I've said this a million times, but it merits repeating: The view from my bedroom window is absolutely stunning! The vast stretch of sky, the greenery, the water, the cockatoos flying en mass, the quiet serenity of it all. I must be destined for suburbia, because I love a good visit to the city and to the country, but I like the best of both to be right on my doorstep. I don't like the dirty, impersonal feel of most big cities, and I don't like the confining isolation of a rural town. I guess that's why Earlwood is so lovely! I'm just a short bus ride to the city or a fairly short walk to the Marrickville shops and a few meters to the riverside walk.

Here are two views from my flat taken the day of this blog entry:

To back up a bit...

I went to the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Martin Place on Tuesday.
I got up at 2 a.m., caught the 3:15 a.m. bus and arrived at nearly a quarter to 4.
To my surprise there were loads of people there! I just assumed that since it was so early there wouldn't be many people in attendance. Apparently, the attendance was down a bit (it was also a rainy morning), but the numbers were quite impressive!
I learned quite a bit and had a nice time experiencing such a sombre aspect of Australian culture.

After the dawn service I got a coffee and a coconut bread and went to Circular Quay where it was completely quiet. The morning was misty grey. All I could hear were the sounds of raindrops, the tide beating against the wharf, and distant rumblings of the train. The water was so still and dark green, and the air was filled with the scent of sea water.

I'm not sure why I venture so much to Circular Quay or why it figures so largely in my Sydney chronicles. There really isn't a realized motive for my actions; it's all very subconscious, I think. It may be because I'm reminded of where I am each time I stare up at the Harbour Bridge or when I walk beneath the Opera House sails. For every bit of Australian culture that becomes more familiar and more commonplace, I feel less like I'm in a foreign country. But when I walk around Circular Quay I'm transported to a time when those iconic images were just pages in a magazine or flashed on the television screen, and I'm reminded of the time when coming here was a seemingly impossible dream.

I had known well in advance that the Rotary Club of Sydney would be having an Anzac Day BBQ in Hyde Park, but I wasn't sure where exactly in Hyde Park the BBQ would be set up. Walking from Circular Quay, I decided to go toward the end of Castlereagh Street to check my e-mail and putz around a bit before venturing out to find the Sydney RC folks. As I was walking up Castlereagh, I turned to look toward one of the Hyde Park monuments to find the Rotary folks set up there. Talk about luck! I decided to postpone the internet cafe trip and go instead to see if I could be of any assistance to the Rotarians. That was at close to 7 a.m. I finished helping out at around 4 p.m.

I had a nice time chatting with the Sydney RC folks. They were all very nice and very humorous! They invited me to visit with their club some Tuesday when I'm in the City during lunchtime. I think I'm going to take them up on it! While I may not be presenting, it will at least be nice to make more Rotary contacts.

Speaking of Rotary, I have three big Rotary presentations coming up. One of them will require a train ride and an overnight stay (which is graciously being arranged for me!). I'm really looking forward to the trip! I'm also going to be unleashing a newly revamped presentation, so hopefully it will be well received. My goal right now in rearranging the current presentation is to present material that isn't being/hasn't been presented by every other US-representing Ambassadorial Scholar. In other words, I'm trying to shy away from the basic population/import/export information and focus on the Appalachian cultural heritage a bit. Hopefully this will be a more provocative presentation!

This is going to be another busy week!
In addition to it being the week of my 27th birthday (which will not actually be celebrated), it is also a week of the usual literacy tutoring in the mornings, a few committee meetings, a supervisory meeting, research in the evenings, and an Ambassadorial Scholar BBQ at the home of one of the host counselors on Friday. Friday is going to be difficult, as I'm going to need to just go to the Just Enough Faith headquarters early in the morning and put in my volunteer time then. :(

Well, I do guess I've gone on for far long enough.
I think that is about it for now!

More later...