38 Days and Counting!

Thus begins a countdown very similar to the one that took place a mere seven-ish months ago... except in reverse. Although the title of this entry is "38 Days and Counting!" I feel that things are going to be wrapping up much more quickly that that. There are 23 more days until my replacement Au Pair arrives from Germany. That week of showing her the job will fly by, to be sure! Approximately 31 days from now, I will set out on a road trip with three wonderful friends. Then, at long last, on the 3rd of October, I will leave my now-beloved Perth and set off for a new fortnight-long adventure with the parents in New Zealand! Oh, how the time will fly, and does fly currently, and has flown! You get the picture. My time in Australia has gone whooshing by, and it is set to come to a screeching halt in a very short while.
I have learned heaps, to say the least. Heaps about myself, heaps about other people, and heaps about God. And heaps about new terminology. I never used the word "heaps" in my younger years (granted, I don't say it as much as I just typed it, but I was making a point there). Or "boot" (not the shoes), or "petrol". I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.
The feelings are quite strange and bittersweet. For a while there at the beginning, I couldn't wait to go back home. Then, in the middle-months, I thought about home often, but was very involved with so much exciting things that I was never homesick. Lately, I've been feeling so excited and anticipating being back in California that it almost was like the start, with the added melancholy sensation of preparing my heart to bid farewell to all my great friends here! Everyone I have met has, in a sense, become part of my extended family, and I feel that I have been welcomed into theirs with opened arms.

Now, coming to what I have been up to lately... where to begin? I don't feel that I've been overly busy, but I also haven't typed up a post for quite a while (oops). Well, imagine this: sleep-overs, pancakes, girls' shopping days out, pillow fights, hiking (aka bushwalking), Bible studies, awesome worship, friends going, friends coming, raining days, sunny days, thunder and lightening days, lunch dates, movie nights, vacation weekend with the host-fam...
I'm sure I've left a few things out, but that probably about covers it.
To spotlight that last one, this last weekend I went on a holiday trip with my host family to Margaret River, a gorgeous, green area in Australia's southwest. We stayed 2 nights in a lovely rental holiday home, ate at yummy restaurants, visited wineries, stopped for samples at the chocolate factory, wave-watched at beaches, and saw a multitude of the great Australian kangaroo. I have come to the conclusion that kangaroos are kind of a parallel of the mule deer of California. Not in the city, for the most part, but drive out in the country of the less populated areas and you're likely to see them grazing in cow-empty pastures. Be sure to watch out for them on the road, though.

 This is me bombarding you with a sudden collage of photos taken on my Margaret River expedition! It was so gorgeous and green, and reminded me very much of Carmel. Seriously, everything I saw, I kept thinking, "wow, that's just like the Aussie version of Carmel!"
← This is the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse! It's the tallest lighthouse in Western Australia, and is 39 meters. It also marks the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean (which is the one underneath Australia, and reaches to Antarctica)   

Down below are some delicious scones we ate at The Berry Farm restaurant. :)
             
And more lovely, dramatic pics of the ocean! I wish I had a camera connected to my eyeball. Everything looks so much more magical and amazing in person than it can ever look on a computer screen.

 

 

So, there you have it! I hope that everyone back home is having a nice, relaxing summer (ya know, besides the drought, and the earthquake...) and looking forward to seeing you all soon! xox