Australia 2017 - Getting Acquainted

(Original post date - August 27, 2017)

Either I had too much caffeine or I’m really really excited for school to start. Or nervous. Maybe it’s all of those things. My heart was racing during orientation. Listening to our school leaders discuss some of the things to come was thrilling and daunting and overwhelming. I almost felt like running out of the room to get started. But we hadn’t officially been assigned anything yet. It’s like that feeling when you have a new boyfriend and he’s super handsome and you’re having dinner with your grandparents and all you can think about is finishing your pizza so you can drive to his house to see him. Um…or maybe that’s just me.

One thing I’m not too thrilled about is the food situation on campus. I may be spoiled, but I’m used to eating whatever I want, and eating well. But here I don’t have much of a choice. My stomach is already getting quite angry with me. I don’t want to be wasteful with my money and buy all my food off campus even though it’s already been “paid for” at school, but I think I’m gonna have to do it at least sometimes.

Finding a church to attend was a bit of an excursion. Some of the staff attend Lifeplace Church in West End Brisbane, which is about an hour ride on a train and then a bus. I’m grateful that my classmate, Louise, was willing to make the trek with me because I wouldn’t have felt comfortable to do it on my own, for the first time at least. After going to Brisbane city with some people yesterday we already knew how to ride the train. So after putting more money on our Go Cards we “tapped on” to the train at our home station and then “tapped off” at the city center. Once there I took it upon myself to pretend I was on the Amazing Race and scour the area quickly for signs pointing to the buses. We managed to find the correct bus stop easily enough, with only a slight confusion about which side of the road we needed to be on. Sometimes I feel like I’m trying to braid my hair in a mirror. Does that only make sense in my mind? I just forget sometimes which side of the road the cars are supposed to be.

When I moved to NYC and rode a city bus for the first time I felt like I was in a cartoon. I was adorable. I felt the same way this time. When we waved the correct bus down, and it pulled to the side (the LEFT side), the driver seemed to me like he belonged in a children’s book. The kind of guy who’s got a funny hat and a pet monkey that helps him with ticket sales. Or is this a Curious George story? Cause there’s no one selling tickets on the bus. You tap on and off the same as with the train.

Everyone was super friendly at church.

Louise and I befriended some old ladies, one of which spoke some much needed truth into my life (like a river of peace flowing over me) and one who offered to drive us home. Since we were new to church we got a free lunch. To be honest, what I expected was something like a poorly homemade lasagna or tuna casserole. But what we got was like something you would order at a real restaurant.

Herby chicken with greens and grains with an orange dressing, orange and almond cake, and a 100% natural Parker’s organic lightly sparkling lemonade. I gobbled it up like someone who hadn’t properly eaten in days. Now if only I could get food like that on the regular.

Kaylene, who’s turning 60 next year (and quite excited about it), made good on her offer to save us from public transportation. She took us on a short drive to see what was around, while she shared about some of her travel adventures. There were tons of cute coffee shops and restaurants that I would love to visit. In my opinion it was like a mix between California and Brooklyn. Maybe next week I’ll get a chance to check it out.