You're Gonna Miss This

I miss sleeping with this big baby.

Blog Blurb

All is alive and well here.

I'm pretty tired of working on this paper that's due Monday; I'm at the "maybe-if-I-just-ignore-it it-will-go away stage."

The weather has been really stormy the past few days with torrential downpours rolling in unexpectedly, but the humidity has gone back down, such a relief.

Work is going well, actually had 3 days off in a row which felt fantastic; am a bit bummed that my hours have been cut back on account of new people being hired, but what matters is I have a job.

Thing I've missed most as of late: good coffee (AKA Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts).

Absolutely cannot wait to taste a mango vanilla gelati from Ritas when I return.

So yea, there's your random blog blurb for the week.

Vegemite is a No Go, I repeat, a No Go

Tried some Vegemite the other day.....

But this....

tastes WAY better.... straight out of the container with a knife.

The Vegemite was filth by the way, no offense meant towards the many Aussies who enjoy its strange.... salty.... hard-to-explain-but-disgusting taste. The smell doesn't do much for me either, makes my stomach churn.

Alright, enough about the delicacy of vegemite, lets talk cyclones.

Here is the latest updated track map:

Ului is sitting very comfortably at a Cat.3 and it is expected to remain at that strength when it makes landfall; I've also heard some forecasters say it will strengthen again before landfall, but hopefully not. Townsville is on the northern end of the current track so we might escape a direct hit, but regardless, wind and rain are a likelihood. We are currently under a watch, a warning might be in place by tom.

It will keep the weekend eventful, I'll try and be Jim Cantore's substitute while I'm here and take some pics, but I will not be the stupid idiot and go to the beach.

Keeping an Eye on Things

Found out yesterday that my internet quota for JCU runs out VERY quickly; we are allotted $2 dollars a month (it's a certain number of Megabytes) for incoming traffic on the internet, and after 8PM it's all free. Things like Skype and listening to K-Love online, run it down very quickly as I have discovered. So, I will be changing my internet usage patterns after I reloaded my account with $5 dollars to last me till April.

I had a bit of a rough day dealing with an issue related to a class I'm struggling with, the same class that has given me that ugly practical I mentioned in my last post. I went to see if I could drop the class only to find out I can't because it's already week 4 and they said I am too far into the semester to try and add another class and try to catch up; I could drop the class altogether and be left with 9 credit hours, but the Teaching Fellows commission would not be happy about that since I need to be taking 12 hours to comply with their academic policy. That leaves me with a class that I am desperately hoping and praying I do not fail, all I have to do is pass, that's it. I was really stressing about the whole thing this afternoon ( I can be a bit of a worrier over stuff that's really not that big of a deal), but then came to the realization, it's all gonna be okay, just take a deep breath. God's not gonna leave me high and dry, and in the scheme of things, there are much worse things I could be dealing with.

Townsville could very well be dealing with something worse by midweek; there is a large swirling mass off to the north east: Cyclone Ului. The currently Cat. 4 storm was originally forecasted to strike the Queensland coast somewhere between Mackay and Cairns (that puts Townsville in the middle....), but as of 5 hours ago, forecasters are saying it is 'unlikely' it will make a direct landfall; gale conditions are what they are currently predicting.

Thought I was done with the hurricanes, but the season here runs until April; just keeping an eye on things, don't anybody worry (AKA mom).

Mismatch Day

This post is just a mismatch of items, no particular theme or cohesion.

I'm NOT liking one of my classes right now, as I sit here with a practical in front of me on Aeromagnetic interpretation.... yea, I know, aero-whooby-whaty?... that's what I say.

I DID however, enjoy venturing out in the blazing sun at midday, with no wind, and soaking humidity, for three hours, to collect soil samples for one of my classes.... no, really, it was fun.

I've been working about 5 days a week, 20 hours, which has been fantastic because that means I'm making some money, it also means I'm a bit tired at the end of the day.

I'm looking into planning a trip to Tasmania in May, I just need someone who wants to be my travel buddy!

I've been in Australia for exactly 1 month and 8 days.

I watched my first Rugby game (Queensland Cowboys vs. Brisbane Broncos) on tv last night. It took me about 20 min. to figure out what was going on; I liked it, but I did get a little frustrated because I kept comparing it to American football, don't do that. (Australians think that American football is very much a sissy sport, so DON'T compare it with rugby). Just a bit of terminology for you, Rugby is also referred to as football or footy, and here in Queensland they play Rugby League whereas in places like Melbourne, Rugby Union is more popular, the rules are different, so they are NOT the same thing. Watch it if you get the chance.

More vocab:

torch = flashlight

brekky = breakfast

There's more, I think of it at random times when I can't write it down.

Smiles from me and Abby to brighten your day.

Reaching for the Sky

I meant to post about this last semester but somewhere along the way forgot, and then it hit me again as I looked out my window. Have you ever thought about trees?

I mean I'm sure you've thought about them, they have branches, they have leaves, they shed their leaves in gorgeous colors during the Fall, they fall on cars and houses when the wind gets too strong, but have you ever looked at the way they were created with their branches reaching towards the sky?

God could have created them with no branches at all, he could have made them all Weeping Willows, or he could have created them with all their branches sticking out at 90 degree angles, but he didn't. Then I thought about how similar they are to us, because they look just like we do when we have our hands and arms reaching up to God. Trees are constantly worshipping with their hands raised :) I just thought that was a really cool thing to think about.

You can even get deeper into tree-human similarities when you think about trees and their roots. We need to stay firmly rooted in God just like a tree needs to be firmly rooted in the ground, otherwise it will topple over when the weather gets too rough.

Trees (not all, but many) go through seasons where they basically breathe in and breathe out, breathing in CO2 and releasing Oxygen (I think that's right, Megan corrected me on it). As Christians, we go through seasons of change and cycles as well. Creation puts me in awe of the Creator.

I love being surrounded by trees and greenery and blue skies, but I've heard we are headed into dry season and soon everything will be brown, so I'm enjoying it while I can!

I'll leave you with a poem that I found on the cover of a journal that my friend, Brandy, gave me:

"Nature is a painting for us,

day after day,

pictures of infinite beauty."

- John Ruskin

Slowly Inching

Have you ever watched a snail inch its way along the ground? Well, if you haven't they move at the speed of molasses and that is exactly the speed I'm moving at in relation to the motivation I have to complete classwork.....
After not being in class since the first week of December, I'm finding it very difficult to actually sit down and read or complete assignments. But I did make some headway yesterday and today by finishing a tutorial assignment. That's another thing I am trying to get used to: the way classes are set up in AUS. Rather than having lecture 2 or 3 days a week (M,W,F and T, Th), I will have a 2 hour lecture one day a week and then a 2 hour tutorial one day a week; the point of the lecture is to just sit and absorb information while the tutorials are made up of smaller groups of students and learned material is discussed and applied. It's a different way of doing things, not a bad way, just different, but I haven't quite made up my mind on whether or not I like it. We'll see.
All of my classes have an environmental science focus:
- Cradle to Grave: Population, Economy, and Environment
- Tourism and the Environment
- Earth Resources, Exploration, and Environment
- Australian Landscape Processes and Evolution
So far, Earth Resources, Exploration, and Environment is my favorite because the professor is hilarious; let me just preface what I'm going to tell you with a bit of info on Australian pronunciation: the word aluminum is pronounced with an extra "i" at the end so the word becomes aluminium. In lecture on Friday, the professor was talking about different minerals and when he got to aluminum, he stopped and enquired as to how many Americans were in the class, two other students and I raised our hands and then he stated "it's pronounced aaaaluuuuminIum" at which point the whole class burst into laughter. (I just thought you'd want to know that when aluminum is typed aluminium, spell check comes up, and states the correct spelling is aluminum....). But he really is a funny guy.
I recently found a Christian student group on campus, JCU Christian Union, and was able to attend one of their Bible studies which led me to meet another study abroad student, Natalie, who has been here from Norway since July. She invited me to the young adult service at Sun City Christian Church last night and I can't tell you how good it felt to worship with other Christians. I haven't been to church since I left the states the first week of February, and it was something I have definitely been missing. I was thinking about how I've been through so much transition in the past 2 years between leaving for college and coming to AUS, this has meant finding new churches and bouncing back and forth between them, but I've come to really realize one thing: church is people; no matter how many different meeting places I go to, or how many towns I visit, church is all about Christians coming together as one body to worship an amazing Creator.
My job is going really well; the chef told me the other day "You're a good worker, mate" and I responded "Well I'm very glad to hear that :)". It can be difficult sometimes working with this particular chef and deep breathing is often required, but I'm encouraged knowing it pays well, and I won't be doing it forever!
I'll leave you with a picture from Australia and a song from Owl City (you'll have to check the song out on my Twitter link to the left):