Today I'd like to highlight one of the major problems with being a tourist in the city. Carrying things. Yesterday we went to the Queen Victoria Market in the pouring rain, necessitating a raincoat along with my fleece, gloves, and scarf. This raincoat ended up stuffed inside my large purse which was already weighted down with the following:- Water bottle - hydration, clearly important
- Notebook - for all the info and blog notes
- Granola bars - for snacks
- Wallet - for money and cards
- Knitting and knitting book - for the train ride
- Sunglasses - in case the sun comes out
- Pens - for writing stuff
- Phone - for calling people
- Mp3 player - also for the train ride
- Tissues - for my sniffles
- Cough drops - for my throat
- Map - for finding my way
- Banana - for lunch
- Camera - for photo-documentation
- Alfalfa sprouts - also for lunch
Then we went to the Queen Victoria market and I added to my burden:- A heavenly 20-cent orange
- A passionfruit
- Numerous souvenirs
Unwieldy to say the least. The boys opt to carry their bookbags everywhere. However, they do not appear to be immune from the "but I'm going to be in the city all day so I should bring this also" problem. Jared went to pay at a restaurant the other night and the following items had to come out of his pockets before he found his money.
- Wallet
- Large ipod
- Chapstick
- USB drive
- Mints
- Pen
- Notebook
All this makes me think that it would be truly useful to be a marsupial and have a nice little built-in pouch for carrying all my stuff around.
We had a really good Friday today, so we thank God for it, not because it is the last day before the weekend, but because it was pretty awesome. Things contributing to the awesome of this day:
- Waking up at 7 instead of 5. Jet lag almost just a memory now.
- Sun.
- Not missing the bus taking us to Monash Uni this morning with Jared.
- Getting something not quite, but almost entirely unlike a latte.
- Encouraging meeting with Graeme, Monash Christian Union staff member.
- Getting cell phones.
- Jared's new nickname: Julie.
- Eating lunch with Campus Crusade Australia staff.
- Caramello Koala - a Cadbury chocolate bar shaped like a friendly koala and filled with caramel.
- Beta-testing new iphone app for the "How to Know God Personally" booklet produced by Crusade.
- Figuring out how to adapt a sociology tool for decoding geography, sociology, mission, and spiritual life of people groups to grad student ministry.
- Meeting with a real, live post-grad at Melbourne Uni with a great story and a beautiful heart for ministry to post-grads and faculty.
- Getting home and not feeling utterly spent already.
- Delicious chicken, steak, potatoes and salad made by our lovely hosts James and Jane.
- Brainstorming creative ways to tell your brother or sister that they should really work on their hygiene. Ideas: get someone else to do it, surprise-you-stink parties, anonymous please-brush-your-teeth ecards, candygrams delivered by a dancing and singing bear.
- Looking forward to a day off tomorrow to maybe see some critters.
- Geelong-Collingwood Aussie Rules Football game tomorrow night. Holding tickets to this exciting matchup has made us the envy of every person we have met so far, even random strangers on the tram.
Unwieldy to say the least. The boys opt to carry their bookbags everywhere. However, they do not appear to be immune from the "but I'm going to be in the city all day so I should bring this also" problem. Jared went to pay at a restaurant the other night and the following items had to come out of his pockets before he found his money.
