Carpe Diem, Seize the Day

Ever since I started thinking about moving to Australia, one of the events I had been most anticipating was celebrating New Year's Eve in Sydney. And why not? I had been dreaming about it for years, had read multiple articles about it, had seen several exciting videos online, and had been told by more than a few individuals that if I was going to be bringing in the new year in Australia, Sydney was the place to do it. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Except that there was a "but" when I made the decision to live in Melbourne first: But will I be able to make it back to Sydney for New Year's Eve if I have to work?

For that reason, I delayed making any official plans of celebrating the holiday in Sydney, watching the flights become increasingly expensive as the airlines took advantage of those crazy enough to have the desire to join the massive crowds filled with people who wanted nothing more than to catch even a glimpse of the fireworks over the harbour bridge and opera house on New Year's Eve. Anyone who knows me is well aware of my terrible procrastination and indecisive habits so it should be of no surprise that I waited until only a few weeks before the 31st of December to come to the inevitable conclusion... with someone's help [thanks, Ryan! :o)]:: I'll only live once and this will most likely be the only time I'll have the opportunity to do this so I had better seize the day and just go for it. No regrets, no thinking twice.

A view from the Royal Botanic Gardens

After making that important decision and talking to my manager, my next step was to book my transportation and accommodation. By this time, flying from Melbourne to Sydney was far too expensive and due to a massive railway sale, the train was sold out, so my only option was to take the coach again. Twelve hours cramped on a bus wasn't sounding ideal, but I knew it would be worth it in the end. I was just thankful that it was affordable for me to return to Melbourne by airplane since the flight is less than two hours. When I started to look for accommodation for just a couple nights, I was only finding hostels that required a minimum stay of ten nights and hotels that cost a fortune; however, I was lucky enough to be able to stay with a friend I had met when I was in Sydney back in October. I guess it turned out that those two and a half weeks at the beginning of my trip had a real purpose, but I've always been a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Honestly though, I don't know what I would have done without her help.

In just twenty-four short hours, I'll be on my way to Sydney to bring in 2012. It's hard to believe that 2011 is drawing to an end. There isn't a doubt in my mind that it's been simultaneously one of the best and worst years of my life.

However, one thing is for sure:: I wouldn't change a single thing about it.

Melbourne's "White" Christmas

Since we're well into summer down here, I was quite aware that the odds were stacked against me in terms of having the opportunity to enjoy a white Christmas. There was no mystery as to whether or not I would wake up and find a peaceful blanket of snow outside, but I was more than excited to be experiencing my first summer Christmas.

The day started off with my going to church in the morning, which marked the first time I've ever attended a Christmas Day service. I had wanted to go to St. Jude's in Carlton because I knew a lot of people who were going to be there; however, I fell asleep too late the night before to not want tostay in bed for at least a half hour longer so I ended up going to the service in Parkville, which is a satellite of St. Jude's and where I've been going for the past few weeks anyway. I wish I would have made it to Carlton, but the Parkville service was nice as well.

After church, I traveled to the house of some friends in Footscray to attend a lovely Christmas barbecue. I had known that the weather reports were predicting some afternoon showers and unfortunately, as soon as I stepped off the bus, they proved to be accurate as it started to rain pretty steadily. When I arrived at the barbecue, everyone was moving the food, tables, and chairs indoors; however, after a while, the rain stopped

so we were able to sit outside for a little bit. All the food was delicious, including the stingray, which I had never even thought about eating before two days ago.

In a bizarre turn of events [okay, so maybe not that bizarre for this city], as we were eating the gingerbread house, large chunks of hail started falling from the sky, thus granting me a "white" Christmas after all.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas! :o)

My Christmas Eve Down Under

Every year for as long as I can remember, my family and I have attended the Christmas Eve service at our home church in Bethlehem. Without a doubt, it has always been my favourite one to go to because of all the carols, the candles, and the annual pageant, the latter of which is something I was even a part of years ago. And without fail, it has always been a beautiful service with a grand message.

Even though I'm on the other side of the world, my Christmas Eve was spent where it has always been spent:: church. Tonight, I decided to check out a different Anglican church I had heard about last week or so called City on a Hill. I loved the name from the moment I heard it because I love the verse of the Bible where it comes from; plus, I thought it sounded so picturesque and even magical. I can't help but smile at the way the name rolls off my tongue in such a poetic way. More importantly, it turned out to be an awesome church that I would definitely like to return to mostly due to the fact that I absolutely loved the pastor's sermon and the atmosphere of the entire place. When he gave his sermon about one of the stories in the Bible, he was expressive and lively, neatly integrating his personal experiences into it and showing us how we could relate the story to our own lives as he spoke. By the time he was finished, I just felt really content and fulfilled for some reason. Maybe it was a little premature, but even before the service had concluded, I had decided that this church just felt so right.

In terms of style, it seems like the perfect balance between St. Jude's and Planetshakers and is the closest church to Holy Trinity Brompton in London, which I still miss. Vibrant but not showy. City on a Hill isn't as massive as HTB or Hillsong, but the atmosphere felt like it was on fire tonight. Very inspirational. I'm so excited to go back and see what it's like on an evening other than Christmas Eve. Based on what I witnessed just hours ago, I'm sure it will be just as amazing.

After enjoying the City on a Hill service, I took a tram up to Carlton to go to St. Jude's Christmas Eve service. Since it made more sense to go straight there instead of going home in the opposite direction first, I ended up being uncharacteristically early; however, it turned out to be blessing because I was able to see some of the children's pageant, which brought back memories from my childhood, and to meet the first American I've come across in Melbourne. She's from California and is studying at the University of Melbourne. Talking to her really made me think about graduate school again, but I don't know if I'm ready to commit to that at this point. St. Jude's service was enjoyable and it was good to be able to catch up with some friends. This entertaining video was shown during the service and I would like to share it with you.

Afterward, a few of us tried to get Chinese food for dinner, but the restaurants were closed so we settled for Domino's, which was more than fine with me because I had been craving pizza for weeks!

Merry Christmas!

A Beautiful Day of Carols

With the holiday season right upon us, a number of different activities have been taking place around the city. It's a shame that so many of them have been scheduled for the same nights because it's difficult to choose what to do. However, this evening, I was fortunate enough to be able to enjoy two of them.

Earlier today, I met several friends from Cross Cultures at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, an outdoor music venue in Kings Domain that's near the Royal Botanic Gardens, to watch the Carols by Candlelight rehearsal. Carols by Candlelight is a massive musical event that has been held on Christmas Eve since the late 1930s and features numerous performers who sing various Christmas songs. It's broadcast live not only all across Australia but also to New Zealand, parts of eastern Asia, and certain Pacific Islands. Although

the main event is held on Christmas Eve, the rehearsal that occurs the day before that is open to the public for a fraction of the cost of the actual show. It was a ridiculously hot day, but I had a lot of fun taking part in this wonderful tradition that Melbourne has had for so many years. I'm hoping to catch a little bit of the real event on television tomorrow night or maybe even head down to Federation Square to watch it on the big screen.

After spending several hours at the Sidney Meyer Music Bowl, I said good bye to my friends and took a tram to Carols at Docklands, a Christmas event that Planetshakers hosts every year. Since I had decided to stay at Carols by Candlelight until everyone else left for dinner, I ended up being quite late for Carols at Docklands. It was extremely loud and crowded so I wasn't able to contact the two

friends I had hoped to meet there; however, I was lucky enough to randomly run into two people I knew from the beach barbecue I had attended not too long ago. Carols at Docklands turned out to be a pretty awesome experience, equipped with amazing musical performances, especially "The Prayer," which sent shivers down my spine, and an entertaining fireworks show.

Yes, today was a spectacular day.

An Evening of Australian Christmas Traditions

Earlier this week, several people from Cross Cultures met at the church to bake gingerbread. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible for me to join them, but I was able to attend the regular weekly dinner and Bible study. When I arrived today, the tables and chairs were arranged to accommodate the anticipated larger crowd for our Christmas dinner and there was a bon-bon at each place setting. Since they’re not a popular part of the Christmas celebration in the US, the first time I had ever heard of bon-bons [or Christmas crackers] was when I was in the UK. They’re basically cardboard tubes with colorful paper twisted around them in such a way that they look like massive Tootsie Rolls. There are different versions of the game, but in essence, a different person grabs each end of the bon-bon and pulls until it breaks. In one version, whoever has the largest piece empties the contents from the bon-bon, which is normally a colored paper crown, a toy, and a joke of some sort.

With Christmas just around the corner, we naturally discussed the story of Jesus’ birth and how it’s the true meaning of this time of year. I felt like it was a really important discussion because even as a Christian, it’s so easy to get swept up in today’s commercialization of the holiday. It was even mentioned that while many people gather around the Santa-themed window displays at Myer, hardly anyone pays attention to the last one that features the Nativity scene. Shamefully, my first thought upon hearing this was ‘There’s a Nativity scene?’ Wow, talk about guilty as charged! Sometimes it’s just good to step back and remember why we’re celebrating in the first place.

In addition to our study, we ate a hearty traditional Australian Christmas dinner that consisted of turkey [I think, but being a pescetarian, I have to admit that I wasn’t paying much attention to that portion of the meal…] and then rice, salad, and other vegetables. We also decorated the gingerbread figures that were baked earlier in the week with icing and different types of candy. I ended up with a gingerbread man, a star, and then a kangaroo that someone said resembled a dinosaur :o) Later on in the evening, we had plum pudding for dessert, which was pretty delicious.

Icehouse Entertainment

It may not be snowing, here or at home, but Christmas is most definitely in the air..... and I LOVE it. On Sunday, Kat and I met at the Icehouse in the Docklands to see a Christmas ice-skating performance. Although it was geared more towards children, I suppose, it was still fun to watch because who doesn't enjoy a holiday-themed skating performance? It was certainly entertaining and some of the skaters were as young as five years old, which was quite impressive.

The performers skated to different popular songs from this year along with ones from earlier decades, like one of my all-time favourite Christmas singles, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You." The show even included songs from various musicals that I love, such as Moulin Rouge and Wicked, and ones I have yet to see, like Burlesque. At the very end, there was a nice tribute to Michael Jackson, during which the skaters moonwalked on the ice, warranting huge cheers from the crowd. Pretty awesome.

Carols in Carlton and a London Throwback

Last week, Kat had invited me to attend a Christmas concert that the Salvation Army was sponsoring and giving to the city of Melbourne as a gift for its contributions to the organization, but unfortunately, it was on the same day that St. Jude's was holding its annual caroling event in Carlton. It's a shame that they conflicted with each other because I would have liked to have

attended both, but since I had heard so much about the carols at both church and Cross Cultures, I had been looking forward to St. Jude's event so that's where I decided to go.

The caroling program was meant to take place outside in the beautiful gardens; however, due to the inclement weather, it had to be moved to the church. I had just gotten off my second tram when it started to pour so I was more than happy to have my raincoat with me, but I still need to purchase an umbrella. I feel like being without proper rain gear in Melbourne is just as bad as being without it in Dublin, which I didn't expect when I first came here. Anyway, when I first arrived at the church, I didn't see anyone I knew, but after i sat down and the program officially started, I spotted some familiar faces on the other side of the church so I switched seats inbetween songs. We sang almost two hours worth of Christmas carols, but there were, of course, some readings, poems, and other random talking in between. It was unfortunate that it had to rain that day because the gardens are really

pretty and the perfect venue for such an event, but holding lit candles indoors during some of the songs had a pretty fantastic effect that would have been lost outside since there was still some daylight.

The next day, I met one of the girls from my Urban Life group for hot chocolate at a cafe in the city. She's originally from Vancouver, but she's done a lot of traveling and living abroad, calling many different places, like St. Louis, London, Brisbane, and Melbourne, home. As it turns out, we actually attended the same church in London, Holy Trinity Brompton, which was an awesome discovery because we both absolutely loved going there every week. Although I've attended several other charismatic churches since then, I haven't quite been able to find one like HTB, but it hasn't been due to lack of trying.

Jennifer told me that if she were my age, she would rather be in London [or Europe, in general] because there's a lot more to do and see there than in Australia. I feel like Australia is a massive and diverse country so there's plenty to see, but it's also hard to leave because of its size. The east

coast is pretty well connected as you can take buses and trains up and down, but as far as going to other parts of the country, I would have to do some research; I think you would most likely have to fly.

Europe is just a unique place because you can enter a whole new country, experience a whole new culture that only involves traveling for a short few hours. You just don't have that luxury in Australia since, with the exception of New Zealand and Fiji, it's far from everything, especially Melbourne and Sydney, which are in the southern part of the country. I would imagine that if you were up north in Cairns, which is the tropical region of the nation, it would be easier to travel to at least Asia.

Although I love Australia, I would definitely be lying if I said I wasn't feeling nostalgic for Europe.

Beach Barbecue? Okay!

Before moving down here, I had heard numerous stories about these apparently amazing beach barbecues that are popular all over Australia. On Friday evening I experienced my first one and I can

confirm that they are indeed spectacular, but I guess it helps when the people you're with are awesome.

Since we were running late, my friend Kat and I met at the train station near Elwood Beach, which is about a half hour from the city centre by public transportation, and then walked to the barbecue area to meet everyone else. It was our first time doing anything with this particular Urban Life group, but the leader of the group had contacted me last week or so and invited me to attend their end-of-the-year barbecue at the beach. It seemed like a good chance to get to meet more people at Planetshakers so I decided to go and invited Kat along because she was interested in learning more about the church.

As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I've never been a huge fan of the beach, but I could never deny the natural beauty one finds there. Since the barbecue was in the evening, it was the perfect time to go to watch the sunset over the ocean. Magnificent shades of pinks, purples, and oranges

splashed across the sky as the sun disappeared over the horizon. Even though photographs could never do it justice, I tried my hardest to capture the moment anyway.

After dinner, everyone exchanged gifts and even though Kat and I were new to the group, we were given glasses filled with Lindt chocolates, which was sweet and unexpected. I ended up meeting a couple who's going to be spending an entire month traveling around a few American cities. They were asking me about places to eat and to visit in New York City and Washington D.C since those were the only two places they're going that I've visited or lived. They're also planning to bring in the new year in the one and only Times Square so I was able to give them a few tips based on the time my friends and I celebrated New Year's Eve there several years ago.

I suppose the "honeymoon stage" of my trip is coming to an end because I'm pretty sure I felt a twinge of homesickness when they were telling me about what they had planned for their American holiday.

Summer, Summer, Summertime

The weather has been so random lately, which I suppose is typical for Melbourne, sometimes cool enough to have to remember to bring a jacket with me every time I leave my apartment, other times warm enough to be able to go outside with only a tank top. Luckily, today was a prime example of one of those latter days, which was surprising since it was quite cool in my apartment. Fortunately, that does leave me optimistic for even hotter temperatures later this year because perhaps it won't matter that our place isn't equipped with air conditioning after all.

Two weeks ago, I paced up and down the sidewalk, huddled in my jacket as I willed the tram to come sooner after my Urban Life group; however, this evening, it was easy and even a pleasure to sit outside and wait for the public transportation as it was the perfect summer night. Speaking of that time of year, prior to coming down here, I had thought that Australia's seasons were the exact opposite of America's, starting during the third week or so of the month, so I thought we had another couple weeks of spring, but I've learned that that's not the case. Australia's seasons start on the first of the month so summer has been here for a week already!

It's still taking some adjusting to the fact that Christmas and New Year's Eve will be celebrated in the summertime, but I'm excited about the new experience. It's just routine, but when I was thinking about going to Sydney for New Year's Eve, my mind automatically started wondering how cold I would be outside as I waited for the fireworks and whether or not my leggings would keep me warm enough. It took me a few seconds to remember where I was and that no, I wouldn't have to worry about the temperature. Tonight we had our last Urban Life group of the year and we spent it with a nice Christmas party [my first official Australian barbecue :o)], which, funny as it may sound, on some level made the holiday season more of a reality for me.

This weekend, St. Jude's is hosting a caroling event near the Carlton Gardens, which should be a lot of fun and will further get me into the Christmas spirit. I don't know that I've necessarily been lacking it in any way, but despite the decorated window displays and holiday music, my mindset is stuck on one thing:: totally in awe that summertime is here.

A Cross Cultures Celebration

Several days ago, my friend Brian from Cross Cultures invited me to attend a dinner with people from St. Jude's to celebrate the end of exams. [Even though I've been in Australia for over a month, it's still so jarring for me to think that for the next four months, the students here will be on their summer holiday/vacation.] Anyway, the invitation immediately piqued my interest because I knew it would give me a chance to see new faces and further get to know the people I had already met.

It had poured on and off all morning and afternoon so even though I knew I wanted to go out, part of me just wanted to stay inside since it was raining kittens and puppies, the restaurant was farther from my apartment than I had originally thought, and I'll admit that I was beginning to feel a little too comfortable in my bed to leave anytime soon. It was just one of those days where I almost felt like staying indoors under a lot of blankets [since it was rather cold as well] would ultimately make me the most content.

However, now that I'm back in my apartment after having spent a fantastic night out in a previously unexplored part of Melbourne, I'm exceptionally glad that I made the effort to go out and socialise because I had an excellent time. It would have been one of those instances where, in retrospect, I would have regretted not joining them. There ended up being more people who I had met before than I had expected, which was a nice surprise, but I also made several new friends.

It's days like these that make me realize that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, and that's a wonderful feeling.

Missing Thanksgiving

First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends back in the US and my fellow expatriates! I hope that each of you has the opportunity to spend quality time with people you love and care about since that's what this lovely time of year is about, right?

Speaking of which, when I'm in the Northern Hemisphere, this is my absolute favourite time of year. I love being surrounded by the crisp autumn breeze, watching the colourful leaves slowly drift to the ground, and waking up to the smell of apple pies baking in the oven. There's something peaceful and maybe even magnetic about the atmosphere that just pulls me in to the point where I feel like I'm left with no choice but to thoroughly enjoy the season.

This was my third Thanksgiving spent away from home and my first time in a place where it wasn't celebrated or even acknowledged. Although I didn't necessarily spend the holiday in a traditional way [especially since I don't know any other Americans in Melbourne], I attended St. Jude's Cross Cultures this evening and met other international members of the church, which definitely wasn't a horrible way to spend my Thanksgiving even though I wished I was home with my family. Thank goodness for video chat though!

Anyway, tonight's meeting concluded a trilogy of lectures on controversial issues that the church faces, the first being depression, the second being abortion, and the third being homosexuality. To be completely honest, it's sometimes a great challenge for me to sit through presentations on the last subject because I don't tend to see eye to eye with more conservative congregations, which unlike my home church, this one happens to be. However, I felt like the talk was given with a more neutral tone and the discussion that took place afterward was interesting and stimulating.

Earlier this week, I decided to give a Planetshakers Urban Life Group a try, which ended up being a fantastic choice. Aside from meeting some really great people, I was introduced to the NOOMA series, which are short films that give a Christian perspective on different life experiences. That night, we watched two, titled Kickball and Noise; the first one focused on answering the question, "Why can't we always have what we want?" and the second touched on answering, "Why is silence so hard to deal with?" They were both rather thought provoking and made me want to step back, re-examine certain aspects of my life, which I think is healthy for anyone to do from time to time, and perhaps even weave some of the concepts from the videos into the way I'm living.

I'm looking forward to our next study.

My New Home Sweet Home

After just over five weeks of being in Australia, I've finally managed to move into a room of my own. It did take me a little longer to find than I had hoped, but I would say it was well worth the wait. I'm so grateful that I was able to stay with a friend while I looked for my own place, but I'm excited to have my own space..... and I'm sure he's more than happy to have his room to himself again.

My room is in a cosy apartment in a quiet neighborhood in one of the suburbs immediately north of the CBD so I would say it's very conveniently located. As a matter of fact, it's just a short tram ride away from the Queen Victoria Market, the largest market in the Southern Hemisphere, so that may quickly become my primary grocery store. I've been there a few times already and love the atmosphere..... and the herb and garlic ciabatta, which is a serious yum!

Anyway, there's a tram stop less than a two-minute walk from my front door and a bus stop just around the corner, but I'm even sure if I absolutely had to walk to or from the city, it wouldn't be impossible. My room, although on the small size, is just perfect for me and well within my budget. Luckily, it's fully furnished so there's already a wardrobe, a desk, a chair, and a nightstand in the room. Most of my clothing fits in the wardrobe, but I'll probably have to keep one of my suitcases out to hold some of my belongings, which I expected because of the ridiculous amount of stuff I brought from home. Additionally, there are several shelves built into the wall next to my bed, which are nice to have for my toiletries and such. Overall, I'm not sure how to put into words how amazing it feels to not have to live out of a suitcase anymore. Happy days!

I feel like things are slowly moving in the right direction. Finding a home? Check. Next up: securing a job.

Sundays Are Fundays

Today was a stunningly gorgeous day in Melbourne, which was more than a welcomed change from Friday's unbearable heatwave and Saturday's overcast gloom. I took the tram into the city on Friday to register with a recruitment agency and nearly melted on the short walk from Ben's house to the tram stop. Yesterday was just a lazy day as my mood unfortunately mirrored the weather. Today, however, was equipped with the perfect amount of happy sunshine and warm breeze to turn anyone's average day into a fantastic one.

Last week or so, I had passed by St. Jude's Church in Carlton, which is another suburb close to the city centre, as I was job hunting so tonight, I decided it was worth it to pay it a visit since I was still in the process of looking for a church to regularly attend while I'm living here, not to mention the fact that it's pretty close to Brunswick, which is convenient. Although it was a contemporary service, it was much less charismatic than Planetshakers and I recognised some of the music from the radio and other churches I've attended in the past; sometimes small aspects of familiarity feel amazing when you're in a strange, new place. It's also an Anglican church, which is the denomination in which I was raised, so I think it may be a suitable fit for me.

The service I attended is called Unichurch and is geared towards university students, which I'm not anymore :o(, and young professionals so it was a great place for me to meet people close to my age. Before the service, I talked to a few of the girls there and learned about a weekly gathering that's for internationals so it should be fun to check out later this week. Afterward, I stayed for the coffee hour, where I met a lot of people, some of whom I joined for dinner.

I've been so grateful for Ben's hospitality since I arrived here, but I think the only downside to living with someone I already knew has been that I haven't really met a lot of people, like I did in Sydney. It's definitely time for me to kick it up a notch and make new friends so that I have more than one in a 12-hour driving radius. :o)

Keeping to the Right..... and Being Wrong

As I looked at the calendar today, I realised I've been in Australia for a month, which seems absolutely unbelievable since it still feels like I've only just arrived. During my interviews and my apartment hunting, I've had to keep reminding myself that "only just arrived" works well for a given amount of time, a limited given amount of time. I think it may be about time for me to drop that phrase when telling people how long I've been in Oz.

I'm almost certain that the fact that I've already split my time between Sydney and Melbourne has further hindered my ability to fully grasp the number of days that have passed as in my opinion, two weeks anywhere isn't long enough for a place to feel like home. After a fortnight, Sydney just started to feel that way to me and now that I've been in Melbourne for that long, it's beginning to have the same effect. I love the feeling of a place that was once strange and foreign slowly growing increasingly familiar. It really is a wonderfully beautiful thing to witness.

Even though I've been here for a month already, there are some aspects of Australia to which I'm still adapting, one of them being the fact that cars drive on the left side of the road. In London and in Sydney, many of the roads, especially the main ones, conveniently have painted on the ground which way a pedestrian should look for cars before crossing the street. I couldn't possibly count all the times these simple white letters saved my life during my first few months in London.

Thankfully, I haven't had too much trouble remembering which side of the road cars drive on in Melbourne [although I will admit that I do look both ways more times than anyone should just to be sure I don't mistakenly wander into oncoming traffic], but I did have a minor incident when I was going into town earlier this week. While I was walking along the sidewalk, a bicycler and I were about to cross paths. As he got closer, I naturally stepped to the side to avoid a painful collision....... but out of habit, I moved to the right instead of the left, which clearly clashed with his way of thinking as he nearly ran me over anyway before scolding, "Keep to the left!"

Lesson learned.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...... Christmas?

True to my word, most of my afternoon on Monday was spent in the downtown area, where I was thankful to be able to readily access my voicemail and to snag some free WiFi from the beautiful State Library of Victoria. Later in the evening, I wandered aimlessly along the well-lit city streets

when a small banner hanging off a lamppost caught the corner of my eye. As I walked closer, I realised that it was a colourful sign that proudly displayed the words, "Merry Christmas, Melbourne." I'll admit that it took me off guard and I even laughed to myself, immediately thinking that it was much too early to be decorating for Christmas; however, when I gave it just a little bit of thought, it hit me that it's mid-November already and decorations back home are probably popping up everywhere as well since Christmas isn't that far away.

Within moments of noticing the small sign hanging from the streetlight and snapping a quick photograph, the sound of bright, cheerful, very loud Christmas music filled my ears. As I looked around to try to locate the source, I saw small groups of individuals gathered around humongous Christmas-decorated displays in some of the store windows of one of the department stores, Myer. These displays were massive, comparable to Macy's in New York and Harrods in London, and the likes of "Here Comes Santa Claus" was blaring from them.

It seems that the older I get, the more quickly and unexpectedly the holiday season suddenly appears in my life, but this year, it's different for a number of reasons. First of all, it will be my first summer Christmas, which makes it no wonder why it especially doesn't feel like that time of year right now. There's no question about whether or not I'll wake up to find a beautiful white blanket of freshly-fallen snow outside my window or whether or not it will be cold enough for my dad to light the fireplace in the family room, which almost makes me feel like some of the magic has been whisked away. Secondly, to my recollection, this will be my first Christmas spent outside the

tri-state area, but most importantly, it will be my first one spent away from home, away from my family and my friends, away from those who know me the best and love me the most.

When I had originally planned my trip, the holiday season was something that was always in the back of my mind, but whenever it tried to creep to the center of my attention, I always pushed it back into the corner. It's pretty daunting now that Thanksgiving is just around the corner and Christmas will inevitably soon follow.

Despite the fact that I'll be far away from people I love, I am, however, looking forward to spending my New Year's Eve down here. It has always been my plan to spend it up in Sydney so I guess the next logical step would be to purchase a return ticket up there, right?

Settling into Life in Victoria

The last few days have been relatively uneventful as I've spent most of my time in Brunswick, which is the suburb where Ben lives, utilising the best Internet access I've had since arriving in Australia to look for a job and an apartment. One of his friends has a room in her house that will be available in about two weeks' time so we visited her yesterday. It's a cute little house on a quiet street in the next suburb over, but I know a lot of people are interested in the room so we'll see what happens. I've spent a considerable amount of time on Gumtree, which is a website that's popular to use for apartment hunting, and have emailed a few people who have or will have vacant rooms in their houses soon. For some reason, I don't get cell phone reception in or anywhere near Ben's house so it's been a bit of a challenge to contact those who have posted that they want potential housemates to ring them to make arrangements to view the house; however, I'm planning to go into the city tomorrow to remedy that issue.

This evening, Ben and I attended a service at Planetshakers, which is a megachurch in East Melbourne that several people at Hillsong had recommended when I told them I was moving down here. It was a decent service and I enjoyed the sermon that the pastor presented to us, which was largely about humility. Interestingly enough, the message that resonated with me the most came at the end when he said that one touch from God could change everything because it was something that was boldly stated at the Hillsong service I had attended. Very powerful words, right?

Although I generally found the experience to be a positive one, I'm wondering if it was just a little too Pentecostal for me. It was a lively service with tons of brightly flashing lights [and an unnecessary video camera that obstructed the screen with the words part of the time], but particularly in the beginning, I felt as if I was at a Christian rock concert instead of church..... and hours later, I'm still on the fence about how I feel about that. On the flip side, there are Urban Life groups that meet fortnightly so I'm looking forward to meeting new people through those. Most likely, I'll give Planetshakers another chance next week because I don't want to write it off prematurely, but there's another church called CityLife that I would like to check out as well so perhaps I'll find that it's a more suitable fit.

The weather here is just as bizarre as I had heard it would be. Prior to moving here, I had been told that in a single day, Melbourne could very well experience all four seasons. Today it was a bit humid and even rained on and off for a while; however, yesterday was properly hot, 30 degrees Celsius [86 degrees Fahrenheit], which was just a friendly reminder that summer is right around the corner.