then i just hung out all day. then last night i went to hillsong, which was awesome. i've been getting somewhat frustrated lately because i haven't really gotten to separate from the group a whole lot, and i've been praying for an opportunity to find something like a small group or Bible study or anything outside of the asc or wesley to get involved in. so i was at hillsong right before service started and i was trying to find a bathroom before worship. i walked out and thought i was going the wrong way, so i turned around to go the other direction, and i saw a friend that i haven't seen since middle school! i knew she was here, and we've actually talked some on facebook and stuff, but i was fully not expecting to see her, so it was very exciting. it was funny because i had literally just been praying and telling God that i was not gonna try to force anything and that i would just trust Him to give me an opportunity to branch out, and then i ran into her. it's crazy how God works... so i'm really excited because hopefully we'll get to hang out a lot while i'm here. after that i was all pumped, so worship was awesome, and the service was great. it was going along with the echoes theme (like how last week was about secondhand experiences and how they are just echoes of the real thing...), and this week was about intimacy and how our desire for love and companionship comes from God and his desire for the same thing, and He shows His love for us often times through people. then... the most exciting part... they sang "how He loves!" i seriously freaked out and i was singing along and probably annoying the people around me, but i don't even care. it was a good night...
today i had my service (last week i didn't get to go because there were a lot of sickies and so the place was basically on lockdown so it wouldn't spread anymore). they're still stuck in their rooms because a few people are still sick, so i just got to go hang out with them, which was good. there is one lady, rosie, who is having a really hard time being forced to stay in her room, so i was asked to go hang out with her for a little while. they said i just needed to stay with her for a half hour or so, and i ended up being in there for 3. she is so lovely... we basically just talked about everything and she showed me pictures and stuff. it was really hard, though, because she's really lonely. i just don't really know how to handle situations like that, but i did all i know to do, which is just be with her and listen and show her i love her. towards the end of my time i noticed she had a little christmas pillow, and i asked her if she likes christmas. she seriously lit up! she started talking about how it's her favorite time of year and it beats any other day or night by a long shot. and then she goes: "i love christmas, and i can sum up why in one word: Jesus." then she went on and on about how great Jesus is. it was seriously so precious, and it was awesome because it just opened more doors to more conversations. i love when stuff like that happens :)

indonesia, china, america, and australia... all in one day!

this weekend the asc took us on a trip to canberra (the capital of australia... just in case you didn't know). quick lesson: in the early 1900s, there was a disagreement between sydney and melbourne over which should be the capital city (melbourne was at the time, but sydney was bigger and wanted to be the capital or something.). there was lots of arguing until finally they decided to pick a spot right in the middle, and canberra was born. it was literally built to be the capital, so the whole city is designed around all the government buildings and such.
i was pretty excited about this trip because i'm a huge nerd and like museums, but i knew that it was going to be a long 2 days. yesterday (friday) we left from wesley at 6 am to make the 3-hour drive down to canberra. everyone kept saying that it was going to be freezing and that they had just gotten snow, so i was surprised to find that it was not really that cold at all, and it was really sunny. friday was a day of embassy visits, starting with indonesia. i found out that australia and indonesia actually have a really important relationship, and indonesia is sort of leading southeast asia in becoming more democratic. that visit was fun because we got to play with all kinds of indonesian instruments and puppets and stuff that they had there for the little kids that visit.
after indonesia we got to go visit the chinese embassy, which i guess is a huge deal because we're americans and they're not usually too keen on letting americans visit. turns out they were really nice though, and they had a pretty garden. the last embassy we visited was the united states! it was funny because that one was the most strict on us, even though we're american. fun fact: all the buildings in the american embassy are made out of brick in the colonial williamsburg style. the brick was to represent america's permanent presence and dedication to australia. also, the fact that they styled it after american architecture set a trend for all the embassies to be styled after their countries' architecture, so the chinese and indonesian ones were really cool (belgium was actually my favorite... it looks like a pretty country mansion). after all the embassy visits we just went to the YMCA where we stayed for the night and had discussions and played games, which was good because i did NOT feel good at all. bleh...
day 2, saturday (today), we had a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. we started out at the old parliament house, which was not exciting at all except for the funny tour guide. after that we went to the national museum, which was really cool, but we only had a little over an hour, so it was pretty rushed. but they had this sweet thing where you could record a fake radio program, which provided lots of entertainment. after the national museum we got to go to the national gallery, which was freakin sweet because i love art museums. i got to see a real jackson pollock, which was huge and awesome. apparently it was a big controversy when they got it because some prime minister bought it for something like $2 million, which was a lot of money. except now it's worth over $100 million, so i'd say it was a good move. i also got to see a monet and some gauguin and cezan and lots of others... we didn't get to spend much time in there, either, which was a bummer, but it was still really cool. our last stop was the war memorial, which i was not excited about but was actually really really cool. it was huge! and we got to see all kinds of sweet old planes and stuff that dad and papa and hayden would enjoy... and they had this sweet discovery center where you could play and take pictures. i promise i'm like an 8 year old child...
after a few hours at the war memorial, we got on the bus for another long ride home. but it was very exciting because guess what i saw... KANGAROOS! seriously, picture driving into estes park and seeing all the elk. now make the scenery a little flatter with different trees and turn all those elk into kangaroos. that's what it was like. there were tons of them! we were passing huge groups of them for a good 20 minutes. kimberly, the director, said she's never seen so many at once, especially not on the way to or from canberra. so it was very exciting. i have yet to get close enough to get a picture though...
basically canberra was really fun and educational, and i'm glad to be back :) i didn't take my camera (sorry mom...), but i know that all my friends took heaps of pictures, so i'll try to get some on here.

sweet as...

i know i say this a lot... but i LOVE going to an art school. seriously... i can't even describe it. you might think i'm exaggerating, but i'm really not! people are always playing instruments and singing and dancing and practicing plays all over the place... it's seriously awesome. my favorite day of the week is thursday, because on thursdays they have concert practice. i have my theological foundations class on thursdays, which is miserable because it's so hard and overwhelming. but right after it i get to go watch concert practice and it brightens my day! basically for 2 1/2 hours every thursday all the music students have this class where they just put on performances. they'll put together a band of other students, or they'll just go by themselves and show what they can do. seriously, the talent here is incredible. it's so fun to just sit in on the class and see people doing what they love to do.
i think my favorite part about it all, though, is not necessarily the fact that i get to hear awesome musicians all the time (which, trust me, is glorious), but it's the fact that none of them are snotty about their talent. they know that they are good at what they do, but they just do it because they love it. and no one walks around talking about how great they are... they let their music (or acting or dancing or drawing...) do the talking. and they all collaborate! seriously, one person will start singing or drumming on a table and soon there are 5 or 6 people all harmonizing. it's like a freakin movie... and it's awesome. another thing i love about this school is the fact that, even though all these people are super cool and artsy and trendy and talented, they don't look down on other people who aren't (namely: me--completely talentless). i was seriously intimidated for the first week or so thinking that everyone would question what i'm doing here... but after getting to know some awesome people, there is no part of me that feels like i don't belong (even though, really, i guess i should not be at an art school).
today during concert practice i realized just how much i love this. there's this kid here who is wonderful: james. he's this crazy outgoing, super tight pants-wearing, funky hair, loud, funny kid who is just out there. today was his day to perform, and he played the piano. he was all fidgety and funny up until his turn to play. he got up to the piano and it was like an instant transformation. he played a medley of 4 hymns, and it was absolutely beautiful. you could just tell by watching how much he loves to play, and he was fully worshipping God with the whole thing.
it's just so awesome to me to see so many incredibly talented people who really have every right to be cocky just using their talents for God's glory. there is no comparison or competition--they all just lift eachother up and help eachother out and glorify God with the things they are passionate about. it's really just so encouraging to be around, and it really challenges me to think about what i'm passionate about and how i can use it for Him.
you should think about that too... :)
ps: so, sometimes aussies will say something like "cool as" or "cold as" or whatever to describe something. for example, we're going to canberra tomorrow and one of the leaders said "it will be cold as!" you don't say "cold as [whatever]." you just say "as" and people know that it's really cold or really good or really cool or whatever. so during concert practice there was this girl and she was really good, and this guy was like "that was really good! sweet as!" and i thought he said "sweet ass." it was funny... haha

pictures!

they're boring, but hey, this is what i see every day:

there's a huge bush of these in my front yard. aren't they pretty?! they're everywhere...

And these are everywhere too... I LOVE them. This is the view that I saw the other day when I was on my way to the library on campus. Basically the campus is a big square of buildings around a courtyard, and this is off of one of the second-story balconies. This picture really doesn't do it justice. I don't know if you can tell, but that line in the middle between the trees is the Sydney tower. I'm such a fan of being near the city!

I'm gonna start trying to put more pictures on here, but the internet is quite dodgy so usually they don't upload. I'll try to put some up of my campus too so you can see it in all its tiny glory :)

choc tops and hillsong

so... today was a good day. i went to hillsong! let me start with yesterday though...
i got to sleep in and didn't wake up til 12:30 (the latest i've slept in since i've been here... i couldn't believe i slept in that late). all my roommates were gone, so i basically got the day to hang out by myself. i got to call home, get some stuff done, and spend some much-needed quality time with Jesus, which was awesome! then elle came home and we went out again with some other girls from the program. we walked around a lot and couldn't get into a lot of clubs because the girls didn't have their ids (they had their isic cards, which don't really work even though they are technically ids and have your birthday on them...) but then this one place let them in, which was awesome because it's my new favorite. it's called 3 wise monkeys, and it has 3 floors. the first is like a pub, the second is just a bar and hangout, and the third has live music and dancing. it was awesome! there was a really good band that was doing all covers, but they were super talented and fun. then during their breaks there was dancing, which was fun. i think i like this club the best mainly because i love live shows, but also because i can only stand so much dancing before i get sick of it, and that's not the only thing to do there. so that was pretty exciting. o, and also i saw the real world house! woohoo! i'm gonna go back during the day and get pictures... it's very exciting.
today i went to the last of the 4 required churches: the uniting church. the first thing that struck me was that the pastor was a woman. and not like a young woman... she was probably in her 70s. i'm not really sure what my opinion of having a woman as the head of a church is, but i still thought it was impressive mainly because she's so old. but the biggest thing that i liked about it was the fact that everyone was so incredibly nice. i'm not even lying: every single person came and greeted us during the peace time or whatever (like in a catholic church where you shake hands and say "peace be with you." they did that.) and then they all invited us to come have tea and talked to us more there. it was nothing too impressive or challenging, but the people were really cool.
after church and some lunch elle, esther, and i went and found paddy's market downtown. i had heard about it from everyone, but it's one of those things you have to experience. it's not quite as cool and funky as glebe or paddington, but everything is SO cheap and there's a lot of fun stuff to take home to people. i was pretty excited about it.
from there we hopped the train to go to hillsong (the hills). all i knew about getting there was that we had to go to this place called parramatta (which, turns out, is not part of our cityrail pass, but somehow we got through without paying extra), and from there a hillsong bus would pick us up. but we didn't know exactly where the bus would be, and we couldn't find the signs or any big crowds waiting for a bus, so we asked around. no one seemed to know for sure where it would be, so we walked around trying to find it. we were walking back to this one stop where we knew there would be a bus to the right area when all of a sudden the hillsong bus passed us going right in the direction we had come from! so we turned around and ran after it, but we couldn't keep up and lost it. so we're standing around super confused, when there goes the hillsong bus right back the direction it had come from! so we turn around again and start booking it trying to keep up, and elle's waving trying to flag it down while still running and screaming. we ran probably about 2 blocks and saw it pull over right where we had been waiting in the first place. so we're huffing and puffing and the bus driver is laughing at us, and i asked if he had seen us. he goes (all laid back), "yea, but no worries. i would have waited for you." gotta love the aussies. so after that exciting adventure, we rode the bus for about 15 minutes to the church. it was absolutely huge! which was not surprising, but still.
i wasn't really sure what to expect, but i was somewhat skeptical about hillsong, just because it is so big and well-known. we walked into the sanctuary from the bottom level, which was cool because it has like stadium seating, so i could look up at all the people. it was packed! we ended up getting seats way in the top corner because we got there right as it was starting, but i didn't mind. i was excited about worship because, well, it's hillsong. but i was super excited when worship actually started. my favorite thing was the fact that there were no spotlights on the worship team. at ccu chapels they never have lights on the worship band because they want worship to be about God, and not the people leading it. so the fact that this huge band that would still have a following even if they did put the spotlight on themselves didn't have one was very impressive to me. the worship was awesome, and i love that everyone was not afraid to get into it. people were jumping and raising their hands and just going crazy worshipping God. it was definitely flashy and had enormous screens and everything, but it didn't feel fake, which i was worried about. the speaker was this guy who's name i can't remember, and his message was really good. he talked about how a lot of times people will just live their lives through other people, and all their beliefs and experiences will be based off of second-hand accounts instead of first-hand encounters. he said that we need to seek those first-hand encounters because our beliefs won't be true unless we have those experiences for ourselves. he also tied it into worship and how sometimes people will do things like raise their hands or jump around not because they are feeling the presence of God, but because everyone around them is doing it. i was glad that he said that, because i think it is so easy to get caught up in the moment and the fun of going crazy during worship, and we forget that it is all about God.
basically i was very impressed with hillsong, and i definitely want to go back. even though it is massive, i still felt like it is true to what it claims, and i really think that they just love the Lord there.
also, everyone was so freakin trendy. seriously, i don't think i saw one person that wasn't dressed all cute and trendy. but that's kinda how i feel about australia in general...
ps: choc tops are chocolate dipped cones at hungry jacks (burger king) for a dollar. you can also just get a regular cone for 50 cents, but the choc top is way better. mmmm

big fat pony...

every fall (spring here...) wesley puts on this thing called spiro (spiritual emphasis) camp. it's basically just a 2-day thing where everyone goes up to the blue mountains (which are not that mountainy. maybe we were not really in the blue mountains...) and we have lots of sessions and games and eating and hanging out. it's a really good chance to get to know people, especially because wesley is a commuter campus. so basically here's how it went:
yesterday (thursday) we left wesley at 7:00 am (which means we left the house at 6... ew) to get up to merroo (the name of the place it was at) and be ready to start by 9. we played some games and then had some morning tea before our first session, followed by lunch, then another session, then a break and afternoon tea, then another session, then supper (after dinner tea basically. and when i say "tea" i mean tea and coffee and cake and cookies and fruit. they definitely don't let you starve down here...) then we had some more free time to just hang out and get to know eachother. then today was basically the same thing except only half a day. it was so fun. i LOVE going to an arts school just because i am surrouned by so many incredibly talented people. if you were to walk into the huge room that it was held in during any free time, you would see: people playing all kinds of instruments, people dancing (good, legit dancing), people playing games, a random group of guys doing handstands and weird body tricks (it was hilarious but actually very impressive), people playing cricket or footie (rugby), people singing... i could go on. it was sweet. when i first got to wesley and actually up until spiro, it was super intimidating and hard to get to know people. it was like there were the asc'ers and the wesleyans, and they didn't really mix (except for a select few...). but up at spiro it was like we were all just students having so much fun and getting to know eachother and worshipping together. we had this speaker named richard allen farmer (who's from texas... go figure). he would play the piano and sing before every session, which was awesome, but his teaching didn't really blow me away. there was nothing that really challenged me or even really encouraged me. but i think i still managed to get a lot out of those 2 days. it just felt right being there, and it made me so excited to grow closer to these people who just love the Lord and aren't afraid to express it in whatever way they can. i can't wait to see what God has in store for the rest of my time here, and i'm so thankful that these are the people i get to share it with.
o yea... and we played this fun game called big fat pony up there.

just like the real world...

saturday night a bunch of us decided to check out some of the clubs around darling harbour (where the real world house was... so they probably went to these clubs. haha)
here are the reasons why clubbing in australia is a million times better than clubbing in america:
1-it's free! (i don't think all of them are but we went to 2 different ones that both were... and people said most of the other ones are too)
2-they're not filled with sketchy creepers. of course there are a few (it wouldn't be a club without them...), but even the creepers will leave you alone if you tell them to.
3-the girls here basically don't dance, and when they do it's pretty much just bobbing up and down or swaying a little bit. so you don't have all the sick grinding and exchanging of body odor that you would find in any US club.
4-they are actually just a bar with a dance floor as opposed to the other way around. so there are places to just sit and hang out...
5 (this is my favorite)- in the middle of the dance floor of this pretty classy club there are 2 TVs. one is showing rugby, and the other is showing cricket. hahahaha... these aussies love their sport!

on sunday i finally got to check out hillsong (if you don't know what hillsong is, you can assume that probably at least 50% of the worship music you sing at your church originated there. it's a pretty big deal church...) they actually have 3 campuses: the hills (which is the original and biggest), the city (which i went to) and they just opened another at bondi junction (in a movie theater right by the famous bondi beach). i still definitely want to go to the hills one, but the city one was cool. it actually reminded me a lot of flatirons and made me miss it. the message was really good (it was about faith and good deeds and how we should do good deeds because of our faith and not because we have to.) and the worship was definitely worth going there for. then on sunday night we went to this tiny anglican church, where everyone was super nice and cool. i will most likely be going back there at least next week, if not more.
yesterday i got to go work at st. mary's again, and it was fun hanging out with all the old people some more!
that's pretty much it for now...

o man

so... i finally tried it: the thing that everyone has warned me about since before i even came. VEGEMITE. everyone said that it is this awful thing that tastes like feet, then when we got here all the asc'ers that tried it said it was really gross and really salty. i wasn't really trying to form an opinion before i tasted it, so i tried to block out what everyone said. and guess what. i like it! it's really not that bad... apparently people just don't eat it right. all the aussies think it's funny to watch americans taste it, and even they know that it's awful if you put it on really thick, so that's how they'll give it to the americans for the first time. but my host family is not that mean, and they showed me the right way to eat it. let me tell you how you're supposed to eat vegemite: first you toast some bread or whatever you want it on (mine was on an english muffin). then you put some butter on the toast (not too much, but enough that you can tell you put some on there...) then you get just a little bit of vegemite and scrape it on there, just so it gets in the little holes (but not all of them. you should still be able to see the bread). and enjoy! it's just really salty, which is why i think a lot of people don't like it. i can't really describe it, but i like it. i'll bring some home with me.

on thursday night kieran and some of his friends let me and elle tag along with them all night. we went to this place called the coronation club, which is a big lounge with a bunch of chairs and a bar off to one side. there were about 6 people in there, and apparently it's a members only club. luckily kieran's friend pacey is a member (he works for some politician or something... i don't really know.) so we had to sign in and everything, then he asked us what we wanted to drink. we're not allowed to drink under the asc rules, but kimberly said that there is one alcoholic beverage we are allowed to get: it's called lemon-lime and bitters. apparently the "bitters" part is literally one drop of some sort of alcohol. whatever... i had heard it's really good anyway, so that's what i got. and it is good! so we hung out there for a little bit, then we went to this other little pub called the pine inn, which is apparently a good local spot. again, there was almost no one there, but we managed to spend about 4 hours there just listening to music and playing pool. we also played deer hunter (yes, the arcade game) and it was funny. guns are illegal in australia, so i'm pretty sure none of those guys have ever actually hunted anything. but they're pretty good at the game. even though we really didn't do anything, it was a good time. and i learned about good australian music. those guys left last night to go to this music festival called splendour in the grass that's going on this weekend. i'm jealous... they showed me who's gonna be there. it's gonna be so good! here is who they are going to see: the living end (a huge australian band that's good but similar to older green day. apparently they have been around longer than green day though), sigur ros, band of horses, and lots of others that i can't remember right now but i would love to see. they're pretty fun guys though, so it'll be fun to hang out with them while i'm here.
after class yesterday (which was good... that's coming next), there was a group of about 14 or 15 of us that decided to go check out this big thrift store that michelle (my host mom) had told us about. we had spread the word, and everyone wanted to go, so that's why the group was so big. anyway... we rode the train and walked for a long time and then finally made it to this thrift store, and it was closed! so we turned around and got some delicious cheesecake from this little shop that we had passed. well, today elle and i decided to go back to anglicare (the thrift store) to see how it was. o my gosh... it's awesome. it's basically just this big warehouse with a bunch of big bins piled with clothes. so you have to dig to find stuff, then they charge by the kilo, so it's really cheap! apparently there's a real shop attached, but it's more expensive. we didn't get to really look at everything though because this mean lady kept telling us to leave because it was closed, even though there were about 20 other people in there just digging away. but that is definitely somewhere i will be going back to... woohoo!

so yesterday in our view from australia class we had a panel of 4 aussies come in and just talk to us about some things that we should know while we're here. it was really cool to hear their perspectives on stuff, and to hear more about some things that i have noticed since i have been here. for example: from almost day one i noticed that a big part of the aussie accent is the fact that almost everything they say sounds like a question, because they tend to make their voices go up at the end of a sentence, as opposed to americans who tend to make it go down. apparently to australians, that makes americans sound very harsh because everything we say sounds very final, while everything they say sounds open to other suggestions. i thought that was cool, mainly because i noticed it and thought i might be crazy, but then they talked about it, so it turns out i'm not. another thing that i was really excited to hear about was the fact that aussies don't sugar coat stuff or compliment people a whole lot. they are really sarcastic, and it seems mean because they always make fun of eachother. but really it's a form of affection (which is totally how i am... the meaner i am the more i like you usually). also, they are required to vote in elections because they know that if they weren't, no one would vote. they just don't like conflict or care enough to make a big deal out of politics. they are very wary of either side, and only the crazies would actually pay attention if voting was not compulsory. it was just really cool to hear about some of their perceptions about things.

one of the biggest things they stressed was america's impact on the rest of the world and how we need to really be aware of that. i never really thought about how much america's decision affect the rest of the world, and especially australia. if america goes to war, so does australia (and the other way around... but australians are way to chill to go to war, so we've never had to worry about that). another thing that is crazy to me is the fact that vegemite, which is like an australian icon (and is actually illegal to sell in the states) is owned by an american company! (kraft) it's funny because in america, if we meet an australian we get really excited and love the accent. in australia, they hardly notice american accents because of pop culture. american shows are almost more popular than australian shows here (my host brother's favorite show is scrubs). and, if they really like a show, they will make their own australian version of it. that's mostly with reality shows. here are some examples:

-australian idol (even though we actually jacked american idol from the british. but the australians got it from us.)

-australian biggest loser

-australian price is right (i actually didn't know about that until we were playing australian taboo and one of the words you couldn't say was some guy's name who is apparently the host)

-australian big brother

-autralian deal or no deal

it's just crazy to me how much america can affect the world. and it's sad to see how australians just soak it up and are almost ashamed of their own heritage. but it's also something that i'm really excited to learn more about and observe more while i'm here...

i'm done writing this now. i'm gonna go eat some timtams (mmmmmm....)