Photos

Woohoo, now I have 600 or more photos to either organise into albums, or scrapbook... kill me now, lol. Scrapbooking is torture, but I am determined to use the album that I got on sale from like, $50 down to $2. Bargain :)

Anyway, at some point I will definitely put some pictures up on my blog. My computer at home is really slow, REALLY slow, so I always have to give up before they are posted... Tragic really.

Brain splitting in half...

Although it's probably not as neat as clean halves...
So. The early stages of being back in Oz are not looking too good. I haven't got much to do, and the pessimistic side of my brain is having a field day due to the fact that confusion is now running amok. Hmm.

So, I'm trying to find work as well as what God wants with my life, and it seems as though the two are mutually exclusive (and both pending an answer) for some reason. It would be good to go back to Regent Park and hang there for a while, but I am broke, and thus have no way of getting there, and no means of supporting myself once I'm there.

Fiona's idea was for me to get any job, and then come over to Canada on a working holiday visa and find work there. Unfortunately it turns out that I would still have no job support here in Australia, and that would mean trying to subsist off dodgy factory hand jobs until I get some better qualifications/work.

I would REALLY like to move so that I could be part of a church where I could have input and accountability. And where I can trust the teaching to be biblical. Not being a complete nigel all week, except for 2 hours on a Sunday would also be brilliant.

Anyway, I am looking into Civil Engineering/Architecture/Drafting, or maybe Graphic Design as something I could get into. I think Civil Engineering might use some of the stuff I have already studied, so yeah. I really HOPE that I'm not missing something better God has for me - the whole struggling with the faith/trust vs responsible steward conundrum. But I'm trying to be responsible with my finances and life AND obedient at the same time. I just can't hear if God is saying anything to me at the moment, and I need to earn some money.

I wish I could be part of a corps that has SAGALA, rather than just parachute in to a couple of corps to lend a hand.

Others

I can't get it out of my head. "Others" - being the theme for the SAROOTS conference I attended in Canada just before I left.

And now that I am back in suburban Brisbane, it is weird that I will go to church tomorrow, and then have to work to find things to do all week. At Regent Park, Sunday afternoon church really was incidental to the whole rest of the week. Even if I was only an extra pair of hands :) Jack of all trades :)

Where Would Jesus Live? (Geoff mate, you're a pain :)) Where will I live and what work will I do? At the moment, the answer to that is a) at home and b) I don't know yet - I haven't started applying. Where can I be useful? It's kind of annoying that I memorised Isaiah 58 - I keep thinking the words "... and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed" because it is so hard to find any way of doing that in Suburbia. And if I can find some sorry excuse for "fighting injustice" out here, it pales in comparison to the injustice I know must exist elsewhere. So I would just be kidding myself!! Not that I am meaning to be judgmental about any social justice efforts that people here are doing. But it's just that I'm trying to find what I can do with my life - career, job, whatever; and how I can use (and not waste) my abilities. And Jesus says all that stuff about sacrifice - If you lose your life for my sake you will find it. If you want to follow me, you have to give up what you want. And we are meant to follow Jesus, and his life lead to, funnily enough, "spending himself in behalf of the hungry" - day in and day out. And death. But I know he wants his gifts to be used as well. ICK. I don't know.

Maybe (hopefully) my brain will resolve something eventually...

Australia

I am back in Oz...

It was great! It's pretty much the first time that my suitcases have ever beaten me out of the airport. Usually I have to wait 45 minutes... but no, they were out before me. Then I had so much to declare - the Kiwi's allow you to take like, 3 bottles of spirits and 6 bottles of wine out duty free from New Zealand, but they neglect to mention that Australia only allows you to take in 2250mL - which is 3 x 750mL bottles. I had 4. And I had declared them, being the honest individual I am - along with some shells I picked up, some chocolate I had brought, and the fact that I had been near fields with sheep in them. Then I found out that if you have over the amount of alcohol or tobacco that they will then charge you the taxes not only on the bottles over the limit, but on ALL the alcohol and/or tobacco you have!!!!

That's fully retarded. I was sorely tempted to LIE LIE LIE. But I didn't. I left my declaration as it was, and thank goodness the chick was lenient, and let me off with a warning. And my shells and sheep field expeditions were all fine as well. I love Australian customs. Or maybe I am just relieved that I didn't have to cough up any more cash after my surprise $25 NZD departure tax. Seriously New Zealand!! Everywhere else manages to include it in the airline tickets. WHY must you be difficult??!!!

Anyway, my mum, dad and grandad all met me at the airport, and it was all sweet.

My thoughts after being back here have REVOLVED around a scripture verse I think from The Message. Every time I am tempted to be like, "ahhh, back where things are familiar" or to just relax cos I know how things are here, this verse pops into my head. Every time.

...Don't become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking....

And it's a constant annoyance not to. There I am, and I will want to sink back into the old "ah, I'm Australian! Here I belong... Yep, here's my country and my people. My wildlife. My trees, my weather, my culture. My accent, my slang..." But I can't do that. Because people elsewhere are my people too. And it's interesting that both these extremes are true - People everywhere are more alike than you'd expect. You meet people, and you find out that they are just that - people. But then, other cultures can be more different than you'd expect too. And you will expect people to be the same as you in ALL ways when you find out that 'all peoples are similar', only to be surprised by another unexpected corner that makes them more different. picture pending...

Kiwiland

That was a couple of days ago, but I thought I would split up the blog, lol.

So New Zealand was awesome, but the verdict is in - the south island is better. Probably because I like mountains. Although we did get a great view of Mt Ruapehu from Taupo. "We" being Kate Park and myself :)

So we started in Auckland, then went out to Taupo to spend the night on Sunday, and from there to Rotorua for an afternoon, and back to Auckland. Then the next day was a day trip to the Waitomo glow worm caves, which was really pretty. On Wednesday we checked out Auckland, went to Mission Bay and ate fish and chips (it was FREEZING, lol) and then saw Pirates of the Caribbean 3 in the evening. And we flew out on Thursday morning.

So it was back to the southern hemisphere for me. I was giggling over every small thing - peoples' accents, being on the left side of the road; and I was thrilled in the grocery store! I swear - kid in a candy store. They have an AISLE of awesome chocolate!!! Real bread!! Sausages! Biscuits and cordial!! AND meat pies!!! mmm meat pies... I'm not even kidding - I was so thrilled to be in a grocery store - "Foodmart" it was called.

I kept expecting to see squirrels... And a guy from Cambridge (UK) asked me where in England I was from. No Canadian accent, but apparently I have a genuine British accent... Interesting...

I wanted to see the Southern Cross... but every night was cloudy... not cool.
Anyway, I watched Letters from Iwo Jima on the flight back to Oz... (I saw Blades of Glory on the Pacific Ocean leg of my flight, yay!) and landed safely in Brizvegas....

Picture 1 is in Rotorua, Pic 2 is me and Kate on a hill near Auckland, and Pic 3 is the skytower in Auckland. Just like a mini CN tower. Awww.