Wow, I haven't written in a while! I'm sorry if you've been wondering where I've been. I'll try to fill you in on what's been going on the last few weeks.
Firstly, the ASCers went on a splendid tour of Sydney Harbor with some Aboriginals. The ferry we took was meant to look like some Aborigines made it. It was largely made of wood and had designs in the inside cabin. The tour guide explained that Aborigines had different names for the sites of some famous Australian landmarks, such as the Sydney Opera House. He spat of tons of names and I didn't understand and thus can't remember any of them. Honestly most of their language is understandable to me and sounds like random nonsense. We visited an island where the tour guide pointed out some plants and things and told us their Aboriginal name and how Aboriginals would use it for many different purposes. For example, he showed us a plant by the name of Nut Grass and explained that it could be used 5 ways: physical barrier for snakes, the grass could be gathered to make baskets, the liquid found at the base of the grass could be used as toothpaste, (it's been awhile now so I don't remember the other 2). Near the end of the tour he and his brother entertained us by showing us some Aboriginal dancing and didgeridoo playing.
One night we (Terry, Bee Hoon, Wei-Li, David and I) visited Yang-En and her husband Jeff in their apartment. We played a game (I have at home) called Killer Bunnies. It takes way too long to explain, has a secret objective, and of course, kills bunnies. Ridiculous. But that was one of the best nights of my life. I knew how to play and Jeff and everyone but Bee Hoon and Terry caught on pretty quick. For the most part, Terry kept in the background and got his bunnies killed in the first round and never got anymore. Bee Hoon was simply hilarious and her evil side came out. She warned us not to kill her bunnies or something would come after us. She always had something up her sleeve. Also, at one time, she wanted to didn't understand the rules of a card despite repeat objections by everyone else. She is feisty.
Another evening a bunch of students, both Australian and American, went to see the movie Inception in theaters. I liked it, and thought that even though it can be a very confusing and complex film genre, I was impressed.
One Thursday and Friday the Americans from ASC and some Australians from Wesley went to a spiritual emphasis camp, or SPIRO camp for short/Australian. They do this every year and some years it has been really fun, and others it has been not so fun. But camp is what you make it! This year we had a lot of fun and I heard from the ASC director, Kimberly, that the Australians thought this was a very good group of ASCers! The camp's focus was on "ensemble" meaning doing life with others instead of for yourself. I'm sure we all learned a lot and can take away some good life lessons. One of the highlights of the camp was Friday night. We were split up into groups and had to perform a skit to the theme of a certain ensemble. Some of the group's themes turned out to be: The Toy Maker, A Wedding Featuring Steve Irwin and Julia Gillard...and some others that I can't remember. Our group, a movie company that specializes in making sequels (named Second Best Film Studios) ended up winning and we each received a chocolate candy bar for our hugely impulsive and crazy skit.
One of the most recent things we've done is visit the Australian capital of Canberra. We packed in seeing some embassies, art galleries, and a WWI memorial in just 2 days. We visited the United States and Indonesian embassies and the New Zealand High Commission. Don't ask my why it wasn't an "embassy." We also toured the "neighborhood" and saw many other countries' embassies on the bus, such as Greece, Belgium, China, and the Philippines. We stayed Friday night in a youth hostel and had a lot of fun. For supper we had some good Domino's pizza and pop. They had a pool and a sauna and later we played card games and Settlers of Cataan.
I had some papers due this week. One had to be written on a significant Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander and the other of a deconstruction of a certain film and its genre. I picked Artie Beetson, one of Australia's best rugby league players ever, and my favorite film, Ocean's 11 (with George Clooney). I had barely written anything on the Aboriginal one and I was scraping the barrel for ideas on the film one. They had to be 1500 and 1000 words respectively. I finished them both on time by the great help of my gracious God with the prayers of friends and family.
In general, my home stay family is continuing to be amazing and a great family to come home to. I regret not spending heaps of time with them because I am too busy doing school or adventuring. Although, my "home mom" has recently caught my bad side. Sometimes I can let things slide and get disorganized or lazy. I was lightly scolded one time when I forgot to replace my towel in the bathroom and used my "home bro's" instead.
There's so much more that I can list picking from my brain. Some random stuff will probably come back at random times when I return...
