My New Life in Sydney

       I've been here in Sydney for about a week and a half now and right now I feel very confident and comfortable in my new life here. I have no negative comment to make! So far at least, I absolutely love it here. I feel so blessed to have landed such a spectacular family to spend the year with. I get along great with the parents (Steve & Caroline) and I love the kids! They are such great little people and I can't think of any other children who would be more a joy to spend my time with. Their tantrums are extremely few and they are very well mannered and light-hearted. We have so much fun together and have already had a lot of good laughs (once when I laughed so hard I was in tears).
        Abby has become my shadow and she climbs all over me and drags me around like a puppy most of the time. She told me a few days ago that I was like a "big fat rope," because I was so easy to climb on. She only gets fussy when I won't let her eat in the playroom or when she is very tired and then mom and dad are the ones to handle her so she's almost too easy for me really. Guy takes a little more work. I have to get on his level and talk to him about Pokemon or some other television show or maybe help him ride his bike, and generally just make him laugh, but all of this I can do and make time for (yes...even the Poke-talk.) He gets a little more upset about having to miss his TV programs than Abby though and while I feel confident that Abby will always forgive me and love me, I do worry a bit about pushing Guy too far and leaving him bitter towards me which I don't want at all. I know that there's always a balance and I'll just have to continue to aim for it.
        I've only been to the city once and that was to go to Hillsong which amazingly I loved even more than Hillsong in London. The atmosphere was just more comfortable and accepting somehow. Everyone sat right next to people they didn't know and that is so rare even though it's how church should be. I can't wait to meet more people and really get involved this year. There is more than one Hillsong campus here in Sydney and I didn't go to the main one. I plan to someday, but for the most part I'll go to the city campus because it is closer and easier to get to. I took the bus this time, but I'm much more confident with driving now, so soon I'll just drive there and save a lot of time and hassle with public transportation.
        Today I ventured out by myself and drove around, away from the city, but still... I am pretty used to driving on the other side of the road already and I'm beginning to learn the main roads and to orient myself with where we live in comparison to the rest of the city which feels great. I have full use of the car all day as Caroline takes the bus to work and she is happy for me to drive anywhere I like (which is wonderful.) My schedule isn't grueling at all with the kids. I basically just faciliate their schedule and make sure they do what needs to be done. Since they're away at school most of the day, I have lots of time to do whatever I need or want to do during the week, and then of course, I have weekends off.
        I can tell already that I will probably choose to spend most of my weekend time with the family even though I don't need to because they go fun places and I genuinely enjoy spending time with them. This past weekend we went out to dinner to a nice Italian restaurant in the city, to the Granny Smith Apple Festival, and to the beach. It was a lovely weekend and I had a lot of fun! The beach especially was very beautiful and a place I never would have found without the knowledge of a local. We had fish and chips and then walked out on a little island and sat on the rocks and played in the water and it was a perfect day (made even better by Hillsong that night).

         So basically what I'm saying is....I LOVE IT HERE!! =D

Cinque Terre

       We were blown away by the beauty of Cinque Terre. I can't think of any place on Earth that comes closer to my idea of paradise. Cinque Terre was recommended to me by the daughter of my former art teach Leslie Shell who is a close friend of my mother's as well as her colleague at Highland Hills Middle School. It is made up of five beach towns strung closely together that are connected by a hiking trail as well as a train that stops in each town. The nearest town is about a 30 minute train ride from Pisa and we traveled from Pisa Centrale early that morning and then returned to Pisa and our hotel later in the evening. Within that time frame we were able to spend time in each town and although I could have stayed there for weeks basking in the sun and enjoying the scenery, I didn't feel like we missed anything major.
       We decided to go to the last town first and I was very glad that we did, because as it turns out, it was the only one with a beach. The other towns had very beautiful rocky coasts and plenty of places to swim and enter the water, but we are fans of the more traditional sand beach if it is offered. We spent the morning and the high sun hours on the sand before venturing out to the other towns.
       Not quite knowing what we were getting ourselves into we decided to hike to the second town. In the end I'm glad we did because what we saw on the way was a breathtaking mountain trail with terraced hills and sparkling coastline, but two hours later upon arrival it is safe to say that we were very hot, thirsty and worn out (and possibly a bit grouchy). Much to my surprise, during our hike on this remote mountain trail, I bumped into an acquaintance from Ball State who participated in the internship program in London with me. I knew he would be traveling, but had no idea where he would be going. It was definitely a "small world" moment to see him there of all places.
       The rest of the day we opted for the train and each town was just as beautiful as the last with its own individual flare and identity. It felt like a completely different world. There were tourists to be sure, but it was clear that each town also contained its own tight-nit community of locals. I loved everything about Cinque Terre and it's definitely a place you want on your itinerary if you plan a trip to Italy!

 

Pisa

       I won't sugar coat it, Pisa as a city was a huge disappointment. I would label it a one hour stop or a stop you might consider skipping altogether if in a money or time crunch. Other than viewing the tower, there was literally NOTHING to do. The city was completely run down and there weren't even more than a handful of places to eat. Capitalism was clearly a foreign concept and not only were we unimpressed by the town as a whole, we were also the most worried about being robbed during our time here.
       We did meet some really nice people in the process of picking up maps and buying bus tickets, but they were quick to warn us to be on the look out for Gypsies. There are a couple of bus routes in the city, but typically tourists are only interested in the one that takes you directly to the Leaning Tower from the train station. This route is frequented by Gypsies and if we hadn't taken him seriously before; we were, shall I say fortunate enough to watch as this same man after being tipped off by the bus driver sprinted out of his office to assail the aforementioned Gypsies before they could escape with more of the belongings of tourists unawares. He wasn't quite quick enough and they ran off, but we had learned our lesson and made sure to keep an eye on our purses and our surroundings.
       After our stop at the Leaning Tower and our very standard Pisa Tower photo-shoot we were at a complete loss for what to do from there. After asking around we finally found the correct bus route to take us to the beach and were saved by this idea, but if we hadn't left the city we would have been sitting in our rooms for the rest of the evening and eating in the same cafe in which we ate lunch. It was clear that we were one of very few tourists to venture out on this route and ended up at two spots that were very obviously local hot-spots. The first place we stopped was a rock beach. This was the first rock beach I had ever seen and it was an interesting change. It was very difficult and precarious to navigate, but luckily I found some help from a few nice men in speedo's. ;)
       We went for a nice swim in the pool sheltered by the rocks, but eventually decided we'd rather move on to a spot with sand to end our evening. We found a beach club and paid the entrance fee deciding it was worth it not to have to keep looking and ultimately that we'd much rather lay on a deck chair than be without them. It all worked out in the end, but my advice to you if you ever decide to visit Pisa would be to watch your purse and to only stop for an hour or two if you can swing it.