I received an e-mail from Daniel (the dad of my Australian family) the other day. In it he mentioned that he and his brother were planning on taking Michelle (the 5, almost 6 year old girl of my Australian family) to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in August to see her first Australian Rules Football (ARF) game. He then welcomed me to join them if I wanted to. My answer? OF COURSE!!!! Going to the MCG was something I had seen over and over during my online searches that was something all visitors to Australia should try and go to. I had also seen a couple times that watching a game of ARF was a must even if it just meant on the TV. I wanted to, but didn't quite know how or when. Now, I get to go to MCG AND see a game of ARF WITHIN A MONTH of being in Australia AND with part of my Australian family!!! Football? Stadium? Big whoop... Why get so excited over THAT?! Right?? WRONG!!!
Melbourne Cricket Ground is the TENTH LARGEST stadium in the world and the LARGEST in Australia!! The total capacity is just over 100,000, although in the past it has held way more than that. The 1956 Summer Olympics were held in this stadium and in Victoria it is known as "The Spiritual Home of Australian Sport".
Australian Rules Football, officially known as Australian Football, is also called football, footy, or Aussie Rules. It is a major participation and spectator sport in Australia. The ball and field are an elliptical shape and 18 players of each team are allowed on the field at one time. The game is played in quarters and each quarter is 20 minutes long. The objective of the game is to score points by passing the ball through the team's goal. The main way to score points is by kicking the ball through the goal's two major posts. 3 main rules that are different from American football - 1. Players running with the ball must intermittently bounce the ball or touch it on the ground. 2. Players must not get caught "holding the ball", meaning they must dispose of the ball (by kick or handball) when tackled. 3. Throwing the ball is not allowed, instead they must handball it by holding it stationary in front of them with one hand and punching it with the other hand in a clenched fist.
Sorry for all the Caps. I am just so very excited about this opportunity and love seeing God continue to bless this journey. =D
Planning this trip has required a lot of time, money, research, phone calls, e-mails, appointments, etc. Along with all of those things comes a very long to-do list. I am only 3 weeks away from leaving and I still have quite a bit on my list. Luckily, the items still left to complete are the easier ones (except for the "see you later"s of course).
Completed Items
-Visa: Check
-Buy Ticket: Check
-Doctor Appointment: Check
-Prescriptions Filled: Check
-Family's Gifts Purchased/Received: Check
-Dentist Appointment: Check
-Buy Health Insurance: Check
-Find Church: Check
-Get Zoom Lens: On its way thanks to my big brother Collin and his girlfriend Lydia (who is quite sneaky :)!!
-International Driving Permit: Check
Things Left to Do:
-Clean Off and Back Up Computer
-Purchase a Few New Clothing Items (Check - 6/27)
-Purchase Books and Items for Flight (Check - 7/5)
-Purchase a Couple Outlet Converters (Check - 6/30 --> My big sister gave me one and my Australian family found 2)
-Secure Seat for Last Leg of Flight (Check - 6/27)
-Get Money Exchanged to Australian Dollars (Check - 7/10)
-Get a Credit Card (Check - 6/28)
-Figure Out Luggage
-Make Packing List
-Finish Narrowing Down My Plan with Skype (Check - 6/28)
And of course... I am scheduling and planning for those last "See You Later"s
Stay Tuned: I've got a couple more posts coming up within the next week. One about God's peace and blessing on this journey and another about a wonderful experience I just learned I'll get to have within a month of being in Australia.
I woke up this morning to an e-mail from my Australian family that included 3 pictures the kids drew and colored for me for my birthday. Absolutely the sweetest thing ever! I can't wait to spend a year with this family!!! =D
From Michelle: 5 (almost 6) Years Old The top says, "made by me" From Ben: 3 Years Old
From Joseph: A Few Weeks Old (still have yet to figure out how a baby only a few weeks old managed to muster up all the fine motor skills necessary to create this ;) )
Back in April I posted pictures of my Australian family and their home... Little did I know... That was actually the neighbor's house. The following story is how I came to find this out.
My mom was sitting on my bedroom floor with me watching TV. I took the opportunity to show her the neighborhood and house I'll be living in while in Australia, which I have seen many many times. I Google mapped the address and clicked street view. I showed her the front and side of the house.
Then she asked me show her an aerial view of the area, which I have also seen many many times. I zoomed out to the aerial view and showed her the area.
Ignore the black boxes. Pay attention to the tops of all the houses. The A/red circle is my Australian house.
She was shocked at the density. All the times I've looked at this and I have never realized it... She pointed out the area is so densely populated that the houses are so close together that there is just enough room for a fence or a small driveway between them. If you look at this picture you'll see the A is above a orange roofed house and there is a second white house next to it. This whole time I thought both of those were the same house, because in my head no two houses could EVER be that close together. I am coming to realize what my first culture shock and huge adjustment is going to be considering this is what I'm used to:
Ignore the black boxes. Pay attention to the lack of houses and abundance of greenery. The A is my house.
To give you an idea in numbers... The suburb is only .3 sq mi but has a population of 4,085. Where I live is 18.5 times the size of the suburb (5.6 sq mi) but has a population of only 2.5 times the size of the suburb's (10,624).
So, along with all this discovery about population density... I also discovered which house is actually mine!!! Welcome to my home for the next 7 - 10 months. =D
And look what the family just happened to send me today... A picture of the back of the house. =]
1. I have found the church I will be attending during my stay in Melbourne, Australia - Compass Church (link below). It is in close proximity to the family's home, has a good size young adults group (college students and young professionals), they have contemporary services, and the sermons are fantastic. The leader of the young adults group and a PhD student in the young adults group have both been e-mailing back and forth with me to answer questions, give advice, check in on the progress of the planning, etc. They are really excited to meet me and say that other church leaders and young adult group members are excited for my arrival as well. God is seriously looking out for me. I'm not even over there yet and I've already got people planning get togethers, shopping trips, coffee dates, and just loving on me through answering my questions and calming my worries. 2. I am all set to get my IDP (International Driver's Permit) at some point this week. 3. Almost all of the gifts for my Australian family are purchased. I designed and ordered NC, USA t-shirts (picture below) for the 3 children. I also got the children a NC alphabet book titled "T is for Tar Heel" and the parents a NC coffee table book with photographs of iconic NC cities, buildings, locations, landscapes, animals, etc.I am working on finding a few smaller items for the family and items that are in the US but not Australia. 4. Other than my family in Ohio, I have officially said my first "see you later" (I refuse to call it a good-bye) on Friday. Unfortunately that "see you later" was to my Hopie (picture below). Needless to say I certainly am not looking forward to the rest of the "see you later"s I'll have to say in the near future. 5. My Australian family had their baby boy last Monday!!! He is healthy and everyone is doing well!!! (picture below). 6. The mom sent me an e-mail a couple weeks ago saying, "Michelle and Ben are also getting very excited. They talk about you coming all the time. And it looks like you are already part of the family: there is a program on the computer where you can create a person (choosing hair style, colour, clothes, etc). On the weekend Michelle made pictures of herself, Ben, Daniel, me, the new baby, my mum, and you. Then she wrote something about each person. The text reads, 'she wants to own a child's centre'." (picture below) 7. The family and I have already talked about all of my food preferences and they are ready to help accommodate my needs as well as explore new foods. 8. In addition to the gifts for the family, I am going to take some American money over for them to have because I discovered that Australian money looks like monopoly money (picture below)!!! 9. The family has added me to their Friday photos list that they send out to their friends and family so I every week I receive updated photos of the family, the house, their outings, etc. I have also received updated pictures of my room. 10. The family car that will be used to transport the children is an automatic, but the car that will be available for my personal use is a manual... so I am leaving now for my first official manual car driving lesson with my big brother Collin!
