Moving Day!

Well it's finally Friday here! I've been busy...which is my excuse for not posting for a couple days. Get comfortable, its going to be a long one....

On Wednesday I went to a volunteer induction at Meals on Wheels. It was neat to hear the history of the organization and learn about how it functions here. Meals on Wheels originated in Great Britain in 1947 and then moved on to Australia in 1952. It began in the US in 1954. It seems that the initial motivation for the program was for families who had lost their ability to cook, whether it was due to age or disability or actually losing their physical location to cook in, due to World War II. In South Australia the instigator was a woman named Doris Taylor, who was actually disabled in a childhood accident. She was persistent in pushing for the endorsement of the program by the government and was successful in this. The volunteer induction went over the process of cooking meals -which begins at 7am and then delivering them starting at 11:15am. What I liked most about the presentation was that it really focused on the fact that the service provided is far more than just a meal. The intention of the program is to provide a nutritional meal to individuals unable to consistently provide it for themselves, but further it is meant to be a social contact as well as a welfare check for the individual.


After the induction, Jess had to leave to do a presentation and I spend time looking for things to do in the city and talking with her co-worker Vicki. The research quickly turned into looking at Visa information. I have now read through all of the information the Australian Immigration website provides about a temporary employer sponsored visa. On one hand it's made me more hopeful, as it really makes it sound like a "simple 3 step process." An employer must apply to be able to sponsor a foreign employee, then nominate a position to be filled by a foreign employee (which can be done at the same time), and then finally the foreign employee applies for the visa to work at this position. Sounds quick and easy right? Somehow I just don't fully believe that's true. Before I knew it, Jess was back...and I hadn't left for the city yet. It was discussed and decided that I could spend some time helping out at the Meals on Wheels office and would come back on the following day. On our way home, Jess mentioned that she and Michael had plans and suggested that I try to call Helene to see what they were up to. I did this and was invited to come over for a visit and Tea (supper). Though Helene insisted it wasn't a big deal, I felt the invitation was especially gracious as it was Klaus (her husband)'s birthday. I really enjoyed getting to see the old friends and spend time with them. After tea, I spent time visiting with Helene about Lutheran Community Care and their new endeavors, such as an office in Alice Springs (Northern Territory) and Wartburg interns that have come since I was here. She told me about changes to the experience that interns have, such as living at the Seminary and stricter rules about what individuals can(not) do before receiving certain trainings. It sounds like a lot of positive changes have come in developing the program further. It was arranged that I would come to the Magill office on Friday afternoon for lunch to see what had been my "home" office and meet the current Wartburg intern, Jordan. Of course this was foiled when I got home and there was an e-mail from Janine at Calvary (the site where I interned and where I applied for a position recently) asking that I come to meet with her on Friday at 2pm and then earlier as she would be getting very busy in the following weeks. I of course agreed to meet at this time.

On Thursday, I went with Jess back to Meals on Wheels as it had been decided that there would be work I could do. I was surprised when they did no sort of orientation or paperwork (such as a confidentiality policy). I spent the day helping enter data into the database and some other organizing that needed to be done around the office. The funniest task I was given was to make 100 copies of a volunteer booklet. It was funny because no one knew how to use the copy machine so it was somewhat a trial and error task. I figured it out in the end, but it took a few errors. At the end of the day the staff held a surprise party for Jess and another co-worker who is getting married a couple weeks after her.

At the party, Jess and Marie were given a gift of a basket of food items. The items were all intended to be a part of a recipe that was submitted to a cookbook the staff made for them, but which wasn't ready because it had been sent to the US to be published. There were snacks and MOST to my surprise, drinks (champagne, wine, beer as well as soft drinks). The girls were given the task to make a wedding dress on their models with supplies they were given such as toilet paper, a trash bag and ribbon. It was quite amusing. The staff hung around and chatted until it was time to go. Jess and I headed off to change at her house and then pick up her engagement ring which had been getting cleaned. We decided to stop and get something to eat. We were at the mall, which often include a supermarket here, and found a deli in the middle of the mall with some delicious looking chicken options. We got them and headed back home to cook. I watched the cooking food while Jess and Michael ran an errand and caught up on some episodes of Blue Heelers, which is somewhat like our Law and Order show.

Finally, Friday arrived and it was MOVING DAY. It was arranged that would finally move into a spare room with Hayley, Jess' sister. This was the original plan but it was decided that since I was doing stuff at Meals on Wheels I would stay a bit longer with Jess and Michael. She arrived to pick me up around 9am and after a quick stop at the supermarket we headed off to her house. I settled in and got a tour before heading off on the bus to the city to catch a train to Calvary. While on the got two phone calls, which you can imagine made me feel quite popular. One was from Pina, Jess' boss, who called to ask me to come in and help on Monday as they have a task that she apparently feels I might be able to do better than the temp coming in to work Jess' position. I was quite flattered. The second call was a very exciting one from Helene and Helen, letting me know that there would be a position opening up in Lutheran Community Care's Alternative Care program. They weren't able to tell me much more at this point. After a little more research, I understand that this program is they're foster care program....which actually could fit very well with my experiences. Suddenly things are looking a bit more hopeful. It was so wonderful to catch up with Jared and Janine, who were staff that I had shadowed during my internship. I got the tour and met with Janine. What it came down to was that there is not really a likelihood that a position will open up, but that they would be happy to have me do some volunteering which I am happy to do. I just have to get paperwork filled out first, which of course is at a different office. It was difficult for me to not be able to do much, and I can't wait to have things squared away so that I can. Jared and I went to pick up lunch from KFC and stopped a property that he and Pam have just finished building so that they can rent it out. The rent on the beautiful 3 bedroom house is $300 per week. I told him I wished that I could rent it! We ate lunch together and had some interesting discussion about economical things, especially since Jan Bean was there. Jan is a budgeting counselor that took me along to do a training when I was here last. After lunch Janine took me back to the train station to make my journey home. There were TransAdelaide staff (the public transportation company) on the trains checking tickets and being real jerks too. Of course, this is how I discovered that I'd been using the wrong bus ticket. Thankfully they didn't kick me off and just warned me to use the right one next time. By the time I made it home I had an AWFUL headache and went to lie down. It didn't seem to want to go away, so Hayley offered me this "cooling patch" to put on my forehead, which helped heaps. It also meant I had to wear a hat around the house since Hayley couldn't look at me without laughing otherwise. We made stir fry for supper and watched a bit of TV. 2 1/2 men and that 70's show between checking sports scores. Hayley doesn't have wireless Internet so we figured out where the nearest free wi-fi spot would be. Thus, here I sit at 9:30am at a McDonald's about a 10 minute walk away.

I'm headed back to Hayley's now to get ready to head out on Jess' bachelorette party/bridal shower/hen's night. All I really know about it is that it starts with a DOLPHIN CRUISE! You can imagine I'm very excited... but still have no clue what to wear since its very cool here today. I'm comforted in knowing that Hayley had no idea what to wear either :)

:) :) :)

Wandering out Yonder :)

Yesterday was a bit of a lazy day. After doing some cleaning around the house and working on wedding things I ventured out for a walk and stop at the shops across the street. I wandered through subdivisions and took pictures of some of the plants in yards that I thought were interesting. You'll have to imagine how odd I must have looked taking pictures of people's front yards. I wandered until I wasn't sure I could find my way back without backtracking.... and then backtracked. The weather was a bit poor yesterday, it was quite chilly and rainy.

The other interesting thing I passed was the Mormon place of worship. The architecture is really different and Jess, Michael and I discussed it as they were unsure of what it was as well. What you can't see from the picture below, is that the grounds are surrounded by a somewhat foreboding fence.

At the end of my walk, I stopped at the shops across the street to pick up some groceries and supplies for the unit, such as laundry detergent. It was an interesting opportunity to compare prices to home. The power laundry detergent I purchases, which boasts that it contains 50 loads worth, was $12.99 on sale. A block of cheese, which is also significantly different as almost all of it is white, despite being a strong cheddar flavor, costs around $10. The most shocking thing I saw, was sandwich meat. Regularly priced at the deli, a Kg of sandwich meat is between $16-18. One thing that is interesting about the grocery stores here, is that they do not sell alcohol. This is in an effort to reduce underage drinking, which is still a problem even though the legal age is 18. If you're interested, the website for Coles, one of the major chain stores, is http://www.coles.com.au

When Jess and Michael got home from work we spent some time working on wedding things before leaving to have dinner with Jess' mom and partner. One interesting difference in vocabulary here is the use of "partner". I feel like I noticed this on my last trip and probably commented, but it stands out again now. I feel like at home we tend to use the word "partner", when referring to romantic relationships, mostly to same-sex relationships. Here, the word "partner" is synonymous with "significant other". There has been some tension between her and Michael and the hopes were that it would be an opportunity to talk about things with the wedding approaching quickly. We ate at a restaurant called Cafe Primo, at which I was told I MUST have a "Chicken Parmy" (Chicken Schnitzel with ham, cheese, and Bolognaise sauce on top). Here, Bolognaise or Neopolitan and what we call Marinara sauce (tomato only). Marinara sauce here is a seafood pasta. Tomato sauce is Ketchup. They are strange differences to think about. The meal was delicious, the Chicken Parmy came with Fries rather than pasta like one might expect. After supper, we talked about healthcare and differences between Australia and the US, as well as some other issues. We talked about jobs and pay rates. They were unable to believe that in a position where there was no contract and I was required to work 40 hours a week, I would only be paid $11 p/hr, which was the case at Lutheran Services. Here, there are different types of position, such as permanent or part-time temporary. The differences tend to be contracted or not, but most employees, it seems are contracted for at least a period of time, whether its a year or 2 years. While there, we decided to go the movies, as we were able to receive discounted tickets from the restaurant. I convinced Jess and Michael to go see Horrible Bosses, rather than Johnny English: reborn. The movie, I discovered involved a very different humor than Australian films. While they laughed, the reaction in the end was that the film was "funny, but SO WRONG." It was interesting to me as I never thought about how the humor might not be as common in another place, as sexual and drug humor seems to be so common in American films. We stopped at a McDonalds afterwards for a shake, and an ICEE! They serve them here, though it was significantly disappointing. It was almost 1am when we arrived home so everyone quickly went to bed, as it was a work day today. I'm excited to say that the sky has cleared up, and now that I've finished this, I'll be getting ready to head out on another adventure.... though not sure where to yet. Most likely it will involve Baker's Delight, though, since I've now discovered there is one in the shops across the street! :)

Settling in....

Its hard to believe I've really only been here 2 days. On Sunday we got up and got ready for church. Michael did not join us, because he was recovering from his Buck's night (Bachelor Party). On the way to church, we passed a McDonalds (called Macker's here) and Jess was commenting how they are making attempts to provide healthier choices on their menu. As she was telling me this, I saw a banner up outside stating that for only $2, a person can add friend chicken wings to their value meal. I found this highly entertaining. Jess and I attended Glynde Lutheran church, which is where Helene's family and some of the other folks attend that I met and spent time with on my last trip. I was somewhat disappointed that Helene was not there, as I thought it would be the most likely place to see her, but I understood when I discovered that there was a pedal prix even this weekend. Pedal Prix is sort of like box car racing, but are built around a seated bicycle. I found the picture below online to give a better idea of what I am talking about. This is an activity that one of Helene's sons (Simon) is very involved in.

After church, we spent some time visiting with friends of Jess' at the church and then headed home. We encouraged Michael to get up as he and Jess had somewhere they needed to go for wedding arrangements shortly. Jess and I went across the street to the supermarket to get a couple things to make for lunch. After we ate, Jess and Michael headed out for their meeting with a woman at whose home Jess plans to get ready and take pictures before the wedding. They returned shortly stating that they'd needed to reschedule and we went out to look for some gifts and material to use for a young adult bible study they would be leading later in the day. Unfortunately the store was closed, so instead we took a driving tour around North Adelaide to get ideas for more places to take pictures.

The picture above is of the Torrens River, which I took pictures of on my last trip, after it was accidentally drained. It is interesting to note how the different season changes the perception of rainfall. When I was here last time rain was something to rejoice in because of a drought. Today, rain is in the forecast and not only is it not exciting, but my hosts' reactions were much like that of anyone in the US. Below are some pictures of places that Jess and Michael are thinking of taking photos at before the wedding.

The happy couple themselves at an older train station.

Below is the view from a scenic location. The Larger white structure near the front is the Adelaide Oval which is where the International Rugby tournament is held, as well as Cricket matches. The plaque has arrows pointing to significant buildings in the skyline.

I thought it might also be interesting to put up some pictures of Jess and Michael's unit, where I am staying.

The last picture is of laundry hanging. As with most homes here, the unit does not have a dryer since the weather is almost always suitable for hanging laundry out to dry.

After our driving tour, we picked up one of Jess and Michael's friends and went to the adult small group. The friend is finishing up a teaching degree and was excited to tell everyone that she has been offered a position teaching "reception" at a school about 6 hours away. It was explained that "reception" is what we would call Kindergarten in the US. They talked about the fact that different states in Australia have different names for the grade, such as "foundation". She talked about concerns for finding somewhere to live and I found it very interesting when she talked about the school helping her to find a place to live, even possibly finding families to host her until she is able to find a place. It seems to me that in the US this would not be something that most employers would offer to help one to do. Pizza was ordered, which was phenomenal. The others at the small group wondered if pizza was the same back home and I told them it was, although some of the ingredients aren't as often put on pizza's, such as sun dried tomatoes. The small group was interesting just to think about the differences in perceptions between our cultures. We played Apples to Apples... the Bible edition afterwards. It was hilarious and evident that game was made in the US as many of the cards featured things like Slavery and abolitionists, as well as figures like Martin Luther King Jr. One conversation topic that I found interesting was that apparently, it is a widely known fact here that human urine helps lemon and orange trees grow. And further, that the urine of elderly men is even more useful... I think I wish I had missed hearing this little fact.

When we arrived back home, and discussed the coming week. It was decided that for the time being I would continue to stay with Jess and Michael, and they have even began to toss around the idea of having me house-sit while they are on their honeymoon. I encouraged them to take time and talk about that, as nothing needed to be decided at this very moment. It is a shame I can't drive stick shift, as Jess has offered to allow me to use her car, which I legally can with a valid US driver's license. Arrangements are being made for me to attend a volunteer orientation with Meal's on Wheels (Where Jess works) on Wednesday so I can begin volunteering with them. I have been sending out messages and attempting to contact friends I have here to reconnect with them. More than anything, though, I have been settling in to this awesome place I have been lucky enough to return to. I am SO thankful for the hospitality and kindness that Jess and Michael have shown me by welcoming into their home.

The final picture is of a bird that we saw in the parking lot during our shopping expedition on Saturday. The picture is significant to me as it was one of my first reality checks that I was no longer in the US, as the bird was so unfamiliar to me. I told Jess that it appeared that this bird could check the oil in a car and perhaps that was why it was wondering around in the parking lot.

I have arrived!

I suspect I would be alright if I didn't see the inside of a plane for some time! After a flight from Cedar Rapids to Minneapolis and then one to L.A., I boarded a plane bound for Melbourne. I arrived into the country at 5:15am. After gathering my luggage and going through customs, and then a closer look at my luggage, I checked in for my final flight... to Adelaide! The layover was perfect timing and I was back in the air before I knew it. When I arrived in Adelaide at 8:30am, I was excited to see Jess and her fiance waiting for me at the gate. The security measures are different here and family and friends are still able to meet passengers at the gate. We walked together to get my (incredibly heavy) suit case and then on to breakfast. It will take some time to get used to driving on the opposite side of the street again, but by the end of the day its already seeming less odd. After breakfast we stopped at a bank to allow me to exchange some money, which sadly is worth significantly less than when I was here two years ago. We went back to their home so I could take a much needed shower and to regroup for the day. Jess and Michael are getting married in 2 weeks and today was his "Buck's Day." Like a bachelor party, he and his friends were headed to paintball, go kart, eat, and play poker. While he did this, Jess and I ventured out with a list of things to do to get ready for the wedding. Most excitedly (for me), I found a dress to wear to the wedding, and at Target no less! We found gifts for the bridal party and accomplished a couple other tasks including coffee and a stop at Baker's Delight (one of the things I've missed most). To my delight, they still served my favorites, a white chocolate berry scone was my choice today. Our errands involved a trip to the mall, which seems to be no different than those back home. The weather today was sunny and about 22 degrees Celsius. We went to the grocery store to get supplies to make supper. When we arrived back to their unit, my jet lag finally set in and we rested for a while before beginning to cook chicken, veggies, and rice. Now, we are sitting watching a movie and discussing plans for the next couple days. It's slowly setting in that I've finally found my way back here and I am excited for all of the chances I will have to see old friends and hopefully make some new ones as well. Sadly, my phone does not work, despite my efforts to make sure it would work over here. So, on to plan B to try to reactivate my old Australian cell phone in the next couple days. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated as often as possible. For now I am staying with Jess, until her sister comes back to town. Then she has agreed to take me in, as she has a spare bedroom. I am looking forward to volunteering with Meal's on Wheels (where Jess works), as well as hopefully with Lutheran Community Care (where I interned 2 1/2 years ago), but also to relax and enjoy this beautiful place.