Aussie Time

Jet lag wasn't a problem for me. I stayed awake on the plane, and really didn't feel any more tired than I would on a normal day. (I don't have much of a regular routine, so sleep loss is sort of a norm for me...)

Anyway, i thought I was past this whole time change thing, but I was certainly NOT! I got Jenny on my schedule too, and we lost a day. We found it Christmas morning, about 11:00!

We were supposed to help out at Newtown Mission Church Christmas eve, preparing food for their Christmas day homeless lunch. We showed up Christmas day, in time to help out for the lunch. It wasn't so bad, but it was quite a surprise to learn it was Christmas!! Jenny was in a bit of a funk because we didn't have a proper Christmas, but we ended on a positive note! (Explained better in a moment).

First, Christmas lunch!

There were all kinds of personalities there. There was a homosexual transvestite aboriginal man, a man covered in tattoos with 6ft dreadlocks (no exaggeration, they looked like a tail). There were homeless, mentally ill, substance abuse, sex workers... and without thinking it would be very easy to quickly judge. Keep in mind that all sin is equal in the Lords eyes, and we should just be grateful that our own sins haven't let us hit the skids like these folks have. It was wonderful seeing a church showing love to people that society is ready to throw away.

Jenny worked most of the time in the kitchen, I served the food and talked to people in the dining area. It was a great way to spend Christmas, if you can get away from traditions one year I really think you should try it. It certainly makes you more thankful for what you've got when you see how deprived some people are of the simplest of needs like food and shelter!!

After helping out, we got some KFC Christmas Chicken for lunch (That was for you Travis). After lunch, we checked into our third hostel. This one is an old hotel building in the city center. It's pretty happening, but I liked the last hostel better. (It wasn't as crowded). Our roommates are a Welsh couple who are travelling for a year. They seem pretty cool and laid back, although we had a rocky first impression. (you can ask in person for details if you're curious).

Once in our hostel, we headed out to a beautiful park, and spent Christmas afternoon eating an icecream in the park on green-green grass under a sapphire blue sky. It was AWESOME. So warm, so pretty. We concluded Christmas with attendance to a Christmas mass at a huge Catholic Cathedral, which was neat. I wouldn't want that to be Church for me all the time, but it was really nice to see something special on Christmas eve.

Today is boxing day, and it's the first day we've had that's been HOT. Hot enough that we decided to go to the beach. If you've kept up with previous blogs you saw that we already saw Bondi Beach. Bondi is to beaches as Bondo is to car finishes. It looks good, but it's really crap. This go about we went to Manly beach, and it was phenominal! It was sprawling, and gorgeous.

The only down side was some of our fellow beach goers decided they didn't want tan lines and we had to relocate one time while catching some rays. (Might have been a great bonus for some, but it was awkward and uncomfortable for me.)

Back tracking a bit, Christmas eve we went to the Taronga Zoo, it was really neat! We saw all kinds of animals, I got to pet a kangaroo (with pictures), and we saw a ton of great animal shows. I've seen every bit of wildlife that I've ever associated with the country now, Kangaroos, Wallabys, Dingos, Wombats, spiders, snakes... you name it! I have so many great photos to share, so when I get back, keep an eye on this blog for them!

I better hit it... it's late, and I am tired.

one last thing

Aussie Term of the day*- "Walkabout"

Meaning: To take a journey, originally used to describe native people groups as they learned to live off the land, it's become a generic term to describe any journey on foot.

Example: Jenny and Paul went walkabout in Sydney and saw everything there was to see.

(*Term of the day is not daily, and I might forget to do it again... so this could be the only time you actually get an aussie term from me. If that's the case, I am sorry. Don't lose any sleep, you have the internet! With such a great informational resource available to you, the term of the day hardly seems necessary anyway.)