September 24, 25

After not sleeping much on the couch at Gentry's I was pretty tired, but Saturday afterI got back to the city I walked around Kings Cross- a sleazy area that also has most of Sydney's hostels (I'm so glad I didn't end up staying in one of the hostels there!) Saturday night two really inconsiderate German girls stayed in "my" room. They kept turning on the bright overhead light and talking and then when they finally went to bed they snored! So, Sunday, when I got up early to go on a jog I was very tempted to turn on the lights and rustle plastic and zip and unzip all my zippers- however, I did the "right" thing, and quietly slipped out. When I got back they were packed up and I was so glad to find out they would only be staying one night. I got ready and walked around some little areas of Sydney- Surry Hills, Chipendale, etc that I hadn't been to yet. Around 3pm I went to church to meet Kristine (the Dutch girl from last week). I was going to help set up for the "Backpackers Barbeque" the church was hosting, but it was already all done, so we just chatted for an hour waiting for the bus of backpackers to come. Hillsong took a bus to the Kings Cross area and got backpackers to come (the free meal attracts a lot of backpackers). Most of the people were of various European origin. I met some Swedish girls and some Estonian girls. The barbeque consisted of those big nasty sausages, but most people seemed glad to get the free meal. We sat around and listened to this guy from Florida sing and play his guitar. Then we all went into the church service. From the girls I talked to they had no idea what they were "getting themselves into" coming to the church- they knew nothing about it, but afterwards, they seemed to have enjoyed it. The guy who preached is Australian, but he has been living in Virginia Beach for years and has a thriving church there. He even said that the governor of Virginia came there and became a Christian, so thats pretty great! His sermon was about poverty being a curse because God wants us to prosper and I thought that was an interesting message and it made me wonder what the two random homeless people that came on the backpacker bus thought about it. After the service, I had coffee with this random girl from New Zealand before making my way back to the ho(s)tel.
When I got back, I was minding my own business watching TV in the common area, when this Canadian guy comes and sits down by me and tells me his life story. He's from this tiny country town, hunts (moose, rarely deer), (ice) fishes, and he totally reminded me of guys from home (except that he is Canadian). He is in Australia on vacation (and I later found out to visit his girlfriend), but he was with four other Canadian guys and one Cali guy and two Canadian girls. The other Canadians are in some teaching grad school program on the Gold Coast. The guys were all going on a 6 day surf trip the next day and the girls are just in Sydney until Wednesday. So, we ended up all going to eat dinner at this Thai restaurant and we had a great time. They were a really fun group. So, yesterday, the boys left for their surf trip, but the girls, Kaiti and Sarah were here, so we went to Manly beach. It is up the coast and you take a ferry to get there. It was a pretty chilly day, but the beach was still pretty packed with people laying out and of course some surfers. There is a really scenic walk that I enjoyed until the flies wouldn't stop attacking me and then I went back to the city. After freshing up and watching Australian Idol, Kaiti, Sarah, and I went to "Below 5", this bar that is made entirely of ice. It is way over-priced, you pay $30 to get in for 30 minutes. They give you parkas, Uggs, and gloves before entering. Then you have half an hour to "explore" the ice sculptures, sit on the benches made of ice, and have a drink from a glass made of ice. Thirty minutes was definitely enough time, though. We met two other Canadian girls and a guy from Minnesota in there. We laughed about how all of them could have similiar experiences any day of the week in their backyards in the winter. It really is freezing in there! We left and went to the Opera House cafe and hung out there for a while before calling it a night.