BINGO...

First and foremost, I’d like to wish an early happy birthday to both my dad and my brother – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Wish I could be there to share it with you…

Sooo I have another story for all of you….

This weekend Tricia (one of my roomies and service placement mates) and I spent some time with Filomena, our supervisor for our St. Mary’s Villa service placement (a Catholic nursing home just down the road from where we’re staying). Filomena was kind enough to invite us out for a Saturday afternoon of Bingo at a club called Wenty’s League in a nearby Sydney suburb. Bingo in Australia is much different from the Bingo I’m used to back in the States. There is no such thing as “B-9” or a “free-space” in the middle; rather, their cards are a 3x8 rectangle of columns and rows with numbers filling in only about half of the squares (numbers 1-9 can be found in the first column, 10-19 in the second, etc, etc, until you reach 81-90 in column 8). In order to get a Bingo, all of the squares with numbers in them must be called. Hopefully that quick explanation made a little sense, but even if it didn’t, it doesn’t really matter… All that matters is I WON $150 PLAYING BINGO!!! True Story. Much to my surprise, I had Bingo and yes I yelled “BINGO” really loud so the whole club could hear :) I must admit it was quite the adrenaline rush! As you’ve probably guessed, this was some serious Bingo playing if they pay out $150 for each winning card (throughout the afternoon we probably played about 35 games…that’s a lot of money). To be quite honest, I was a bit intimidated when I first walked in the Bingo playing auditorium – there were so many people, lots of little old ladies with their little old gents. They all had their own personal Bingo marker pens too! Talk about some hardcore Bingo players…

After all the Bingo excitement, Filomena invited us back to her house to relax a bit. Since she’s alone for the weekend (her husband is visiting family in Italy for a few weeks), we spent the night at her apartment and went along with her to a Catholic mass the following morning. Because I’m not too well acquainted with all of the Catholic traditions and meanings behind the customs, the service felt somewhat empty to me. However, the thing that stood out to me most was the reverence they hold for God and His Word. I often forget the sacredness behind my belief as well as the importance Christianity as a community plays in this world. It was a reminder of the rich and diverse history I have as being a living, breathing part of the Family of God.

Since we’re on the topic of churches, I’d like to mention that I’ve yet to find a church I want to settle down at for the remainder of the semester. Having said that, this next Sunday I plan to attend an evening service with a friend at a church not too far from where we both live. She’s been to this service before and has told me it’s a very nice but small congregation. The good thing about this is it will be much easier to get to know the people who attend this church because it is small – hopefully get plugged in with some of their activities and form some relationships with Aussies other than Wesley students. We’ll see what happens.

Well, since I mentioned Bingo and my service placement a little bit at the beginning of this blog, I might as well let you in on how things are going at the nursing home. So far I’ve been there four times (we go once per week, usually Thursday mornings). The first two times Filomena gave us jobs working more behind the scenes (they were in the process of moving over to a brand new facility which means there was LOTS of packing to be done). However, these past two weeks Tricia and I got to actually sit down with a few of the residents there. Last Wednesday we met an uppity, stern, forgetful woman named Alice, the soft-spoken gentle soul known as Murielle, and a more boisterous, comical woman who goes by the name Francis. Of course, then there’s always Joe who calls everyone “love” (how are you doing this morning, love?) and another older fella who actually uses the world “crikey” (now there’s a true Australian!). Since last week was their final week in the old building before moving to the new facility, they had a special mass followed by a special teatime, both of which we got to share with them. I went to St. Mary’s again this morning. This time I got to participate in morning exercises as well as mass and teatime again. While there, I met a comical ex-writer named Keith. For about a half hour, I helped him fill out some tickets for an upcoming raffle drawing (he’s had a stroke that left his right side somewhat paralyzed). As a gesture of thanks, he bought me a couple raffle tickets as well (the prizes are a couple bottles of wine…I’m not too sure I want my ticket to be drawn). I also met Keith’s buddy Allen (he’s quite hilarious himself) and a few other ladies milling around the floors. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the residents more as the semester progresses. I’m sure they all have some amazing stories to tell. As for the staff there, they are all extremely nice, upbeat and amusing. So far it’s been a real joy to go to St. Mary’s, and the time always seems to fly by while I’m there.

A bit of a change of subject, but here’s a little fun fact for you about this area:

Stores generally close about 5pm every night except on Thursdays. For some reason, Thursday night is known as the “late night shopping night” - all the stores stay open until about 9pm. I don’t exactly know what’s so special about a Thursday evening, but apparently that’s when all the excitement happens around here… It’s kind of a bummer though when it’s not Thursday because everything shuts down so early - it leaves for some very boring evenings (plus it gets dark about 6pm which means we all tend to stay inside anyway….and public transportation runs less frequently after rush hour…). I’m sad to admit this, but I definitely watch WAY more television here than I ever did back home because there’s not much else to do during the evenings. For about three or four hours after supper, we all gather around the TV to watch American knock-off shows such as Deal or No Deal (but with much more color and flashing lights), Australian Dancing with the Stars, Australia’s Got Talent, and MasterChef (like Top Chef). It’s definitely entertaining…

Another fun fact:

I live a few blocks down from a coffee and tea factory. From time to time, the aroma of roasting coffee beans permeates the air :)

One more thing I’d like to add before ending this blog….this week has turned out to be a bit of a rough one for me. We’re now in our fourth week here, and the luster of living in another country has definitely worn off. Likewise, the drain from the whirl of the past few weeks is definitely catching up to me. I’m exhausted, and all I can seem to focus on is the homework that is beginning to pile up on my doorstep (but I keep procrastinating on all of it because the reality of being back in the classroom still hasn’t sunk in yet…lame). I’m also finding it difficult to balance the time I need for school with the time I need to spend with friends and exploring the area. The days seem to fly by without me getting much accomplished on either account which is not a very good feeling. Don’t get me wrong, I love being here, but I’m also beginning to miss everything that being home has to offer. There’s nothing like living somewhere foreign to make you appreciate everything you have back home (such as your own car). Like all places, Sydney is just another area to live – it has its own quarks, its downfalls, its impressive accomplishments as well as its own little hidden treasures. This is not my home though, and I’m quickly finding out that I can’t stand living in a city for long. I NEED to see some countryside soon! A nice corn or bean field would be nice, but perhaps that’s a bit too much to ask for…

Hope all is well!!