Australia 2017 - The Arrival

(Original post date - August 24, 2017)

It’s lightly raining and I’ve just eaten breakfast. Two pieces of toast with orange marmalade and a difficult to open blackberry jam. Thanks to the old woman who helped me crack it ajar. Black tea with honey in my new mint green mug, a welcome gift from the staff at the YWAM Brisbane School of Acting for the Screen. Though I do love my mug, I’m probably better off using one of the random assortment of mugs in the cafeteria so I don’t have to do any unnecessary dish washing.

I arrived in Australia several days ago (a 30 hour journey), and while I’m excited about what’s to come during my time here, I am also realizing that it will be a challenge. Or an adjustment, at the very least. It’s been 9 years since I’ve worked or lived in a YWAM setting, and even during those missionary years I only lived in a room with 6+ people once before. A village in Pailin, Cambodia. At least here I don’t have to take bucket showers and squat to shit. But I do have to carry my shower items and toothbrush into an unlocked communal bathroom each time unless I want Shower Lady, an intruder who sometimes wanders onto campus to take a shower and steals shampoo, to abscond with my belongings. She may or may not have shown up in several years according to my school leader, but I’m not ready to take the risk just yet.

Fortunately I was able to settle in on a bottom bunk in a room that I share with 6 other girls, and steal an extra “mattress” from an unused top bunk to better cushion my bones so they don’t drive into the wooden frame night after night. I also bought a couple more pillows from the shopping center so I could make my bed more pleasant to relax and sleep in. Hallelujah. There is an exit sign above the door that is bright AF, and since my bed is right next to it, I’m wondering if I should get makeshift curtains so I can feel like a royal English princess.

Side note: Speaking of royal, one of my new friends/roommates from Canada has a friend who is planning to name her newborn child Royal. We’ll find out in a week if it’s a boy or a girl. I simultaneously love it and hate it.

Currently I’m listening to the birds “chirp” or “sound like cats in heat” outside my window. This is definitely not the place for someone whose fear of birds is as strong as mine. Thankfully the noise of NYC is just as crazy, so it doesn’t disrupt my sleep. Just my daily life. I’ve been told that magpies (a cool looking black and white bird), will swoop on your head and try to steal your hair for its nest. So that’s awesome.

Before coming to the YWAM base, I spent a few days with Trish, a beautiful, exotic darling person who I love dearly (and her animals: an English staffy, a fluffly gray mother cat and a baby cat whose back legs are tangled up and useless. Sadly they have to be kept on separate floors because the mom hates her deformed child.)

Timon

Lychee

Monte

Trish took care of me as I adjusted to the time difference and dealt with the stresses of suddenly being in a new country. She took me to see some kangaroos in a field...

...and showed me Runaway Bay where we took her dog for a walk and a swim. He found a steak knife in the water and we threw it back in (bad idea?).

Looking around, I often feel like I’m in Hawaii or California, two places that feel very much like home to me.

And then suddenly I’ll hear someone speak in an Australian accent or say something like “It’s time for morning tea,” and I remember that I’m far, far away from home. I could get used to morning tea though.