TinTin goes Darwin

First of all: HAPPY CHRISTMAS!! Christ is real. Even if you don’t believe in Him, He believes in you, which is why he came to this earth about 2000 years ago, if you’d like some more info about that feel free to message me.. we’ll talk :) December 25th was never his birthday, I’ll admit to that straight away, so Christmas is not half as real Christ is, but I know most, if not all of you enjoyed this time with your family. I know I did. I enjoyed the time with my host family. This morning we left around 7am to celebrate my very first Christmas on the beach :) It was grant. We made two stops, the first one at a beach that had red flags all over, meaning the ocean was so angry we weren’t allowed to swim. So we looked at the ocean, I took some pictures of it, and then after that we had brunch. The second stop was at a place where we could actually swim. Here in Australia there are public barbecues all over the beach. So we, or rather, Tetka Maria, barbecued brunch and then we all ate.

Qeren, I found a potential candidate..While Tetka Maria was still barbecuing, this young man and his girlfriend joined me at our table. He explained to me that both of them were homeless and that they were hungry. Tetka was already planning to hook them up with some brunch at our table so as we waited for her to finish we spoke some more. At some point in the conversation he starts asking me all sorts of questions; Are you single? Do you live around here? No? Ok when do you think you’ll be around here again? How old are you? Would you be interested in a 21 year old? Can I have your number?

UH WHAT???? So I think maybe I misunderstood the relationship between him and the girl RIGHT NEXT TO HIM (who, by the way, is still smiling at me and him). So I ask her, ‘excuse me, what is your relation to each other again?’, and she answers me, with her sweet 17 yr old girlie voice; ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’.
OK.. So then they explained to me that this extra girlfriend think was actually her idea. I asked them why and they couldn’t answer me. I told them that I don’t share boyfriends, so it wasn’t going to happen with me. And that if he really wanted to he could still have my number but that I live in The Netherlands so it would cost him a lot of money to call me. Both of them didn’t seem to have a clue where The Netherlands were, and when I explained to them that it was in Europe they still seemed confused as to why it would cost extra money to call me.. We spoke for a little while, they told me a little bit about their lives and how they got to where they were and just when we were about ready to eat, they had to leave, because apparently the boy’s mum was meeting them somewhere.
So there you go Q. This one wont be ready to pay for your flight anytime soon. But I hear Ines and Dolls got you covered ;)

Anyhow, I’m clearly no longer home alone which is really good. The first few days living the solo life were ok but after about 5 days I was starting to get lonely. I hate cooking for one person. Maybe I wouldn’t hate it so much if I was any better at it; I always end up cooking for 4 or maybe even more people. So I ate a lot of the same last week :) Also the thought of Home Alone scenarios flashed through my mind. After all, it is the Christmas season, and I was left by my (host) family who went on a holiday.. I’m pleased to tell you that I spotted no burglars or anything. Plus, I wasn’t completely alone last week. I had Viva, the cat, and Spotty , the dog. Viva loves me. She’s always trying to rub my legs and feet. Being allergic to cats I can’t love her back like that and I tried to stay away from her. I think she thinks I’m playing hard to get or something though because the more I tried to get away from her the more she seems to be interested in coming near me. She reminds me of the cat that we had when I was in secondary school. My mum hates all animals, so a cat was not on her wish list. However, she’d spotted a mouse in our kitchen one day and the week after we got a cat. Off course we picked the wrong one. Our cat was well lazy and I’m pretty sure that she never caught any mice. My sisters and I loved the cat and wanted to play with her and stroke her. But the cat was not interested in us. Instead, she would seek my mums affection, who didn’t care for that at all and would spray the cat with (cold) water from the iron if the cat came near her. And still the cat loved my mum the most.. Silly cat.
Spotty, the dog, wouldn’t come near me before last week. I’d bring him his food and if I would take a step towards him he was gone. After about a week of getting him his chicken every day he fully thinks I’m his BFF. On the last day I had to feed him he brought me his tennis ball so that I could throw it and he could fetch it. And you know what?? (this one’s for Aileen and Cody) he then brought the ball back :), released it into my hand and waited for me to throw it again, none of this putyourhandinthedogsmouthandfighttogetetheballback-business. When I came outside again later that day, both the cat and the dog followed me around the garden as soon as I was more then 2 meters away from them. Twas quite endearing I must say.

Tintin
I spoke to Andreas (my friend from Andrews University) last week and he’s renamed me Tintin. His reasoning is that Tintin is a guy of whom nobody knows exactly what he does in life or how he gets his money but he’s ALWAYS on some kind of adventure in some place far away. Funnily enough Tintin was born “Kuifje” and his first language is Dutch :) . When I met Andreas’s friend at church last week I had sent him a picture of myself and his friend. When he got it he thought to himself “how did this happen.. and where did this happen.. Zippora doesn’t have money for Australia..” :) Gotta love Andreas.

My next adventure starts tonight! Tintin goes Darwin. The road trip I’ve been telling you about starts in Darwin. We fly out to go there tonight. It was a bit unsure whether or not we could actually get on the flight since there’ve been forecasts for a cyclone in Darwin. You know I’ve been praying for that to not actually hit Darwin, so that it wouldn’t mess up peoples lives and my holiday? Well it seems that the cyclone is not doing what the meteorologists thought it would do. It’s not actually hit the land yet, it’s still zigzagging on the ocean (far away from Darwin) if I understand the website correctly. We need to leave the house soon so I will bid thee farewell. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to blog during the trip.. we’ll see.

I hope and pray you’re all doing well!

Zippora

Home alone

Qeren, I miss you. A lot.

Tuesday the family I’m staying with went away. Some back to work a four hour flight away, and others to New Zealand, for a week. So I’ve been home alone. Well, not entirely alone, the dog and cat are here. When I went to feed the pets one of these days (the pets live on the ground floor), there was this big (zonnewende-type) beetle looking thing on the cats food bowl. Now I was supposed to take whatever was left in the bowl and throw it out, but my heart was too faint. So instead i poured the cat food that I had on top of it and then I ran away. See if Q had been there she would’ve taken care of that beetle creature in a heart beat. “Fear” is not in her vocabulary.

It definitely is in mine. I’ve been afraid of driving in this country. They drive on the wrong side of the road here. Now I’ve driven on the left side before. I drove to England this summer and I did ok driving there (Nathan there’s no need for you to comment, you and I are both still alive right?;) ). That was in my own car though. Which means just the world outside of my car was foreign, inside my car I had my own little comfort zone, where my gear stick and indicators were where they’ve always been, and where I believe they should be. The same is not true for Australian cars. Last week before Mervyn left I drove a bit on the parking lot of this industrial area which helped me understand that my indicators were on the right hand side of the steering wheel. It also taught me they have a funny way of crossing roundabouts here. Anyway. So I was going to drive solo for the first time right. So I leave the house, walk to the car, sit down, start adjusting my rear view mirror when I realize something is terribly wrong. I was missing my.. STEERING WHEEL! Right, so I get out, walk to the driver’s side this time and I’m ready to go. TomTom’s cousin is called Garmin and she lead me to church on Sabbath. My friend Matt from the US told me about some friends of his that go to a church about an hour from where I was staying. So I had had some email contact with them and they invited me to their church. An interesting detail is that I left the house at 8am, it took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get to the church, and I arrived at the church at 10:15am. No.. this is not my inability to do calculations of any sort playing up. The church is in a different state, one that in (Australian) summer time, is one hour ahead.

So I get to the church right. And this friendly gentleman asks me if I’m looking for the youth class. Well, yeh.. I thought, because last week when I went to the youth class these were young people in the ages of about 18-30 so I guess the youth class is what I’m looking for. He explains to me where it is, but I can never remember directions so I get lost and end up at the main entrance. The friendly gentleman walks me to my class this time and as I walk in my class I look at the people there and I’m thinking to myself.. ‘these kids are no older than 13.. I know I look young, but I’m much taller than these kids, did the friendly gentleman really think I was 12 or does this church just not have a lot of people my age?’
I never asked the friendly gentleman what he was thinking, but it turned out I was definitely in the wrong class. It didn’t matter though. I just listened in on the teens class, and pitched in some thoughts towards the end. The guy who was taking the class was a recent Mdiv (theology) graduate from Andrews University (Michigan), and as I found out after church, he’s a friend of my (British) friend Andreas. They met at Andrews, where Andreas is still studying. So we talked about how we were both so upset that we missed Andreas’ wedding last August and about how small the Adventist world is. #3degreesofseperationinsteadof6. I also met Erin and David. Another really friendly couple. I might meet up with them towards the end of my stay in Aussieland. David is from South-Africa and speaks Afrikaans, which I can understand as long as he speaks slowly and he could understand my Dutch as well :)


I met up with Matt’s friends and they were lovely. A really friendly, loving and vibrant family. And they gave me some avocados too, in case you’re wondering what’s in my hands.
On the way home from church I stopped at Currumbin beach, it was pretty there. I ran into some random Russian dude who in broken English explained to me that he wanted to take a picture with me, his lady friend took it. And then he asked me if I wanted to take one with my camera as well.. At least that's what I thought he asked me. He walked away from me, stood next to his friend and told me to take a picture. I took it, thinking maybe they wanted me to email it to them. But they walked away without asking for any details. So now I have a random picture of the random Russian people on my hard drive..
The weather here has been quite nice. Tomorrow it will apparently be 28 degrees.. I might find a beach then too :) Or actually, maybe I'll just find someone with a pool.

The day that I decided that I was over trying to get over my jet lag was the day I actually slept through the night. Usually all I have to do is stay awake till the evening, and sleep when the people of the land sleep, and then you wake up when they wake up. That didn’t work for me this time though. The first couple nights I would be up till about 11 or even 12 at night and then I’d still manage to wake up at 4am. 4am is when the sun wakes up, and then it wakes up all the birds too. And they’re not pigeons or owls, who make somewhat civilized noises, these are serious birds. ‘Het is een nieuwe dag!’ (It’s a new day) - Jayda Vlijter, and EVERYONE has to know it. So even now that I'm over the jet lag I wake up at 4am, register that the birds are not an alarm clock and then I sleep for another hour or three.

The silver platter tents I told you about are called mozzie domes. Google that :) . We’ve not bought any yet, am not sure if we will either. I’ll have to update you on that later.

As a response to my earlier entry Qeren says its ok for me to stay in Australia, but only if I marry a guy who will then pay for her ticket to Australia. Did you see how that says “ticket” (singular)?!! My sister just sold me to an unknown Australian man for just € 1300. Sisterly love...

This is better :)

Sunny Australia

It’s my fourth day Down Under today. Yesterday we went to church not too far from where I’m staying. The church here is next to the Adventist primary school and college. It’s a beautiful sight. Off course I forgot to take a picture of it, but I might visit there again later. Seventh-day Adventists pretty much have the same format for their services all over the world. We start with singing (and when I say “we” I really mean “they” because I was a little bit late for church, ok more than a bit since I missed all the singing prior to the Sabbath school discussion). Then the church will split up into different groups and we’ll have a bible study. I was in the group with the youth, I think there were about 15 of us. We had an interesting discussion trying to answer the question of what freedom really means, and if doing everything you like without asking the question whether or not what you’re doing is right will allow you to still have freedom since making unwise decisions will leave you with binding consequences.*

The sermon was good, the people were friendly, church was nice. For Sabbath lunch tetka Maria had some friends over; a Chilean family of four plus their daughter’s boyfriend. Lunch was marvelous, I’m going to have to write some of those recipes down!
Anyone who’s ever been to my mum’s house in June or July times will know about the cherries in my mum’s region. They are huge and delicious. Tetka Maria was at mum’s farm this last June so she knows about the cherries. As she was serving us with smaller, not as delicious but still quite tasty cherries, she shared with her Chilean guests her cherry experience in The Netherlands. To which the dad of the family responded that the cherries in Chili are so big they call them pigeon hearts. Now I always thought that pigeon hearts were small, but then he explained to me that the pigeons he was talking about were really big. He showed me with his hands how big they are and it seems that Chilean pigeons are as big as hares. So beware if you go to Chili, the pigeons there are big enough to eat you.. He invited me to come to Chili so that he can prove to me that the Chilean cherries are bigger and better. So Ines.. Nolan and I are going to Chili for Christmas next year :)

Is there anybody else who, when thinking of summer in Australia, gets vivid images of whole forests burning to the ground and Australians evacuating their homes to be safe from the flames? Or maybe you’ve heard that Australians can only take two minute showers because they desperately need the water since their country is so hot and dry?
I’ve heard that. That was part of my reason for coming here (the hotness, not the dryness). To see the sun and be burned by it is quite high on my to do list. Apparently usually that’s not a problem at all in an Australian summer, but now it is. About two hours ago the sun was shining so much that I fled inside where the air-conditioning was. As I look outside now the sky is different shades of grey. It just stopped raining, and I no longer hear any thunder either but apparently we can expect some more showers tonight as well as tomorrow.


Mireya left today. She took her daughter and a sister (so she left me one sister (Melody), a brother (Mervyn) and a mum (tetka Maria), she’s got two, I’ve got three, fair enough I guess). I’ll miss little Aria, she’s such a fun and beautiful baby. We took a picture together before we left. I’ll see if I can figure out how to post it on here.

We ( Melody, Mervyn, Marko (friend of Mervyn) and myself) are going on a road trip in about a week and half. We’ll start in Darwin and then drive down to Brisbane. We’ve still got some shopping to do for that so that’s what’s on our to do list for today. Mervyn had an interesting suggestion about the type of tents we could buy. I’ll ask him what it was called when he wakes up, but it basically entailed a net like tent construction that enables you to see the stars as you lie in your bed, which is great. I was just a little bit concerned about what could see me as I’m trying to sleep, and if maybe some non vegetarian animal would be more inclined to see me as their potential dinner on a silver platter. Such an incident would especially be problematic because I promised Charlene I wouldn't get eaten by anything here in Aussieland. I’ll have to see what this thing looks like in the shop because right now I’m a little bit freaked out by the thought.

To be continued..







* We answered the question with “no”, reasoning that freedom is best enjoyed when you love others like yourself, which means you will refrain from actions that will harm others. Christ lived for others, and laid down his life for others, and is in heaven now still living for others so that they could be free. Now we as Christians should do the same, because we claim to understand that life is not (just) about ourselves, but that life becomes interesting when we’re not self centered, but have the best interest of others in mind.

Farewell cold world. Hello Australia!

I don’t think I’m coming back.

I’m in the airplane to Sydney (December 7th). I’ve got about a half hour left. When I get to Sydney I will have to collect my suitcase and run to catch my next flight. If I actually catch it I’ll get to Brisbane at 8:05am. I will have traveled 29 hours. I didn’t think this goingtoAustralia-business through. I knew the flight was long, I knew I was going to be on the long flight, but you know you’re not prepared for a trip like this when you get to Bangkok after 12 hours and you’re shocked to find out that you’re not even half way yet :) . Australia is a great country from what I’ve heard, regardless of whether or not I like it there I might have to stay here forever since I don’t want to come back on the everlasting flight..
I learned some lessons already though. As we were waiting to embark the mother of planes in London (the aircraft I’m on is like a double decker, Boeing 747 if I’m not mistaking) we had to go through a security check. Going through security took forever and as I was standing in line I realized there are (at least) 3 ways to be treated like royalty while traveling. The first one is by simply paying some extra money to travel first class. People in first class don’t wait for anything. Stewardesses collect them from wherever they are to usher them right into their beds. Yes, I said beds and not seats. I never really got it before, if you want some extra legroom you could just beg for the seat next to the emergency exits. On a flight as long as this one though, I fully understand why one would pay extra for business class, as those seats actually allow you to assume a horizontal position.
Anyhow. That was the 1st way. The second way, and I don’t really recommend this one, is to be old or physically challenged. Some airport employe will roll your wheelchair right passed all the queues, into the aircraft. The third way, and I since I’m somewhat economically challenged and don’t intend on getting old or sick anytime soon I think this is my best option.. is to travel with young children. Parents with kids are taken out of the queue and get to board just after the rich people. That, is, the life. So I need a kid. One that’s under two years old since they fly cheap. Ines or Sharon.. Can I borrow your baby around this time next year? :)

I’m in Brisbane now (December 8th). I made the flight. Due to bad weather in Brisbane we couldn’t land on time so we ended up circling above Brisbane for 45 minutes or so, which finally brought the duration of my trip to 30 hours. The journey was good though. From London to Bangkok I sat next to a couple from Utrecht, Jordy and Mandy, they were lovely. They are going on a two month trip through Thailand. When they realized that British Airways did not have the lactose free meal I ordered they offered me some of their food. The same goes for the couple that took their seats from Bangkok to Sydney; Andrew and Rachelle. They were from New Zealand and had just spent a month in Thailand. Rachelle turned out to be half Dutch. She didn’t speak a lot of Dutch though as her Dutch father migrated to New Zealand when he was very young and doesn’t remember a lot of Dutch himself.

Mireya (my Croatian Australian friend who currently lives in Norway but is visiting her family in Australia) came to pick me up from the airport. The last time I saw her was at her wedding in Norway in August 2009 so it was extra good seeing her again. Her daughter (9 months) didn’t cry when she met me, and she even smiled as she played with me so my heart and ego are quite pleased. Tetka (aunty) Maria makes sure I’m well fed and the rest of the family is very hospitable as well. According to the weather forecast we’ll have rain here for another week, but right now the sky is clear and the sun is doing it’s thing.

I like it here :) to be continued..