Wednesday to Saturday of my Australian life

It has been a few days since I’ve blogged, but that’s because there hasn’t been anything too big to report.  Life is still goodJ.  Wednesday was a good day.  I woke up early for class, did some homework on campus and then had lunch with a friend from church.  Like I’ve said before, it’s so fun talking to Australians!  Our, “let’s get lunch around noon” turned into a 3 hour conversation which was only ended by an, “oh my gosh, I have to get to class!” J.  A few things I learned throughout our conversation: Americans are notoriously the WORST at accents, “Summer Heights High” is really popular here and considered a very accurate depiction of “Australian humor” (so glad I came preparedJ), and a “bogan” (sp?) is the term for a redneck Australian.  As I was running off to class, my friend (who plays in the worship band at church) invited me to come to their rehearsal on Friday night.  I had mentioned that I sing and play the piano some and he thought I should come along… so I did, but more about that laterJ.  My Wednesday afternoon class went well and I came for the day.  Amar, my Indonesian roommate, had knocked on my door the night before and informed me that our landlady had been by that day and noticed that our apple tree in the front yard was ripe and the apples would be great in a pie.  He asked if I would make one for our house dinner - I was all too happy to obligeJ.  It was so fun!  Amar and I actually picked the apples off the tree, I made a piecrust from scratch, Camille, Amar and I cut and peeled all the apples, and Camille and I finished the pie.  It was group effort and it was DELICIOUS!  Amar made Indonesian fried rice and Kevin and Amanda (China) made some sort of lamb/carrot dish for dinner.  It was all SO good.  There was no food leftover – we ate it allJ.  And then there was apple pie alamode… the perfect way to finish the evening.  Our house dinners have been SO fun and I’ve loved getting to know my roommates and just hanging out and talking to them.  Thursday was a good day as well.  I woke up early again to do homework and then had class midday, went to the gym, and then had a late-afternoon lecture.  Everything went well and was fairly uneventful.  All in all, a good day.  On Friday, I woke up and starting doing research for two papers.  I spent most of the morning working on those and then spent the afternoon researching my “Easter break” trip to New Zealand.  I keep calling it “spring break” and I keep getting corrected.  It’s “Easter break” or “autumn break”… definitely not “spring break”J.  Camille wants to go to New Zealand over our break as well, which will be awesome!  It’s so nice to have someone to travel with and we have similar ideas for activities, which is working out well.  We’re still in the planning stages, but I’m excited!  More details to comeJ.  I went on a long run in the late afternoon after the sun came out and then showered and got ready for the worship band rehearsal.  It was SO good!  My friend picked me up, which was really nice – I didn’t have to walk.  We got there around 7pm and everyone was just kind of mingling in the foyer.  They were all chatting and getting caught up on the week.  Everyone is so friendly and it is truly one big family.  There was food and laughter and fun.  It was probably 7:45pm before anyone even thought about rehearsing.  I LOVE that about Australia.  There is much less hurry and much more “love life”.  When it was time to rehearse, everyone went and sat down.  Apparently, that night was a little different format than normal as there was a church leader from the parent church in Adelaide that had come to do a workshop with the band.  It was really cool to get to see.  He talked a lot about passionate worship and faith.  It was like a mini-church service.  And then the band played and that was awesome too!  It was really fun.  As the rehearsal was finishing, I was introduced to a couple of younger girls (I’m going to guess around 13) and they LOVED my “accent”.  It was so funny!  Another church friend offered to give me a ride home, but first we went to Hungry Jacks (Burger King) and got food and hung out with everyone there.  The party moved from the church foyer to Hungry JacksJ.  That was fun too!  I didn’t get home until 11:30pm.  I didn’t believe the clock at first – time flies when you’re having funJ.  Saturday, I let myself sleep in a little bit and then got up and headed to the library to finish the research for my papers.  I worked there for most of the afternoon and then came home and did some work here.  Hopefully I’ll finish tomorrow.  I’m heading to bed now.  Life is so good.  I’m in AustraliaJ.