Sunshine, Sushi, and Singing

The last few days have followed the “excellent” trend that my life seems to be on right nowJ.  Sunday I got to skype with my parents and Tyler who is home for spring break.  It was SO good to see them and talk to them!  After I finished, I headed off to church.  It was a great service and facilitated a few epiphanies, which is always funJ.  After church, I stayed and talked to my friend Leah and then the “young adult” group decided to go to lunch again, so I was able to hang out with all my church friends.  It was really great!  They’re so fun and nice and just enjoyable to be around.  I had a great time.  I made it home around 3pm, just beating the thunderstorm that poured rain literally seconds after I walked in the door.  I spent the rest of the afternoon and night doing homework and researching travel information for trips that I will take during the rest of the semester.  Monday was a pretty uneventful day.  My morning tutorial was interesting, I went to the gym, and then had two lectures in the afternoon.  They were both interesting, but nothing too exciting.  One thing I have started to notice, though, is “Australian time”.  At least five people are late to every one of my classes and instead of the professors continuing on and ignoring the interruption, they stop and repeat all the material for the latecomer.  It’s definitely inefficient, but apparently something I’ll just have to get used to.  Apparently, I didn’t need to have the stress dream where I’m late and can’t get into class because all the doors shut and lock on the hourJ.  After school, I came home and made a delicious dinner of baked chicken, roasted potatoes and cooked vegetables.  I spent the rest of the evening reading for school and just hanging out.  Today (Tuesday) has been a great day!  I didn’t have class until 1pm, but I hadn’t finished my reading for one of my tutorials so I got up early.  I made it campus by about 9am and bought a coffee.  It was such a treat and I don’t think an exaggeration when I say, it was one of the best coffees I’ve EVER had.  Seriously, it was that good.  I sat outside, in the morning sunshine, sipping my delicious coffee and learning.  It was great!  And then I got hungry, so I got some sushi… for breakfast.  I felt very AustralianJ.  I worked most of the morning on my reading and then an essay for another class.  At noon, I went to a Bible study with “Christian Union”, one of the Christian groups on campus.  I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about it… we’ll see how next week goes.  After that, I went to my first tutorial of the day.  The professor didn’t show up.  I’m not really sure what to make of that – hopefully I still get credit for goingJ.  My next tutorial was VERY lively.  It’s Middle East Politics and it was essentially a debate/discussion for the entire period.  It got VERY heated at times.  We talked about Islam and its influence on the politics of the region.  It was interesting as it was often related to Christianity in order to see similarities and differences within the Middle East and western culture.  It was so interesting and also intimidating to be one of the only Christians in the room and to have to speak for my religion and essentially the religious culture of the United States.  It was uncomfortable, but a good growth opportunity.  I think that class will definitely be one of my favorites each week.  After that, I came home to each lunch and walked to St. Thomas Anglican Church to play the piano.  I had been looking for a piano since I got to Australia – at home I play and sing almost everyday.  I hadn’t found a  “public” piano yet, so I called a church near my house and asked if I could use theirs once a week.  I sang today for the first time in a month and it was INCREDIBLE!  I LOVE to sing and it just felt so good.  The piano is beautiful and the room is very acoustic.  It was perfect.  I finished and came home, went to the store and then ran as the sun was setting.  The sky was on fire… beautifulJ.  I finished up the evening with some homework.  On a side note, I got lots of mail today and it was awesome!  It’s so happy when there’s something special waiting for meJ.  Thanks everyone!  Sending sunshine and happy thoughts across the big blue… they should be there by morningJ.