Touring Sydney

Today and yesterday were spent walking around the city centre of Sydney. It is a large city...but really nice. It reminds me of a mix between Chicago and New York....but with more parks and really great scenery. The Opera House is really amazing and the bridge as well. I think I have taken a million pictures of the two! Today we went to the aquarium and had a great time! Luckily we were inside when it started to rain really hard.

We also took the monorail around town today, went to China town and saw some historic sights as well. Yesterday we walked around the Opera House and through the Botanical gardens. There were bats hanging from trees and huge spiders sitting in enormous webs. I am definitely going to lose weight on this trip due to the amount of walking we do each day...but I am still eating a lot to keep my energy up. I seemingly have gotten used to the time change and am walking up at a normal time now.

Tomorrow we may hit up the museum or a beach as well as some more of downtown...definitely more walking...

ROACHES!

This entry ties my 2 trips together...I had forgotten to write about it but I was reminded of these horrible creatures yesterday as I dashed out of the bathroom...hitting my wrist extremely hard on the door and lifting my feet as I ran like a jumping animal...COCKROACHES!

I don't know what it is...but I have seemingly become more terrified of these creatures than any other bug. Last time I was in Nigeria almost 4 years back I remember killing them until all of their body parts were unrecognizable...but this time I couldn't even get close to the things without doing some kind of dance of fear...hitting my arms and body as if I were killing the billions that I was imagining all over my body!

I only saw 2 cockroaches in Nigeria...one in a box near my hand and the other crawling up the wall beside me as I was watching a movie with Jude. I freaked out the first time...but freaked out even more the second time. Jude didn't kill it and it ran away somewhere in the room the second time. As I sat on the bed, nervously scanning the room...I suddenly saw the roach crawling up the wall by my suitcase and almost jumped Jude panicking...almost yelling for him to "kill it! Kill it!" to which he was giggling b/c I was amusingly hysterical...but as soon as he saw the actual fear in my eyes he got up and smashed the thing. I had to see it for myself to make sure it was a goner.

This time in Australia...I was in the bathroom...doing my business and b/c here they have the toilet separate form the sink and bath...it is a little room...so as soon as I began to open the door this dark red thing started coming towards me bare feet...I freaked out and this is why i ended up whacking my wrist so hard against the door...anything to prevent this evil creature from touching my feet.

So any of you who have bug fears...I greatly sympathize with you...the roach has become my new worst enemy...and I vow to kill any of the ones I see(or rather have someone braver than me kill them for me)...none will be spared!

Arrival in Sydney

Here I am after a long haul! I was so exhausted in Honolulu that I did everything I could to try to make myself stay awake...except drink coffee...b/c I don't drink coffee. I wandered the airport, went outside, read, walked some more...and finally found a quiet place to lay down and sleep. I successfully set my travel alarm and fell asleep on the floor...I woke up suddenly and realized that indeed I had forgotten to actually turn the alarm ON! Luckily God is being really lovely lately in little ways...and woke me up! I had an hour till boarding so I was good.

On the plane I feel asleep before take off and woke up after about 6 hours of sleeping...but I am still tired due to all my travels through different time zones etc. So when I arrived they ask on the boarding card if the passenger arriving has been to Africa in the last 6 days...so good thing I had along with me my vaccination card to show I had the right vaccinations and was allowed in. I got my work visa without them even looking at my E-visa ticket...I was already in the system...so simple as pie I guess to come to Australia! Then I waited and waited for my bags and they didn't arrive. So here I am now in Sydney at my cousin Sandra's house..wearing the same clothes I was for about 2 days now. At least I took a shower! :-)

So far I have just hung out with Sandra and the kids...went to a big book store that is like Christian Publications and bought a Bible...then to the grocery store...then back home and I just woke up from a little nap. Tomorrow I meet up with my cousin Phil from Edmonton who is also here in Australia and has been for the last 2 months. We are going to see the opera house and all that good stuff tomorrow..hopefully...but it is raining and wet...so who knows.

anyway till next time....

Humourous flying stories

ALOHA....

If you didn't guess from my greeting, I am in Honolulu Hawaii. I have been travelling since early this morning and am really feeling my jet lag from my Nigeria trip already. Since I came back I found that I was still on Nigeria time and AM still on Nigeria time. Now on my way to Sydney, Australia I have to adjust to another 8 hour jump ahead from Nigeria time and 16 or so hours from Calgary time. My body is all messed up at this point in time! I guess I shouldn't complain since I am travelling the globe!

My trips...as in the air travel are always interesting...and funny I guess. Arriving in L.A. was interesting because on my way to my connecting flight 3 people stopped me due to my Calvin College sweatshirt. None of the people went to Calvin in actuality...the first Man went to Kalamazoo College and recognized it, the second person, a lady just saw "Calvin" and pointed it out to her young son whose name was apparently Calvin...and the last Man had gone to a track meet where supposedly Calvin had a huge nice bus and he was really impressed and asked whether it was a really high end educational school due to that. Perhaps next time I won't wear my Calvin sweatshirt if I don't want anyone to talk to me ;-)

The next story is the one that seems to amuse me the most. On the plane before take off, I am sitting beside a nice lady and we are talking about where we are going...and the convo turns into how I was just in Nigeria...and what for etc. etc. and meanwhile the flight crew is going over the "in-flight safety" stuff. Now I can't even begin to count how many times I have heard this but it has been a lot...so we were talking during it and the lady behind us suddenly sticks her head over the seat and looks and me (since I was the one talking at the moment) and shushes me....yes...she gave me a loud obnoxious SHHHHHH! For the energy that she expelled to shush me, I thought she was going to collapse and we would have been delayed in flying to Hawaii....hehe. It seems I have issues with older ladies who sit behind me. Perhaps I just look like a little kid who is obnoxious and undeserving of adult recognition or respect for that matter. Both the lady (who I was talking with) and I, just laughed.

So here I am now after conking (is that a word?) out on the flight for an hour...in Honolulu for about 5 more hours...then off to Sydney on another long flight. All together I think the total travel time is close to 40 some hours...but it will be worth it in the end.

Anyway...until then you will be hearing from me next in Australia!

Nigeria

Well here I am back in Canada...tired, jet-lagged...getting ready for Australia...missing Nigeria and Jude...and writing my blog. I thought that I would be a diligent blog writer but instead of writing blogs I sent mass e-mails about my trip...so any of you who are reading this and didn't get those e-mails...enjoy the short version of my trip! As for those of you who received my e-mails...sorry if this is all repetitive!

Where to begin...I cannot even begin to describe the adventures that I had, the relaxation, the tiredness, the intensity, the joy, the fun...but I will try. Returning to Nigeria was so amazing. On the plane from London to Abuja I was so excited that my heart was racing...I thought it was a side effect from my malaria pills, but it turns out that I was just nervously excited to see Jude again. Walking off the plane into the familiar smells and heat of Nigeria felt great. The airport was a breeze and my bags weren't even opened...being with Bola really helped since he knew the customs officers. Waiting for me was Jude and his father. I was so overwhelmed, tired, nervous, excited and happy that it was difficult for me to talk...and he too was feeling the same way.

My time was all backwards so when it was morning, I thought it was later in the day. We spent some time around Abuja but I was so exhausted that I had to come back and sleep. We left to Jos and spent a great deal of time there meeting Jude's friends, going to shows, hanging out with Enzo (Jude's close friend and now a good friend of mine as well). Later we travelled to Port Harcourt and had a breakdown along the way....switched to a packed station wagon...feeling hot and uncomfortable...stayed in Enugu for the night and then made our way to Port Harcourt the next day. Along the way we say a great deal of garbage and what seemed to be a graveyard of old rusted cars and trucks. Let's just say that this area was not my favourite...and I was missing Jos and Abuja.

The following weeks were spent hanging out with people, going to shows, meeting with missionaries, going to an HIV foundation, having intense conversations about the future and travelling. The stories can never truly be told in a way that will shed even a glimpse of what it was like...but at least I have shared many moments with people who know how amazing these things were.

I miss Nigeria and the people there as well...I know I will be back soon and am looking forward to that...but now I am off to Australia for a few months...so hopefully I will keep up with this writing thing for that trip!