Oranges, Whales, and Finals!

Hello Sydney Markets! Bill and I decided to venture out to the MASSIVE markets out at Flemington. As you can see... it is rather large and VERY loud!! All the vendors yell out their prices, trying to differentiate their products from their neighbors! We left with quite a nice bounty... almost 1 kilo of cherries (a taste of summer for us!), some strawberries, and 16 kilos of oranges!!! Yes, that's right... 35.2 pounds of orange goodness! We hope Phil likes oranges because we gave him half of the box (about 30 oranges) for his birthday present!! :)

Canteloupes = Rock Melons = "Rockies" (Australians shorten EVERYTHING!)

This was a great adventure! Lloyd took a group, including Bill and myself, out Whale Watching in his boat! It was so much fun! And... guess what... we saw Whales!! I almost had a hard time believing what I saw... Luckily I had my camera to prove it! We saw about 8 or 10 whales and had a great time driving around searching for them! The best part was when a whale jumped out of the water - it was almost like we were at SeaWorld! The whale did a perfect spin out of the water - it was amazing! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture all of those spectular instants... All I have to prove of our sightings is this little tail! Oh well, its still proof!

Bill finally finished his finals for the semester! He will be taking a winter course, so he doesn't get too much of a holiday before the next big round of classes. He finished his classes well and feels he learned very practical information! Always a plus!! :)

Tomorrow we are off to Melbourne for a 5 day holiday. It will be a whirlwind trip and we plan on seeing a great deal! We are so excited... we are getting to go see Coldplay while we are there!! Anyway, we are driving, so keep us in your prayers.... its a long 14 hour drive on the coastal route! Don't worry, we are staying the night at Lakes Entrance along the way! :)

We will update next week with pictures of Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road!

Oklahoma friend #2!!

This week we had our second visitor from Oklahoma. My friend, Mike Albert, from Beaver, Oklahoma stayed with us for 3 days. He just graduated from OSU and accepted a job as a Landscape Architect in Aspen, Colorado. Sydney was the first stop on 21 day holiday to Australia and New Zealand, countries 21 and 22 for Mike in total!!

Below is a picture from Centre Point Tower overlooking Darling Harbour. Nice view, huh? I was able to take him exploring the city on Tuesday capped off with an Australian BBQ hosted by Julie and Rohan.

Wednesday was when the trip really started to get interesting! I took Albert driving along the coast line to explore the famous beaches of Sydney. Well we ended the trip at the South Head, near Watsons Bay. The following picture is from the South Head. We knew there was something weird going on when we saw police cars and a police rescue truck at the bottom. When we got to the top it was just as Phil had warned Cristin and I earlier this year- a suicide. Apparently the Gap is known for being a place where lots of suicides happen. Mike and I saw the rescuers repel down the cliff to retrieve the body (luckily we couldn't see it!).

We were able to see a few whales as they were migrating for the winter! There were about 3 or 4 whales in the distance. We needed binoculars to get a good view, but we could definitely see the water they were blowing out just no big jumps like you see in the commercials!! How's that a suicide and whales all in one spot??? Crazy.

Here's the token kangaroo picture. We were afraid he might not see one on the rest of his trip so we took him to the local zoo. We need to work on a discount that's our 3rd trip since we've been here and surely not our last!
Thursday night we went to see the movie Cars. It felt like we were back in Oklahoma because the whole movie is set off of Route 66 and Interstate 40. Plus, there were lots of country songs that reminded us of Oklahoma. But after the movie we walked out to the beach and took lots of pictures.

We had a great time with Mike. It was great to catch up. We wish him well with the rest of his trip and new job!!! Cristin is already planning our trip to Aspen!

Going to Canteen Creek!

I (Bill) found out this week that I will be able to make the trip to Canteen Creek. The uni has found sponsors to fund our trip, which costs about $5,000 per person. We will be leaving on a Monday and return that Saturday in mid July. The only drawback is that at this time Cristin will not get to go with me. We are still working on that, but if possible she may me meet me in Alice Springs for a trip to Ayers Rock.

For those of you who don’t know, I have been working on a project for my entrepreneurship class for an Indigenous community located in the Northern Territory of Australia. We will fly to Alice Springs then drive for a day and a half. We will be camping out on the side of the road in the Outback (Please….no snake or dingo stories from you guys!).

Pretty much 100% of this community of 200 people are supported through government funding. The community only has a government run grocery store, health centre and school (up to year 8). Other than that there are no other businesses.

A group of 3 men went to the community work program director asking for assistance to set up a business utilizing their native stingless bees. The director contacted our uni and we worked to develop this business all semester.

There have been many hurdles as communication with community has been very difficult. We had no idea how much honey we could produce or even what kind of stingless bees were in Canteen Creek. Our goal has been to create a business that fosters learning and growth in the community. As most community members only have an eighth grade education, we have lined up several training opportunities in stingless beekeeping, which is quite new and completely different to commercial beekeeping, and basic business skills. The idea is to reward the employees with higher wages for completing training courses. They will also be in charge of training new employees the skills they have learned after the first 2 years. We have tons of potential with the community, we hope the business will be successful, but at the same time we look for the employees to gain confidence and skills that can be transferred to other businesses.

Here are some links to the community:

http://www.deadlymob.org/col2_ob.cfm?randid=945158

http://www.barklygroupschools.com/html/canteen_creek.html

http://www.schools.nt.edu.au/canteen/

This link is a blog set up by another group in my class. There were 3 groups working on this project. This group and two others from my group will be making the trip. We will put together one business plan from the 3 plans to present to the community.

http://abc.net.au/catapult/interact/gameplan/honey.htm

I am so excited for this trip! What we are doing for this community falls right in line the goal of Rotary to promote world peace and understanding. I will have lots to report to my Australian and American Rotary clubs. I can’t wait!!

More Sites of Sydney following celebrity traveler, Susan!

As you can see by all the pictures, we had a very fun and full week with our Okie friend, Susan! We were able to do so much! I only wish that it hadn't been so cold! Fortunately, she got to see some great Sydney winter days before experiencing some very cold and wet weather! :)

I am trying to remember all that Susan got to see and do (I will tell all that she did, although Bill and I weren't able to accompany her some during the week!) :( Most Australians that I tell about our week are VERY impressed with everything we accomplished! And, can you believe Susan got to have a fairly "restful" holiday as well! Looks like a win/win!! :)

On Sunday morning, we picked Susan up from the airport and went straight to Cronulla for breakfast. That same day we went to the Rotary markets in Caringbah, where Bill had to work the gates for a couple of hours. After meeting some Rotarians that have welcomed us so warmly, we traveled into the city to drop Bill off at Uni for a meeting and then Susan and I went to the Rocks to see about 50 artists out on the pier painting as people walked around to see all the different styles of art in the area. Also, the Rocks has one of the best markets for Sydney souvenirs. Later that night we went to the Hillsong City service and had a great time!

This is a view of the Opera House that most people haven't seen! Susan took a ferry to the Taronga Zoo and got some spectacular views of the Harbour and the bridge! She also took a tour of the Opera House! I can't wait until Bill and I can find a great opera to go to... I just know he would love that!! ;)

This is Susan wearing the classic Australian "Akubra" hat - doesn't she look all Australian! We are at Paddy's markets - that place was packed!!!!
This is Bill trying to fit his head into a viking display at the National Maritime Museum. Unfortunately, his head is too big!! hahaha! He would make a pretty fierce little viking, huh!
SCARY!!! We had some pretty close encounters at the Sydney Aquarium! The aquarium is a great highlight of Sydney. It is also in a great part of the city. The National Maritime Museum is across the pier from the Aquarium. After the Aquarium, we had to go
Okay, to summarize, Susan got to see so much of Sydney! She went to a nearby vineyard called the Hunter Valley for a day tour, went to the PowerHouse museum and the Sydney Art Gallery. She went to the Royal Botanical Gardens (near the picture shown above) and the Taronga Zoo. She toured the Opera House and visited Miss McQuaries chair for spectacular views of the Harbour. She fed kangaroos and cuddled koalas (as you can see in the pictures from our previous post). We went to the Aquarium, the Maritime Museum, Coogee Beach, Cronulla Beach, and of course, Bondi Beach.

All in all, we had a fantastic week and loved seeing our friend! AND, we are thrilled to have Mike Albert come stay with us on Tuesday! Mike is getting to see more of Australia than we have at this point, so we will be taking some notes from his experiences too! I am sure he will have some great stories! Thanks for reading our blog - sorry we have been so bad about updating lately! I will work on updating more often so that they won't be so long!! We love and miss you all!

See all the cool things you can do if you come see us! ;)

I will write more about our adventures... I just wanted to get these pictures up now!

We had a great time with Susan and have so much to write about! We love you all! Check back again tomorrow!! :)

Our First Visitor!! Oh, to hear an Oklahoman accent again!

So, the countdown has begun... only 1 full day until our friend Susan Crenshaw arrives in Sydney!! We can't wait to host our first guest... we have spent a lot of time planning how to cram all of the best parts of Sydney into a one week holiday! We will be tour guide EXPERTS by the time you all come to see us! ;) Also, we can't wait to talk to a friend from home - face-to-face! So far, using our webcam to talk to our families has been our saving grace. But now... the real thing!!! We are pumped!

Since our last update we have done a lot of real world things.... study, study, study and work, work, work! :) Fortunately, we have been able to have a few fun adventures in the mean time! We attended our first Rugby game (Cronulla Sharks vs the Dragons) with a friend of mine from work Sarah Stark and some of her friends! Barbara (exchange student from Austria) also went! We had a great time. I'll admit, I spent most of the time in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on!




For Mother's Day, we celebrated with Phil and Glenis and their family. We also celebrated Rohan's birthday as you can see here. This is Julie and Rohan and we spend a lot of time with them! We actually went to their house for dinner last weekend and Julie decided on a Mexican theme for the meal. It was so great! Funny thing was, we had to teach Julie how to say "quesadilla!" We had a great time and appreciate so much being friends with them!




We will post so much more about our adventures with Susan... I am sure we will have a lot to share!

Thanks for reading!!! We love and miss you all!! :)

Guys Day Out

Sydney Swans vs. Melbourne Demons
A couple of weeks ago, Phil took me to see my first Aussie Rules Football game. This game is quite different from American football or "gridiron" football as it's called here. There are no offsides, the game is continuous, and the ball must be either "punched" (much like an underhand volleyball serve) or kicked. The differences in the atmosphere include: meat pies instead of hot dogs, the crowd sings the team songs in unison when goals are scored, instead of saying "come on Swans" they yelled "con Swans," and the most popular fan apparel was a team scarf even though it was a hot day. Phil was able to explain the game very well as he used to be an Aussie rules umpire. Even though the Swans lost, the game was very exciting and came down to the very last second. It was great experience and I can now watch sports on tv again because I now know what's going on! Tomorrow Cristin and I plan to meet some friends for our first professional rugby game (Cronulla Sharks vs. St. George Illawarra Dragons).

Today, I was invited on a deep sea fishing expedition with Lloyd Markwell of Caringbah Rotary and some of his best mates. There were seven guys in total including another Rotarian, Eddie Swinyard and his son Marty. As you can see we had an early start. Lloyd and I were on the boat by about 5:40 am! They say catching a fish is the best medicine for sea sickness! This was my first catch of the day. I know it doesn't look too big but it was still very exciting. I caught three fish for the day but none of them were classified as "keepers." This fish is called a sweep; we were looking for Red Snappers and another one that I can't remember the name! We were usually fishing in water about 65 metres deep, using mullet fish and squid as bait.
Here's Captain Lloyd and Garth on the way home. This was especially a good trip because we were able to see dolphins. None of my pictures turned out, but I promise we saw them! They also said that this area was good for seeing whales in September and March. Cristin and I have put this on our calendar.
Here's the boat. It's huge, 43 feet long! All in all the day was very exciting as there were many "firsts" for me. We all had a great time. It was even better when I was able to bring a fish home for Cristin (of course, she thought it smelled!). We cleaned it and cooked it for dinner. It was excellent! We both are excited about eating more fish now!

So many new experiences!!!

Have you ever seen a make-shift surf board ozzie buffet? We hadn't either!! So this story begins in September of last year when I bought Bill and I surfing lessons as a wedding gift to him. Little did I know that this place, advertised as "45 minutes from Sydney," would be 5 minutes from our new home! With as many beaches as they have over here (HEAPS!!), the odds that I would pick Cronulla were so small! It is crazy how little things like that happen, eh!

So, as you can see by the looks of our "surf van," this was a first class group... The car was full, so the second instructor had to ride on the top of the van! Not only that, he had to hold an extra surf board up there with him! And... the ride was not smooth - we rode through sand dunes before the beach - definitely what I would call "rough off-roading!" Poor guy! No worries though... he acted like it was no big deal!

As for the surfing - let's just say that we aren't planning on quitting our day jobs. We weren't exactly "graceful" when it came to surfing, although we were able to stand up and ride some waves! It was a great experience - very memorable! My arms are still sore! :)


This is just another picture of the beautiful campus of Sydney Uni. Isn't it great! Bill had his first test on Saturday, so I spent most of the day wandering around the Glebe Markets. After his test, we took a bus to meet our new Chinese friends. They had promised to introduce us to "real" Chinese food, so they took us to Chinatown (go figure!). Andy and Harrison both brought me gifts - gift giving is a strong part of their culture. The picture below is us at the end of the night - Cecil, Andy, Harrison and us. Or Chen Bojing, Liu Kan, and Yao Hongguang. They taught us a lot of Chinese words (that I had to write down to remember) and showed us true Chinese hospitality.


Today, Julie and Rohan and their daughters (Annabelle and Elizabeth) took us to lunch in a great small town called "Berry." We enjoyed getting to see the beautiful coastline near the highway. Also, we enjoyed some true Ozzie burgers! Have we mentioned that even McDonalds serves beetroot on their burgers? Somehow I had always managed to avoid beets at Thanksgiving dinner, but I have actually started to enjoy eating it - on hamburgers! I know... how odd! If you come you will definitely try some! Below is a picture of a blow-hole that we stopped at on our way home. It was very cool! This is Annabelle, one of the smartest 11 year olds I have ever met! She is helping to teach me common Australian phrases... and the proper way of saying them! Thanks to Annabelle I am starting to sound Australian!! (Not really - I still sound VERY American and get teased for it often!) :)

Easter Sunday

Our first Easter together was great. We had an exciting and eventful day. Our day started with Richard and Cathy popping in to deliver more goods for our apartment! They brought us bedside tables, a computer desk, a couple of plants, a fan and a PORTABLE AC. We were also given some Ozzie Easter treats! We enjoyed a bag full of chocolate Easter eggs from Rowan and Julie and a chocolate bilby (instead of a rabbit!) from Richard and Cathy.

We met a couple of my friends from the Uni for church on Easter morning. They were students from China who had never been to church. This was hard for us to imagine. Apparently, most of my Chinese friends were a little confused about the idea of Easter, because I received several questions about it during the week. The only churches they had seen were on American movies. So we had a good time and were able to explain some of our beliefs to them. We went for coffee after church and learned a lot about China! For example, when they are born, they are automatically 1 year old. Maddux would already be 17 months old!

We then went to join our new family - the Hayes’ - for lunch. We had a fantastic time with them. This part of our day was really helpful because were able to enjoy the family atmosphere to keep us from missing home too much.

After lunch we caught a train into Darling Harbour, for a FREE Rebecca St. James concert put on by Hillsong Church. We didn’t know a whole lot about her but both of us really enjoyed the music. She apparently grew up in Sydney attending Hillsong. The service reminded me a lot of Falls Creek - very up beat, inspirational and a completely young crowd. We had to laugh every time the mentioned the word church. They would say “Hi everyone! Welcome to chuch in the beautiful Dawling Habour.” The typos were intentional this time! This is how the Australians sound to us.

Also, on Monday we went to the famous Taronga Zoo. It is a zoo located right on the harbour. They offered $5 tickets to college students and their friends. This must have been the busiest day of the year with the day after Easter being a public holiday, everyone was off work. We got to see more of the famous Australian animals. Plus, we were able to get really close to the tigers and lions!

Kangeroos Running Wild in the Streets!

Welcome to Hill End! We spent last Sunday with Richard and Cathy at a Bed Breakfast owned by Cathy's friend, Sue. My title of this blog is a little misleading. If there is one fact that the rotarians and other Australians want me to pass along to my American friends it is that they do NOT have kangeroos running loose on their streets, only in Hill End can you find that!!!! This is equivalent of them saying "everyone in Oklahoma rides a horse and lives in a teepee." The kangeroos are very similar to our deer in Oklahoma. Probably the only time to see them is early in the morning or just before sunset. It is also dangerous to drive down the country roads at this time. We counted 4 dead on the side of the road on our way to Hill End!

The highlight of our roo watching came when we watched 2 male kangeroos box! This is actually quite normal to see. They were standing on their hind legs taking shots at each other like they were boxing. They also jumped in the air, putting all their weight on their tails, and kicked at each other with their hind legs. Very exciting! Unfortunately, every picture we took of this turned out completely black! Sorry! This is the B & B were we stayed. It was as relaxing as it looks! It was built in the 1890's during the gold rush. Here is the webpage - you should check it out! http://users.bigpond.com/hillendbandb/ The community was booming during those days but as you can see times have changed. Today, there are only about 200 people left in the town. It makes Webbers Falls look like a metropolis!


This is one of several churches that Cristin photographed. She got some really neat shots. You can't see it from here, but the gate read "11th Commandment: Please shut the gate."

There was a group of gold miners staying at the Bed and Breakfast with us. They invited us out to take a look around where they were drilling. He showed us this sample. You can't see it but there is a tiny speck of gold inside the red circle. We could barely see it, but now we can say we've been gold mining. Too bad we didn't find any we could take home!

All in all, our Mudgee trip was a great experience and we enjoyed every second of it! Thank you to Caringbah Rotary for setting up such great adventures! Also, a big thanks to Richard and Cathy for letting us tag along!

Wine Country

We spent Saturday morning touring the Simon Gilbert vineyard in Mudgee. They have about 100 acres of grapes at this vineyard.
Here we are listening to a "wine enthusiast" tell us all about how the grapes are grown. Even though we didn't take notes we will do our best to tell you about them! The vines take about 4-5 to produce grapes, but can produce grapes for nearly 50 years! He explained that they were grown on a hill because grapes like view. We spent the entire day visiting different vineyards and tasting wines. Overall, we went to 5 vineyards. The rotary club rented a double decker bus to show us around. There were about 30 people in total. We won't tell all of the stories because the rotarians have a running joke that they will set up a retaliation website for anything we put on here!

We had lunch at a small cafe in Mudgee. Notice the flag that is being flown outside! They had U.S. flag flying right next to the Australian flag. We haven't seen many of these here! So of course we enjoyed our lunch. It was all very nice until the appetizer (which is an entree in Australia- confusing!!) that included bread with olive oil, herbs, and slices of cheese. The reason for it not being very good was that the cheese was not cheese, but it was butter and no one mentioned this to me!

After a long a hard day of sipping wine and looking at grapes, we did as all great rotarians around the world do....we treated ourselves to a feast! The picture is the lamb we had for dinner - it was fantastic! ( Hubbard, I think it was a Montadale!) Overall, we had a great time in Mudgee. It was fun to get know more of the rotarians and their families.

The Beautiful Blue Mountains

Aren't the Blue Mountains beautiful! You can see why they are called what they are... they are literally blue! The mountains get their name from the release of oil from the eucalyptus trees which create a blue haze. These mountains are Australia's equivalent to our Grand Canyon.

Last weekend we took a fantastic trip up through the Blue Mountains to a little town called Mudgee. On our way there, Richard and Cathy Mason (President and First Lady of Caringbah Rotary) took us through the mountains showing us many of the highlights along the way. Our first stop was a little town called Leura. It was very charming! We stopped here for lunch where Bill and I both enjoyed a HUGE bowl of pumpkin soup! It was very good!! Bill also made a huge discovery - we have a new favorite drink! It is called an Iced Chocolate and is very much like a chocolate shake, although they serve it to you as ice cream, milk, and chocolate syrup. You can stir it up if you want, or just eat it like that! If you come see us we'll take you to get one!! Trust me, it is worth the plane ride over here!! :)

Below is a picture of the "Three Sisters." This rock formation is the most popular landmark of the Blue Mountains and gets its name from an Aboriginal legend where a dad turned his 3 beautiful daughters into stone to protect them from enemies but died before he could reverse the spell.

We later took a train down the mountain (see below). Now... this might sound kind of typical, but this train when STRAIGHT DOWN! We literally were going straight down the side of the mountain. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take any good pictures to show you! They all turned out blurry! Anyway, that was very cool - and a fun way to get to the bottom! Once at the bottom we walked around the base of the mountain - it was very cool and damp! To go back up we took a cable car and enjoyed great views of the Three Sisters and the beautiful mountains!

Here is another picture of us with the Three Sisters. We are posing with Barbara, a Rotary Exchange student from Austria. We enjoyed getting to know her better on this fun trip!
Ok, and here is the classic picture - me and Bill wearing the typical Aussie hat! Very Crocodile Dundee!! (we are going to hear it from Rotary for that comment!) :)

After our time at the Three Sisters we went to a place in the National Park called Govett's Leap. This lookout is arguably one of the best views of the Blue Mountains. They are just fantastic! From there we started the last leg of our journey to Mudgee, arriving there just in time for dinner! We met a group from Rotary that was already there and enjoyed a VERY Aussie barbeque - steaks and sausages (tons of them!) and lots of veggies and salads. It was def. a feast by the campfire! We had a great night and officially decided that we liked Mudgee so far!

We have a lot more to post, we just thought we would break it up a little! This was only Friday! We still have Saturday through Monday to go!!

Sorry No Pictures Steve!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long delay between posts. We have been slowed by a lack of internet in our new apartment - we should get it any day now! Speaking of our apartment - we officially moved in on Sunday night! We bought a fridge and bed, so we are set. We were also given a kitchen table to use for the year by Kerry a Rotarian. Our bed and kitchen table actually match - same rod iron design! Isn't that great?? Have you ever heard of someone matching their bed to their kitchen table? We couldn't believe it. Getting the apartment set up has been difficult because we usually have to coordinate our schedules with the seller and whomever we can get to move it for us. At this point, Peter Lewis another Rotarian has been helping us move everything. We are so grateful for his help! We will soon be collecting a lounge (or couch). Cristin also tells me I will be at the mall waiting for the doors to open tomorrow morning for a TV on sale for $129. We are also looking for cheap bicycles to explore the Sutherland Shire - Peter is drawing us a map of all the great look out points! Apparently Cristin has a future in telemarketing. When she called on some of the rotarians for help, 3 or 4 thought she was a telemarkter. It took her about 5 minutes on the phone a few times to convince them she wasn't selling anything! But unfortunately she was unable to convince Sid, he just hung up on her!!! It is now a running joke with the club and Sid was fined by the sergeant for his behavior!

As far as uni goes, everything is starting to kick into gear. Group projects are taking shape each of my classes. In my Entrepreneurship class, I am working on a project to help develop a honey project for a group of Aboriginal blokes in Canteen Creek (Central Australia definitely in the bush). We had a videoconference with them a couple of weeks ago. They had to travel about 300 km to do this (180 on a gravel road!). They broke down only once on the trip. The conference was very eye opening. Apparently, the entire community is on welfare. The only business in town is a grocery store partly managed by the government. The welfare payments are going to be decreasing in the future so we are trying to help them set up a business. The difficult part will be that they have no idea how much honey is there or what to even do with it. They just know that there are bees in the area and they can collect the honey in a billy can. The conference had many communication barriers as all of the students asking questions were international. Plus, the guys were very shy and would hardly even speak. I think this will be a great learning experience to share with everyone, especially the Rotary clubs when I am invited to speak.

Last weekend, we went down to Wollongong for the Rotary District conference. At the conference, we heard from a great line of speakers (I can't remember their names b/c I'm at uni!). We heard a lady who talked about her Aboriginal business. She talked about her husband’s misfortunes as he was taken from his family by the government to essentially turn him into an English person. This was the idea at the time for saving the aboriginal community - take them out of their culture and bring them up with the Caucasian kids. However, her husband was later able to find his birth mother and rediscover his culture. Their art business is known worldwide - they created the design of the paintings on Qantas aeroplanes. Other presenters talked on the subject of the Muslim community in Australia. One speaker gave a background on their beliefs in great detail. Another was Muslim woman who grew up in Australia. She told of her hardships trying to assimilate with the other kids and why she decided to don the veil at age 21.

We were also able to meet the other Ambassadorial scholars in Australia, including an OU grad from Lawton. From a couple of their stories, we learned again that we were very fortunate to have our great hosts (Phil and Glenis) and a great host club. It was very evident that our host club is very involved at the district level.

This is all I have for now because class starts soon!

Un'furn'ished Business

Sorry for the cheesy title! I was feeling a little creative!

Ok, so here is my weekly update while Bill is in class! I have noticed a pattern of updating every Tuesday while Bill is gone. We will try to post some between the Tuesdays, so keep checking in on us!

Here is a picture of our beautiful new apartment! It is so clean...ready for us to move in! We are slowly moving out of Phil and Glenis' house, but it is taking us longer than we expected! We just don't want to leave this lovely couple!

As you might have noticed, there is an empty spot where the refrigerator belongs. That hole has yet to be filled - just one of the reasons we aren't officially "moved in!" We are doing some shopping - trying to figure out how we are going to find the items we need (bed, fridge, washing machine, etc.) without spending a fortune!! We will keep you updated on our progress in this area!

This picture below is of Bill, Richard Mason (Caringbah Rotary President), and Phil (our host). Looks like they are working hard, huh!! Actually, this was taken on a very hot Sunday afternoon after they had brought a kitchen-full worth of goods up to our 3rd floor apartment! Good work, Guys!!

Here in this picture are the goods! Below is Cathy Mason (Richard's wife, the First Lady of Caringbah Rotary), and Glenis. Cathy was closing an office for which she had purchased practically an entire kitchen's worth of stuff! Can you believe she is letting us borrow all this for a year! This is yet another example of how great these Australians are! We are so blessed to have met such great people! Thank you, Richard and Cathy!
We will post more pictures as we slowly start to fill our apartment. For now.. it is a work-in-progress!

Bill has had some interesting experiences so far in class, but you will have to wait for him to tell you! He has been working very hard on his classes - fortunately he is taking a Marketing and an Entrepreneurship class to break up all the accounting!

Another blessing that we have to report... I officially have my Australian Work Visa! It came so quickly! I would tell people that I expected it to take about a week to come through and they would just laugh at me! Well.... you'd think I had a friend pulling some strings for me.. it only took a week and a half! I wasn't too far off! Now I am waiting to confirm a new job with another Rotarian who has an IT business. I will give more details when I can confirm that I will be working there! But, I am pretty excited about the opportunity and feel it will be a great learning experience!

Okay.. my last story! Last night we went to our 4th Rotary meeting for the Caringbah club. We really do enjoy this group of people! They have such a great time together! Well, the sergeant for this club is very "cheeky" - he likes to fine people for the funniest things! So, he was fining people for their attire or for their behavior over the weekend or whatever, and he called Bill's name! We both looked at each other - half laughing, half scared! He first complimented us on our ability to almost completely recite the Australian Anthem, and then challenged him to recite our own Anthem! Well... Bill struggled for a second (he was trying to say the words instead of singing them.. they just don't come out as naturally that way!), so they told me to stand up and help him! So, Bill and I stood there, with about 50 Australians watching us closely, and sang the anthem for them! hahaha.. it was very funny! A lot of the crowd seemed to know parts of it as well, so they helped us out, but we must have impressed them - they applauded for our singing! :) There was no time for stage fright!

Thanks for reading! Please send us any questions you might have! Cheers!

Our Address

Here is the address of our new place! We will move in March 25th.

28/1-3 High Street
Caringbah, NSW 2229
Australia

We love opening mail!! (hint, hint!) :)

Meet Phil and Glenis!

I am sure you all have wondered what Phil and Glenis look like... Well, Here they are! Don't they look great! I am just so visual - I figured it would help you get a better idea of what we are doing if you can see who we are with! Phil and Glenis are on a well-deserved holiday at the Gold Coast for this week.
On this past Friday we met up with a friend of my parent's, Jock Cameron. We met for lunch and had a great time getting to meet some of the other people involved in working on the Australian National Prayer Breakfast/ Student Leadership Forum. While we were at lunch, a guy named Peter offered to let us borrow his wife's car (she is out of the country). Of course we said "no," but he kept pressing! So... we set out to see Palm Beach with Bill driving... on the LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD! Ok, so everything about the inside of the car is backwards... the driver sits on the right side, the blinker is on the right side (Bill kept accidentally setting off the windshield wipers on the left!), and you use your left hand to change gears! Fortunately, at least the pedals are the same! Good news: we made it there safely and had a great time exploring! This is a picture of Palm Beach (where they film an Australian sitcom). It was beautiful!
Later that night we joined Jock and Beverly's family for what they call "Game Night." It was great to get to meet more friends! Afterward, Bill drove us all the way back across Sydney to our home - it is about an hour drive!

We have been craving Mexican food (our favorite) and decided on Saturday night that we would go to a local Mexican restaurant. We couldn't wait for some chips and queso! Ohh.. if only we had known! We were pretty disappointed - it is not like the Tex-Mex we are used to! We have seriously contemplated bringing 'On the Border' to Sydney... I really think they would like it! Oh, and Bueno! I am going through withdrawals!

On Sunday we went to a local Baptist Church, within walking distance from our new apartment. We enjoyed meeting new people there over tea and biscuits after the service. (We have tea a LOT of here!) Later that night we went back across Sydney to Jock's house for a Sunday night Fellowship gathering. Below is a picture of Jock playing the piano and his son PJ playing the guitar for some praise and worship. We really had a great time and look forward to spending more time with these fantastic people!

Ok, so I have learned something new about Bill.. I am convinced that when we are old, he is going to be an avid bird watcher! He just can't get enough of these birds! I think I might buy him a pair of binoculars! Ok, just kidding! The birds are fascinating here... much better than we see usually in OK! Below is a picture of Bill trying to lure birds with some bread. He looks so happy!! :)

Here is a close up of the sulfur-crested cockatoos. Just thought you might be interested!