Outback = Kangaroo Spotting, Boomarangs, Didgeridoos, and beautiful SUNSETS.....

Heading out to the Outback was about an 8-hour trip into the middle of Australia. We left at 6:30 in the morning so it was mostly filled with sleep and movies. We watched “The Dish”, which was an Australian movie about the first landing on the moon, and then we watched “Finding Nemo.” Which happens to be funnier after you have lived in Australia for tow months and have heard them say all of the sayings that they use in the movie. There are so many little things that you miss until you’ve lived here. Finally 8 hours later when we arrived it was about 5 o’clock. We headed straight out into the field to see our first Australian Outback Sunset. It was gorgeous. The first night was the best, it was so gorgeous, and all of the colors were so vivid. That night we had some free time before dinner and then had Burgers. They were really good, we had one of the host families who are chefs cooking for us the whole weekend. After this we had some time around the bonfire where we shared our life stories. It was a great time to get to know each other. Then we went to bed because everyone was so tired from the trip and everything else.

On Saturday we woke up and had breakfast. I was asked after breakfast to help with the worship service for the next day. It was nice to get back into doing that I had forgotten how much I love it. I think I’m going to get back into doing that when I get back to school. We saw a sheep being sheared and I got a video of it. It was really interesting to watch and see how much wool they get off of the sheep. Then Max and Gloria came with their foster child Dylan to sell us boomerangs and didgeridoos. They helped us paint and burn into the wood on our own. They were amazing to talk to about everything. The flies were crazy while we were out there though, especially while we were painting. It took us a long while to all get our painting done so we had a bunch of free time after. I played a lot of Dutch Blitz. I love that game; I definitely want to buy it when I get home. I love when we all go on these trips because it’s like were dorming together and I really miss that while I’m here because we can’t really go to each others houses at night because the buses stop running and we would have no way to get home. That is the only thing that I don’t really like about this program. I love my host family but sometimes I wish I could live with all of the other students because we lose that time of bonding together. That night we had dinner, which was lamb stew and Johnnycakes. Johnnycakes are circles of dough that cook on the campfire and cook up kind of like pita bread. It was really good; I really liked making part of my dinner on the campfire. That night we went “Kangaroo Spotting,” It was so much fun! We ended up seeing 11 Kangaroos that night! And looking at the stars, it was unbelievable how many stars you could see out there. There were no obstacles in the way, you could see the stars/sky from horizon to horizon. We shared more life stories after everyone got to go kangaroo spotting and then we went to bed.

On Sunday morning I had Breakfast Duty…We made “One Eyed Jacks”, or “Toads in a Hole”, or “Eggs in a Basket” whichever name you want to choose. It was so much fun to help the cook make breakfast. It was really good too! It really reminded me of my brother though, I missed him a lot when I was helping cook. Then we had a time of worship and then we went to go explore the farm! It was so much fun. We all piled into Ute’s and Land Explorers and drove around the farm stopping every once in a while. He showed us how he plows the 35,000 acres that he has worth of farmland. He says that it takes him about 3 months to just get the certain paddock ready to be used for crops. Then we saw a Gecko, which was super cute. I wanted to take him home with me! We climbed one of the huge hills that was on their property and sat up there for a while just looking out and thinking about the land and the Outback. We saw a Kangaroo on the way back so our driver drove off chasing him and it turns out that he had a Joey in his pouch it was so cool to see the Kangaroo in the daylight. They are such amazing creatures! When we got back we had lunch and some of the students went to go chase a pig and a baby Emu. They caught both and people have pictures with them. Apparently after lunch they butchered a sheep and one of the students in our group passed out. I am so glad that I missed that; I probably would have passed out as well. We had a bunch of free time and went to see the final sunset in the Outback and I can’t tell you how GORGEOUS IT WAS! I still can’t get over that fact.

Check out the pictures on my Photo Website because they can explain it more than I can…

http://web.mac.com/k.lay/iWeb/asheilanamedkrystin/KLays%20Photo%20Albums.html

xoxo
Krystin

Never Forget

This year September 11th happened twice for me. Most years I can only bear to get through it once. That day has affected more than most people know. It was my first day of my freshman year of high-school. That day has changed me in so many ways...There are no words that could describe how I feel on that day, but these words come close:

I am a New Yorker. I was raised on Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Rockefeller Plaza, the Yankees or the Mets, Jones Beach or Robert Moses Beach or one of the beaches on the sound. I know that "THE END" means Montauk. Because I am a New Yorker.

I am a New Yorker. When I go on vacation, I never look up: skyscrapers are something I take for granted. The Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty are part of me. Taxis and noise and subways and "get outa heah" don't rattle me, because I am a New Yorker.

I am a New Yorker. I was raised on cultural diversity before it was politically correct. I eat Greek food and Italian food, Jewish and Middle Eastern food and Chinese food because they are all American food to me. I don't get mad when people speak other languages in my presence because my relatives got to this country via Ellis Island and chose to stay. They were New Yorkers.

I am a New Yorker. People who have never been to New York have misunderstood me. My friends and family work in the industries, professions and businesses that benefit all Americans. My firefighters and police officers died trying to save New Yorkers and non-New Yorkers. They died trying to save Americans and non-Americans because they were New Yorkers.

I am a New Yorker. I feel the pain of my fellow New Yorkers. I mourn the loss of part of my beautiful city. But then I remember:

I am a New Yorker.

And New Yorkers have:
Tenacity, strength and courage way above the norm
Compassion and caring for our fellow citizens
Love and pride in our city, in our state, in our country
Intelligence, experience and education par excellence
Ability, dedication and energy above and beyond
Faith--no matter what religion we practice...

Terrorists hit America in its heart, but America's heart still beats strong. Demolish the steel in our buildings, but it doesn't touch the steel in our souls. Hit us in the pocketbook; but we'll parlay what we have left into a fortune. End innocent lives leaving widows and orphans, but we'll take care of them, because they are New Yorkers.

Wherever we live, whatever we do, whoever we are. There are New Yorkers in every state and every city of this nation. We will not abandon our city. We will not abandon our brothers and sisters. We will not abandon the beauty, creativity and diversity that New York represents. And most importantly, we will never forget.

Because we are New Yorkers.

And we are proud to be New Yorkers.

[Anonymous]

****************
this is my city
my east side
my west side story
my heartbeat
my first love
my tradition


xoxo
Krystin

Were heading Out Back....

This past week has been so crazy...I have had to write heaps of papers, get a fly net, and do so many other things. How you going? (thats how they say how are you doing here in Auz....it always throws me off guard).

A thought that I have had in the past week is that th teachers here are so AMAZING! They are so laid back and they really want to know what you have to say. Yesterday the teacher for my Arts and Culture class, Grenville Kent, surprised me in so many ways. First of all he had been away for the whole first 4 weeks of the class and another 3rd year theology student was teaching us. He was really great too. So on to my story, first of all he is so interested in what the students wanted to say which is so interesting to me because teachers back in the states are always right back to the point...The second thing is that two students were lauging in class and Grenville looked over and asked them what they were lauging about (at this point I thought he was going to yell at them) and they pointed to another student who at that time was out cold sleeping, and I mean head lolling to the side sleeping. (I then proceeded to get tense waiting for him to freak out...) But he proceeded to wait as the student was woken up and looked around and proceeded to apologize profusely. Grenville then smiled and said that he had a story for us, because that was nothing compared to how he did that one time. He then proceeded to tell a story about how when one of his children were really sick one night and he had been up till all hours of the night. He went in to give the lecture and had fallen asleep during the lecture! It was so funny because the whole time I thought he was going to yell and then he was completely understanding about it. It still amazes me when teachers here are like that =]

A quick note, derek and I found a Mexican restaurant in Manly Beach that is so good! We were so happy when we found it, we have been there twice already! I love Mexican Food!

These past couple weeks here in Asutralia have been absolutly AMAZING! and I don't know what has changed but everything has been so great! besides doing all of the work that we have to do for our classes. If I didn't have to take classes while I was here I would have to say that would make it so much better! I have been really connecting with so many people that are on this trip. I have had 3 coffee dates this week already...and I am so excited for this weekend because were heading to the Outback. Candobalin, Australia is where were going which is about 7-8 hours west of here. I am actually looking forward to the bus ride because were going to watch Finding Nemo and Crocodile Dundee! and I am also going to be able to talk with a lot more of the ASC students and get to know them better which makes me happy!

My birthday is in 9 days and I am so happy! I cannot wait to turn 20!

Well I will post when I get back from the Outback!

love, Krystin