blog revival in a land "down under"

We landed in Perth four days ago, after a relatively smooth journey (YYC --> YVR --> SYD --> PER, approximately 1 + 15 + 4.5 hours of air time). I think it's probably the longest trip I've taken, but it didn't feel terribly long, so that was nice.

Since I haven't blogged in about 4 years or so, I thought this would probably be as good an opportunity as any to (at least temporarily) revive this thing. But I make no promises, maybe this will be the only post for the whole trip. Hah. I felt that there are lots of things I want to share, but facebook/instagram for whatever reason don't feel like the right places to do them. Also, this has the benefit of being quickly scannable (unlike a video, unless you play it at 2x speed, but yea I've never had success with vlogs so that was also off the table). Okay, enough rambling. Let's recap what has happened since landing! (Oh, since I realized that this is technically still a public sort of thing, I'll just use letters for people. Unless I come up with amazing code names at some point. In which case, this will get extra confusing to read.)

We got picked up from the airport by sister E and her daughter, Z. I haven't seen them in 8 years (they left Calgary in 2010, I believe) so it was really nice to see them. We brought our stuff to their house, which is really beautiful, and after a quick tea we went to the city. Perth, from what I've gathered, is really made up of a bunch of smaller suburbs and cities... but this concept makes no sense to me because Calgary is just one giant city with communities in it. I still have no idea if these are really separate cities with their own local government, or if they just call themselves a city but they're actually still all part of Perth. Anyway, we went to the "downtown" area (known as the CBD [central business district], in Australian ... lol). We walked around a little bit and then bought our "SmartRider" cards to use for transit. Transit here is expensive. More on that later.

After that, we went for lunch! What would you have for lunch right after landing in Australia? Kangaroo steak? Vegemite?

Nope, I'll have me some ramen !

and seared salmon sushi rolls!

and wagyu beef and salmon sashimi!

So if you know anything about my eating habits and preferences, you'll know I was a happy camper. 

This took enough time that we had to head back home so that sister E and Z could cook for the evening's meeting. They eat dinner together every week for their YP meeting (which I think is sweet but also seems very tiring and potentially not sustainable for serving ones/parents...). On our way home, we stopped by Coles to buy some groceries. It's kinda funny because to us, Coles is a bookstore... but here it's definitely a grocery store. We walked around to get a bit more familiar with Aussie groceries, and picked up some interesting TimTam flavours that I'm pretty sure we don't have back home. 

After going back home, taking a shower (an attempt to wake myself up, plus let's be real, I hadn't showered in a while) and cutting some fruit, we were off on our way to the meeting. It was quite nice; we had an enjoyable time "release-reading" (which many of us might think of when we hear "pray-reading" but it's a bit simpler) and singing some songs. We split into two groups after - high-schoolers (there is no junior high or middle school here, so high school starts around age 13) and uni/young working saints. I think all the students weren't around though, because July is a break between semesters. Oh, we also met a sister who knows my sister from when they were both in London (she was in the FTTL and my sister was short-terming). Anyway, the second part of the meeting was a bit of a blur... we prayed and read together, but while we were reading, I would sometimes blink and my eyes wouldn't open for a while. 

Needless to say, it was nice to sleep that night. 

But it was also good that we pushed ourselves to stay up during the day, because I think we adjusted to the time zone relatively quickly. The next morning, we went out for breakfast at a really cute cafe that was nearby (just randomly in the middle of suburbia). Perthians (I think Australians in general) also really like their coffee so I've been enjoying that too.

Should've taken more pictures but the food was too good...

Yum, flat white


Once we finished breakfast, we went to the meeting which was a combined meeting of all 3 districts. I suspect not everyone was around because of the aforementioned semester break, and I believe there was also some kind of national university conference in Sydney as well. It was good to meet with the saints and enjoy the Lord's table together. 

We went out for lunch after the meeting, this time to a Vietnamese restaurant (all of my favourite things, seriously...). Also, sister E spoiled us by feeding us all this good food. She told me that hopefully if my family (extended family) hears about it, maybe they will come and visit. (hint hint.) 

Alright, this is getting long and my battery is dying so... tune in next time to hear about our airbnb, or Curtin University, or some other adventures here in Western Australia.

1 comments:

Lanie said...

Enjoyed the blog, keep us posted. Atsi might have baby today, July 11th

on faith, food and flying
The thoughts and experiences of a college kid on faith, love and life in pursuit of Christ, the loveliest One, while enjoying misadventures and quests for food, which so happen to take her around the world.
 
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