One week left to finish this paper. But by this time next week it should be almost finished!! Woohoo!!
It's been raining for about three days now... and it's so nice! I lay on my bed with my sweatshirt and Uggs, have a cup of coffee nearby, with my window wide open so I can hear the rain, and read one of my books for my paper. So nice.
I worked two nights ago, and it was just non-stop rain. Afterwards, on my way to the bus, I snapped a quick picture of me and the city. It was just so pretty! So here's a little pic of the moment.
Told you I'd let you know if anything happened!! :)
So today I went to the post office to check my mail - I do it on occasion, usually once every other week or so to make sure I haven't received too much junk mail. But today... when I got to my box I had a package slip!! I GOT ANOTHER PACKAGE!! So I went in to retrieve it, and the guy pulls out this box. And the first thing I see on the side is "Disney"... and a HUGE smile swept across my face.
My awesome, incredible friend Destiny sent me a belated birthday present..... FILLED with Disney goodies. In addition to the Disney stickers and Disneyland Parking Passes that bombarded the box.... I got:
- DCA (Disney's California Adventure) and Disneyland Theme Park guides - Disney Princess Pens - Disney Princess Bubble Bath (Enchanted Strawberry, to be exact) - an abundance of Finding Nemo stickers - a Jack Sparrow and Will Turner adorned notebook (woohoo!) - a gynormous lollipop (that I want to savor forever and ever yet eat in one sitting all at the same time) - a Dumbo Dollar (that will be worth millions one day!) - Mickey Ears!
and last but not least...
- a Happy Birthday pin with my name on it from Disneyland!! (#25)
It was fantastic!! and an unexpected surprise (okay okay... I knew something was coming, but I was expecting a card or something small!)
So here's a fun little video...... because I want to put off this last paper as much as possible. :) ((but really shouldn't))
Sorry I've been so horrible at writing blogs lately. I've been writing papers, and when I'm done I don't really feel like writing more. But the semester is almost over, and I promise I'll write heaps when it's done. There's going to be so many adventures once break gets here. Sydney, Gold Coast, Whitsundays.... all to come.
But until then, I still have 2 weeks of writing. I've finished one of my papers. Just need to hand it in. I'm nearing the end of my second paper (actually hoped to have it finished tonight, but we'll see)... and then I have one more left after that with about 2 weeks to write it! So I'm almost done.
On top of that I'm still working and attending classes (sometimes).
Hope you are all well. I'm doing good. Stressed out a lot and unmotivated at times. But pushing through as much as I can.
If something big happens I will definitely write about it. :)
It began with church - which was nice. A little sad because it was all about mothers and mine wasn't there to celebrate with, but it was good to get a little extra reminder of how great moms are. And mine is pretty much awesome.
Following church, Esther brought me back to the flat where my flatmates were cooking lunch for me! We had planned to have a nice lunch together and I had asked Eddie to cook Pad Thai - my favorite. Ariel made some fish - which was REALLY good. And for those of you that know me, I'm not a huge fish eater. And I made some of my favorite pasta that mom had sent over (see... look how great my mom is!). It was really nice. After eating the main meals we dug into the remaining cake (see May 7th's blog for more information on this international cake). However, before we dug in, we had to light up the candles and sing happy birthday. And what better way to do that than with a singing candle?! Unfortunately - or fortunately, you could look at it both ways - the candle wouldn't stop singing once the flame was blown out. Hilarity ensued and we all just laughed for a few minutes until pulling the candle out of its little stand. And now I think it's broken forever. :( Oh well.... we got some laughs out of it!
After lunch Esther brought me to the shopping center where I hoped I would be able to find a place to cut my hair. Problem was that it was Sunday.... things close on Sunday. Many of the salons were closed all day or closing as I arrived. So, no hair cut. But I did get my nails done. And that was nice!
That night we met up with a few people at El Torito in West End. Look at the pictures in the video and you'll know that it's NOTHING like the El Torito Californians are used to. It was a little hole-in-the-wall place with pretty lousy service. But the food wasn't bad at all! Aside from the spelling of a few things ("quezadila" and "tamal"???) and an odd looking tostada (the "salad" you see on the plate in the video is really a tostada... basically a small crispy tortilla with black beans and literal salad topping it off) it was respectable Mexican food.
You will also notice in some of the pictures that we brought a friend along with us - in the form of a picture. :) That's because Maija wasn't able to with us. No, she's not dead. She's just in Maine. :) But I wanted her there, and I wanted her to be a part of it, so she was there....... in picture form.
Everyone else that was there: Esther, Sally, Sharon, Karmel (girls from Lifegroup) Frida and her brother Benjamin Blake (a friend from all my classes - he's from Texas so we have stuff in common to talk about while in class....... paying close attention to the professors as they give their lecture of course)
Today was a really nice day. It started around 7am. Most people would think that waking up at 7am on a Saturday would equate a crappy day - but this was for a good reason. At 8:30am Frida picked me up and we were on our way down the coast to Byron Bay. Last time I was there was with Maija, Maria and her friend for two days. Remember that blog? We initially were going to stay in a run down, hippie backpackers and decided to pick up and leave for a different, much nicer place. And then it rained a lot while we were there. Well... this time around we were only there for the day... and it was GORGEOUS. The weather forecast called for clouds and cool, but it was clear and warm pretty much the entire time we were there. Frida's brother is in town for a few weeks, and they were heading down there anyway and asked if I would like to tag along. There's no way I could pass up an opportunity to get away for a bit.
We got there around 10:30am and went straight for the Lighthouse. We took a little hike up the hill, and when we reached the top we treated ourselves to some delicious ice cream: Mango Macadamia and Strawberry.... mmm. mmm. mmmmm.
After our trip to the Lighthouse we hit the beach for a few hours. Again, BEAUTIFUL. Frida and Benjamin (brother) got in the water, but I stayed nice and warm and dry on the sand.
Following our sunbathing, we walked around the shops.
And finally, we met up with Frida's friend for dinner - and we got HUGE Chicken Burgers. I should've taken a picture of it now that I'm think about it.... it was MASSIVE!! I did, however, snap a picture of the mustard bottle. Notice what type of mustard it is.
Birthday tomorrow!!! Lots of things happening... I'll fill you in later! :)
Never in my life did I ever think I would attend Buddha's Birthday Celebration. But Eddie asked me if I might be interested in going. It would be more than acknowledging Buddha, it was a huge festival with music, food, markets, and entertainment with some Buddha worshipping - or whatever it is that they do - mixed in every now and then.
I was planning on hanging out with Frida on Friday night in Southbank anyway... and it just so happened that the festival was located in South Bank. So Eddie, his friend and I rode the bus out to Southbank and met up with Frida (who had just finished up a class out in the city) on Friday night. We walked around, grabbed some food and then sat down to watch some of the entertainment. It was actually really interesting.
They had some stuff set up: pictures and statues etc. And there was this one little section - you'll see it in the video - that had a watering trough with little dolls standing in it. People would walk up to it, scoop up some water in a little spoon thing and pour it on the little doll. Eddie explained it to me as pouring water on Buddha. You would pour water on Buddha's left shoulder and it would give you good luck. I passed on watering the Buddha and went on to grab some food.
After the entertainment: music, lion dancing and kung fu, there was the Offering of Light to Buddha. Everyone that participated was given a candle. They placed it on the ground and walked away. I didn't really understand the significance of it, but it looked pretty cool. Following the offering of light, people were given the opportunity to water the Buddha again - this time in the plaza.
It was a very interesting night. I'm glad Eddie invited me, but it's still something I just don't understand. Buddhism just seems like it's based on a lot of wishful thinking, luck and inner peace.
Here's the video to get an idea of what the night was like:
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