Kangaroo
chicken and mushrooms
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Week 1
Hello guys! I hope you are all having fun, and that your lives are going well.
I am currently in my hammock on my balcony, its nighttime and stars are out, and the shops across the street have signs lit up and im listening to music from my computer and its not cold and im in a sleeping bag and there arent any bugs. I am feeling pretty baller right now and wish i could do this at duke.
So during the last week since my last post, i have been doing much better. But lets go in order.
I was really getting used to being alone and i started to really enjoy it. Some quiet time in a beautiful place. It really is gorgeous here, nature wise. It always feels sooo good to just be outside. The scenery is beautful, ive been discovering more places by walking around, i found the city, its about a mile away. Well maybe its not the main city but close enough for me. ( i found a kmart inside a mall and i bought a brita filter so if you guys want water next year you dont have to buy tons of bottled water)
So i've been exploring, and also ive been spending a lot of time talking to Esther, i think everyone on the blog knows who taht is, but just in case, she is my girlfriend. So i have been doing that for most of my time here. Oh yes also cooking lots of stuff because well eating out is extremely expensive. So i was starting to really enjoy myself. Just chlling alone and doing everything i would want to do if i had time to myself, learning how to play guitar more etc. So today i went back to the same church as i went to last week. It is a hope for brisbane church, the service i go to is mostly young working adults, all people aroudn 3-6 years older than me, which is a change but i kind of like it. One of the guys let me borrow his heater so i will no longer be forced to use my computer as my heater. But yea they were all really welcoming again this week and i had a good time getting to know the church and its body better. And i am going to check out their small group on thrusday.
also when i got back, the guy next to me came back, and he is a year older i think, he is a hong kong background person born in australia, kind of like me. so right when i was content with being alone, a guy comes along who is really cool. he invited me to go see batman, but we later found out it was sold out. So i guess to sum up: things are changing for the better.
Another thing, after i got back from church, i was talking to greg online. One of the things we talked about was how cool iv is, especially our class in iv and how much we loved the community. We talked about how much we have grown as a community and expanded but at the same time, its really genuine and caring. Its something that will be missed next semester.
We talked about the new believers in iv in our class, i hadn't been keeping up but there have been 3 new believers since the summer started. Isnt that amazing? I forget, amy chen, braeden hicks, and one other i forget or maybe there was only 2 oh well anyways.
To conclude i would like to share with you that i am listening to Ride wit me by nelly. I know every single word of that rap.
Goodbye, it must be the money.
I am currently in my hammock on my balcony, its nighttime and stars are out, and the shops across the street have signs lit up and im listening to music from my computer and its not cold and im in a sleeping bag and there arent any bugs. I am feeling pretty baller right now and wish i could do this at duke.
So during the last week since my last post, i have been doing much better. But lets go in order.
I was really getting used to being alone and i started to really enjoy it. Some quiet time in a beautiful place. It really is gorgeous here, nature wise. It always feels sooo good to just be outside. The scenery is beautful, ive been discovering more places by walking around, i found the city, its about a mile away. Well maybe its not the main city but close enough for me. ( i found a kmart inside a mall and i bought a brita filter so if you guys want water next year you dont have to buy tons of bottled water)
So i've been exploring, and also ive been spending a lot of time talking to Esther, i think everyone on the blog knows who taht is, but just in case, she is my girlfriend. So i have been doing that for most of my time here. Oh yes also cooking lots of stuff because well eating out is extremely expensive. So i was starting to really enjoy myself. Just chlling alone and doing everything i would want to do if i had time to myself, learning how to play guitar more etc. So today i went back to the same church as i went to last week. It is a hope for brisbane church, the service i go to is mostly young working adults, all people aroudn 3-6 years older than me, which is a change but i kind of like it. One of the guys let me borrow his heater so i will no longer be forced to use my computer as my heater. But yea they were all really welcoming again this week and i had a good time getting to know the church and its body better. And i am going to check out their small group on thrusday.
also when i got back, the guy next to me came back, and he is a year older i think, he is a hong kong background person born in australia, kind of like me. so right when i was content with being alone, a guy comes along who is really cool. he invited me to go see batman, but we later found out it was sold out. So i guess to sum up: things are changing for the better.
Another thing, after i got back from church, i was talking to greg online. One of the things we talked about was how cool iv is, especially our class in iv and how much we loved the community. We talked about how much we have grown as a community and expanded but at the same time, its really genuine and caring. Its something that will be missed next semester.
We talked about the new believers in iv in our class, i hadn't been keeping up but there have been 3 new believers since the summer started. Isnt that amazing? I forget, amy chen, braeden hicks, and one other i forget or maybe there was only 2 oh well anyways.
To conclude i would like to share with you that i am listening to Ride wit me by nelly. I know every single word of that rap.
Goodbye, it must be the money.
some pictures of daily life
Lets see in order:
My room,
my balcony,
my balcony with my hammock at night as a clothesline,
what i made for dinner last night,
my first meal ( a supreme pizza on a bread and a egg custard tart),
my bathroom.
My room,
my balcony,
my balcony with my hammock at night as a clothesline,
what i made for dinner last night,
my first meal ( a supreme pizza on a bread and a egg custard tart),
my bathroom.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Paris
How is everything going?
Here's a little update on my life:
The classes so far have been pretty interesting. I’m taking one international business class and then another philosophy class about globalization and ethics. We have classes from 9am- 12 every morning, and we have the afternoons to explore, do homework, and cook dinner for ourselves.
Last weekend, I ended up taking a weekend trip to Paris. The train ride from Geneva took about 3 ½ hrs. It was crazy trying to cram everything we wanted to see and do into such a short time span but I had an amazing time! Here’s a list of all the places I visited:
-Notre Dame
-Louvre
-Musee d’ Orsay
-Jardin des Tulleries
-Napoleon’s Tomb
-Palace of Versailles and the BEAUTIFUL gardens
-Eiffel Tower
-Walked around the Champ-Elysees and all the designer stores
-Climbed the Arc de Triomphe
-Saw the memorial marking the spot where Princess Diana died
-Bastille
-Moulin Rouge
-Basilique de Sacre-Coeur
It was incredible being surrounding by all the historical buildings and the art. I have to say my favorite part though was walking around the side streets and stopping in the little bakeries to try different pastries and crepes. : )
It was really nice because Tracy Gold is actually studying abroad in Paris so I was able to meet up with her at the Louvre and have dinner together.
This weekend I’m going hiking in the Alps so it will be probably be very different from my Parisian experience. I can’t wait to see the gorgeous views!
Miss you all!
Here's a little update on my life:
The classes so far have been pretty interesting. I’m taking one international business class and then another philosophy class about globalization and ethics. We have classes from 9am- 12 every morning, and we have the afternoons to explore, do homework, and cook dinner for ourselves.
Last weekend, I ended up taking a weekend trip to Paris. The train ride from Geneva took about 3 ½ hrs. It was crazy trying to cram everything we wanted to see and do into such a short time span but I had an amazing time! Here’s a list of all the places I visited:
-Notre Dame
-Louvre
-Musee d’ Orsay
-Jardin des Tulleries
-Napoleon’s Tomb
-Palace of Versailles and the BEAUTIFUL gardens
-Eiffel Tower
-Walked around the Champ-Elysees and all the designer stores
-Climbed the Arc de Triomphe
-Saw the memorial marking the spot where Princess Diana died
-Bastille
-Moulin Rouge
-Basilique de Sacre-Coeur
It was incredible being surrounding by all the historical buildings and the art. I have to say my favorite part though was walking around the side streets and stopping in the little bakeries to try different pastries and crepes. : )
It was really nice because Tracy Gold is actually studying abroad in Paris so I was able to meet up with her at the Louvre and have dinner together.
This weekend I’m going hiking in the Alps so it will be probably be very different from my Parisian experience. I can’t wait to see the gorgeous views!
Miss you all!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Australian update
Hello friends
Here is an update (long rant) on my time and thoughts so far in Australia. I think that above all else I am feeling frustrated. Mostly due to not meeting anyone, so I have been sitting in my single room a lot. I am living off campus at an apartment so it is kind of hard to meet people, although the people living at the complex are all students. There just doesn’t seem like there is a lot of chances to hang out with the residents. I kind of just wish that I came here with someone I k new so it wouldn’t be so weird. Besides that I am also frustrated with the way Australians do internet. They give you a download quota so that if you go over that limit, they reduce your speed by a lot, but this morning my internet at home just wouldn’t go to pages other than university home pages, which was really frustrating for me because… all I’ve been doing is surfing the internet. The internet rates are also a little ridiculous, its about 150$ for a 55gb quota with dsl speeds, and that’s shared with around 7 people I think.
I guess I am just having a lot of doubts about being here, and wondering why I chose to study abroad alone and I even looked into going back to duke for the semester. But as much as I want to go back to my comfort zone, I realize that it’s a rare opportunity for me to start over without knowing anyone, so I’m learning to trust God more. If nothing else, its only 4 months. It seems like it is duke’s freshman orientation again where people just go out every night.
In other news, I went to a church last Sunday and they were really welcoming so that was nice. It was a hope for bisbane church, so I am thinking I will go back next week.
edit: my internet at my apt works again, yay!
Here is an update (long rant) on my time and thoughts so far in Australia. I think that above all else I am feeling frustrated. Mostly due to not meeting anyone, so I have been sitting in my single room a lot. I am living off campus at an apartment so it is kind of hard to meet people, although the people living at the complex are all students. There just doesn’t seem like there is a lot of chances to hang out with the residents. I kind of just wish that I came here with someone I k new so it wouldn’t be so weird. Besides that I am also frustrated with the way Australians do internet. They give you a download quota so that if you go over that limit, they reduce your speed by a lot, but this morning my internet at home just wouldn’t go to pages other than university home pages, which was really frustrating for me because… all I’ve been doing is surfing the internet. The internet rates are also a little ridiculous, its about 150$ for a 55gb quota with dsl speeds, and that’s shared with around 7 people I think.
I guess I am just having a lot of doubts about being here, and wondering why I chose to study abroad alone and I even looked into going back to duke for the semester. But as much as I want to go back to my comfort zone, I realize that it’s a rare opportunity for me to start over without knowing anyone, so I’m learning to trust God more. If nothing else, its only 4 months. It seems like it is duke’s freshman orientation again where people just go out every night.
In other news, I went to a church last Sunday and they were really welcoming so that was nice. It was a hope for bisbane church, so I am thinking I will go back next week.
edit: my internet at my apt works again, yay!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
long plane rides
it took me a while to figure out my username and password
Hey guys and gals,
I am in the la airport right now and well to be honest, I feel kind of short. Anyways, I am en route to Brisbane, Australia where I will be going to the university of queensland! Only more a lot more hours on a plane to go! But here is a cool story, at my last stop in new york’s JFK airport, I was sitting for a while next to 48ish middle schoolers on a trip to Australia, after sitting there for an hour with my headphones on watching a movie I discovered that middle schoolers are kind of annoying, so I got up and went to the bathroom. After the bathroom I decided that I didn’t want to go back to the middle schoolers and I wanted to stretch my legs so I decided to keep walking around. And I bumped into my youth pastor on his way to relocate to his mission field! Matt saw me and was like ‘Eric! They’ve been paging you!’ Of course I didn’t believe him because I had been in front of my gate for a while and I had only gone to the bathroom for a really short time. So I told him, and he kept telling me he wasn’t lying. So anyways it was really cool to randomly bump into him and it brightened up my day. I later found out that they had indeed been paging me, I am stupid.
I had also been wearing a duke shirt so some guy I didn’t know from duke who was also studying abroad at my university came up and talked to me for a little while, and then on the flight itself, I had 3 seats to myself because it was a flight that was getting more people in la, so I layed down like I was on a bed and watched shows like family guy, hey Arnold, and the wild thornberries. Now my butt is sore from sitting. It is now time to board my next flight to Sydney, bye for now!
Finaly leg now, I have just finished my flight from Sydney which wasn’t so bad because of the really cool plane and entertainment options. An interesting turn of events is the guy sitting next to me was going with his youth group to see the pope and see a hillsong concert, and he was pretty talkative so that helped the flight. Flying into Sydney was really cool because I got to see how beautiful the wildlife and beach and cliffs surrounding the outside of the city was.
Another thing that is insane, the guy sitting next to me now, a middle school guy started talking to me, and I found out he just got back from the hillsong conference(the same one Moses was at) haha, I guess God is putting a lot of Christians around me.
Hey guys and gals,
I am in the la airport right now and well to be honest, I feel kind of short. Anyways, I am en route to Brisbane, Australia where I will be going to the university of queensland! Only more a lot more hours on a plane to go! But here is a cool story, at my last stop in new york’s JFK airport, I was sitting for a while next to 48ish middle schoolers on a trip to Australia, after sitting there for an hour with my headphones on watching a movie I discovered that middle schoolers are kind of annoying, so I got up and went to the bathroom. After the bathroom I decided that I didn’t want to go back to the middle schoolers and I wanted to stretch my legs so I decided to keep walking around. And I bumped into my youth pastor on his way to relocate to his mission field! Matt saw me and was like ‘Eric! They’ve been paging you!’ Of course I didn’t believe him because I had been in front of my gate for a while and I had only gone to the bathroom for a really short time. So I told him, and he kept telling me he wasn’t lying. So anyways it was really cool to randomly bump into him and it brightened up my day. I later found out that they had indeed been paging me, I am stupid.
I had also been wearing a duke shirt so some guy I didn’t know from duke who was also studying abroad at my university came up and talked to me for a little while, and then on the flight itself, I had 3 seats to myself because it was a flight that was getting more people in la, so I layed down like I was on a bed and watched shows like family guy, hey Arnold, and the wild thornberries. Now my butt is sore from sitting. It is now time to board my next flight to Sydney, bye for now!
Finaly leg now, I have just finished my flight from Sydney which wasn’t so bad because of the really cool plane and entertainment options. An interesting turn of events is the guy sitting next to me was going with his youth group to see the pope and see a hillsong concert, and he was pretty talkative so that helped the flight. Flying into Sydney was really cool because I got to see how beautiful the wildlife and beach and cliffs surrounding the outside of the city was.
Another thing that is insane, the guy sitting next to me now, a middle school guy started talking to me, and I found out he just got back from the hillsong conference(the same one Moses was at) haha, I guess God is putting a lot of Christians around me.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Geneva
Hey!
Sorry that I haven’t been able to write to you sooner but I haven’t had any internet connection the past couple days because we have been waiting for our user names and passwords.
So, everything went smoothly on the flight from JFK to Geneva. I slept for about 2 ½ hrs and then passed my time making small talk and flipping through random channels on the screen. When we landed, I discovered that there were actually a total of six people going to the program who had been on the same flight. Fortunately we were all together because finding the bus to get to Cite Universite was a little bit more complicated than we had anticipated. It took us about 45 min to get from the airport to the Cite and luckily we ran into two people from our program who were able to show us where to check in and how to find our rooms.
My room here is so much better than what we have at Duke. It has lots of storage space, my own personal sink, and a gorgeous view of the mountains from my window! I really lucked out because other people face the street or another building. Surprisingly, our rooms are spread out amongst several dorm-type buildings. Some people have students from Duke on their floor but I’m the only one living on my hall. I’m not really sure where the students who live here take classes because I haven’t seen any classrooms but maybe I’ll find that out tomorrow. Their school year ended about two weeks ago so many of the kids have moved out and now people from various international programs are using the facility- there’s a basketball camp, some other school from the states, and the Cite also functions as a hostel.
After checking in, a couple of us walked to the grocery store to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. Everything here is so expensive! It’s ridiculous- but I have to eat somehow. During the afternoon I took a short nap and un-packed my suitcases.
We took the city bus out to dinner in more of Geneva’s downtown area. Strangely, many of the restaurants close at 7pm on the weekend and the grocery stores around 5:30.- I don’t really get way because you would think the weekends would be the best time for business but I guess the culture is different. The bus stop was near a lake with a large fountain. I didn’t really have time to check it out today but I think that I’ll get to do that tomorrow on our walking tour of the city. Some of the people who got here a few days earlier said its gorgeous at night and last night they saw people salsa dancing nearby.
I really like the people here so far. For the most part, everyone seems really friendly and excited about what we’ll be doing while we are here. 21/25 of us went out to dinner together, and we definitely looked like a tourist mob walking through the streets. It’s interesting though because groups are already starting to form and they pretty much mirror the social scene at school. I think there are definitely several people here that I’ll click with so we’ll see how things sort themselves out as time passes.
It doesn’t get dark here until around 9:30-10pm. –It’s so weird. Haha I feel like my day is a lot longer than it really is. We finished dinner around 9 ish and it seemed like it was 7. After dinner people hung out in a couple rooms but I think most people are a little tired from traveling. Tomorrow our professors are taking us on a walking tour of the city and then we are going out to a really nice opening dinner.
Yesterday (Sunday) I was such a mess...
It was a day of embarrassing moments and bad first impressions.
So after hanging out with people on Saturday night, I decided to try to get some sleep while a few others went out. I went to bed around 1:30 am and woke up around 3 am. I was tossing and turning for several hours until finally falling back asleep around 6 am. The next thing I realize, I hear this loud knocking on my door. I figured it was probably someone coming back drunk so I tried to ignore the knocks at first. Well...I needed to be in the lobby at 1:00 pm to go on a walking tour and it was 1:15pm! (I don't understand!- You know me, I can NEVER sleep in!) I was still in my pjs so I threw on the first clothes I could find and ran downstairs. The group was getting onto the metro so fortunately I wasn't a second later...
So I had had no idea what the weather was like and I was wearing a tank top and jeans. As it turns out, it was raining- I had no umbrella and no jacket- looked like a complete idiot. One of my friends let me borrow her umbrella and then while one of the professors was talking, I accidentally hit the button on the umbrella and it flew close, soaking everyone... ugh...
The rest of the day actually turned out better. My group got together and finished up most of our project. Then we all dressed up and went out to a really nice opening dinner. I had delicious salmon and the best dessert ever. I also tried a couple sips of four different types of wine given to us by our professor. He is very enthusiastic about his wine... Haha After dinner, I hung out with a couple girls and then did my readings for today.
Today I woke up on time and got to class early-haha I figured it was the least I could do to try to get things off to a better start. Classes went from 9am-12. The business class seems like it will be pretty interesting but the philosophy course is a little more wishy-washy.
We went shopping for groceries today and planned our meals for the week. It should be interesting cooking for ourselves without having the supply of spices and dishes/pans I have at home.
Miss you guys!
Amy
Sorry that I haven’t been able to write to you sooner but I haven’t had any internet connection the past couple days because we have been waiting for our user names and passwords.
So, everything went smoothly on the flight from JFK to Geneva. I slept for about 2 ½ hrs and then passed my time making small talk and flipping through random channels on the screen. When we landed, I discovered that there were actually a total of six people going to the program who had been on the same flight. Fortunately we were all together because finding the bus to get to Cite Universite was a little bit more complicated than we had anticipated. It took us about 45 min to get from the airport to the Cite and luckily we ran into two people from our program who were able to show us where to check in and how to find our rooms.
My room here is so much better than what we have at Duke. It has lots of storage space, my own personal sink, and a gorgeous view of the mountains from my window! I really lucked out because other people face the street or another building. Surprisingly, our rooms are spread out amongst several dorm-type buildings. Some people have students from Duke on their floor but I’m the only one living on my hall. I’m not really sure where the students who live here take classes because I haven’t seen any classrooms but maybe I’ll find that out tomorrow. Their school year ended about two weeks ago so many of the kids have moved out and now people from various international programs are using the facility- there’s a basketball camp, some other school from the states, and the Cite also functions as a hostel.
After checking in, a couple of us walked to the grocery store to pick up some sandwiches for lunch. Everything here is so expensive! It’s ridiculous- but I have to eat somehow. During the afternoon I took a short nap and un-packed my suitcases.
We took the city bus out to dinner in more of Geneva’s downtown area. Strangely, many of the restaurants close at 7pm on the weekend and the grocery stores around 5:30.- I don’t really get way because you would think the weekends would be the best time for business but I guess the culture is different. The bus stop was near a lake with a large fountain. I didn’t really have time to check it out today but I think that I’ll get to do that tomorrow on our walking tour of the city. Some of the people who got here a few days earlier said its gorgeous at night and last night they saw people salsa dancing nearby.
I really like the people here so far. For the most part, everyone seems really friendly and excited about what we’ll be doing while we are here. 21/25 of us went out to dinner together, and we definitely looked like a tourist mob walking through the streets. It’s interesting though because groups are already starting to form and they pretty much mirror the social scene at school. I think there are definitely several people here that I’ll click with so we’ll see how things sort themselves out as time passes.
It doesn’t get dark here until around 9:30-10pm. –It’s so weird. Haha I feel like my day is a lot longer than it really is. We finished dinner around 9 ish and it seemed like it was 7. After dinner people hung out in a couple rooms but I think most people are a little tired from traveling. Tomorrow our professors are taking us on a walking tour of the city and then we are going out to a really nice opening dinner.
Yesterday (Sunday) I was such a mess...
It was a day of embarrassing moments and bad first impressions.
So after hanging out with people on Saturday night, I decided to try to get some sleep while a few others went out. I went to bed around 1:30 am and woke up around 3 am. I was tossing and turning for several hours until finally falling back asleep around 6 am. The next thing I realize, I hear this loud knocking on my door. I figured it was probably someone coming back drunk so I tried to ignore the knocks at first. Well...I needed to be in the lobby at 1:00 pm to go on a walking tour and it was 1:15pm! (I don't understand!- You know me, I can NEVER sleep in!) I was still in my pjs so I threw on the first clothes I could find and ran downstairs. The group was getting onto the metro so fortunately I wasn't a second later...
So I had had no idea what the weather was like and I was wearing a tank top and jeans. As it turns out, it was raining- I had no umbrella and no jacket- looked like a complete idiot. One of my friends let me borrow her umbrella and then while one of the professors was talking, I accidentally hit the button on the umbrella and it flew close, soaking everyone... ugh...
The rest of the day actually turned out better. My group got together and finished up most of our project. Then we all dressed up and went out to a really nice opening dinner. I had delicious salmon and the best dessert ever. I also tried a couple sips of four different types of wine given to us by our professor. He is very enthusiastic about his wine... Haha After dinner, I hung out with a couple girls and then did my readings for today.
Today I woke up on time and got to class early-haha I figured it was the least I could do to try to get things off to a better start. Classes went from 9am-12. The business class seems like it will be pretty interesting but the philosophy course is a little more wishy-washy.
We went shopping for groceries today and planned our meals for the week. It should be interesting cooking for ourselves without having the supply of spices and dishes/pans I have at home.
Miss you guys!
Amy
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