My Life Down Under

July 20, 2010

I had not considered writing a blog until a friend asked if I was writing about my experiences, so here it is.

I am in Sydney Australia, visiting my daughter, Sarah, while she is attending Hillsong International College. Sarah has an emphasis on "Worship" in her studies. She has been here for one year and 3 days. I arrived a week ago on July 12. Sarah met me at the airport. My sons, Jordan and Kenneth, and friends, Bruce, Linda, and Micah had dropped me off at the Portland airport July 10. I had a two hour flight from Portland to San Francisco, followed by a 14 hr flight to Sydney, arriving "2 days" later because of crossing the international dateline. I totally missed July 11 and will experience 2 July 31 dates.

It has been an absolute blessing and joy to be with Sarah and to meet her many friends. At times it has been down right overwhelming trying to remember names and the country each one is from. Sarah lives with another American, 2 women from New Caledonia, and a young woman from Switzerland. One night last week, we had Korean and Swiss German food for dinner. The Korean food was prepared by a former housemate who is from Korea, and the Swiss German meal was prepared by a young Swiss woman who had been visiting.

One of the biggest challenges is realizing it is winter down here and summer at home in Turner. It's hard to wrap my mind around "winter in July". I have so much to share in this blog, I should have started a week ago. It has taken a good week for me to overcome jetlag. I will continue as time allows.... :)