Hello again,
It's been a while since my last travel update so I figure it's time for another one, especially since tomorrow is my last full day in Oz and you probably won't get another one. :-)
I left Jess' sheep farm last Tuesday and arrived in Sydney on Wednesday morning (the 24th) after 8 hours on the bus, an hour stopover at 11PM, and another 8 hours on the train. It was crazy long and not very comfortable so I didn't get much sleep and so I hit the hay as soon as I arrived at my next host's house.
I've been staying with an Adventist family here, the Gilmores, that my old pastor Matthew Gamble hooked me up with. They are so amazing! I have my own room, my own key, and they've been feeding me every meal and even insisting on paying for some of my excursions. Irene, the mom of the house, is wonderful and has been telling me some incredible stories about her life and I have learned so much about "life" since I've been here.
I've also met a lot of cool people just traveling about on my own. Last week I did the tourist thing and went around the Sydney city center. I saw the famous Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, I took a ferry across the harbor to Manly Beach and saw people playing volleyball and surfing. I took a city tour around to all the other famous sites, I went up to the top of Sydney Tower (their version of the Space Needle), went on OzTrek, which is a virtual ride across Australia. Then on Friday night I went with all the Parramatta Adventist Church young adults to Canberra, Australia's capital city. One of the guys is a coach bus driver and so we got to ride in a comfy bus for the 3 hour trip. We slept in the church that night and the next day, Sabbath, we put on the entire service. I even preached for the first time and pray that the people there heard what God wanted them to hear. Then we went to a flower show in Canberra, followed by a quick tour of the city and a stop at the ANZAC Memorial. Sunday morning I went to airport to meet up with Matthew Gamble and Jesse Ferguson, who were flying out that day. It was so good to catch up with Matthew and also to see J-Ferg again. Sunday night I went to the famous Hillsong Church for their nightly service and the Christian rock band, Hillsong United, happened to be leading worship that night and they introduced some new songs, which were amazing!
Today I went to the #1 attraction (or so I'm told), the Sydney Aquarium, with the underground glass tunnels where sharks and manta rays swim overhead. After that I went to the Wildlife Park where I got to see koalas and kangaroos and wombats and wallabies, and every other Australian native animal you can think of. (By the way, last week on the sheep farm I actually saw two wild kangaroos hopping across the road!) It was cool because standing in line I heard an American accent and these two girls were behind me. It turns out they are both students at Hillsong College studying ministry and so we got to talking and spent the entire duration of our visit at the Wildlife Park together and hanging out. When I got home Irene drove me to the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and tonight we're going out to dinner at some Chinese restaurant.
So I pretty much have done all I ever thought of doing in Australia. I even saw the new movie "Eagle Eye" a day early and for free because my host's son is a manager at the local cinema. :-)
Tomorrow I'm meeting up with some of the Parramatta Church young adults for a last goodbye dinner thing, then on Wednesday I'm on my way home, including 4 stopovers (Manila, Seoul, San Francisco, then Seattle), which will be insane.
I miss you all and can't wait to be back home, as amazing as this experience as been.
I'll see you all soon.
With love and prayers,
Steph
Monday, September 29, 2008
Hello from Walpeup!
SEPTEMBER 20TH, 2008
Hey all,
Right now I am on my friend Jess' family's sheep farm about 6 hours northwest of Melbourne and 16 hours west of Sydney. It's in the middle of nowhere and her town, Walpeup, only has about 100 residents! I have been working on the farm with her family, which is amazing. It's lambing season and all the sheep are about ready to give birth. Some came early and are so adorable! I have some photos of myself holding little lambs. So cute!
It's amazing here and Jess says there are wild kangaroo around here and I should see on soon. There are also wild emus and the dirt is all very golden brown here. It's definitely The Bush!
I spent the past week in Melbourne doing the tourist thing and stayed with three awesome girls studying at the University of Melbourne. They live in a massive three-story townhouse and it was very nice living with them. They even gave me my own key so I could come and go as I pleased. Don't forget I was a stranger to these girls, as we only met on couchsurfing.com previously.
On Tuesday I'm off to Sydney, followed by Canberra, where I will speak on World Peace at an Adventist youth service there. Then I return to Sydney to talk about the Philippines mission trip and do some sightseeing.
I can't wait to get home where I can upload some photos and show you all what I've been up to.
I miss you all and will be back soon.
Love,
Steph
Hey all,
Right now I am on my friend Jess' family's sheep farm about 6 hours northwest of Melbourne and 16 hours west of Sydney. It's in the middle of nowhere and her town, Walpeup, only has about 100 residents! I have been working on the farm with her family, which is amazing. It's lambing season and all the sheep are about ready to give birth. Some came early and are so adorable! I have some photos of myself holding little lambs. So cute!
It's amazing here and Jess says there are wild kangaroo around here and I should see on soon. There are also wild emus and the dirt is all very golden brown here. It's definitely The Bush!
I spent the past week in Melbourne doing the tourist thing and stayed with three awesome girls studying at the University of Melbourne. They live in a massive three-story townhouse and it was very nice living with them. They even gave me my own key so I could come and go as I pleased. Don't forget I was a stranger to these girls, as we only met on couchsurfing.com previously.
On Tuesday I'm off to Sydney, followed by Canberra, where I will speak on World Peace at an Adventist youth service there. Then I return to Sydney to talk about the Philippines mission trip and do some sightseeing.
I can't wait to get home where I can upload some photos and show you all what I've been up to.
I miss you all and will be back soon.
Love,
Steph
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
More from Melb!
Hello again!
Today is my third day in Melbourne and I am having a blast! I spent the first day wandering and exploring by myself. That night I moved to another couchsurfing house and it has been amazing fun. There are three girls, all students at the prestigious University of Melbourne, and they live in a huge and fancy townhouse near the city center. Three stories with a rooftop terrace/balcony! They gave me my own key so I can come and go as I please as well. They are very loud and fun and remind me a lot of my time in college.
Yesterday was lovely and warm. In the morning my friend Nita (who stayed with us in Seattle with her sister Rena) met me at the house and we took a tram to the city and hung out all day. We went to Luna Park for picture (a popular theme park/carnival), followed by St. Kilda beach, where she treated me to a piece of delicious chocolate hazelnut cake. Then we went to the National Gallery of Victora. a free international art gallery with many famous paintings I recognized from my Art History studies. There was even a famous self portrait of Rembrandt that I studied intensively my first year at UW. I asked a guard if I could take a photo with it, and I was able to snap a few pictures. Then we hung around the city some more, stopped at the University of Melbourne where I got a photo standing outside the Chemistry Building (because I'm cool like that), then we watched the season 2 premiere of Gossip Girl (gotta catch up still!), then had dinner on Lygon Street which is known as "Little Italy." All the restaurant owners stand outside and try to entice you to eat there and often offer free stuff. One place offered us free wine but Nita and Rena thought that wasn't good enough, so they gave us each free dessert as well!
Then we went back to the house and the French boys had arrived. They were cooking dinner and so I had two dinners last night. They are hilarious and great fun and it's hard to believe if they are telling the truth half the time! They kept messing with us. We stayed up until 1AM talking and playing games and dancing around the kitchen.
Today I am seeing whatever I missed in the city that I wanted to see. Tonight we are all going to a Mexican Independence day party with one of the girls' friends.
Then tomorrow I'm off to Walpeup and the sheep farm!
Everyone is amazingly kind and laid back and it reminds me a lot of Seattle here. Today is chilly and very blustery. I am wearing a scarf!
Anyway, hope you all are well.
Miss you and lots of love,
Steph
Today is my third day in Melbourne and I am having a blast! I spent the first day wandering and exploring by myself. That night I moved to another couchsurfing house and it has been amazing fun. There are three girls, all students at the prestigious University of Melbourne, and they live in a huge and fancy townhouse near the city center. Three stories with a rooftop terrace/balcony! They gave me my own key so I can come and go as I please as well. They are very loud and fun and remind me a lot of my time in college.
Yesterday was lovely and warm. In the morning my friend Nita (who stayed with us in Seattle with her sister Rena) met me at the house and we took a tram to the city and hung out all day. We went to Luna Park for picture (a popular theme park/carnival), followed by St. Kilda beach, where she treated me to a piece of delicious chocolate hazelnut cake. Then we went to the National Gallery of Victora. a free international art gallery with many famous paintings I recognized from my Art History studies. There was even a famous self portrait of Rembrandt that I studied intensively my first year at UW. I asked a guard if I could take a photo with it, and I was able to snap a few pictures. Then we hung around the city some more, stopped at the University of Melbourne where I got a photo standing outside the Chemistry Building (because I'm cool like that), then we watched the season 2 premiere of Gossip Girl (gotta catch up still!), then had dinner on Lygon Street which is known as "Little Italy." All the restaurant owners stand outside and try to entice you to eat there and often offer free stuff. One place offered us free wine but Nita and Rena thought that wasn't good enough, so they gave us each free dessert as well!
Then we went back to the house and the French boys had arrived. They were cooking dinner and so I had two dinners last night. They are hilarious and great fun and it's hard to believe if they are telling the truth half the time! They kept messing with us. We stayed up until 1AM talking and playing games and dancing around the kitchen.
Today I am seeing whatever I missed in the city that I wanted to see. Tonight we are all going to a Mexican Independence day party with one of the girls' friends.
Then tomorrow I'm off to Walpeup and the sheep farm!
Everyone is amazingly kind and laid back and it reminds me a lot of Seattle here. Today is chilly and very blustery. I am wearing a scarf!
Anyway, hope you all are well.
Miss you and lots of love,
Steph
Monday, September 15, 2008
UPDATE FROM AUSTRALIA!
BELOW are the updates I've sent my friends via e-mail. In case I don't have your e-mail address or simply forgot to include you on my list, you can read about what I've been up to here:
=====
SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2008
Hey everyone,
I am in a cybercafe in a mall in Tarlac City in the Philippines. It is 15 hours ahead here and so right now it is just after 2pm Friday. We arrived around midnight Tuesday night and have spent the past few days working and sweating our butts off!
I talked to Vicki briefly on the phone and told her already, but I seriously have never sweat so much in my life. It is disgusting yet strangely refreshing. I soaked through my entire outfit while working the first day, including a jacket I was wearing! I didn't even feel that soaked but Brenda got photos to prove it. :-)
The nightly meetings started on Wednesday and continue through next week. Brenda, Rodney, and I are even singing a couple songs for special music tonight, including an entire song in Tagalog that two of the church members taught us this morning. Let's pray it goes well!
We're getting fed so well. Rodney's family cooks amazing food and we've been getting all of our food groups. For lunch today we even had rambutan, which is tropical fruit related to lychee. Rambutan means "the hairy thing" in Indonesian. Google it and you'll see why. :-)
Everyone here is so warm and friendly, even though I can't communicate verbally with most of them. Rodney's family lives in a rural town outside the city and are one of the more wealthy families. Everyone else lives in shacks, literally, with thatched roofs, bamboo walls, and dirt floors. There are goats and cows, chickens and wild dogs roaming around everywhere. There is green everywhere: hills and rice and fields as far as the eye can see.
Just wanted to give you all a brief update. I barely had to adjust to the time difference and have been sleeping amazingly well, getting up at 6am without an alarm clock and sleeping through the night without waking up at all. I'll be here until September 15th, then I'm off to Melbourne!
Hope you all are doing well. Please keep the group in your prayers.
Thanks and hopefully I'll write again soon.
Love,
Steph
=====
SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2008
Hello everyone!
I don't think I remembered to e-mail all of you my first overseas update from the Philippines, but hopefully I didn't miss anyone this time around. It is just past midnight here in Australia and my couchsurfing host is asleep. I'm typing on her laptop in the dark in the room next to hers because the light in my room would wake her if on. I fear my typing will wake her as well! She is very sweet, talkative, and went 30 mins out of her way to pick me up from the airport even though we had never met before. She owns a flower shop and must get up at 4:30am to buy flowers from the market. She has a cute albino bunny named Polly Jean. It's amazing how kind and giving people can be to complete strangers. That takes a lot of trust.
I left Manila Monday morning, flew 8 hours to Sydney, then another couple hours to Melbourne. I sat next to lady on first plane who was in the Philippines for her mother's funeral. I could tell something was on her mind and soon we got to talking and I think it really helped her to have someone willing to listen to her story. We exchanged contact information and I hope to keep in touch.
The Philippines mission trip was amazing! This last Sabbath we had 37 baptisms, a result of the 10-day evangelistic series held at the new church we built. The people there are all so hospitable and generous and seem content for the most part, even though they have so little. One of the pastors involved with the series has a 7-month old daughter that he can't even afford to buy milk for. His wife, a teacher, had to borrow money from the school she works at. And this was a pastor who is paid by the local conference. I can't even begin to imagine how much less others without steady work must have. It was such a humbling experience and all the villagers were so thrilled that we Americans could visit and help out where we could.
Please continue to pray for the new Adventist church at San Jose de Valdez, Tarlac, Philippines. With the evangelistic series over, there is a risk that the congregation might be negatively affected by the transition. There are many decisions that must still be made there.
Tomorrow I will start sight-seeing in Melbourne then meetup with a couple French boys staying at the same couchsurfing host I am. Then Friday I'm off to Walpeup in the middle of nowhere to help out on my friend's family's sheep farm. Next week I'm off to Sydney, followed by Canberra, where I will speak at an Adventist youth meeting.
I'll write more soon.
With love and prayers,
Steph
=====
SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2008
Yo!
This couch surfing thing is great! The lady who picked me up is about 30 and I am the first person she has hosted. She bought me coffee this morning and walked me to the train station that took me to the downtown/city center. I've been exploring on my own all day and came across an Indonesian restaurant in Chinatown that I ate at for lunch. I had rendang (spelling?). :-) I saw a young guy drinking bubble tea and asked where he got it and he was kind enough to walk me there so I could get some myself.
There are tons of tourists here! It reminds me of Seattle, too. This morning was sunny but a bit chilly. It is early spring here and everyone is wearing jackets, boots, and scarves. I feel right at home!
I'm at the Victoria State Library using their free Internet access at the moment. I've been taking lots of pictures of interesting words or things that remind me of home. I found the word Bellevue on a store sign and snapped a picture of it, also the word Redmond on a statue plaque. I took a pic of the library because it says Victoria all big and engraved.
Tonight my current host will drop me off a few miles from her house to another pair of couchsurfing hosts, two 22-year old college students who are also hosting two French boys. It will be fun because tomorrow I can sightsee with the French boys since we are all tourists. Then I'm having dinner tomorrow night with those two sisters who stayed with us in Seattle.
I was also asked to give a mini-sermon on Christian and World Peace when I go to Canberra next week with the Sydney Adventist church. It seems like I've come full-circle, since that essay on world peace is what won me the trip to England, which is where I met that Australian girl, which is partly why I'm here now to visit her. I will also speak about my mission trip. I am very excited.
Oh yeah, in the Philippines, we sang a lot of special music songs. Brenda, Rodney, and I were asked almost every evening to perform as a trip before the evangelistic meetings. One of the pastors started humming You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban one night, which I told him was my favorite song and so he asked me to sing it by myself before the sermon on the final night of the meeting. Brenda played piano and Rodney video recorded it. I wasn't nervous at all (praise God!) but I messed up a little on the lyrics of the second verse (since Josh doesn't sing that verse and so I had to learn it just that day), but no one noticed and everyone loved it. Apparently Josh Groban is very popular in the Philippines (and Asia in general) and many of them sang along with me. It was fantastic. Josh Groban was even playing in the Indonesian restaurant I had lunch in today! :-)
Vicki and Mel will enjoy the following information: Last night when I was waiting to transfer from Sydney to Melbourne at the airport, I saw a guy reading a thick novel. I have a habit of reading titles of people's books and initially thought it was Harry Potter, but it was the first Twilight book! Haha, he was this chubby Asian guy and he was so engrossed in the book that he dropped his carry on luggage. hehehe. I was amused. :D
Anyway, I should wrap this up and continue exploring the city.
I don't know what kind of telephone access I'll have here since my hosts may not have International calling on their cell phones. But at least I can check e-mail more often here.
Much, much love,
Steph
=====
SEPTEMBER 5TH, 2008
Hey everyone,
I am in a cybercafe in a mall in Tarlac City in the Philippines. It is 15 hours ahead here and so right now it is just after 2pm Friday. We arrived around midnight Tuesday night and have spent the past few days working and sweating our butts off!
I talked to Vicki briefly on the phone and told her already, but I seriously have never sweat so much in my life. It is disgusting yet strangely refreshing. I soaked through my entire outfit while working the first day, including a jacket I was wearing! I didn't even feel that soaked but Brenda got photos to prove it. :-)
The nightly meetings started on Wednesday and continue through next week. Brenda, Rodney, and I are even singing a couple songs for special music tonight, including an entire song in Tagalog that two of the church members taught us this morning. Let's pray it goes well!
We're getting fed so well. Rodney's family cooks amazing food and we've been getting all of our food groups. For lunch today we even had rambutan, which is tropical fruit related to lychee. Rambutan means "the hairy thing" in Indonesian. Google it and you'll see why. :-)
Everyone here is so warm and friendly, even though I can't communicate verbally with most of them. Rodney's family lives in a rural town outside the city and are one of the more wealthy families. Everyone else lives in shacks, literally, with thatched roofs, bamboo walls, and dirt floors. There are goats and cows, chickens and wild dogs roaming around everywhere. There is green everywhere: hills and rice and fields as far as the eye can see.
Just wanted to give you all a brief update. I barely had to adjust to the time difference and have been sleeping amazingly well, getting up at 6am without an alarm clock and sleeping through the night without waking up at all. I'll be here until September 15th, then I'm off to Melbourne!
Hope you all are doing well. Please keep the group in your prayers.
Thanks and hopefully I'll write again soon.
Love,
Steph
=====
SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2008
Hello everyone!
I don't think I remembered to e-mail all of you my first overseas update from the Philippines, but hopefully I didn't miss anyone this time around. It is just past midnight here in Australia and my couchsurfing host is asleep. I'm typing on her laptop in the dark in the room next to hers because the light in my room would wake her if on. I fear my typing will wake her as well! She is very sweet, talkative, and went 30 mins out of her way to pick me up from the airport even though we had never met before. She owns a flower shop and must get up at 4:30am to buy flowers from the market. She has a cute albino bunny named Polly Jean. It's amazing how kind and giving people can be to complete strangers. That takes a lot of trust.
I left Manila Monday morning, flew 8 hours to Sydney, then another couple hours to Melbourne. I sat next to lady on first plane who was in the Philippines for her mother's funeral. I could tell something was on her mind and soon we got to talking and I think it really helped her to have someone willing to listen to her story. We exchanged contact information and I hope to keep in touch.
The Philippines mission trip was amazing! This last Sabbath we had 37 baptisms, a result of the 10-day evangelistic series held at the new church we built. The people there are all so hospitable and generous and seem content for the most part, even though they have so little. One of the pastors involved with the series has a 7-month old daughter that he can't even afford to buy milk for. His wife, a teacher, had to borrow money from the school she works at. And this was a pastor who is paid by the local conference. I can't even begin to imagine how much less others without steady work must have. It was such a humbling experience and all the villagers were so thrilled that we Americans could visit and help out where we could.
Please continue to pray for the new Adventist church at San Jose de Valdez, Tarlac, Philippines. With the evangelistic series over, there is a risk that the congregation might be negatively affected by the transition. There are many decisions that must still be made there.
Tomorrow I will start sight-seeing in Melbourne then meetup with a couple French boys staying at the same couchsurfing host I am. Then Friday I'm off to Walpeup in the middle of nowhere to help out on my friend's family's sheep farm. Next week I'm off to Sydney, followed by Canberra, where I will speak at an Adventist youth meeting.
I'll write more soon.
With love and prayers,
Steph
=====
SEPTEMBER 16TH, 2008
Yo!
This couch surfing thing is great! The lady who picked me up is about 30 and I am the first person she has hosted. She bought me coffee this morning and walked me to the train station that took me to the downtown/city center. I've been exploring on my own all day and came across an Indonesian restaurant in Chinatown that I ate at for lunch. I had rendang (spelling?). :-) I saw a young guy drinking bubble tea and asked where he got it and he was kind enough to walk me there so I could get some myself.
There are tons of tourists here! It reminds me of Seattle, too. This morning was sunny but a bit chilly. It is early spring here and everyone is wearing jackets, boots, and scarves. I feel right at home!
I'm at the Victoria State Library using their free Internet access at the moment. I've been taking lots of pictures of interesting words or things that remind me of home. I found the word Bellevue on a store sign and snapped a picture of it, also the word Redmond on a statue plaque. I took a pic of the library because it says Victoria all big and engraved.
Tonight my current host will drop me off a few miles from her house to another pair of couchsurfing hosts, two 22-year old college students who are also hosting two French boys. It will be fun because tomorrow I can sightsee with the French boys since we are all tourists. Then I'm having dinner tomorrow night with those two sisters who stayed with us in Seattle.
I was also asked to give a mini-sermon on Christian and World Peace when I go to Canberra next week with the Sydney Adventist church. It seems like I've come full-circle, since that essay on world peace is what won me the trip to England, which is where I met that Australian girl, which is partly why I'm here now to visit her. I will also speak about my mission trip. I am very excited.
Oh yeah, in the Philippines, we sang a lot of special music songs. Brenda, Rodney, and I were asked almost every evening to perform as a trip before the evangelistic meetings. One of the pastors started humming You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban one night, which I told him was my favorite song and so he asked me to sing it by myself before the sermon on the final night of the meeting. Brenda played piano and Rodney video recorded it. I wasn't nervous at all (praise God!) but I messed up a little on the lyrics of the second verse (since Josh doesn't sing that verse and so I had to learn it just that day), but no one noticed and everyone loved it. Apparently Josh Groban is very popular in the Philippines (and Asia in general) and many of them sang along with me. It was fantastic. Josh Groban was even playing in the Indonesian restaurant I had lunch in today! :-)
Vicki and Mel will enjoy the following information: Last night when I was waiting to transfer from Sydney to Melbourne at the airport, I saw a guy reading a thick novel. I have a habit of reading titles of people's books and initially thought it was Harry Potter, but it was the first Twilight book! Haha, he was this chubby Asian guy and he was so engrossed in the book that he dropped his carry on luggage. hehehe. I was amused. :D
Anyway, I should wrap this up and continue exploring the city.
I don't know what kind of telephone access I'll have here since my hosts may not have International calling on their cell phones. But at least I can check e-mail more often here.
Much, much love,
Steph
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