Sunday, January 27, 2008
Photos of Australia Day Live
these are all photos from the Australia Day Live Concert we attended. The one is of the German Intern - Lena and I, we found Australian Shirts at a dollar store so we thought they were very appropriate for Australia Day!! In another of the photos it goes Lena, Candice (my housemate), Thea, and Dallan. The others just show just how many Aussie's were there!!!
Friday, January 25, 2008
AUSTRALIA DAY!!
Although today - Jan. 26 is actually Australia Day we went and celebrated the events yesterday in Canberra (Australia's Capital City)!!
We arrived at Parliament Hill just after 4:00pm for the action to begin. It was very similar to a folk festival as we brought an esky(cooler), rugs(blankets), decks of cards, and stuff like that. Dallan (my intern coordinator) had brought a blow-up Australian beach ball so we played with that until too many people came and we had to return to our seats. By the time the evening show began the whole grass was covered with people so it was soo hard to even just walk!! Us 4 interns and our coordinater Dallan went and we had a blast.
It was just a big stage set up in front of the Parliament buildings and then tons of space to just hang out. My housemate - Candice is a crazy fan for one of the bands that were going to be playing so I went with her to go get autographs by 'THE VERONICAS'. We stood in line for almost a hour and when they came out the line just went wild!! I also fell into the trap and purchased a sweet australian hat and flag (that I ended up waving most of the evening so that was great!!).
Around 6:00 the show got on the road and they started off by announcing the Junior Australian, Senior Australian, and Australian of the Year. This was so cool to see because there were 35,000 Australians dressed up in Aussie colors and clothes just cheering for the people they wanted to win. Later after all the speeches were done they started up the concert. Although I had never heard of any of the artists I left wanting to buy most of their CD's so that was great!! We were pretty close to the stage so we could kind of see the actual people on the stage but we had great view from the projector.
A funny thing that happened was that Lena (German intern) and I were just walking around looking at all the people and then it just clicked that 'we were in Australia' and we were just in awe of all the Aussie spirit!! Throughout the night whenever anyone said 'Aussie Aussie Aussie' the crowd would respond with 'Oi Oi Oi'...very cool!! I will post pictures later as I was snapping away most of the evening!!
Well enough about that...I'm already planning what I can do for Canada Day here, it should be good!!
We arrived at Parliament Hill just after 4:00pm for the action to begin. It was very similar to a folk festival as we brought an esky(cooler), rugs(blankets), decks of cards, and stuff like that. Dallan (my intern coordinator) had brought a blow-up Australian beach ball so we played with that until too many people came and we had to return to our seats. By the time the evening show began the whole grass was covered with people so it was soo hard to even just walk!! Us 4 interns and our coordinater Dallan went and we had a blast.
It was just a big stage set up in front of the Parliament buildings and then tons of space to just hang out. My housemate - Candice is a crazy fan for one of the bands that were going to be playing so I went with her to go get autographs by 'THE VERONICAS'. We stood in line for almost a hour and when they came out the line just went wild!! I also fell into the trap and purchased a sweet australian hat and flag (that I ended up waving most of the evening so that was great!!).
Around 6:00 the show got on the road and they started off by announcing the Junior Australian, Senior Australian, and Australian of the Year. This was so cool to see because there were 35,000 Australians dressed up in Aussie colors and clothes just cheering for the people they wanted to win. Later after all the speeches were done they started up the concert. Although I had never heard of any of the artists I left wanting to buy most of their CD's so that was great!! We were pretty close to the stage so we could kind of see the actual people on the stage but we had great view from the projector.
A funny thing that happened was that Lena (German intern) and I were just walking around looking at all the people and then it just clicked that 'we were in Australia' and we were just in awe of all the Aussie spirit!! Throughout the night whenever anyone said 'Aussie Aussie Aussie' the crowd would respond with 'Oi Oi Oi'...very cool!! I will post pictures later as I was snapping away most of the evening!!
Well enough about that...I'm already planning what I can do for Canada Day here, it should be good!!
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Warrmabui Pictures
These are just some photos from where I will be living for the next year!! The second photo is of my house mate - Candice! The other ones are of the inside of the center where we spend most of our time when there are camps on. Out of this building is the kitchen, dining room, centrium (big soace in the middle to worship, play handball, and anythign else), lounge, and 6 dorms. Hopefully soon I will get some of my house but this will give you another glimpse of the place with people in it!!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
First Write Up
Sorry all this has taken so long. Let's just say the last two weeks have been filled with heaps...(new word for tons). I will try to fill you guys in on as much as possible with out boring you. Our first night was spent in a hostel on the bus streets of Bondi Beach. We spent our first 4 or so hours lounging on the beach with the very hot sun. The next day we packed up and hopped on a city bus that took us to the Sydney Opera House! We had planned earlier that I would meet my contacts there. Dallan (the intern coordinater) and Kira (program manager) showed up and we did all our introductions and continued on the road. The ride to my camp (called Warrambui...which is pronounced Warrambu-e, if you can get that!?). We spent our first evening just getting settled in my house and looking around the camp. There is one other girl in my house with me - Candace. And all the houses are the same but we have 3 rooms, living room, dining room, laundy room (no dryers...we hang all our clothes!!), and kitchen. My room is the master room you could say so I have a ensuite which is kind of nice. That night we hung out with Dallan, Kira, Bri (another program organizer), and Will (the cook).
The next day the other interns came. Thea, and Lena (Germany). At the moment there are only 4 of us but another (Heidi) will be showing up later.
We had a couple days of meeting other staff members and just getting to know each other. I learned this card game that many Australian's know called 500 hundred. Very complex tricks game but all three of us (Joel, Marla, and I) learned it from these three brothers who are doing some construction here at the camp. I learned later that 500 hundred is a game that not many young people know but it is popular among the older generation...but at least 4 of us permanent staff know how to play so that will be fun. I also learned that whenever people get bored or run out of things to do they play cards! It has been lots of fun because I've learned some knew ones and taught some too.
On Monday we started our first (and biggest) camp we run. It was called History Makers. It was very similar to a week at Kuriakos with a couple differenes. Usually we would sleep down at our intern houses but when we run the camps (which is like 4 a year) we sleep up with the campers in the dorm rooms. The camp is set up so everything runs out of the same building except when we go out to play games outside (but then it is soo hot we usually don't stay out too long) I will write later more about the lay out of the camp and such.
Warrambui has kind of hand raised a kangaroo here named KC and at breakfast and usually dinner she comes around and we get to feed her! I got to pet and hand feed her so I look forward to doing that as much as possible...yipee!!
Sorry this is so choppy and all over but the days have kind of flowed together for me!
On friday the first camp left (ages 9-17) and we had a couple hours off. We ended up going to Yass to get some shopping and such done. Then later that night another group of people showed up to get ready for the next camp, just a weekend. It was the first time running and it was called New Heights and for ages 17-19. So therefore I became a camper, but there was only like 25 people all together so it was a good time to just get to know more people.
On Sunday all the campers left and we packed up and moved back down to our houses. One game that was constantly going on for all ages all throughout camp is called handball. The area you play in is split into 4 areas and one person stands in each square (or quadrant) and you have to bounce the ball in your square and then the other players. If you miss you get out and the other people move up a space. After all the campers left we played handball for close to 2 hours, and this is just a common thing...it is a very common game!
Now we have two days off to just relax and catch up on sleep. We don't have another group coming in for a while so we will be doing orientation and learning more about where everything goes and stuff like that.
Again I apoligize for this being all over the place and I will keep up with this with more detailed stories and as I remember more I will post them as well.
p.s. appriciate the cold, because it's hot here!!
The next day the other interns came. Thea, and Lena (Germany). At the moment there are only 4 of us but another (Heidi) will be showing up later.
We had a couple days of meeting other staff members and just getting to know each other. I learned this card game that many Australian's know called 500 hundred. Very complex tricks game but all three of us (Joel, Marla, and I) learned it from these three brothers who are doing some construction here at the camp. I learned later that 500 hundred is a game that not many young people know but it is popular among the older generation...but at least 4 of us permanent staff know how to play so that will be fun. I also learned that whenever people get bored or run out of things to do they play cards! It has been lots of fun because I've learned some knew ones and taught some too.
On Monday we started our first (and biggest) camp we run. It was called History Makers. It was very similar to a week at Kuriakos with a couple differenes. Usually we would sleep down at our intern houses but when we run the camps (which is like 4 a year) we sleep up with the campers in the dorm rooms. The camp is set up so everything runs out of the same building except when we go out to play games outside (but then it is soo hot we usually don't stay out too long) I will write later more about the lay out of the camp and such.
Warrambui has kind of hand raised a kangaroo here named KC and at breakfast and usually dinner she comes around and we get to feed her! I got to pet and hand feed her so I look forward to doing that as much as possible...yipee!!
Sorry this is so choppy and all over but the days have kind of flowed together for me!
On friday the first camp left (ages 9-17) and we had a couple hours off. We ended up going to Yass to get some shopping and such done. Then later that night another group of people showed up to get ready for the next camp, just a weekend. It was the first time running and it was called New Heights and for ages 17-19. So therefore I became a camper, but there was only like 25 people all together so it was a good time to just get to know more people.
On Sunday all the campers left and we packed up and moved back down to our houses. One game that was constantly going on for all ages all throughout camp is called handball. The area you play in is split into 4 areas and one person stands in each square (or quadrant) and you have to bounce the ball in your square and then the other players. If you miss you get out and the other people move up a space. After all the campers left we played handball for close to 2 hours, and this is just a common thing...it is a very common game!
Now we have two days off to just relax and catch up on sleep. We don't have another group coming in for a while so we will be doing orientation and learning more about where everything goes and stuff like that.
Again I apoligize for this being all over the place and I will keep up with this with more detailed stories and as I remember more I will post them as well.
p.s. appriciate the cold, because it's hot here!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)