WORLD YOUTH DAY
Each day was a new adventure, so we shall take this one day at a time…
That morning we were up and off fairly early in the morning, getting, for the first time to use our pilgrim passes which allowed us free public transportation (that sure was nice!). We set off to the city and as we rode on the bus, John Paul played his guitar and we sang songs, which I am pretty sure annoyed some of the bus riders. But let’s face it: we were just trying to break them in for the rest of the week!
The idea was to go to Circular Quay and join the Journey of the Cross and Icon there as it made its last leg of the trip through Sydney. However, we got there a bit late, and we didn’t actually know where we were going to meet up with it, but as soon as we got off the bus and walked around the corner, there was stream of people walking right down one of the middle streets of Sydney, and the Cross and Icon were right amidst them! It was perfect timing. As we walked down Pitt Street, around 12noon on a Monday, the office workers were lining the streets, looking out windows, standing in doorways, all filled with wonder, or scorn, or joy, or pride, or curiosity at the hundreds (maybe thousands) of international pilgrims who had already flooded the city and were now making such a ruckus about two pieces of wood and a picture. I saw one boy standing on a bench and jumping up and down waving at everyone who walked past: he looked like he could use a bit of Jesus in his life. I hope the week did something for him!
It was beautiful to see the smiles that began to light people’s faces - people who, for months had heard of this World Youth Day, this event which would make their daily commutes an inconvenience and keep them locked in their homes at night. I think it was at that point that many of our on-lookers began to see just what WYD was all about, and realized they didn’t actually mind so much.
O, and remember those rosaries I was making to hand out? I had them hanging out of my backpack because if I didn’t, how were they going to stay untangled? Well, on our little walk behind the Cross and Icon I was stopped by a reporter who interviewed me about them! I was mentioned in the paper that Wednesday as “the girl from Indianapolis”. Sweet!
We followed the cross to a park near Central Station where there was prayer, song, and veneration, and Rachel and I took off to meet the others over by St. Mary’s Cathedral. We walked all around the Cathedral, meandered through Hyde Park, and then walked down to Darling Harbor, in search of the team, but it was a bit hopeless with so many people milling around. I met a few Americans - that’s because I was proudly parading the streets with my mini-flag in hand. We also met a few boys from New Zealand…so many people and languages and countries everywhere! It was really exciting. And it was only Monday! WYD hadn’t even started!
We made our way home in time for a rehearsal for catechesis…what a stress that whole ordeal was. Not just the rehearsals but the actual days of catechesis themselves. I can honestly say that it was my worst and least favorite part of WYD, and that I would not willingly go through the process again. However, that is a matter not to mentioned much, and in as positive a manner as possible.
After all our agony over the music, etc., a few of us who had the energy (or just needed to get out of the house and away from the team…) went down to Hyde Park around 11:30, where a small gathering of people was waiting to see the WYD countdown clock change over to 0 days to go - it was so exciting! Quite a few of my friends were there, so it was a nice change to the pace of the evening, and just before midnight, we all counted down from 10, 9, 8... And at 12am, it changed from saying “1 day to go” to saying “G’day!” It was so unexpected, I just jumped for joy and screamed! WYD was finally here! All that we had been working for, all the effort we had put in was finally coming to its fulfillment, and what a better way to welcome it all than with Australia’s own welcoming phrase! For the rest of the week, the sign stood reading “G’day Pilgrims!” You know, when I first arrived here there were 366 days to go. What a sight to see that it was here!
Well, you would think I would end the day here by saying we went home and had a good night’s sleep before the real WYD began, but that is not how the day ended. In fact, much more was to happen before we would see the dawn of July 15th.
We made our way back to Central Station, wondering if we would be able to catch a bus home at that hour, and as we arrived and were greeted by a few others going our same way, the timetable read, to our dismay, that there were no more busses for the evening. Well, it wasn’t too much of a problem for us, since a few people had stayed at home: one of them could just come pick us up! No worries. Until…
Out of Central Station came a large group of Papua New Guineans, affectionately called the PNGs. There were about 30 of them in the group, and they too were heading out towards the Eastern Suburbs, where they were staying for the week, just one suburb away from ours! That meant they would need some alternative mode of transportation as well if the bus wasn’t coming…we looked at each other, the impossible solution crossing our minds, but all of us knowing it would have to be so: we would have to give them a ride, and that would take several trips. However a small miracle occurred - out of nowhere, a bus appeared…a bus we referred to as the “mystery bus” or the “ghost bus”. We thought everything was solved! However, the bus driver would not let all the pilgrims on with all their bags, so on went the pilgrims, but left on the curb were about 60 pieces of PNG luggage. Two trips later the luggage was delivered at their site of accommodation - could have been worse making those trips with people!
But speaking of people, you might be wondering what happened next, because see, the bus didn’t actually go to the exact location they were heading towards, just in the general vicinity. Rather than making them walk the distance, a few of people went with them and got them off just near our house, where we began using a few cars to shuttle them back to the church at which they were staying. By this point, it was about 2am. However, there was this new spirit keeping all of us awake - on this, I speak for myself, but I’m sure the others would agree. We had been very tired, exhausted really, and greatly looking forward to flopping into bed, but until those who were in need of a bed received one, we would not rest either.
It took a while, but around 3am, we were finally done with our transport, and so much were we filled with our 2nd winds that we stuck around for a few minutes to chat with the pilgrims. One of the pilgrims, when we had gotten in the car I was driving, had been wearing a little bush around his neck…it smelled a bit strange, and I wondered how he got it through customs, but there it was none the less. I asked a few questions about it, like what was it called, and if I could remember the big word he said, I would tell you. But the beautiful thing about it was, that whatever its significance for this man, at the end of the car ride, he took it off and offered to me. I wore it with pride for the rest of the night! Then, just before we left to finally go home, he came up and told me his name was Clement and asked me if he could have my address. There are a few beautiful things about this request, the main one being that I realized he wanted my address because there was no other mode of communication where he was from. All they can do is write and receive letters, and that probably isn’t the quickest of processes, either.
That made me think about something else though: these people, who had nothing but pen and paper to use to communicate with the world, had somehow made their way to Sydney, Australia to join the world in a celebrate of their faith. Some of them had probably saved for 3 years just to have enough for their airfare. I later read a newspaper article about the trouble these pilgrims had with their passports and visas, and then with flights to and from PNG, and that tells nothing of the trouble these poor people had getting around Australia, some of which I was a first-hand witness. Yet despite it all, their spirits were not dampened, and I‘m sure the experience they had is one they will remember for the rest of their lives: they will tell these stories for years to come. It was so special to see the simplicity and joy with which these people had come to WYD, and to be a small part of the their pilgrim experience was a true blessing for me.
As I snuggled into my bed that night, even though I knew only a few hours of sleep lay ahead of me, I was sure that any fatigue I would feel would be outweighed by the richness of such a night well spent. If this was the beginning, what treasures lay in store for the rest of the week!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Sunday, August 17, 2008
LOCKDOWN
8 days to go before WYD, we began a period of time I like to call “lockdown.” See, the CYS house became somewhat like a well-furnished prison during that week. For three days I did not leave the house as I along with a few others, practiced and practiced and practiced for our catechesis site. The music needed so much preparation, I was really quite exasperated at the process! We spent the Wednesday traveling to our catechesis site (they let us out of the prison!) to check out the venue and rehearse a bit there to have a feel for the area.
Friday before WYD began, we again were let out of the house to see an unveiling at the Cathedral. It was absolutely stunning - the unveiling was of a painting called “Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians” I will post a picture of the art work, because words could never do it justice. The small crowd that had gathered for the event let out a collective sigh of astonishment and admiration for the lovely scene painted in honor of Mary, the Mother of God.
On Saturday, we were finally winding down the preparation and gearing up for the actual coming of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. I went that day and met up with Katie, who you may have heard me mention before - she went to Millikin, but we didn’t know each other until we both ended up in Sydney to study last year. She has returned Down Under to begin her post-graduate studies at the University of New South Wales, which isn’t too far from where I live! It was nice to catch up with her - seeing a familiar face is always a good thing!
That night our house began to fill with pilgrims as two Filipinos from Brisbane came to stay with us, along with Carrie, who is a new friend from Kansas City! Carrie and I had lots to talk about because she spent a year here in Australia traveling around on a NET team, so she could certainly relate to the various trials and tribulations I am going through. It was really nice to have someone say, “I understand, because I’ve been there.”
She stayed with us for a few days until her pilgrim group arrived from the States, so it was nice to have her around! I ran into her a couple times throughout WYD week (that’s the funny thing about it - there were 300,000 pilgrims milling around at any given time and I kept bumping into people I know! Providence made visible.) and I do hope I see her again in the States! We’ve decided to get together at some point to have ice cream. How far is KC from Indy? It wouldn’t be too far to drive for an ice cream date, would it?
We also got to greet about 120 pilgrims from Northwest Australia that day as well because they all stayed at St. Anthony’s Primary School, which is on the same grounds as our house. They were really lovely people, and most of them had never been to Sydney, had never been out of their part of the world, which is a remote and exotic part of the world from the sounds of it! Some of the group were from a place called Balgo, which is a 12 hour drive from any major point of civilization. Right smack in the middle of the desert they said. Can you imagine being out there! It would be neat to see, but would it really be neat to live there? It would be interesting, that’s for sure.
We spent Sunday at a Scalabrinian event, and even though an entire day of my life was consumed with selling WYD merchandise at their gathering, I have no idea who the Scalabrinians are or what it means to be one…there were lots of non-English speaking people there, though. Italians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Puerto Ricans, other South Americans….probably others I missed. It was quite a big event, but yeah, I’m still not sure what it was all about. There we were anyway.
Now in between all these things I was busily making rosary after rosary from twine, and then tagging them with a little card that said my name, and had my email. By the end of it I had about 50 and these I gave out throughout the week of WYD to people I met and made a connection with, in hopes that through it we would stay in touch. At this point, I’ve only heard of a couple people, but that’s ok, because even if I never hear from most of the people, at least I’ve given them a symbol of our faith, in hopes they will use it and better their relationship with God. The exchange of information is really secondary to that!
The next day, with 1 day to go before WYD began, our pilgrimage began…
Stay posted, the good part's too come!
Friday before WYD began, we again were let out of the house to see an unveiling at the Cathedral. It was absolutely stunning - the unveiling was of a painting called “Our Lady of the Southern Cross, Help of Christians” I will post a picture of the art work, because words could never do it justice. The small crowd that had gathered for the event let out a collective sigh of astonishment and admiration for the lovely scene painted in honor of Mary, the Mother of God.
On Saturday, we were finally winding down the preparation and gearing up for the actual coming of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims. I went that day and met up with Katie, who you may have heard me mention before - she went to Millikin, but we didn’t know each other until we both ended up in Sydney to study last year. She has returned Down Under to begin her post-graduate studies at the University of New South Wales, which isn’t too far from where I live! It was nice to catch up with her - seeing a familiar face is always a good thing!
That night our house began to fill with pilgrims as two Filipinos from Brisbane came to stay with us, along with Carrie, who is a new friend from Kansas City! Carrie and I had lots to talk about because she spent a year here in Australia traveling around on a NET team, so she could certainly relate to the various trials and tribulations I am going through. It was really nice to have someone say, “I understand, because I’ve been there.”
She stayed with us for a few days until her pilgrim group arrived from the States, so it was nice to have her around! I ran into her a couple times throughout WYD week (that’s the funny thing about it - there were 300,000 pilgrims milling around at any given time and I kept bumping into people I know! Providence made visible.) and I do hope I see her again in the States! We’ve decided to get together at some point to have ice cream. How far is KC from Indy? It wouldn’t be too far to drive for an ice cream date, would it?
We also got to greet about 120 pilgrims from Northwest Australia that day as well because they all stayed at St. Anthony’s Primary School, which is on the same grounds as our house. They were really lovely people, and most of them had never been to Sydney, had never been out of their part of the world, which is a remote and exotic part of the world from the sounds of it! Some of the group were from a place called Balgo, which is a 12 hour drive from any major point of civilization. Right smack in the middle of the desert they said. Can you imagine being out there! It would be neat to see, but would it really be neat to live there? It would be interesting, that’s for sure.
We spent Sunday at a Scalabrinian event, and even though an entire day of my life was consumed with selling WYD merchandise at their gathering, I have no idea who the Scalabrinians are or what it means to be one…there were lots of non-English speaking people there, though. Italians, Mexicans, Brazilians, Puerto Ricans, other South Americans….probably others I missed. It was quite a big event, but yeah, I’m still not sure what it was all about. There we were anyway.
Now in between all these things I was busily making rosary after rosary from twine, and then tagging them with a little card that said my name, and had my email. By the end of it I had about 50 and these I gave out throughout the week of WYD to people I met and made a connection with, in hopes that through it we would stay in touch. At this point, I’ve only heard of a couple people, but that’s ok, because even if I never hear from most of the people, at least I’ve given them a symbol of our faith, in hopes they will use it and better their relationship with God. The exchange of information is really secondary to that!
The next day, with 1 day to go before WYD began, our pilgrimage began…
Stay posted, the good part's too come!
the calm before the storm
It seems there was a little of nothing and a lot of everything in the weeks prior to WYD. In mid-June, with one week of retreats to go, I got to catch up with Sarah and friends for her birthday - we had dinner in Newtown, which is the area I lived in last year, and would you believe one of my old classmates from Sydney Uni walked right by the restaurant where we were eating! I was so excited: he was one of the few people who I actually knew from class. Because the University of Sydney is so big, and the classes are mostly lectures, it was hard to make friends. It’s funny though because I realized that even though it might be nice to see those old acquaintances every now and then, I probably won’t ever go out of my way to catch up with them. People come and go from our lives: only the ones that matter will remain. Those are the people who become like family.
One day, a spiritual director for the team, Fr. Rob Stewart, who is a Capuchin Friar (an order of St. Francis), took us to see The Abbey at Jambaroo, which is a convent for Benedictine nuns. We were shown a bit around the grounds and were introduced to their way of life. The interesting thing about these nuns is that they take the three vows that almost all religious take of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but they also take a fourth vow of stability - they stay in the same place, at that Abbey in Jambaroo, Australia, for their entire lives. It is a beautiful place they live - a place of great peace and serenity. They spend their time in prayer, and the intentions they have taken on are the intentions of the world. It’s quite a heavy task they have in their care, wouldn’t you say?!
We hosted the Capuchin Friars for dinner that evening, which was lovely, of course. Who doesn’t want holy men eating dinner with them? The boys on team are quite possibly going to join these holy men next year - they are looking at entering the Capuchin order, and will move down to Melbourne in January, I think, to begin the process.
The next evening we hosted another little dinner party, this time for our spiritual directors, of course Fr. Rob being one (I think he was just mooching off us for food!) and Fr. Michael de Stoop, who I thank for my introduction to CYS.
I was a bit exhausted after those two dinners, followed by two retreats, but to relax and rejuvenate, Sharon, Cecilia, and I went to the Blue Mountains for the weekend.
It was a nice weekend away. We spent that Friday night up at Sharon’s house in Katoomba, and then on Saturday, I met up with Jenelle and spent all day with her and her family. I hadn’t seen them since I was newly arrived in the country - almost one year before! I suppose there will always be changes to observe but on the whole they are still the lovely people I remember them being - and of course they were lovely hosts. I don’t get to see Jenelle too much but when we do catch up, we talk for hours! She called me a few weeks ago to break some big news to me: she and her boyfriend of 5 years are engaged! I was told to pencil in a trip back to Australia sometime in 2010. I’m on it.
On Sunday, I met back up with Cecilia and Sharon for Mass and then a lazy day rolling every which way around the mountain town of Katoomba, going on little bushwalks and stopping at a “cult café” about 3 times. “cult café” = a café started by a cult that serves really good and cheap food…no religious beliefs are forced or induced upon entry or purchase of meal items. Although there was some funny tasting Brazilian spice/energy supplement in some of the lattes. If I can remember what it was called I shall warn you to avoid it. It’s an acquired taste…
I suppose it was then that the calm before the storm enveloped us. Monday, June 23, brought a surprise Theology on Tap which was filmed and reported on by Ray Martin. WOW! (Yeah, I don’t know who Ray Martin is either…) We went out to a school to promote WYD and do the Jesus Chant….we got a bit sick of doing that thing, because that Thursday we spent the entire day traipsing all over Sydney performing it for a camera: one of the tech-savvy guys on the team was attempting to produce a video of our little demo from different angles at various famous points in the city. I’m not sure how the final product turned out, but the fact that we haven’t seen it leads me to believe it may or may not have gone so well.
We were also recruited to help stuff showbags for Mary MacKillop Place - I may have mentioned before that Mary MacKillop is currently in the process of canonization, and when that comes through she will be the first Australian saint. Her final resting place is a beautiful complex on the north side of Sydney Harbor, and this was one of the pilgrim destinations during WYD, so of course they needed to have plenty of merchandise packed and ready to sell!
The last Friday in June brought some very special dinner guests to the house: the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia from Nashville, Tennessee! Of course you’ve heard me talk about these women before, the beautiful, radiant women they are - it was so wonderful to have them over for dinner! Everyone really enjoyed the night. I gave Southern cooking my best shot by making oven-fried chicken, homemade mac ‘n’ cheese, homemade buttermilk biscuits, peas, green beans, and a big salad, and Leoni contributed by making a recipe we found called “Nashville Fudge Pie”, which was so yummy! It turned out pretty well…at least I should hope it did - I spent 4 hours in the kitchen! The dining room looked really lovely as well - Penitito decorated it with the flags from the house. There was of course an Australian flag, a Guatemalan flag, a Samoan flag, and an American flag, newly shipped in from Mom - o and I served the Reese’s and Hershey’s bars she sent as part of dessert as well! They stayed for night prayer with us, and as we sent them off, everyone was sighing with full tummies how great a night it had been. Then a bunch of us sat around and watched an American football movie - it was such a great night for all the US citizens in the house! (just me? Ok….I’m allowed to be selfish once in a while, right?)
We had catechesis training the following day (even though it was Saturday!) but we were given Sunday and Monday off, so I caught up with a few girlfriends, and spent the night at Jovina’s. Where else do I go when I need to get out? Monday was very relaxing as I spent half the day reading on the beach…even though it’s winter, the sun still shines bright! That night I went to a fundraiser called Taki Taki - it was a last effort to raise money for Tongan pilgrims to come to WYD. The night proved to be really fun! Trivia, prizes, videos, performers….one of the trivia questions was “How many stripes are on the US flag? 13 or 15?” About half the room, mind you, said 15 and were therefore eliminated. That was the half of the room that was not standing by me, haha
We jumped right back into our preparations, which included some stressful music rehearsals, and with only 14 days before the big event kicked off, I was both anxious and ready for it all to be over! From a volunteer side of things….
That Wednesday we took the evening to all sit down together and watch the final State of Origin game - you may remember my last experience with the sport of Rugby League, and the knowledge that was bestowed upon me - which means I did somewhat enjoy this display of manly power…but NSW lost, which means there were a lot of unhappy people in the room. It was reminiscent of the feelings after the 2007 Superbowl, as I sat among the people of Chicago. A sad day indeed.
The 3rd of July brought a very wonderful event held on the campus of Notre Dame which was entitled “Love and Life - Live it!” and you might imagine it was fittingly named as it was hosted by the Sisters of Life from the Bronx! They shared the evening with us, telling us about their charism, the work they do, and some beautiful stories from their ministry. It was a special evening because just the day before, the body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian man who is also on the road to sainthood, was present in St. Benedict’s Church, which is at ND. He was one of the WYD patrons, and it was a beautiful and marvelous thing to have his very incorruptible body in our midst. The next day was his feast day, also a very special day in my own heart, the 4th of July, and attending his Mass, celebrated by the Cardinal, with his body on the side, it was all I could do to keep the tears welling up - his story is really incredible. We could all learn a lot from the example of Pier. Not to mention the fact that this man was quite attractive. Jovina reckons he’ll be the patron saint of good-looking people, haha!
So you might be wondering, besides attending a Mass in celebration of a dead, good-looking man, what else I occupied myself with on our nation’s independence day. Well that day was spent at a school which we do quite a few retreats for - it is an all girls high school, and that day was their school’s special celebration day (last day of term). They had a Mass, a few performances, a talent show, a beauty pageant, a really nice lunch, and of course, the reason we had to go, a little peek at the Jesus chant. We were in quite high demand for that!
I went from there to the Mass, and after Mass, as many Americans as we could gather went on the hunt for something American to eat for dinner. The little party included: the four Dominicans from Nashville, two Bazillian seminarians from Texas, Alana, myself, and Paul, who is from Paris. He just came because…because he wanted to. I think he’s a big fan of America. Well, and he lives in the same house as Alana, so that way they could go home together. Which, by the time we found somewhere to eat (we settled for pizza at a Turkish place) and then made our way to the train station, it was so late, and I was going to have to wait so long, alone, for a bus, I just went home with Alana and Paul as well! It was actually really nice spending time with them, and riding the train home with the Sisters as well. I was quite happy with the celebration!
Alana and I slugged around for most of that Saturday and then went down to the city, where the first physical signs of the approaching WYD were beginning to appear. The WYD superstore, located in Hyde Park and aptly titled “WYD on HYDE” opened on Saturday, July 5th, and so Alana and I took a bit of a gander around the store, only to be slightly disappointed with the somewhat strange range of apparel the company must have thought would sell. In the end, some of it did and some of it didn’t. Just as I suspected. It was exciting anyway to finally see a huge tent go up in Hyde Park, the center of Sydney, as the approaching WYD drew near.
For me, WYD began to sink in the next day. I met Jovi for coffee before Mass and as we walked into the Cathedral, we were stopped in our tracks by the heavenly sight of 47 Sisters of Life in perfect rows, kneeling in prayer. How special it was to see so many beautiful women, adorned in habits of blue and white, filling the pews of St. Mary’s. The Cardinal, who celebrated the Mass that morning, was certainly happy to see them - he only mentioned them three times during the celebration! Afterwards they filled the front steps as picture after picture was snapped of these faithful women. It was quite a sight to see.
After parting with a few friends and spending time with a few others in the WYD store, I got a call from the Dominican Sisters asking if I’d like to meet up with them, as two more Sisters had also arrived that day, on the same plan as the Sisters of Life! What a place the airport was to be! After a bit of discussing and planning, I found myself on a ferry over to Manly to meet the Dominicans for lunch and a stroll around the beach. Then I headed back to the city with them and exhausted, parted ways and went home to sleep. We had another big week ahead, and it wasn’t even WYD yet.
Stay posted, there’s more to come!
One day, a spiritual director for the team, Fr. Rob Stewart, who is a Capuchin Friar (an order of St. Francis), took us to see The Abbey at Jambaroo, which is a convent for Benedictine nuns. We were shown a bit around the grounds and were introduced to their way of life. The interesting thing about these nuns is that they take the three vows that almost all religious take of poverty, chastity, and obedience, but they also take a fourth vow of stability - they stay in the same place, at that Abbey in Jambaroo, Australia, for their entire lives. It is a beautiful place they live - a place of great peace and serenity. They spend their time in prayer, and the intentions they have taken on are the intentions of the world. It’s quite a heavy task they have in their care, wouldn’t you say?!
We hosted the Capuchin Friars for dinner that evening, which was lovely, of course. Who doesn’t want holy men eating dinner with them? The boys on team are quite possibly going to join these holy men next year - they are looking at entering the Capuchin order, and will move down to Melbourne in January, I think, to begin the process.
The next evening we hosted another little dinner party, this time for our spiritual directors, of course Fr. Rob being one (I think he was just mooching off us for food!) and Fr. Michael de Stoop, who I thank for my introduction to CYS.
I was a bit exhausted after those two dinners, followed by two retreats, but to relax and rejuvenate, Sharon, Cecilia, and I went to the Blue Mountains for the weekend.
It was a nice weekend away. We spent that Friday night up at Sharon’s house in Katoomba, and then on Saturday, I met up with Jenelle and spent all day with her and her family. I hadn’t seen them since I was newly arrived in the country - almost one year before! I suppose there will always be changes to observe but on the whole they are still the lovely people I remember them being - and of course they were lovely hosts. I don’t get to see Jenelle too much but when we do catch up, we talk for hours! She called me a few weeks ago to break some big news to me: she and her boyfriend of 5 years are engaged! I was told to pencil in a trip back to Australia sometime in 2010. I’m on it.
On Sunday, I met back up with Cecilia and Sharon for Mass and then a lazy day rolling every which way around the mountain town of Katoomba, going on little bushwalks and stopping at a “cult café” about 3 times. “cult café” = a café started by a cult that serves really good and cheap food…no religious beliefs are forced or induced upon entry or purchase of meal items. Although there was some funny tasting Brazilian spice/energy supplement in some of the lattes. If I can remember what it was called I shall warn you to avoid it. It’s an acquired taste…
I suppose it was then that the calm before the storm enveloped us. Monday, June 23, brought a surprise Theology on Tap which was filmed and reported on by Ray Martin. WOW! (Yeah, I don’t know who Ray Martin is either…) We went out to a school to promote WYD and do the Jesus Chant….we got a bit sick of doing that thing, because that Thursday we spent the entire day traipsing all over Sydney performing it for a camera: one of the tech-savvy guys on the team was attempting to produce a video of our little demo from different angles at various famous points in the city. I’m not sure how the final product turned out, but the fact that we haven’t seen it leads me to believe it may or may not have gone so well.
We were also recruited to help stuff showbags for Mary MacKillop Place - I may have mentioned before that Mary MacKillop is currently in the process of canonization, and when that comes through she will be the first Australian saint. Her final resting place is a beautiful complex on the north side of Sydney Harbor, and this was one of the pilgrim destinations during WYD, so of course they needed to have plenty of merchandise packed and ready to sell!
The last Friday in June brought some very special dinner guests to the house: the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia from Nashville, Tennessee! Of course you’ve heard me talk about these women before, the beautiful, radiant women they are - it was so wonderful to have them over for dinner! Everyone really enjoyed the night. I gave Southern cooking my best shot by making oven-fried chicken, homemade mac ‘n’ cheese, homemade buttermilk biscuits, peas, green beans, and a big salad, and Leoni contributed by making a recipe we found called “Nashville Fudge Pie”, which was so yummy! It turned out pretty well…at least I should hope it did - I spent 4 hours in the kitchen! The dining room looked really lovely as well - Penitito decorated it with the flags from the house. There was of course an Australian flag, a Guatemalan flag, a Samoan flag, and an American flag, newly shipped in from Mom - o and I served the Reese’s and Hershey’s bars she sent as part of dessert as well! They stayed for night prayer with us, and as we sent them off, everyone was sighing with full tummies how great a night it had been. Then a bunch of us sat around and watched an American football movie - it was such a great night for all the US citizens in the house! (just me? Ok….I’m allowed to be selfish once in a while, right?)
We had catechesis training the following day (even though it was Saturday!) but we were given Sunday and Monday off, so I caught up with a few girlfriends, and spent the night at Jovina’s. Where else do I go when I need to get out? Monday was very relaxing as I spent half the day reading on the beach…even though it’s winter, the sun still shines bright! That night I went to a fundraiser called Taki Taki - it was a last effort to raise money for Tongan pilgrims to come to WYD. The night proved to be really fun! Trivia, prizes, videos, performers….one of the trivia questions was “How many stripes are on the US flag? 13 or 15?” About half the room, mind you, said 15 and were therefore eliminated. That was the half of the room that was not standing by me, haha
We jumped right back into our preparations, which included some stressful music rehearsals, and with only 14 days before the big event kicked off, I was both anxious and ready for it all to be over! From a volunteer side of things….
That Wednesday we took the evening to all sit down together and watch the final State of Origin game - you may remember my last experience with the sport of Rugby League, and the knowledge that was bestowed upon me - which means I did somewhat enjoy this display of manly power…but NSW lost, which means there were a lot of unhappy people in the room. It was reminiscent of the feelings after the 2007 Superbowl, as I sat among the people of Chicago. A sad day indeed.
The 3rd of July brought a very wonderful event held on the campus of Notre Dame which was entitled “Love and Life - Live it!” and you might imagine it was fittingly named as it was hosted by the Sisters of Life from the Bronx! They shared the evening with us, telling us about their charism, the work they do, and some beautiful stories from their ministry. It was a special evening because just the day before, the body of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a young Italian man who is also on the road to sainthood, was present in St. Benedict’s Church, which is at ND. He was one of the WYD patrons, and it was a beautiful and marvelous thing to have his very incorruptible body in our midst. The next day was his feast day, also a very special day in my own heart, the 4th of July, and attending his Mass, celebrated by the Cardinal, with his body on the side, it was all I could do to keep the tears welling up - his story is really incredible. We could all learn a lot from the example of Pier. Not to mention the fact that this man was quite attractive. Jovina reckons he’ll be the patron saint of good-looking people, haha!
So you might be wondering, besides attending a Mass in celebration of a dead, good-looking man, what else I occupied myself with on our nation’s independence day. Well that day was spent at a school which we do quite a few retreats for - it is an all girls high school, and that day was their school’s special celebration day (last day of term). They had a Mass, a few performances, a talent show, a beauty pageant, a really nice lunch, and of course, the reason we had to go, a little peek at the Jesus chant. We were in quite high demand for that!
I went from there to the Mass, and after Mass, as many Americans as we could gather went on the hunt for something American to eat for dinner. The little party included: the four Dominicans from Nashville, two Bazillian seminarians from Texas, Alana, myself, and Paul, who is from Paris. He just came because…because he wanted to. I think he’s a big fan of America. Well, and he lives in the same house as Alana, so that way they could go home together. Which, by the time we found somewhere to eat (we settled for pizza at a Turkish place) and then made our way to the train station, it was so late, and I was going to have to wait so long, alone, for a bus, I just went home with Alana and Paul as well! It was actually really nice spending time with them, and riding the train home with the Sisters as well. I was quite happy with the celebration!
Alana and I slugged around for most of that Saturday and then went down to the city, where the first physical signs of the approaching WYD were beginning to appear. The WYD superstore, located in Hyde Park and aptly titled “WYD on HYDE” opened on Saturday, July 5th, and so Alana and I took a bit of a gander around the store, only to be slightly disappointed with the somewhat strange range of apparel the company must have thought would sell. In the end, some of it did and some of it didn’t. Just as I suspected. It was exciting anyway to finally see a huge tent go up in Hyde Park, the center of Sydney, as the approaching WYD drew near.
For me, WYD began to sink in the next day. I met Jovi for coffee before Mass and as we walked into the Cathedral, we were stopped in our tracks by the heavenly sight of 47 Sisters of Life in perfect rows, kneeling in prayer. How special it was to see so many beautiful women, adorned in habits of blue and white, filling the pews of St. Mary’s. The Cardinal, who celebrated the Mass that morning, was certainly happy to see them - he only mentioned them three times during the celebration! Afterwards they filled the front steps as picture after picture was snapped of these faithful women. It was quite a sight to see.
After parting with a few friends and spending time with a few others in the WYD store, I got a call from the Dominican Sisters asking if I’d like to meet up with them, as two more Sisters had also arrived that day, on the same plan as the Sisters of Life! What a place the airport was to be! After a bit of discussing and planning, I found myself on a ferry over to Manly to meet the Dominicans for lunch and a stroll around the beach. Then I headed back to the city with them and exhausted, parted ways and went home to sleep. We had another big week ahead, and it wasn’t even WYD yet.
Stay posted, there’s more to come!
and we're back
After such a busy two months, I am finally beginning to wind down! I apologize if anyone has missed my regular updates: It shouldn’t be so long between exchanges over the next few months - our schedule isn’t nearly as hectic!
I should start by bringing you straight up to date on my current visa status, because today, August 16th, it expired! It was a bit scary for a while: we didn’t think I would get an extension, but one finally came through. I was granted a 28-day bridging visa while the real visa is sorted out. So as of right now, according to immigration, I may stay in the country until mid-September, but there shouldn’t be too much of a problem for me to stay until the end of the year. “I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents under the tree!…”
I’ll post a series of blogs after this one chronicling the lead up to WYD, the week of WYD, and what’s been happening post WYD. It certainly set Sydney on fire!
Also, I will try to find a good site for web photo albums: I know there were some troubles with the last link I posted for photos. When I get that sorted, I will also post instructions on how to view them. Hopefully it will be simpler than the last one!
Stay posted, there's more to come!
I should start by bringing you straight up to date on my current visa status, because today, August 16th, it expired! It was a bit scary for a while: we didn’t think I would get an extension, but one finally came through. I was granted a 28-day bridging visa while the real visa is sorted out. So as of right now, according to immigration, I may stay in the country until mid-September, but there shouldn’t be too much of a problem for me to stay until the end of the year. “I’ll be home for Christmas, you can count on me. Please have snow and mistletoe, and presents under the tree!…”
I’ll post a series of blogs after this one chronicling the lead up to WYD, the week of WYD, and what’s been happening post WYD. It certainly set Sydney on fire!
Also, I will try to find a good site for web photo albums: I know there were some troubles with the last link I posted for photos. When I get that sorted, I will also post instructions on how to view them. Hopefully it will be simpler than the last one!
Stay posted, there's more to come!
Friday, June 13, 2008
SURPRISE!
Hey there! In an attempt to make up for lost time (which is futile) I will try to recap the very BUSY last few weeks as briefly as possible – for your sake and mine!
When I left you, I was planning to spend my 21st birthday at a karaoke joint in Sydney, and we had a busy weekend ahead of us. Well , 3 retreats that week were successful, but it was much busier than even just that. Wednesday night we had a briefing for the huge project we undertook Saturday called Activ8 Sydney. That night was also the first of a series of “footy” games (Rugby League) called State of Origin – New South Wales (the state Sydney is in) and Queensland (the state with all the beaches and the Great Barrier Reef) face off in a 100 year old rivalry, and the teams are made up of the best players from all the clubs in the states. I didn’t watch it because I didn’t know the rules, but I caught the end of the game on the TV at home and decided I should give the next game a try, since it was the closest thing I was gonna get to American football.
That Thursday and Friday, we spent both evenings celebrating birthdays – and not even mine yet! Our director Lyndon, and one of the girls on the team, Anna, both had their birthday on May 22, so we went to Lyndon’s for a dinner. Friday was Helena’s birthday, a girl who is volunteering for WYD and living in the CYS house, so we had a dinner here for her. It was crazy!
Saturday May 24 was the big day – we were taking WYD to the public and promoting it on the streets of downtown Sydney. For the first time in the efforts of WYD, the people of the city would finally have some live faces to put with the event – for better or worse. It was such an exciting day. I really had a lot of fun! Jovina and I were right in the heart of the city, along with quite a few other people, and as much as we could, we tried to shove pamphlets and booklets into the hands of all who passed by, but if we were lucky, some people stopped to talk. My catch phrase for most of the day was, “Hey, remember when the Olympics were in Sydney? This will be bigger.” It worked for quite a few people – at least they took what I was giving them, and smiled. That was the key. I met about 15 Americans that day, but only had a significant conversation with one of them. It was a guy from LA named Jake who was on the last days of his two-year-around-the-world trip. WOW. He had hit every continent but Antarctica, and was finally heading back to sunny California before taking up grad school in Boston this August. I think he was just as excited to have a conversation with an American as I was – he must have been feeling deprived as well! Haha I wish I could have spoken to him more – that trip sounds fascinating!
That night we went to a launch for a website called YBenedict – it’s basically a website for pilgrims all over the world to keep updated on the happenings of WYD, and the home page mostly has articles concerning all the preparations. It was a duty thing to attend. The Cardinal was there and all.
Then Sunday was a HUGE Eucharistic procession through the streets of Sydney – the Blessed Sacrament was carried on a 2 hour walk, with 10,000 people in tow. It was beautiful! I’ve never seen anything like it. The coolest thing was that the prayer that was said during the procession was broadcast on one of the radio stations, so the entire crowd of 10,000 people was praying TOGETHER. So incredible.
So after that was when all confusion took over the evening. I had planned to celebrate my birthday with my 20 closest friends here by going to dinner and a karaoke bar, but the thing was, a lot of people were saying they couldn’t make it, or at least wouldn’t be there for dinner. Then the times were getting all confusing and I was really wondering what was going on. The problem was, someone (on accident) had leaked to me that there was a party in my honor happening, and so I figured it was that night, but because I didn’t know any more details than that, I was feeling extremely in the dark, and I started to get a little sad, because it really seemed as if “no one” was coming. Even though they all were, and their acting skills are fantastic. About 50 people (maybe more) were in on it, thanks to Jovina, the main organizer for the evening. I have to hand it to her, she did such a good job. I only felt terrible that I wasn’t completely surprised! But what did surprise me was all the details of the party.
First of all, the theme was “American” – as in everyone was supposed to dress like an American. Some of the costumes included a few baseball players (one wearing a Cubs hat – how perfect!), an Indian couple, lots of cowboys and cowgirls, a basketball player with a jersey that said “Team USA”, a girl wearing a t-shirt she had made with pictures of American presidents all over it, and my favorite: about 5 girls with shirts they had made saying “Delta Delta Delta: We’re kind of a big deal”. It was SO cute! In my getting ready Sharon, my roommate (who’s American costume was wearing my clothes), insisted that I wear the nicest dress I owned, which was a black cocktail dress with rhinestones and everything (see pictures!link below) I protested, but when I got there I saw why it was important I wear that – they crowned me MISSy AMERICA with a tiara and sash. It was all in the details, really! The food was pizza and sandwiches and some Mexican, I think, (I didn’t actually eat – I was a bit overwhelmed!) and later in the evening milkshakes and donuts were served. I had to laugh. The cake they had made for me was incredible (see picture, link below) and for the singing of happy birthday, it was lit not with candles, but with sparklers. The idea, I think, with all this was that since I couldn’t be home for my birthday, they would bring home to me as much as they could.
Now the one thought I had even before the party was how disappointed I was that my family wasn’t going to be there to celebrate with me – through all of this I learned just how much I actually care about them. Not that I didn’t before, but it’s just that now I can really feel the absence of their presence. It’s a good thing – my appreciation for them and my love for them is growing even stronger!
However, Sarah, my dear Australian friend who stayed in Indy for a week in January, thought of this and contact my parents and sisters, who then made a video to be played at the party. The first thing Jenny said on the video was, “Get her some Kleenexes, I’m sure she’s crying!” and of course, I was absolutely bawling. Already. They had also contact a few friends from home whose names they had heard me mention here or there and had them write letters that were read as well. It was really special. The CYS team made a slideshow of pictures from throughout the year for me, and they even got Cardinal George Pell himself to record a little 30 second birthday message for me as well. I felt so honored!
It was just a wonderful night, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate my 21st birthday. It was the farthest thing from how I had imagined I would celebrate, but I think that’s what makes it even better.
The next day we got to sleep in – we didn’t stat work until 1pm! I opened all the gifts I had received, including the package of food from my parents haha The team had also made a big collage of pictures for me and written little notes and put them in the frame as well. It’s really nice! However…I have no idea how I am going to get it home.
We got to work, then I went to Mass and one of the guys in the house made an “American” dinner. But you see, he didn’t take notice of one detail. Lucky I did! As he was preparing the meal I smelled BBQ. When I asked about it, he said he was making BBQ ribs… “Penni,” I said, “I don’t like BBQ.” Penni’s reaction was, “WHAT?!?!? You’re not American!!” Thank goodness I caught it though – he was still able to wash off some of the ribs for me. Haha. The dessert was very good though – chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream drizzled in chocolate sauce and topped with a little toothpick American flag!
That week was a bit of a blur after that because we spent the entire day on Tuesday preparing for our three-day overnight retreat with the year 12 (seniors) from an all-girls school. It was intense! The retreat went well – it was from Wednesday to Friday. The girls were very receptive and positive and I think all involved enjoyed the experience.
That weekend we relaxed. A few of us went to a French-Australian party at a house two beaches over from us. It was an Au Revoir party for a family who was moving back to France after 5 years in Sydney. They were the main organizers of the French Community retreat we ran earlier in the year. Very lovely people, all of them. It was a fun night! That Sunday was a soccer competition which the boys played in. It was called the Cardinal’s Cup, and was held between about 8 teams from around the Diocese – all Catholics! Some of the religious orders had teams – it was very fun to watch. Then we had to work hard to prepare our next overnight retreat, held on that Monday and Tuesday. Talk about stressful – we had barely recovered from the last one!
That retreat was also successful, but in the shadow of the other retreat, didn’t seem quite as organized or meaningful. Saying that, I think it was only from our perspective things seemed a bit off. The girls (another year 12 bunch) really enjoyed it. And THAT is what matters – that’s why we’re here!
We had a nice rest after that – the girls and boys split off that night to have sisterhood/brotherhood time. Us girls just had dinner and watched movies and painted our nails. It was so much fun! I hadn’t had a girly night like that in quite a while. Then we had Wednesday off, and I spent the day cleaning my room out – giving it a really good re-organization. That night I met up with Alana (from Texas) and we went out to the area where she lives to hear the Dominican Sisters from Nashville give a talk. It was quite a blessing because I got to meet the 4th sister who joined them – Sister Cecilia Joseph, originally from Cleveland! It was all so exciting.
That Friday we had another retreat, and then we all got ready to go to a surprise dinner (this one didn’t get ruined) to celebrate John-Paul’s 18th birthday! He is one of the Samoan boys on the team…It was a really fun night in the city. Then Saturday I laid around until Jovina convinced me to come meet up with a group of friends to promote Theology on Tap at a youth group. I ended up being glad I went – of course. At least it was good to see everyone! Sunday I spent the day with Katarina, and for the first time since I landed in Sydney last July, I went to the first Catholic Church I ever had Mass in. The ironic part of this is that I now live just down the road from that church – St. Brigid’s. But it’s not a very well-known church – a lot of people don’t know it’s there! I was very glad to go back to it though – it’s just so beautiful!
We had the day off on Monday, so I again spent the day catching up on personal things (everything except this blog!) and that night we had a practice for the music we will use during WYD at animation of catechesis. It went well – I’m starting to get quite excited about it, and not feeling so stressed anymore!
Tuesday we prepared for the next couple retreats of the week, and Wednesday – Wednesday was a fun day. We had an all-girls year 10 retreat, which was a bit stressful for me – I didn’t have the best experience. But that night, I got to catch up with Sarah and then go over to Pat’s house, where a group of us sat down and watched the second State of Origin game! This time, I watched most of it, and with a couple guys on either side, was thoroughly educated in the rules of this violent sport. I asked about 10 million questions, but all were answered very well, so hopefully when the third game of the series comes on in a couple weeks I will be able to process it without being so inquisitive. You know what was cool also? The Cardinal came and watched it with us as well! Not every day that happens…
This past Thursday I had coffee with a lady called Sister Sharon who lives and teaches near a school where we do a few retreats. She met the CYS team last year (when I wasn’t around) and sent a card to them earlier this year thanking them for the chat, which had landed her a ticket to the US. Where? Indiana of all places!! She was being sent to Ferdinand, Indiana (like I said, of ALL places) for a vocations conference, and it was her involvement with the CYS team which had helped make this possible. However, what providence that this card was read aloud as I was in the room, and of course when I heard where she was going, I freaked out! I immediately sent a card back to her with my email address, asking to meet with her, because I wanted to hear all about this! So Thursday we had the opportunity, and she showed me some of her pictures. It all looked so familiar!
Yesterday we had a retreat with an all boys school, and it went really well. The boys were very nice. Then I had a nice nap and today I’m just relaxing and trying to stay warm. The weather has been rainy and cold lately! It almost feels like it might snow! Eek!
30 days til World Youth Day starts and we are getting busier and excited – I just can’t even grasp that it’s really almost here and we’re going to be a part of it. Rumor has it we’re going to be quite in demand that week as a team – they say there have been requests coming in for us! Weird! SO – once I know more of what we will be involved in, I will pass it along.
I did forget to mention that on Thursday during the day we went to a launch for another website, but this one was a bit more exciting. It was the official social network of WYD, called “XT3” which stands for “Christ in the 3rd Millenium”. It’s just like facebook or myspace, but for Catholics! Anyone can join, but it is founded on the Catholic faith. The men who started it are from Britain – very nice guys. It’s such a great idea – to keep pilgrims and young Catholics all over the world, even those who can’t make it to WYD connected before and after the event, and in between them!
And still no word about the visa. Trust me, I’ll be cheering so loud when I finally find out, you’ll hear from all the way across the ocean!
One thing I am sure of that we are doing during WYD is on the Wednesday of the week – July 16. A very famous priest from NYC named Fr. Stan Fortuna (heard of him?) is known for his rapping and his music ministry. Well, he is performing at Bondi Beach (Sydney’s most famous beach) that Wednesday and it has been requested that we come along and perform the Jesus Chant that we do in schools (a rap that the Samoan boys beatbox behind and teach…it’s very good!) WOW!! Should be exciting to meet Fr. Stan and get to be on stage for just a bit!
Until I write again, may God bless you!
check out pictures on:
http://picasaweb.google.com/home?tab=mq
click on the album titled "May - Surprise" to see the pictures! :) let me know if you have problems.
When I left you, I was planning to spend my 21st birthday at a karaoke joint in Sydney, and we had a busy weekend ahead of us. Well , 3 retreats that week were successful, but it was much busier than even just that. Wednesday night we had a briefing for the huge project we undertook Saturday called Activ8 Sydney. That night was also the first of a series of “footy” games (Rugby League) called State of Origin – New South Wales (the state Sydney is in) and Queensland (the state with all the beaches and the Great Barrier Reef) face off in a 100 year old rivalry, and the teams are made up of the best players from all the clubs in the states. I didn’t watch it because I didn’t know the rules, but I caught the end of the game on the TV at home and decided I should give the next game a try, since it was the closest thing I was gonna get to American football.
That Thursday and Friday, we spent both evenings celebrating birthdays – and not even mine yet! Our director Lyndon, and one of the girls on the team, Anna, both had their birthday on May 22, so we went to Lyndon’s for a dinner. Friday was Helena’s birthday, a girl who is volunteering for WYD and living in the CYS house, so we had a dinner here for her. It was crazy!
Saturday May 24 was the big day – we were taking WYD to the public and promoting it on the streets of downtown Sydney. For the first time in the efforts of WYD, the people of the city would finally have some live faces to put with the event – for better or worse. It was such an exciting day. I really had a lot of fun! Jovina and I were right in the heart of the city, along with quite a few other people, and as much as we could, we tried to shove pamphlets and booklets into the hands of all who passed by, but if we were lucky, some people stopped to talk. My catch phrase for most of the day was, “Hey, remember when the Olympics were in Sydney? This will be bigger.” It worked for quite a few people – at least they took what I was giving them, and smiled. That was the key. I met about 15 Americans that day, but only had a significant conversation with one of them. It was a guy from LA named Jake who was on the last days of his two-year-around-the-world trip. WOW. He had hit every continent but Antarctica, and was finally heading back to sunny California before taking up grad school in Boston this August. I think he was just as excited to have a conversation with an American as I was – he must have been feeling deprived as well! Haha I wish I could have spoken to him more – that trip sounds fascinating!
That night we went to a launch for a website called YBenedict – it’s basically a website for pilgrims all over the world to keep updated on the happenings of WYD, and the home page mostly has articles concerning all the preparations. It was a duty thing to attend. The Cardinal was there and all.
Then Sunday was a HUGE Eucharistic procession through the streets of Sydney – the Blessed Sacrament was carried on a 2 hour walk, with 10,000 people in tow. It was beautiful! I’ve never seen anything like it. The coolest thing was that the prayer that was said during the procession was broadcast on one of the radio stations, so the entire crowd of 10,000 people was praying TOGETHER. So incredible.
So after that was when all confusion took over the evening. I had planned to celebrate my birthday with my 20 closest friends here by going to dinner and a karaoke bar, but the thing was, a lot of people were saying they couldn’t make it, or at least wouldn’t be there for dinner. Then the times were getting all confusing and I was really wondering what was going on. The problem was, someone (on accident) had leaked to me that there was a party in my honor happening, and so I figured it was that night, but because I didn’t know any more details than that, I was feeling extremely in the dark, and I started to get a little sad, because it really seemed as if “no one” was coming. Even though they all were, and their acting skills are fantastic. About 50 people (maybe more) were in on it, thanks to Jovina, the main organizer for the evening. I have to hand it to her, she did such a good job. I only felt terrible that I wasn’t completely surprised! But what did surprise me was all the details of the party.
First of all, the theme was “American” – as in everyone was supposed to dress like an American. Some of the costumes included a few baseball players (one wearing a Cubs hat – how perfect!), an Indian couple, lots of cowboys and cowgirls, a basketball player with a jersey that said “Team USA”, a girl wearing a t-shirt she had made with pictures of American presidents all over it, and my favorite: about 5 girls with shirts they had made saying “Delta Delta Delta: We’re kind of a big deal”. It was SO cute! In my getting ready Sharon, my roommate (who’s American costume was wearing my clothes), insisted that I wear the nicest dress I owned, which was a black cocktail dress with rhinestones and everything (see pictures!link below) I protested, but when I got there I saw why it was important I wear that – they crowned me MISSy AMERICA with a tiara and sash. It was all in the details, really! The food was pizza and sandwiches and some Mexican, I think, (I didn’t actually eat – I was a bit overwhelmed!) and later in the evening milkshakes and donuts were served. I had to laugh. The cake they had made for me was incredible (see picture, link below) and for the singing of happy birthday, it was lit not with candles, but with sparklers. The idea, I think, with all this was that since I couldn’t be home for my birthday, they would bring home to me as much as they could.
Now the one thought I had even before the party was how disappointed I was that my family wasn’t going to be there to celebrate with me – through all of this I learned just how much I actually care about them. Not that I didn’t before, but it’s just that now I can really feel the absence of their presence. It’s a good thing – my appreciation for them and my love for them is growing even stronger!
However, Sarah, my dear Australian friend who stayed in Indy for a week in January, thought of this and contact my parents and sisters, who then made a video to be played at the party. The first thing Jenny said on the video was, “Get her some Kleenexes, I’m sure she’s crying!” and of course, I was absolutely bawling. Already. They had also contact a few friends from home whose names they had heard me mention here or there and had them write letters that were read as well. It was really special. The CYS team made a slideshow of pictures from throughout the year for me, and they even got Cardinal George Pell himself to record a little 30 second birthday message for me as well. I felt so honored!
It was just a wonderful night, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to celebrate my 21st birthday. It was the farthest thing from how I had imagined I would celebrate, but I think that’s what makes it even better.
The next day we got to sleep in – we didn’t stat work until 1pm! I opened all the gifts I had received, including the package of food from my parents haha The team had also made a big collage of pictures for me and written little notes and put them in the frame as well. It’s really nice! However…I have no idea how I am going to get it home.
We got to work, then I went to Mass and one of the guys in the house made an “American” dinner. But you see, he didn’t take notice of one detail. Lucky I did! As he was preparing the meal I smelled BBQ. When I asked about it, he said he was making BBQ ribs… “Penni,” I said, “I don’t like BBQ.” Penni’s reaction was, “WHAT?!?!? You’re not American!!” Thank goodness I caught it though – he was still able to wash off some of the ribs for me. Haha. The dessert was very good though – chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream drizzled in chocolate sauce and topped with a little toothpick American flag!
That week was a bit of a blur after that because we spent the entire day on Tuesday preparing for our three-day overnight retreat with the year 12 (seniors) from an all-girls school. It was intense! The retreat went well – it was from Wednesday to Friday. The girls were very receptive and positive and I think all involved enjoyed the experience.
That weekend we relaxed. A few of us went to a French-Australian party at a house two beaches over from us. It was an Au Revoir party for a family who was moving back to France after 5 years in Sydney. They were the main organizers of the French Community retreat we ran earlier in the year. Very lovely people, all of them. It was a fun night! That Sunday was a soccer competition which the boys played in. It was called the Cardinal’s Cup, and was held between about 8 teams from around the Diocese – all Catholics! Some of the religious orders had teams – it was very fun to watch. Then we had to work hard to prepare our next overnight retreat, held on that Monday and Tuesday. Talk about stressful – we had barely recovered from the last one!
That retreat was also successful, but in the shadow of the other retreat, didn’t seem quite as organized or meaningful. Saying that, I think it was only from our perspective things seemed a bit off. The girls (another year 12 bunch) really enjoyed it. And THAT is what matters – that’s why we’re here!
We had a nice rest after that – the girls and boys split off that night to have sisterhood/brotherhood time. Us girls just had dinner and watched movies and painted our nails. It was so much fun! I hadn’t had a girly night like that in quite a while. Then we had Wednesday off, and I spent the day cleaning my room out – giving it a really good re-organization. That night I met up with Alana (from Texas) and we went out to the area where she lives to hear the Dominican Sisters from Nashville give a talk. It was quite a blessing because I got to meet the 4th sister who joined them – Sister Cecilia Joseph, originally from Cleveland! It was all so exciting.
That Friday we had another retreat, and then we all got ready to go to a surprise dinner (this one didn’t get ruined) to celebrate John-Paul’s 18th birthday! He is one of the Samoan boys on the team…It was a really fun night in the city. Then Saturday I laid around until Jovina convinced me to come meet up with a group of friends to promote Theology on Tap at a youth group. I ended up being glad I went – of course. At least it was good to see everyone! Sunday I spent the day with Katarina, and for the first time since I landed in Sydney last July, I went to the first Catholic Church I ever had Mass in. The ironic part of this is that I now live just down the road from that church – St. Brigid’s. But it’s not a very well-known church – a lot of people don’t know it’s there! I was very glad to go back to it though – it’s just so beautiful!
We had the day off on Monday, so I again spent the day catching up on personal things (everything except this blog!) and that night we had a practice for the music we will use during WYD at animation of catechesis. It went well – I’m starting to get quite excited about it, and not feeling so stressed anymore!
Tuesday we prepared for the next couple retreats of the week, and Wednesday – Wednesday was a fun day. We had an all-girls year 10 retreat, which was a bit stressful for me – I didn’t have the best experience. But that night, I got to catch up with Sarah and then go over to Pat’s house, where a group of us sat down and watched the second State of Origin game! This time, I watched most of it, and with a couple guys on either side, was thoroughly educated in the rules of this violent sport. I asked about 10 million questions, but all were answered very well, so hopefully when the third game of the series comes on in a couple weeks I will be able to process it without being so inquisitive. You know what was cool also? The Cardinal came and watched it with us as well! Not every day that happens…
This past Thursday I had coffee with a lady called Sister Sharon who lives and teaches near a school where we do a few retreats. She met the CYS team last year (when I wasn’t around) and sent a card to them earlier this year thanking them for the chat, which had landed her a ticket to the US. Where? Indiana of all places!! She was being sent to Ferdinand, Indiana (like I said, of ALL places) for a vocations conference, and it was her involvement with the CYS team which had helped make this possible. However, what providence that this card was read aloud as I was in the room, and of course when I heard where she was going, I freaked out! I immediately sent a card back to her with my email address, asking to meet with her, because I wanted to hear all about this! So Thursday we had the opportunity, and she showed me some of her pictures. It all looked so familiar!
Yesterday we had a retreat with an all boys school, and it went really well. The boys were very nice. Then I had a nice nap and today I’m just relaxing and trying to stay warm. The weather has been rainy and cold lately! It almost feels like it might snow! Eek!
30 days til World Youth Day starts and we are getting busier and excited – I just can’t even grasp that it’s really almost here and we’re going to be a part of it. Rumor has it we’re going to be quite in demand that week as a team – they say there have been requests coming in for us! Weird! SO – once I know more of what we will be involved in, I will pass it along.
I did forget to mention that on Thursday during the day we went to a launch for another website, but this one was a bit more exciting. It was the official social network of WYD, called “XT3” which stands for “Christ in the 3rd Millenium”. It’s just like facebook or myspace, but for Catholics! Anyone can join, but it is founded on the Catholic faith. The men who started it are from Britain – very nice guys. It’s such a great idea – to keep pilgrims and young Catholics all over the world, even those who can’t make it to WYD connected before and after the event, and in between them!
And still no word about the visa. Trust me, I’ll be cheering so loud when I finally find out, you’ll hear from all the way across the ocean!
One thing I am sure of that we are doing during WYD is on the Wednesday of the week – July 16. A very famous priest from NYC named Fr. Stan Fortuna (heard of him?) is known for his rapping and his music ministry. Well, he is performing at Bondi Beach (Sydney’s most famous beach) that Wednesday and it has been requested that we come along and perform the Jesus Chant that we do in schools (a rap that the Samoan boys beatbox behind and teach…it’s very good!) WOW!! Should be exciting to meet Fr. Stan and get to be on stage for just a bit!
Until I write again, may God bless you!
check out pictures on:
http://picasaweb.google.com/home?tab=mq
click on the album titled "May - Surprise" to see the pictures! :) let me know if you have problems.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
gOiNg nUtS!?
hmm...it's possible I'm going crazy. It's also possible I'm staying unreasonably sane. Anyway, it's a strange time. We're busier than we've ever been, yet because we're so busy, we've been careful about how we spend the little free time we do have - which means in some ways, i'm much more relaxed than I was in the beginning. But I think I'm saying that now because I've just had a lovely weekend. So of course I'm relaxed!
So that's the good news - the past couple weekends have been free and i've had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends - mostly the girls - and have enjoyed some down time, including sleeping in. Last weekend I had a calm night out with Jovina and Elise on Saturday and Sunday was spent enjoying some down time with the team! The two youngest boys, John Paul and Chris, were confirmed at the Pentecost Mass (what a good time for it, huh?!) and we all went out to lunch afterwards.
This weekend I spent Friday night in and relaxing, then spent Saturday night at Sarah's house (Sarah is the girl who stayed with me in Indy in January!) and I met her parents, who are lovely, and had a very nice dinner with them. Today (Sunday) we went to Mass then a BBQ at a friend's house - Amy. She's leaving tomorrow for Europe for 7 weeks, so she had a BBQ to say A bientot! (see you later en francais). It was very nice and relaxed. But now it's back to the grind!
The retreats are going well, but there are many of them, and I think it's actually beneficial for us to be crammed with our schedule, because we actually get work done! It's amazing - we're much more on top of it this term. mostly because we have to be.
I missed the last retreat this week, the one on Friday - I was a bit sick...strange stomach pains with no related symptoms. We're not sure what it was! It's gone for the most part now, thank goodness! It was annoying, but at the same time, maybe it was good to have a bit of an extra rest. It gets a little bit tough by the end of the week!
We've also started preparing for WYD (finally)- we had our first meeting and music practice last Monday night. O yeah, I'm leading the music for our catechesis site....should be interesting...
only 58 days to go!!! It's getting crazier! They've started showing ads on TV (which you can see on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm2mvKwc06o)...good promo!
Not too much else to report. The future is looking bright with events. This week, 3 retreats again. I'm leading 2 of them! eek! Then Saturday we launch an event called Activ8 Sydney, where we go into the streets to promote WYD - streets, train stations, bus stops, shopping centers, supermarkets...ALL over the city! hopefully we'll get more people registered and engaged. That night is some gig with the Cardinal...not sure what it is, but we're going along anyway!
Then Sunday is the feast of Corpus Christi, or The Body of Christ, and they're having a Eucharistic Procession through the Central Business District (CBD) of Sydney - basically the main area of the city. The Blessed Sacrament will be walked all around - I'm very excited to see how the public will react!
Of course, that is the eve of my 21st birthday....I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M TURNING 21 IN A WEEK!!!! I think the tentative plan is to go out for karaoke with friends that night. maybe dinner before hand. I didn't plan anything big for lack of a)time b)money c)resources and d)interest...for some reason, possibly the nature of the work I'm doing, I just don't really care. Even though EVERYONE is telling me I should since it's my 21st! O well....we'll have a good enough time. Jovina is celebrating with me, because her birthday is the 31st of May, so we're having sort of a double party, to save each other the hassle of planning something separately. Should be fun!
Hope all is well at home! I've been thinking about Indiana a lot this week, with the approaching Indy 500 in the news, even over here! AND I've eaten corn on the cob THREE times this week! I realized I actually really like corn...but when it's the primary crop of your home state, and you eat it too much growing up it can get old.
And that's why I love being in Australia - it gives me a fresh perspective on things I took for granted.
Until I write again, may God bless you!
So that's the good news - the past couple weekends have been free and i've had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends - mostly the girls - and have enjoyed some down time, including sleeping in. Last weekend I had a calm night out with Jovina and Elise on Saturday and Sunday was spent enjoying some down time with the team! The two youngest boys, John Paul and Chris, were confirmed at the Pentecost Mass (what a good time for it, huh?!) and we all went out to lunch afterwards.
This weekend I spent Friday night in and relaxing, then spent Saturday night at Sarah's house (Sarah is the girl who stayed with me in Indy in January!) and I met her parents, who are lovely, and had a very nice dinner with them. Today (Sunday) we went to Mass then a BBQ at a friend's house - Amy. She's leaving tomorrow for Europe for 7 weeks, so she had a BBQ to say A bientot! (see you later en francais). It was very nice and relaxed. But now it's back to the grind!
The retreats are going well, but there are many of them, and I think it's actually beneficial for us to be crammed with our schedule, because we actually get work done! It's amazing - we're much more on top of it this term. mostly because we have to be.
I missed the last retreat this week, the one on Friday - I was a bit sick...strange stomach pains with no related symptoms. We're not sure what it was! It's gone for the most part now, thank goodness! It was annoying, but at the same time, maybe it was good to have a bit of an extra rest. It gets a little bit tough by the end of the week!
We've also started preparing for WYD (finally)- we had our first meeting and music practice last Monday night. O yeah, I'm leading the music for our catechesis site....should be interesting...
only 58 days to go!!! It's getting crazier! They've started showing ads on TV (which you can see on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm2mvKwc06o)...good promo!
Not too much else to report. The future is looking bright with events. This week, 3 retreats again. I'm leading 2 of them! eek! Then Saturday we launch an event called Activ8 Sydney, where we go into the streets to promote WYD - streets, train stations, bus stops, shopping centers, supermarkets...ALL over the city! hopefully we'll get more people registered and engaged. That night is some gig with the Cardinal...not sure what it is, but we're going along anyway!
Then Sunday is the feast of Corpus Christi, or The Body of Christ, and they're having a Eucharistic Procession through the Central Business District (CBD) of Sydney - basically the main area of the city. The Blessed Sacrament will be walked all around - I'm very excited to see how the public will react!
Of course, that is the eve of my 21st birthday....I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M TURNING 21 IN A WEEK!!!! I think the tentative plan is to go out for karaoke with friends that night. maybe dinner before hand. I didn't plan anything big for lack of a)time b)money c)resources and d)interest...for some reason, possibly the nature of the work I'm doing, I just don't really care. Even though EVERYONE is telling me I should since it's my 21st! O well....we'll have a good enough time. Jovina is celebrating with me, because her birthday is the 31st of May, so we're having sort of a double party, to save each other the hassle of planning something separately. Should be fun!
Hope all is well at home! I've been thinking about Indiana a lot this week, with the approaching Indy 500 in the news, even over here! AND I've eaten corn on the cob THREE times this week! I realized I actually really like corn...but when it's the primary crop of your home state, and you eat it too much growing up it can get old.
And that's why I love being in Australia - it gives me a fresh perspective on things I took for granted.
Until I write again, may God bless you!
Friday, May 9, 2008
Crikey! It's been a while...
It’s amazing how things never turn out quite the way you expect them to.
For instance, my two-week “break” ended up being almost busier than normal busy times when we’re working on ministry! I was shocked at how much I ended up doing, how little down time I had, and how LONG it’s been since I wrote on this blog! However, the amazing thing is that it hasn’t felt nearly as long as it actually has been. Which could be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it….
The run down of my break goes something like this:
When I last “blogged” I had gone to dinner at the international WYD volunteer house and ate South American cuisine, which was on the first Wednesday of the break. That Thursday, I made a trip to the city, had lunch with some friends and then met up with Jovi, Amy, and Sarah for some girly chats over a ridiculously good dinner at a vegan café! We even managed to splurge on desert. I spent the night at Jovi’s and the next day we went to see a movie. The title? “Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger” It’s an AUSTRALIAN film, and as might be expected as a result, it’s crap. Actually, the previews looked quite good, which is why we chose to go see it, but it ended up being one of those movies that starts off ok, gets worse, but leaves room for hope of improvement. However, the improvement never came, and so we left the theater disappointed. BUT we had a GREAT lunch at this fish and chips place I had been wanting to go to forever. THAT did not disappoint! Then, dinner in the city with friends that night was anticlimactic….
Saturday, wasn’t feeling too good, but got talked into going down to the shore with some friends, and even though it was a windy, chilly day, (even the sun took a vacation), it turned out to be quite nice. I sat there and wrote a poem, while the others drew. We then took a walk around that graveyard that is visible from our house (see a picture from second blog post) and it was SO peaceful! I was so glad to finally have gotten to go there, and even better, my friend Beth, who claims it was one of her favorite places when she was on team, was with me, and I had refused to go there if it wasn’t with her the first time, so that worked out nicely! 
I stayed in that night and thought I was home alone, but forgot that there was a father and daughter up from Canberra for the weekend staying in the house, so I got a bit of a surprise when they came downstairs while I was cooking dinner for myself. However, it was quite lovely to meet them – they were very nice people, and we ended up watching a movie together. It turned out to be a lovely evening, and not lonely at all, like I thought it might end up being.
That Sunday and Monday I spent the day getting things around the house caught up, before my little trip on Tuesday! It was a great day, despite the fact that it poured down rain the whole day.
That Sunday and Monday I spent the day getting things around the house caught up, before my little trip on Tuesday! It was a great day, despite the fact that it poured down rain the whole day.
Dave and Elise, two good friends who are very committed to giving me the best taste of Australia they can, decided to take me and Rachel on a day trip up to Gosford, a little place about an hour and a half up the coast from Sydney (I mentioned this was happening in an earlier post.) It just so happens that Gosford is home of the Australian Reptile Park, and I was dreading going there, but can I just say that it ended up being such a blast. Of course, that may be because I forced it to be fun with my camera and my wacky knack for taking goofy pictures and turning them into a photo journal…It poured and poured, but we each had our umbrellas and proceeded through the park anyway, viewing a reptile show (VERY SCARY! The guy leading it was a Steven Irwin wannabe…I really thought he was going to need to be carted away on a stretcher!) taking a gander at lots of reptiles and Australian animals…which are apparently “reptiles.” Like a kangaroo? Koala? Wallaby? Wombat? Tasmanian Devil? I’m convinced that any sort of animal enclosure there is around the whole of Australia contains at least one native Australian animal…most often a wallaby or kangaroo and some assortment of koalas. Some people reckon it’s because there are so many running wild, they can afford to cage quite a few of them up. Who knows…crazy Aussies. We also got to witness a crocodile feeding, and here’s the scary thing about that: the pool the croc was in was filled with shallow, murky water, and after staring at it for a few minutes, we deduced that there wasn’t actually a crocodile in there, that they would bring it out when the show started. HOWEVER! As soon as the keeper started dangling a dead chicken over that water, a HUGE FOUR METER CROCODILE came sauntering out and snapping its jaws!!!! The SOUND that croc made when its jaws snapped shut was incredible! While the show was fascinating, we all learned a very important lesson: Just because it doesn’t LOOK like a croc is in the water, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. 
*note to self* don’t swim in any water that might have a crocodile in it….aka don’t swim in Australia.
After squishing back to the car, soggy shoes and all, we made our way to a little town called Avoca, where we had a late lunch/early dinner at this quaint little teahouse we found on the side of the road. Lisa, the owner, was the only person working there, and she had made everything we ate herself. It was incredible to see how much work she had put into her little business, but it certainly paid off! We tried to go there again when we were up that way on Friday, but it was closed for the public holiday, ANZAC Day. That stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corps, and I suppose would be the equivalent of our Memorial Day, but celebrated like the 4th of July. I felt very un-Australian that day. That’s ok.
So all in all, it was a lovely little day trip to Gosford, and it was quite nice to see a bit more of New South Wales, the state I’m living in. Wednesday I visited a familiar area – Sydney University J That night I went over to the volunteer house to make meatloaf, sweet potatoes (complete with brown sugar and marshmallows on top – that was alana’s creation!), “cornbread” , and zucchini bread for dessert. Now let me tell you about this experience. Cornmeal doesn’t exist here, in the general stores anyway, so we had to settle for cornflour as we attempted to make cornbread from scratch. Neither of us had ever attempted that – who needs to when you’ve got Jiffy?!? So the recipes we found were interesting, and in theory sounded good, but in the end, what we got was a pancake flavored muffin with a hint of “corn”. Riighttt….people liked it anyway, but again, it’s because the poor things have never had the real deal. Maybe that’s a good thing – that means we don’t get criticized for our attempts!
The next day I caught up with Sarah over breakfast, then had lunch with Jenelle, my pen pal of over 7 years. She lives in the Blue Mountains, just about an hour or two outside the city of Sydney. I hadn’t seen her since I got back, so it was really nice to see her again and catch up over lunch on the harbor. A good afternoon! I'll post a picture of her on here later.
I just sort of vegged out that night and Friday, before heading off to the retreat up near Gosford for the weekend. Some pictures from the weekend are in here. Without going into too much detail, basically, the retreat was everything I needed and then some. The Dominican Sisters from Nashville are amazing, and it was such a blessing to spend a whole weekend away from the world with them. And for once, it was COOL to be American!!! I had people on my side haha It was so physically and spiritually renewing, and after that weekend I was able to start back up with the team that Monday in high spirits. In the pictures below, you'll see the retreat center, and the whole group, as well as a picture of Sharon and I (she's my roommate on team!) and the 5 Americans! From L to R: Alana (Texas), Sister Mary Rachel (Pennsylvania), Sister Anna (Connecticut), Sister Mary Madeline (Maryland), and of course, Miss Indiana :)
Since then, understandably, the spirits aren’t quite as high, but all in all things are going all right. We’ve just been busy going here and there for ministry, doing this, preparing that, trying to get some sleep at night, and get some work done during the day. We have had 4 retreats in the past two weeks, and have 6 in the next two weeks….the schedule is PACKED! Also, we’re starting to prepare for WYD and the catechesis site we’re animating.
I realize I haven’t actually explained what we’re doing for WYD as a team, and that’s probably because before last Saturday, I didn’t fully understand it myself. Basically, the mornings of Wednesday (7/16), Thursday(7/17), and Friday(7/18) during the week of WYD, they have almost 300 locations all over Sydney that will be hosting catechesis sites, which means a bishop from somewhere on this earth will be spending a portion of the morning speaking and teaching about the Catholic faith – to Catholics. So he will be deepening the knowledge these Catholics may or may not already have on their faith. OUR job in all of this is to coordinate the site, make sure it’s all set up, greet the bishop and make sure things run smoothly for his talk, and run the Mass that he will say at the end of the session. We also have to provide about 45 minutes of entertainment, in the form of a drama, testimonies, skits, and mostly music. SO, this past Saturday we had a training session for what we are required to do, and got it laid out for us logistically, so now the task before us is to put this together…eek!! As if we didn’t already have enough to do…
Last Friday Alana and I went to dinner for her birthday - there are so many May babies around here! It was really nice to spend time with just her – we had a really nice conversation, and it’s always very apparent that both of us are so glad for each other. Of course I can’t speak for her, but for me, she’s been such a good friend, and it’s pretty cool how we just immediately had this strong bond, simply because we were two Americans far from home. It’s nice to just talk about random American things even, and not have to explain them, but instead have someone who knows exactly where I’m coming from, frustrations and all!
Sunday night, a few girls met up for our Catholic women’s book club. Which sounds more proper than it actually is. It’s basically a group of us who were already friends and who needed even more of an excuse to get together, haha! What happens is a book is picked for us to read, and read we do, and when it comes time to have the meeting, we spend about 10% of the time discussing the book, and another 70% of it just chatting…20% of it is us munching on biscuits (cookies) and sipping tea. This “month” the book was Pride and Prejudice – a girly favorite! Next month, Little Women…listen to us! We’re such girls…
Monday was the 8th Theology on Tap in Sydney, and it was moved to a bigger bar so it could accommodate all the people who come out for it! I’m not sure how many people made it this time, but the talk was given by none other than the 3 lovely Nashville Dominicans! It was a great talk, well-received, and I got to meet Sister Anna’s parents! They were here visiting her all the way from Connecticut. However, that night, I got to talk to the Sisters about even more exciting news: two of them, Sister Mary Madeline and Sister Mary Rachel, will be staying in Sydney! The Nashville Dominicans of St. Cecilia are starting a house here, which will be really good for the girls of Australia – now they’ll have a good order they can join if any of them decide to be nuns! Lots of people are really, really happy the Dominicans are staying, and I’m happy as well, but also sad, because now if I ever went to visit Nashville, I wouldn’t know 3, I’d only know 1! But that doesn’t actually matter…it’s more important that they’re here!
We had 3 retreats this week, which completely exhausted all of us, and we have 3 next week and the week after that…it is truly an intense spiritual time! We’re also helping on Wednesday nights at the Cathedral with the Pilgrim group leader formation courses for WYD – which is just a few talks over three weeks that are designed to prepare the people who are leading a group of pilgrims for WYD for the experience. It’s been interesting, but also time-consuming...but it’s all for the cause!
Ahead, not too much is coming other than LOTS of busy times! We’ll see if I get the chance to report much over the next few weeks…and if I’ll actually have much to report other than that I’m going nuts!
My last thought for the post is on Australianisms. Of course there are many things in any country that set that culture apart from other countries, little quirks that any foreigner would find intriguing, funny, or strange. Australia, to an American’s eyes, is no different. However, as with any place, the longer you’re there, the more you adapt to fit in, mostly because communication must be done in the native language, in a way that the locals can understand. I’m afraid that, after all this time in Australia, I am really beginning to not only communicate like a local, but even become like a local…and now I’m beginning to find Americanisms strange! My ponderings on this point come from an incident today at a retreat:
The most typical Australian meal you’ll ever have is a “barbie”, or a “sausage sizzle” which to us might normally be called a cookout, or grilling out. Now you would expect, to hear the word barbecue, even, to be served hamburgers, hot dogs, and bratwursts, should you be in the States, but in Australia, you can expect only one thing: sausages. They’re unlike anything we have over there in the US, and that’s quite a good thing – they don’t actually taste all that great. Along with these sausages, you might receive a slice of bread to act as the “bun” or if you’re at a gourmet sausage sizzle, you might get a sausage roll. Mmm…. Usually there might be onion, but more often than not, there will only be “tomato sauce” and BBQ sauce. And there you have it!
Today, one of the teachers was standing there with the two bottles of condiments, and I walked up and asked for the ketchup, which still gets a laugh, every time. However she chuckled saying, “The longer you’re here the more you’re going to pick up terms like ‘tomato sauce’ so when you go back to the States, you’ll forget to call it ketchup!” And what a tragedy that will be, should she (God forbid) be right! I’m getting so accustomed to the way they refer to things here that I’m forgetting how they’re ACTUALLY referred to…at home that is. And that’s just one little example!
So if I come home, and together we go to a restaurant, and I ask for tomato sauce, please explain to the waitress what I really mean!
Until I write again, may God bless you!
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