I’m in Australia!!

Friday June 5, 2009

I arrived in Melbourne today! I learned right away that the city is pronounced Mel-bun instead of Mel-born.

All my flights went really well. The Peoria to Chicago flight had very few people. In Chicago, I got to my gate, but wasn’t ready for dinner. I sat and read at the gate for a while. Around 5:00 I got up to get some dinner and found out that the gate had changed. I scrambled around to my new gate and got some dinner after confirming that that was where I was suppose to be. I am really glad that I had to move because there was a fresh bagel stand that you could make into a sandwich or have plain or with cream cheese. I had a veggie bagel sandwich on a cheese bagel.

Once I arrived in LA, I wasn’t quite sure where to go. I went down a flight of stairs to get a tram. When I got down there, there was a large group of people standing around. There were probably 30-45 people standing in the room. I asked the man in charge if that was where to get on the Quantas plane for flight 94. It was, but I was confused because there were so many people. I came to find out that there were three flights leaving that night to Australia and all the people needed to be transferred over to the international airport. The lady in charge was a bit fussy, not very kind. The bus finally came and she told all of us to get in the bus. ALL OF US! She told us that she only had one bus and that we all had to get on. We were squished into the bus with all of our carry ons. It was a bit unpleasant, but thankfully the drive wasn’t very far.

My Quantas flight went very well. It was long, but that was about it. I sat by two women, a mother and her 18 year old daughter who were from Puerto Rico and only spoke Spanish. I thought of Jake the whole time I was there. He could have talked to them and explained to them what was going on.

During the flight there was some funny sounds coming out of the exit door. We were already at our maximum altitude and it sounded like the door was open. The captain had to even come down and check on the door, but after calling the construction people in Melbourne, they said that everything was just fine. It had happened during the last flight and it was nothing to worry about. When we landed in Australia, the captain came over the intercom and said that there was a sick person on the plane and that we were going to have to wait while quarantine came on board and take care of the person.

After going through customs and picking up my luggage, I met Jeff and Rosemary Weston. We traveled back to their house. I have a cute little room and my own bathroom. The beds have not come in yet from the US, so I am sleeping on a really comfy air mattress. I got situated in my room and then came out to have mid morning tea. Jeff and Rosemary left to return the air matterece that had a hole in it, and I got a shower and organized my room – unpacked my suitcases, hung up my clothes, put away things, etc. When the Westons returned home we had dinner.

After dinner we went to the church where I got a tour of the building and met lots of the staff. It is really neat that the church opens its doors so much to the community. In addition to the community center, the life streams meditation center, and the senior citizen housing, the church also opens the church for a group that provides day care to older people who are not capable of taking care of themselves. There is also a certification program for those who have English as a second language. After four years of classes, a person can have the equivalent of an associates degree.

Across from the church is a HUGE mall. It is three levels high and has 3 grocery stores, a theater, numerous smaller stores, and a target. I am really excited to go and explore the mall. We went there for me to exchange my money and to buy groceries. What is really cool about the money is that it is in pretty colors and parts of the bills are see through.

We came home after the mall and I took a nap while Jeff and Rosemary watched game shows on TV. For dinner we had spaghetti, salad, and yogurt.

So far, I am having a lot of fun and it feels like I am really at home. I haven’t had too much of a culture shock as of yet. Everything is so familiar, even things they sell at the store are what is sold in the states. Tomorrow I am going to watch the youth of the church participate in the State Youth Games – a program set up like the Olympics where youth groups from churches all over the state of Victoria compete and have fellowship time for a whole weekend. Monday is the Queens birthday (actually, I was told that it is really in April, but they celebrate it in June?? Strange..) and it is basically a government holiday. I am not sure what is in the schedule for Monday, but I know Sunday is church for sure. Tuesday I start in at work. From what I have overheard Jeff talking about, I am going to be involved in a lot in the church life. I probably will not have a dull moment while I am here.