Beginning of Day 3: Awoken by the Rainforest

This morning at 8 a.m. I awoke thinking I was in the rain forest. Birds have been squawking SO loudly... so I decided to just succumb to their insistencey and wake up.
So anyway, after orientation yesterday, we ventured into the city of North Sydney. It was only about 1:00 pm and all of the bars were full of people, mostly middle-aged business people. We went to a restaurant with a super nice waitress and ordered burgers, which were a little different, but good. The coke, on the other hand, not so good. Then we got our bus/train/ferry passes for 3 months ($325 American for unlimited rides) and hopped on a bus back to our suburbs. Tyler and I live closest to each other, so we walked back together, getting minorly lost, which was kind of fun. He found a phone card that is $10 for 2,000 minutes to the US, so I think I will buy that today, but you can only call from landlines, so I will need to set up something to use the cell phone Stephanie left here for me.
When I got back to the house, I played Wii and Harry Potter Scene-It with the kids, and then got ready to go out with the boys. After I got ready though, I found out that Tyler wasn't going to be able to go, which would mean walking quite a ways by myself, in the rain, with no umbrella. So I opted out of that. Maybe we'll try again tonight. Not sure what the plan is for today, but I probably should get out of bed and get moving... now that the birds have finally stopped...

Is it really only the end of Day 2?

Wow... today seemed like 3 days in one... It's only 10:36 pm, but seems like so much later...
I suppose I'll continue with what I left off on last night. We had schnitzel for dinner (which I had only previously heard of in the song from the Sound of Music... Alec thought it was hysterical that I didn't know what it is), which ended up being breaded chicken... tasted just like at home, plus an addition of lemon, which made it extra tasty. After dinner, I watched the movie "Fracture" with my host dad, Matthew, and struggled to keep my eyes awake. I finished off the night by starting to read Kite Runner, and then slept like a rock until the kids started getting ready for school in the morning. Rebecca plays the trombone, Alex the trumpet, and band is at 7:15 am... I can't picture sitting in front of Gary at that time... we never would have made it.
It was raining hard this morning when I woke up, and so I dressed in jeans (yes mom, I have started to wear my jeans already... I only have 1 clean pair left... may have to purchase some here because of this unseasonably cold weather!) and a zip-up. Just last week they were having a heat wave with temperatures around 100 degrees F.
Michelle drove me to campus where I met up with the boys and we had a short orientation with Chris, the man who met us at the airport. We also met Lew, who reminds me of Uncle David, who is going to be taking us on the trip to the Blue Mountains Feb. 28 - March 1. The trip sounds really great, but it is going to include a 4 mile hike, which I am a little worried about. Hopefully I'll be slightly more in shape by then. The place will be staying is a bed and breakfast that Lew owns (http://www.silvermere.com.au/index.htm).
More to come... my battery is dying and I am too comfortable in bed to plug it in. Sorry!

The Beginning

"This is the start of something good... don't you agree?"
- Gavin DeGraw

As I opened up the window of the airplane and saw the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen, all I could think was the above quote from "Follow Through" by Gavin DeGraw. I've arrived, safe and sound, in Sydney!
The plane ride was smooth -- fell asleep for most of it, which was good, because I am not feeling the effects of jet lag at all. On the flight in, I was able to see the Sydney Harbor Bridge and Opera House.

I met up with the international adviser and we had to wait an hour for the boys to arrive. We are going to be spending more time together than I had anticipated, but it seems like we will have a good time together. We took a van to the school where we were met by our host families. It turns out that one of the other students is staying with my host mom's mother.
My mother, Michelle, brought me back to the house, which is really pretty. I unpacked, showered (felt SO good -- their shower is like a whole room!), and then went to pick the kids (Rebecca (age 11) and Alex (age 9)) up from school.
When we got to the school, there were tons of kids running around in uniforms, which included floppy hats... so adorable... Michelle already mentioned to the other parents that I babysit! Alec and Rebecca are great... running around chasing each other at the moment, but normally, great.
We'll have dinner together tonight, and then I might go hang out with the boys. Most of the host families live in the same area, which will be fun. Tomorrow we register for classes (which I won't really be doing), and then we have the weekend off. Monday we travel to the other campus, Tuesday we have off, and then Wed. - Fri. we have our intensive culture class. Then, Monday the 23rd I start my internship!
I'll update more later, maybe with some pictures!

Wordless

I am wordless (the blogging form of speechless?) with one day left at home. How do I have only one day left at home? How do I treat that day? I am filling it with packing, a trip to GHS, seeing Jocelynn and Grandma Wheeler, and going to Gianni's basketball game with mom, Joce, Frank and Grandma... I know it is stupid, and it's not that big of a deal, I will be back in 4 1/2 short months... 127 long days... but wow... it should make for an emotional day.

Confession: I used to cry while brushing my teeth practically every time it was my last night home before going back to Marist freshman year. I don't know what it was about brushing my teeth that made it hit me that I was leaving, but without fail, no sooner would the Aim toothpaste hit my toothbrush (I currently can't think of how to word this expression... I probably should delete the sentence, but I like the beginning of it...).

Anyway, what I am trying to say, is that tomorrow may be a tearful day for me. Cross your fingers I make it through without getting a crying headache.

5 More Days!

They misunderestimated me.

- George W. Bush, Bentonville, Ark., Nov. 6, 2000

Only 5 more days of having a man in office who made us the laughing stock of the world.
In an AP article by Ben Feller, it was written:

Bush and his loyal backers see his record this way: He kept the country safe from attack after terrorism redefined his presidency, cut taxes, freed the people of Afghanistan and Iraq, reformed education, oversaw 52 straight months of job growth, acted decisively when the economy tanked, stuck to principle no matter what his poll numbers, retooled the military and improved federal crisis management after the worst U.S. natural disaster happened on his watch.

To his critics, Bush wasted the world's goodwill after the Sept. 11 attacks, got the nation into a catastrophic and avoidable Iraq war, presided over a staggering 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008, ran up debt, reacted slowly to Hurricane Katrina, did more dividing than uniting and refused to listen to the will of the people.

Funny how different perspectives tell different stories of the same events...

I took a survey the other day about Obama, and how much change I think he can accomplish in his first 100 days in office. I wasn't entirely sure about that first 100 days, but I truly have hope for his presidency. When I watched his acceptance speech, I felt it. I don't even know what it was that I felt, can't put a name to it, but I felt it.

And at the same time, others are fearing for our future. Only time will tell, and until then, we have to trust that things will get better. In the words of our great leader,

There's a huge trust. I see it all the time when people come up to me and say,

'I don't want you to let me down again.'

- George W. Bush, Boston, Mass., Oct. 3, 2000

Doing something that matters

The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success.
Henry Ward Beecher

I want to do something that matters.
I don't want to write for a newspaper. So many times, it includes writing articles that people have already written, asking questions I already know the answers to, talking to people whose answers are scripted, rather than honest.
I don't want to be a travel writer. What is the point of getting to travel to exotic locations and write an article that 200 people might skim? Even I don't read articles in their entirety; why should I expect other people to read my work?
There are so many more important things that need to be done in this world, and I want to find some way to start getting these things done. I want to do more than to just find something I enjoy and make a job out of it. I want to find something I enjoy doing and use those skills to help other people. Maybe that will be creating publications for non-profit organizations, maybe tutoring children from impoverished areas... who knows...

A Sampling of Images From the Year

My future neighbors

LAS E-Board on Halloween

Amanda and I in Texas for the Honors Conference

Flor, Amanda and I at the "6-D What Not To Wear Party"

Alex and I on a picnic

Road trip to CT with Tonya!

Tonya's birthday party

Summer days babysitting Holden

Florida vacation - artsy shot

Armani, Gianni and I in Florida

Sunbathing sisters

Julia and I in San Francisco

"Happy is what happens when all your dreams come true..."

We come. We go. And in between we try to understand.
Rod Steiger

I'm in a strange place right now. It is the end of the first day of potentially the best year of my life. Behind me, I have Ballston Spa, Dante Rasera, my old house, Jo-Jo, Galway, Matt Gayken, Mrs. Koines' couch, "firsts," a mile time under 11 minutes, a 206% English average, soc-hops, kisses, bus rides, band trips, innocence, plays, Nick, graduation, Poughkeepsie, Steven, Kelly, band, LAS as we know it, etc.
Ahead of me, I have Australia, internships, adventures, travelling, New Zealand, new foods, new friends, new relationships, senior year of college (ahh! how did this happen?!), graduation, job-searching, and then... the real world. Which, the more I see of it, the less I'm looking forward to it.
We had dinner with one of my sister's married girl friends the other night, and she was miserable. It reminded me of the song from Wicked, "Thank Goodness":

GLINDA
Yes -
We couldn't be happier,
Right, dear?
Couldn't be happier
Right here
Look what we've got
A fairy-tale plot
Our very own happy ending
Where we couldn't be happier -
True, dear?
Couldn't be happier
And we're happy to share
Our ending vicariously
With all of you
He couldn't look handsomer
I couldn't feel humbler
We couldn't be happier
Because happy is what happens
When all your dreams come true!

Sung in a sarcastic tone, the girl who seemingly got everything she wanted isn't as happy as she expected she would be. And I'm afraid of that happening to all of us. What if that perfect husband-job-apartment-house-dog-children plan isn't all it's cracked up to be. What if we get it all, and are still unhappy. What is missing from my sister's friend's life that is leaving her unsatisfied and bored? How do I prevent that from happening to me? How do I help my sister and friends so that it doesn't happen to them? We shouldn't have to convince ourselves that we are happy, like Glinda was doing in the song.