Australia. Sadly, I was only there for a week, and yet, it was such a great trip!
My friend Danielle was studying there for my last semester of college. In three years, this was the longest that we'd gone without seeing eachother, so since I was graduating, I wanted to have a great Spring Break trip. My other college friends either had trips planned or didn't want to go anywhere; it was a rather last minute decision to head off to Australia - literally, I think I booked my flight about two weeks before I left. One day, I was just curious to see how much it would cost to go out there; airfare was incredibly cheap (at least for the average MSP-SYD ticket). I tried to get a hold of Danielle to see if it'd even be possible to go out and visit her - after a few days of no communication, we got in touch, and the spring break week worked out for her schedule! I booked my flight and was to leave in a few weeks.
This was my first trip to a foreign country alone. Surprisingly, my anxiety/nervous-ness was exteremly low for trying to figure out the train schedule to get to Danielle. After 24 hours of travelling, I finally landed in Sydney. Getting through customs was pretty easy - I told Danielle I'd bring her the biggest bottle of Ranch dressing I could find, among other things. I had to smooth talk the customs guy to get the monstrous bottle through - Danielle's lucky he didn't spike it to the ground. ;) I had to take a train down to Wollongong. After getting onto the wrong train, I managed to figure out where I was and get down to the Wollongong stop; almost missing it, because there were so many people on the train, it was hard to maneuver through them.
Nothing was better after travelling around for 24+ hours than to get off the train and see a familiar face :) Danielle was waiting at the station, which was perfect, because as soon as I got off the train, I realized I didn't know where to go next.
It was such a great week hanging out with Danielle. I barely got any jet lag, which was nice, because I didn't miss out on too much by sleeping through it.
Danielle had met a ton of great people out there - it was so nice to finally put faces to the names (regardless of already seeing pictures from Facebook posts....). But to meet everybody was great. Of all the people, I will never forget Danielle's roommate, Stan. I don't think anybody who meets Stan can ever forget him. He talked about the dirtiest things in broken English. Anything and everything was turned sexual, with most of his statements told in yelling form. Of all the stories Danielle told me before, nothing could've prepared me for actually seeing him in person. Oh, Stan.
But it's been great, since Danielle's kept in touch with so many of them (even still lives with her roommate from Australia, Ally) that it's been fun to see them even to this day, almost five years later.
One of the highlights during the week was going up to Sydney for a few days to celebrate Danielle's 21st birthday. Not only that, but her birthday falls on St. Patrick's Day; so Sydney turned into a green blur of crazy. We went out to a nice restaurant, right next to the harbour bridge; it was here that I had alligator and kangaroo for the first time. Loved the kangaroo; alligator was ok (and probably something I'd never get again). But that kangaroo - definitely good. Then we went out onto George Street for some bar hopping.
Another great time was in the hostel that night. We took over a huge room and had about 20 people with about 15 beds. Actually we even carried a few people over into the second room, where there were a few other older adults staying there; they probably hated us that night.
One of my other favorite things from Sydney was this street "performer" who played the recorder. He held about three recorders in his hand; yet he only played the same note on one over and over and over again. Same tone, repeated non-stop. I wasn't sure where this talent was, but it kind of gave me a little hope to be a street performer......
......speaking of which, I forgot to add one thing to my bucket list - at one point, somewhere, I want to be a street performer. I'm not sure what I'd play, or where I'd play it. I wonder - and maybe someone can help me out on this - is there some kind of street performer etiquette? Mainly, I wouldn't want to be taking up someone's "spot" and make somebody rather upset. Is it just free-for-all for finding your spot? But anyways, sometime I would like to do that for a day to see how much money they actually make. Well, who knows what kind of talent I have, so there's a good chance I will not make any.....
But I digress...
The week flew by very quickly; most of it spent in Wollongong on the campus. We only went to Sydney for the few days for Danielle's birthday.
It was a great week, yet, I barely saw anything of Australia. I definitely want to go back, but to a different area. I already have on the bucket list to go to the great barrier reef. I'd also like to just go to the west side of the country. I know at some point, I'm going to get back there, but at least the first time was such a great time! :)
I'll post some pictures later :)
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
#28 - Step foot in South America
The summer after graduating high school, I went down to Peru with my church for a missions trip in Lima, Peru. We went into a small village, which was completely different than what I was expecting.
We were walking around the homes, and the dirt roads between the two "buildings" were only about 5 feet wide. The houses were basically just aluminum structures. There were clothes lines strung between the houses, with kids running around and the roads with chickens and other animals. Some of the families invited us into their homes and cooked us dinner; their houses were about the size of my kitchen, but housed families of five. The food they served us was amazing; we had lots of chicken and rice, but it was so good.
It was a life-changing experience. That was just a little bit of what we experienced.
We stayed in a cute little hotel-like place; every single morning, they would cook us breakfast, which included a fried egg, toast and some chicken (I think). Our group was large enough where we basically occupied the entire place. The coolest part of the place I thought was the roof; we were able to climb up to the roof and sit up there each night. It was gorgeous and overlooked the city, and one night, my friend and I stayed up there to look at the stars that lit up the sky.
One of my favorite things about their culture was how they greeted people. What I remember was when you were in a group talking and someone new would join the group, the conversation would stop and the new person was introduced to the group. It was a personal introduction, as well as you'd touch your cheeks against each other. It was so personable and you felt a connection with each person you met.
I'd love to go back there to see Machu Picchu and walk the Inca trail. There's much more I'd like to see and experience the culture even more.
We were walking around the homes, and the dirt roads between the two "buildings" were only about 5 feet wide. The houses were basically just aluminum structures. There were clothes lines strung between the houses, with kids running around and the roads with chickens and other animals. Some of the families invited us into their homes and cooked us dinner; their houses were about the size of my kitchen, but housed families of five. The food they served us was amazing; we had lots of chicken and rice, but it was so good.
It was a life-changing experience. That was just a little bit of what we experienced.
We stayed in a cute little hotel-like place; every single morning, they would cook us breakfast, which included a fried egg, toast and some chicken (I think). Our group was large enough where we basically occupied the entire place. The coolest part of the place I thought was the roof; we were able to climb up to the roof and sit up there each night. It was gorgeous and overlooked the city, and one night, my friend and I stayed up there to look at the stars that lit up the sky.
One of my favorite things about their culture was how they greeted people. What I remember was when you were in a group talking and someone new would join the group, the conversation would stop and the new person was introduced to the group. It was a personal introduction, as well as you'd touch your cheeks against each other. It was so personable and you felt a connection with each person you met.
I'd love to go back there to see Machu Picchu and walk the Inca trail. There's much more I'd like to see and experience the culture even more.
Monday, October 25, 2010
#16 - Go fishing and eat my own catch
I grew up, making fishing a part of life. Thanks to my dad. In talking to my mom, we think that my dad had my brother and I go fishing with him, just because he wanted to go fishing - someone to be around for his hobby. Yet, I really do like fishing.
I remember when I was in early elementary school, my dad took my brother out to a fishing camp. There weren't that many people at this camp, yet there were a ton of workers there - so basically, everybody got their own fishing guide. My dad let my brother go off on his own with one of the guides, while my dad and I went off with another one. There I remember one of the times we went out, it was just my dad and I at the time, and I caught 13 fish, while he caught one. Yeah, definitely something I never let him forget. :)
But of all the fishing trips my dad and I did together, I loved our fly-in trips. I was able to do two fly-in fishing trips with my dad.
The first one, I was in middle school - the summer between 7th and 8th grade. My dad didn't tell me what all was included in a fly-in trip. I quickly learned as I stepped off the plane that toilets and showers were non-existent for the next week. While I adapted to an outhouse, there is nothing like going out on a lake with absolutely nobody around you for miles. We were the only ones out on the lake; seeing the natural beauty around us was amazing. Then catching fish was fantastic - it was like they were just waiting for you to drop your line. It felt like you were catching fish before even baiting your line; they might as well have just jumped into the boat. Ah, there's nothing like fresh fish. Every meal was walleye or northern. So good. I absolutely love walleye.
The second one was right after graduating high school. Here, my dad taught me how to gut/fillet a fish. He and my brother had gone on another fly-in trip with a few of my cousins. The guy who flew them in was an Indian who lived just a ways down from where they flew in. He taught my dad, brother and cousins how to gut a fish and get the perfect fillet. So my dad showed me how to do it at this trip. I'd love to have the opportunity to do that again - that was over seven years ago, so hopefully I can try it again and see if I still remember how to do that. This trip, I was able to go with a few of my other Portland cousins, as well as my brother. It was kind of funny, because we did the food shopping basically before we left - it was a bit of a last minute shopping. As soon as we stepped off of the plane, I think we (or I) realized that our shopping was a bit...off. All of a sudden I realized we had a couple cases of beer, a case of pop....and like six bottles of water. And really not that much extra food. We finished it all basically within the first few days, so every morning we'd wake up and the goal was to go catch food for the day. I just remember being in the middle of the lake with my dad, blue skies, sun shining down, and all of the fish around just waiting to be our lunch. That was a great week with my family.
I remember when I was in early elementary school, my dad took my brother out to a fishing camp. There weren't that many people at this camp, yet there were a ton of workers there - so basically, everybody got their own fishing guide. My dad let my brother go off on his own with one of the guides, while my dad and I went off with another one. There I remember one of the times we went out, it was just my dad and I at the time, and I caught 13 fish, while he caught one. Yeah, definitely something I never let him forget. :)
But of all the fishing trips my dad and I did together, I loved our fly-in trips. I was able to do two fly-in fishing trips with my dad.
The first one, I was in middle school - the summer between 7th and 8th grade. My dad didn't tell me what all was included in a fly-in trip. I quickly learned as I stepped off the plane that toilets and showers were non-existent for the next week. While I adapted to an outhouse, there is nothing like going out on a lake with absolutely nobody around you for miles. We were the only ones out on the lake; seeing the natural beauty around us was amazing. Then catching fish was fantastic - it was like they were just waiting for you to drop your line. It felt like you were catching fish before even baiting your line; they might as well have just jumped into the boat. Ah, there's nothing like fresh fish. Every meal was walleye or northern. So good. I absolutely love walleye.
The second one was right after graduating high school. Here, my dad taught me how to gut/fillet a fish. He and my brother had gone on another fly-in trip with a few of my cousins. The guy who flew them in was an Indian who lived just a ways down from where they flew in. He taught my dad, brother and cousins how to gut a fish and get the perfect fillet. So my dad showed me how to do it at this trip. I'd love to have the opportunity to do that again - that was over seven years ago, so hopefully I can try it again and see if I still remember how to do that. This trip, I was able to go with a few of my other Portland cousins, as well as my brother. It was kind of funny, because we did the food shopping basically before we left - it was a bit of a last minute shopping. As soon as we stepped off of the plane, I think we (or I) realized that our shopping was a bit...off. All of a sudden I realized we had a couple cases of beer, a case of pop....and like six bottles of water. And really not that much extra food. We finished it all basically within the first few days, so every morning we'd wake up and the goal was to go catch food for the day. I just remember being in the middle of the lake with my dad, blue skies, sun shining down, and all of the fish around just waiting to be our lunch. That was a great week with my family.
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