Saturday to Monday!

Saturday was a day of touring Sydney. Phil drove us around about 1/6 of Sydney- the trip lasted 8 hours! We saw several beaches including the most famous beach in Sydney Bondi Beach. Cristin felt right at home, there was a beach volleyball tournament. Another highlight was the north and south heads of Sydney. The heads are the extensions of land into the ocean separated by water. This is the opening ships use to travel in and out of the Sydney Harbour (picture of South Head above! I swear its not a postcard! - Its amazing, isn't it!). We then walked down to the bay for Fish and Chips. After lunch, we continued our tour to the other side of the harbour. We then travelled through the city down to my university. There are two really impressive sandstone buildings built to look similar to Oxford and Cambridge buildings. Next we went home to get ready for tea (which actually means dinner- pleasant surprise!). We had dinner with the Rotary club president and his wife, Cathy, also a Rotarian. We sat on the back porch for cheese and crackers. You could see a bay and hear the white crested cockatoos. You could also see a few parrots flying around. We were served roast of lamb, corn fed chicken, roasted pumpkin, sweet potatoes, ordinary potatoes, and some normal vegetables. The food was very good. They eat a lot of pumpkin, not jack-o-lanterns, but a blue pumpkin like field pumpkins (dad should be able to tell what kind they are). We had a great time. They offered to give us a whole set of dishes and other kitchenware. We were very excited!

Sunday was highlighted by a trip to the local animal park and a barbie. We were able to see the kangaroos, wombats, koalas, many birds, and many lizards. There will be pictures soon! The barbie was with our hosts, their two adult sons, and their families. It was very Australian- steak, kebabs, and sausages. We had a great time... they really treated us like family!

On Monday we went to the "uni" as its called here. I had information sessions most of the day. I also had a failed attempt at enrolling. I was supposed to know all my classes for the entire year. They had student mentors and one adviser for about 70 people. We also had trouble because we didn't have a bank account yet. So we went straight to the bank to get an account and deposit my first payment of the scholarship. We were surprised to find out that we could not draw out any money until the check had gone through, which takes 3 days! That night was also our first Rotary meeting with my host club "Caringbah." There were about 50 members at the meeting. I was called on to give a small speech, halfway through the meeting. I presented the President with a Rotary flag from Muskogee and a lapel pin that was in the shape of Oklahoma that read "Okie from Muskogee." My speech was mainly all personal information about family, background, school, and future goals. They were very attentive and I even managed to get some laughs out of them. We were very surprised to meet a Rotarian with contacts in Muskogee. He had helped set up a Coburn optical business in Sydney. The meeting lasted about two hours. They seemed to have fun together, but they are also very involved with numerous projects. After the meeting we invited on a trip through the Blue Mountains to a town called Mudgee and a trip to a classic car rally!