REadjusting

its been a while now since we've been home, about three weeks actually. and it was nice to come home to all the great things we remember. friends, family, favourite meals... But i must admit it was a little bit weird to fall back into the same ol same ol, after 6 months of new and challenging experiences. straight away i got my old job back, and was able to work almost everyday. raf went off to mexico and is back now, and we have been hanging with our friends a lot. sorta just picked up where we left off, in a good way of course. however, i would be lying if i neglected to say we are better off from our trip. some of the things we have seen, and experiences we've had were once in a lifetime. and experiences are something special. no matter what happens, no one can take your experiences away from you. we learned to rely on God a lot in australia, and even more in africa. and that's been something thats important to continue to work at. dedication to reading our bibles and devotionals. all in all. were back, from one amazing experience, and getting adjusted back into our lives at home, and were both better for it.

Home Sweet Home ...almost.

yesterday was literally the longest day of our lives. at 7 am, August 5^th – Australia time, we woke up, stuffed the last of our bags and loaded up the van for the last time and were off to the airport. We got there a few hours early; because that’s the only time we could get a ride, but no worries. Hard to be frustrated with a few hours of waiting when you are offered a free ride to the airport. Checked the bags easily, and made it through customs and security just the same. First destination Sydney. Ok, no problem, its only an hour. Second flight, Sydney to LA. 16 hours, but hey, compared to some of our African journeys, that’s nothing. PLUS. On a 16 hour flight, we travelled back in time 17 hours. And i still find it hard to dislike time travel. Great, done, now. LA to Washington. 6 hours. Piece of cake compared to the last one. Now for the easiest of all: One measly hour to buffalo our final destination. CANCELLED!?!

This can’t be serious. After 30 something hours of travel, we get stuffed on the last hour. Hard to believe, but it was for real, just as real as the 2 hour line to find another flight; ANY other flight. and the other 1 and half or so, hours in our baggage claim line, because as you can imagine, the baggage was just as stuffed as our flights. With time to kill, and a system of alternating between waiting in line and using the internet, we kept the morals high, and enjoyed, best we can, the prospect of spending a night in DC.

Our mission of taking a picture with the Washington Monument was basically, instantly squashed by the 130 us dollar cab fare to get there and back, so we did our best to use what we had. One thing weve learned from our experience living in airports is rule number 1. Explore. At 2 am, once our bags, were sorted. (they’re going to buffalo, and us Toronto, but at least they are sorted.) we took off exploring. A massive airport, very few people. this is where rule two comes into play: cross boundaries. Some times this means hoping a fence to get a spectacular look at the Victoria falls, and sometime it means ventureing off path to find a hidden oasis in the Australian rain forest. This time however, it meant walking past a do not enter sign, and using the maintenance elevator to find us a loft all to ourselves.

These times of shenanigans do help to time go less painfully but still, we found ourselves, so close to home, but still so far. The next day, brought with it a bunch more hassle, but a whole lotta good.

Today was the day, were going home! ...hopefully. so at noon we boarded a flight to Ottawa, slight detour, but hey, we made it to Canada. We spent less than 15 minutes in the Ottawa airport, as we ran through customs, and onto our final Air Canada flight. man, let me tell you, it was so great to hear some true Canadian accents again. People always, say you can’t hear your own accent, which is true, but after 6 months away. The enunciated O’s and overwhelming politeness made me feel truely home. Well. That and the 2 massive Timmies as were leaving the terminal. And the long list of “first thing’s” I wanted to do was kicked off with the immediate stop at Tim Horton’s. We met our parents here, took some time over coffee, and began with the stories. The stories that pretty much continued all the way home.

And home is where we made it. Finally, after days. Home was sweet.

Sydney: Take Two.

Today was the last day of our travels and we’ve been staying at our friend Andrew Howell’s house since Saturday. He’s doing the Hillsong College so he took us to the service on Sunday night, and today, he has a day off so we took a day trip into the city. It was Anna, Raf, Andrew, his friend Seth and Myself. First things first, we got into the city, and the hunt began for parking. We finally scored a ‘reasonable’ parking complex...35 bones later we were good for the day. At least this spot was in Darling Harbour, which

meant we could eat a buffet lunch in china town at 1pm, and be at the opera house by 2pm. We did the classics: Walked the bridge, hit the shops, the market, and the mall. Walking the city, Raf and I also got a chance to play two of our favourite people watching games: ‘Girlfriend, or Daughter?’ is rather self explanatory one, and a sure favourite. Sydney is always a top venue. The next game was a good round of ‘Real or Fake?’ This is pretty self explained as well, and day featured highlight real or fake split decisions on moustaches, toupees and personalities. Now, all these fun and games had to be done before dinner, because you see, this dinner has been planned since the day we got to Australia. Everyone pretty much told us the one thing you have to do in this city is: see the opera house AND... Eat Pancakes at ‘Pancakes on the Rocks’. So at around 7, we put Pancakes on the rocks into Andrew’s Iphone and found the nearest of the two locations. The trek began, and as we weighed our options to either bring the car, and pay again for parking, or walk to this place and take the long, more economical option. Obviously, we opted to walk, and what a walk it was. Figures it starts to rain, but that only made reaching the destination more appealing. Anticipation building with every water logged step, and after 30 minutes finally seeing the large pancake house sign approaching brought such a feeling of satisfaction. Only to be snatched away as fast as we could read the sign on the locked door that explained they were closed for emergency repairs. The kindly however directed us to their other Sydney location. Another 45 minutes in the opposite direction. At this point, it was starting to feel like Harold and Kumor’s Whitecastle adventure. We thought about settling for the foodcourt next door, but like Roldy and Kumor we had to make it to those Pancakes that we set out for, nothing else would do. And with that, it was decided. We raced back to his car, paid the 30 bucks, and, again with the guidance of the I Phone, drove to the alternate location. Traffic was a nightmare, the rain stopped, but started again, Andrew’s turn signals stopped working, but we made it there, alive and starving. We ordered some of the most appealing pancakes you’ve ever seen. AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS. It was the best most satisfying dinner i’ve had in ages. I ate 2 massive chocolate pancakes covered in ice cream and chocolate syrup, and I called it my dinner. Finally, With our checklist complete, Andrew drove us to the airport, where we plan to spend the night. And this is where im writing you from. Our camp in the corner of the departures terminal, surrounded by our bags and carts, were going to sleep here until our morning flight.

A mattress would be nice,

Oh well.

Cheers.

Hillsong.

Today, Raf and I went to Hillsong's Main Church, Hills Campus. Seated 4 thousand people. the rest was too sick for words.