Picture post. Be sure to read the actual update!

Steve Irwin's family

I think this one is a Wallaby

Crocodile!

I'm petting a Koala!

Mommy Kangaroo nursing a joey

Does this one need a Caption?

Fish at under water world

Sea Horse

Shark!

Sting Ray. The one that killed Steve Irwin, perhaps?

I'm in the Pacific Ocean!

Beach!

More pictures of the beach will come later I have to rush off to Church now!

The beach!

Yesterday was an awesome day. We went to underwater world, which is like an acquarium. I thought it was kind of lame, to be honest, but it was cool. The coolest part was the sharks. They were all in an aquarium above your head so all the fish, sharks, and sting rays were swimming over you. It was pretty cool.

From under water world, we went to some beaches. The beaches are absolutely beautiful. I have a ton of pictures from them. I'll probably try to post some later, but I can't at the moment.

Today the agenda includes church, AMOS practice (our trip into the outback), and then church again. We leave on Tuesday, I believe, for our trip into the outback. I'm kind of nervous about it, but it will work out i'm sure. :)

On friday evening we went to the Rugby game, and it was pretty cool. I like American Football (or as they call it here, Grid Iron Football) better, but that's probably because I understand the rules a bit better. The game on friday night was a bit boring. There are no commentators to let you know what's going on, no stops in the game, and hardly any violence. It's kind of funny too beause the Aussies aren't very enthusiastic about their games. Some of us Americans (not really me, haha) were the most enthusiastic people in the whole stadium!

Anyway, I need to get going to get ready for Church!

I saw a Koala!

It was a bit of an adventure yesterday. I got to go to a lot of classes and interact with the kids, including a cooking class and a couple of others. Mae and I got to take over a year 7 class and just do some questions with them. We got asked how many times a day we see African Americans. It was quite interesting because it made me realize that Australia is pretty homogenous. There are other ethnicities are around but they rarely mix with each other, not like they do in America. I'm sure in the bigger cities it's different, but not in this little town of Redcliffe.

In the middle of talking with the year sevens, someone came to get us to show us A KOALA IN A TREE. They don't come around the campus much so we all ran out (including the Australians) to go look at it. Here is a picture:

I thought he was really cute.

Today we are going to chapel at the school, and then we're leaving for the Australia Zoo. When we come back from the Zoo we're going to go watch a Rugby League game. It will be a ton of fun, but it will be a very late night and early morning tomorrow. I still haven't switch my clock entirely. Last night I went to sleep at almost eleven and was still up at 5:30. I dozed until 6:30, but it's pretty frustrating. Hopefully being busy will help me to be tired and sleep better, haha.

We also found out that when we're going on that trip into the outback to work with the Aboriginals, we will be camping for four nights. And get this: NO TENTS. We're just sleeping outside. I am not pleased by that and neither are half of the group I'm with. We were initially told we would only be camping for two nights, but now it's four. And we were told it was in tents but it isn't. :( I am not a happy camper. Hopefully nothing will bite me while I'm sleeping. It would be unfortunate to be eaten by a dingo.

And with that I need to go finish getting ready for my day. Later!

Day Two in AUS

Well, here we are on day two. It's 8:40 pm, and I am exhausted. Gotta love jet lag...

Today we hung out at Mueller College for most of the day. We attended some classes. The first class I helped with was an elementary aged PE class. They were pretty cute. Then I attended some high school bible classes. In those classes it was more of a Q and A session about America and our culture. We were frequently asked if we've met any clebrities. Haha. Their perceptions of American culture are a bit funny sometimes. I enjoyed their company very much. For most of the afternoon we had some down time and didn't really do much but hang out with the kids and the staff. Tomorrow we've been promised to have a bit more structure, so we'll see what happens. I guess tomorrow we're supposed to help with Staff devotions and then from there go to more classes with the kids. Friday we will be going to the school until right after Chapel, then we'll be off to the Australia Zoo!

It's been fun hanging out with our host family too. We've eaten supper outside on the decks as well as breakfast (complete with sunrise) on the other deck. Our hosts are very eager to teach us about Australia and it's history/culture (which very much go hand in hand here). Mae and I tried Vegemite after supper, and I must say, it's not that great. But I did try it! I'm going to try bring some of it home (hopefully in small quantities) to make my friends and family try. It wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. But I still didn't finish my little slice of toast with it on there. Haha.

One of our guys was incredibly sick in the night and for most of the day. How unfortunate is that? Travel all the way to Australia just to get a stomach bug the first night you are here. I hope he recovers quickly and doesn't pass it on to any one else!

Some pictures, as promised.

This is the view from out the window of the sixth floor of the school.

Some of the children playing at recess. I love their hats!

Thought this tree was cool with the fruit thingies on it.

Hello From Australia!

Well, this is being written from Redcliffe, Queensland, AUS. It's BEAUTIFUL. We got off the plane at about 6:30 am, after not having slept well on the plane. It's going to be a long day, but it'll be worth it. The weirdest part of it all is not that we're 15 hours ahead of Longview, but that we LOST AN ENTIRE DAY. I stepped on the plane on Sunday May 9th, and got off the plane Tuesday May 11th. So far all we've done is eaten breakfast and toured the campus of the School that Mueller Community Church has. It's been a lot of fun, and I have some pictures I'll post later. I'm staying with Polly Mae Benton at Jeff and his wife's house (they're the main contacts here). They have a really cool house, and I'll definitely be posting lots of pictures as we go.

It's really funny because we're all on the internet right now typing about life here in AUS. Haha, it's a pretty funny sight!

Australia here I come!

Well, we're all sitting in the Shreveport Airport waiting to go through security. We got here at at 1pm, and it's currently 3:27pm. And our flight doesn't leave until 4:25. LAME THAT WE HAD TO BE HERE SO EARLY. But it's been fun hanging out with Kevin Dunn and Josh Oh. And Viktoria (the Roudkovski's daughter.

 Liz had her family come into to town, that was pretty exciting. The parents and grandparents were able to see the school, some of them for the first time. They also got to see some of my cool friends, aka the Christian Ministry majors. It was somewhat difficult to pack up her room, getting everything cleaned, pack ofr Australia, do the whole graduate thing. That in of itself was interesting, family crying, me crying all while trying not to trip and fall head first off the stage. Afterward, she had to fend off 3000 people and their extended families just to try and take a few pictures. Too many people, too many families, and not enough pictures with good friends. Unfortuantly, right now as I write this, Brad was heading off to his flight which just got brought back because they were having brake problems. So he might be late for his flight out of Atlanta, but hopefully everything will be okay there.  Graduation was fun, but still really has not sunk in yet, and hard to believe that I am done with school. YEA! Okay, were going through security, hopefully they won't find my bomb. -Written by Kevin Dunn

Oh, dear, Kevin is funny! Well I am going to write more later. Be sure to keep checking back for updates throughout my trip!

-Liz