Chin Exchange

Today I made the big leap and got my chin cyst cut off. I've had it for 4 years and actually felt a little sad removing it. Right before we left the house today I was touching it and saying, "it's really not that big..." but now that I have a little stitch in place of a gross lump, I'm quite pleased with my choice.

Two weeks ago Colin had a court date to protest our (previous) landlord not paying our bond back. Sachin didn't show up, but the judge saw the paperwork and heard Colin's spiel, and told Colin that he'd have to pay us the full amount by March 28th (which coincidently is Colin's B-day). We doubt that Sachin actually will, but at least we tried. I don't know that we'd pursue it beyond what we've done but it'd be nice to get our money back, so we'll see. The judge laughed when he saw our funny little lease because it was for the state of Queensland and we live in New South Whales. Sachin didn't even supply the proper paperwork. Colin and I were so naive when we moved here and wouldn't have noticed such a detail.

We're going camping this weekend at Towradgi beach. It's been raining constantly for the last week and now that it's stopped, it's 95% humidity and super sunny. Hopefully it'll be a nice weekend!

E.

MARCH

March is turning around for the better. March over here isn’t like March at home. It’s sort of Australia’s version of Vancouver’s November. I’ve always considered November a downer month, besides my Brother and Sisters birthdays not much goes on in November. It’s gloomy, getting cold and the mountains aren’t open yet. Well March in Australia doesn’t have much going on except my birthday. I like the switched role. This March however is coming to a finale with great flavours.

Evelyn and I went to yet another amazing beach called Bulli. We went down south about an hour and a half and camped about 100 m from the water. The waves swooshed us to sleep and the abundant birds squawked us awake. It was marvelous. We woke up early and off to the beach we went.We played in the water for a couple hours then walked back to camp ate lunch. Then walked back to the water,

snorkeled for a while,

then back to camp. We read some literature and again went back out to the beach.

A guy I met surfing joined us for tacos, mmmmm. Then we hung out and enjoyed the evening playing guitar. Concluded with a walk along a dark beach. The stars were hidden but off on the other side of the point, fireworks blasted into the grey sky. Wow

C.

BAHHHH

We attend a bible study every Thursday and we love our little group of 7, it's always an insightful and reflective evening. We've been studying the book of Philippians and a few weeks ago we talked about what our definition of freedom is. Paul was in prison, writing to the Philippians, and explaining to them that he does not feel imprisoned because he's doing the will of God. If he stays in jail he's okay with that, if they kill him then he'll be united with Christ, and if they set him free then he'll continue to preach. It's a win win situation regardless of the outcome. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Colin and I are currently experiencing a situation where we don't know what to do. We're frustrated and stressed out. I obsess about it and make myself sick. It feels like a prison of sorts because it has the potential to last for another 11 months.

Paul goes on to say:

"Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you...For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him."

I'm trying not to have a pity party over here but I'm having a week where I just want this year to quickly finish so we can come home. I know it's only a prison if I look at it like it is. And I need to redefine my current definition of freedom, because at the moment it's, "when life is easy" and that's just not realistic nor will I ever feel free.

E

Practicum placement 1 is in

My first practicum placement has been processed and decided. I’ll be working in a private clinic for five weeks learning the ins and outs of musculoskeletal care. This clinic pays particular attention to hands, feet and the spinal cord. I was really lucky in the allocation as there where only two private clinics available. Now I feel extremely motivated to get back at the books, study, and prepare for live practice.

Drew got a placement in the same area as me. He’s at the main hospital right up the street. We’ll be able to car pool or enjoy the train ride down there each morning. It’s always more fun sharing experiences with others.

This week for me has great potential. I’m trying to write a song, thanks to the encouragement of my friend Stacy who’s also working on one. Eve and I were introduced to a sweet bookstore where we proceeded to buy too many books, so I have a lot of great reading ahead of me. My other roommate Mike has his cousin visiting him right now. Hopefully we’ll be able to hang out, he’s a great guy. Lastly I bought this cd by Gungor called Beautiful things. It’s musically brilliant and lyrically worship. It boosts my joy level.

C.

ardiente!

Taco night is much more exciting without the actual taco. You can just pile everything up on your plate and eat it with a fork. Or that can at least be your plan b. if your tacos ignite. Colin put our tacos in the toaster oven to crisp up and the whole oven became a beautiful glowing orange while our sweet taco shells charcoaled inside. I stood there and said, "Ut oh, what do we do, what do we do?" while Colin grabbed the toaster oven, put it on the brick outside, took the grill out of the oven, and watched it all burn. My wilderness training finally kicked in and I knew to take some pictures so we could document it.

Earlier in the week I went to the skin cancer clinic to get a mole looked at. The doctor said it was okay, so then I pointed to anything I could think of since I was there anyways. Everything was A-OK but I've had this little cyst on my chin for almost 4 years now and I always notice it in pictures, so I asked the doctor if he'd be able to remove it for me. On March 23rd I will finally get to say goodbye to my "double chin" for $60. Being in another country has made me much more proactive about my health. I also reeeeeeally like my doctor here. Maybe she can move back to Canada with me. I haven't had a family doctor since I was 17 and have just drifted through walk in clinics whenever I needed a prescription. Maybe that's just normal though.

Lately I've been uncharacteristically cool with bugs. Last weekend I shared a public washroom stall with a huntsman spider (mostly because I was about to pee my pants), and then later at home saw a cricket hopping around our dark storage room and didn't chase after it with a shoe. I remember thinking to myself, I'm sure a lizard will get him. On Thursday morning this week I was in the staff room moving some old archive boxes down from a shelf that were taking up some needed space, when I saw a black spider quickly run up it's web to the corner of the room. My first reaction was fear because it's my arch nemesis but then decided that it was just too awkwardly out of reach to kill. As the little spiders bum shifted though, I noticed a big red blotch on her back and then quickly reconsidered sharing the staff room with a Red Back Spider for the next year. I proceeded to open every cupboard at work looking for the bug spray, and when it was finally found, probably used half the can on it. I never use bug spray but I didn't want to go near a poisonous spider with my bare hand and a tissue.

And that was my excitement for the week.

E.

The Best Weekend

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9d2D1FV86k&feature=player_embedded

The following is a list of ways you can burn in Australia:

- Don't wear sunscreen

- Wear sunscreen

- THINK about the sun

I feel like you probably get where I'm going with this.

Despite experiencing burn injuries caused by said sun, I still had a super weekend. On Friday we had an early day at work and finished at 2, then I came home to the cheesiest of grilled cheese sandwiches. After digesting all that cheese, we met up with Willy & Jenna at our local pool. We did laps for an eternity and then decided to go grocery shopping for some BBQ food to cook at our new favorite picnic area in the ritzy olympic park area called "The Waterfront". They have a little outdoor gym set up and outdoor bbq's. We assumed that like every other outdoor bbq in Australia that we've come across, you just push the button and the bbq starts. Not in this area apparently. You need to pre-book them! So we did our little work out until it got dark and then came back to our place to bbq instead. Fortunately we had just enough propane to cook the chicken but ran out before we could toast the buns.

The following morning we woke up early, picked J&W up, and drove up the coast to Bayview where we rented kayaks for a few hours. It was supposed to be cloudy but ended up at 32+ and sunny! Afterwards we drove to Palm beach and hung out there for 3 hours. Sometimes at the beach we'll see a little rescue where someone is caught in a rip tide and a lifeguard paddles out on a surfboard to bring them in. The person is often caught in an area when you can stand up but they just can't do it. Yesterday however, we saw a lifeguard paddle out towards a guy who was caught in a rip but he was actually in really rough shape, and they happened to have the boat out patrolling the waters, so they did a boat rescue. The guy was limp when they carried him onto the beach and there were probably 10 lifeguards running around trying to help. We saw him sitting up after a few minutes but he sat in that spot for at least 45 minutes. I'm not sure if they had an ambulance come pick him up but I think you have to go to the hospital regardless afterwards. They kicked everyone out of the water because the currants were too strong in that area. We moved down the beach closer to the lifeguard flags and the boys went back out again on the boogie board. All in all it was a really fun day especially because nobody drowned.

After church today we were too hot to function so we went shopping in order to mooch off the free air conditioning. We were so zealous while shopping that we planned all our meals for the week so there is no need to grocery shop until Saturday! Probably. And to finish it all off, Colin just made bbq salmon with chili, citrus and mint.

Here are some pictures:

Jenna and Willy Kayaking in Bayview

Colin packed snacks!

Palm Beach

Colin's culinary skillz

Entertainment during dinner: watching this guy catch crickets.

Our friends Steve and Stacey sent us a package. It included a moose cookie cutter! I decorated using a red icing in honor of our Canadian colors

...it was never my intention for them to look butchered.

E.

V DAY

Oh Happy Valentines Day! I don't have any issues with Valentines Day except that it's not a public holiday. Of all the holidays, this one probably involves the most public displays of affection, so why isn't it a public one? Beats me. The first valentines day that Colin and I experienced together he asked me how that plant he had bought me the week prior was doing. I said, "great" and he said, "great." Ever since then it's been a non-eventful Feb.14th for us. This last week our brakes have been squeaky so I took a bite out of procrastination and decided to take the car in today so I could "gift" the brake job. Genius. When I got home, Colin was making a yummy Mexican dinner for the house, and he had bought me blackberries. I think this has officially been the best V Day so far.

I've had an extremely spastic work schedule the last two months and now that the visitors are temporarily finished, I'm back to work full time. I thought I would miss work but I really really didn't. Now that we're done our short term travels it's all I can think about, and I just want to GO somewhere. I'm also finding that my eyes are constantly twitching. I think it's just because I'm going to bed later and getting up earlier, but it could also be my body telling me that I need to go on vacation again.

When Debbie and Mark were visiting it was 40+ degrees and despite how pleasant it was to be hot & swimming all the time, it's cooled off to low 20's with rain everyday and I love it. Reminds me of home. Unfortunately I had acclimatized to the heat and am now wearing a sweater and sweatpants. I don't know how I'll cope with Vancouver's balmy -1 winters when we get home. Speaking of coming home, we just had our 1 year anniversary of living in Australia. We are now halfway done doing down under. In some ways it's gone very quickly but when I think hard about the last 12 months I can't believe there's a whole year left! I have an unofficial list that I like to rattle off to Colin of all the things I'm going to consume my first week back home. It's mostly comprised of Canadian wine's and restaurants from home.

Even though we're excited to return home soon, I also know that we have a fun year ahead. It helps that our parents all came to visit us and we really really appreciated it. We were both feeling homesick towards Christmas but now feel ready for 12 more months. Our friend Tyler is also coming to visit us in the near future and we're SO EXCITED!

Colin made a sweet video which is posted just below this little blog of mine. Couple's blogging day!

E