It’s comfortable, fun, and it helps, you know, sometimes. I know the people and the people know me. I’m one of the older ones, nothing is really too intimidating here. The worship is kept short and sweet. There’s no challenge to be attentive. There’s screaming kids, vibrant colours, and fun games. Oh, and of course, lessons.

I’ve been a regular Kid’s Church (KC) attendee for about 3 and a half years now. In short, I’ve been kept safe and warm since I came to Australia. Safe and warm in a little hub. Until now, that is.

In recent months I’ve been thinking graduating. The big word. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Kid’s Church. The KC leaders are fantastic and a half, the lessons keep me focused and keeps my spiritual growing steady, and Stephan’s cheeky smile never fails to brighten up my day.

Little Stephan!

But I can’t be a KCer all my life! Imagine a 40 year old jumping to “One Way” in kid’s church.

Hmm… That’s actually looks fairly entertaining in my mind.

But that’s not the point.

So a few Sunday’s ago, me and the trusted comrades (Sarah and Sammi) decided to jump. We told the KC leaders, got sent off in an a-ma-zing worship session, and arrived, new meat, in Main Church.

Main Church is slightly a lot different to KC. The worship is longer (with uncool slower, older songs) the sermons can seem irrelevant, or completely random and well, the speakers aren’t the comfortable KC leaders we can share a joke with. There are no games, less screaming babies, and no “One Way” (or at least, not yet). But I didn’t expect Main Church to be comfortable, or easy. It’s something, (like I would say to dad when he’s complaining about students on trams), you just “deal” with. But you know what? I ain’t gonna just deal.

I’m gonna grow. I’m gonna learn. I’m gonna get tight with God. (yeah, that’s right). I’ll learn to love the Hallelujah’s and “There’s wonder working power in the blood“’s. I’m jumping into the lake. Will I drown? Maybe at first. But I know the good old (He is about 2,000 years old!) Jesus Christ will help me swim again.

It’s officially the first day of winter and I’ve been feeling the build up of coldness for a long time now. The heaters are on, the scarves are on sale and I’m feeling very cold indeed.

It’s sad really, as Autumn is my favourtie season of the year. The golden leaves falling, and everything feels so romantic. Corny, I know, but what can I say? I’m a true romantic at heart. But now, the golden leaves have had its run, and there are no more left to fall.

I used to love going out before the sunrise, driving in the dark of the early morning. That was a rare privilege I got whenever a family vacation came about. We’d leave bright (dark) and early to catch a plane, or check in to a hotel on time. With winter already here, this rare moment has become an everyday occurrence. What once awed and excited me now exists only to remind me of the ridiculous figures on my watch, telling me that I deserve more sleep.

The first two weeks of winter marks the peak of school workload in any normal school. Assignments, tests, midyear maths exams jump at you, and in the short space of just a few weeks, the teachers seem to be aiming to cover assesment for a whole semester. But it all works out.

I’m finishing this blog entry 12 days after I started it. I started on the first day of June, it is now the 12th. All the work is done and dusted. I have a long weekend ahead of me, with an empty to-do list. Boy, does that feel good. The winter holidays are coming up, and I cannot wait. Yeah, life is good fantastic.

Dear blog,

Yes, I’m back. No, I haven’t forgotten you. How could I? You underestimate me.

It’s not that things have been hectic. I can hardly call life in Year Nine hectic. After all, it’s a whole two years until Year 11 and VCE. I just haven’t got around to typing a long essay about what I’ve been doing.

It’s just been the usual stuff so far. School’s fine, church’s great and friends are, as usual, amazing. Today I sat the first NAPLAN tests. They’re new, and nation-wide. A bit of a joke really, as it’s not like every school in the country are following the same curriculum. As for us MacRob nerds, it’s definately a laughing matter. The first test today was language conventions. The whole classroom of test-goers finished in 15 minutes. We were given 45.

It’s not easy waking up at 6 every morning, and the winter’s just making it harder. It’s taking all my willpower to get out of bed. But you know what? it’s worth it. Every morning I get to Flinders and I think “how many 14 year olds get to experience the city at peak hour every day?” There are only so many schools located in the city itself. I love the traffic, and crossing lights (wether it be a regular tick tick or a broken down ticka-tick tick tick ticka) and staring up at huge skyscrapers. There is a quote on Fed Square, and it’s the first thing I see every morning. It says Life is too important to be taken seriously. It’s worth the wake at six. (Did that rhyme?)

So my dear blog, I hope this had shown you that I still remember you exist. But for now, I have to go. There’s work to get to and Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares to watch.

(L) Always

It’s been about three months (gasp!) since my last post. Shameful. So here I am, in the middle of the holidays, feeling rather bored and deciding to (finally) write something for the long lost blog.

Things have changed. A lot. Last December. So many amazing memories in just three months, believe it or not. Planetshakers, Malaysia, and multiple wow-ing youth meetings. Oh, yeah, and starting a new school in the city. (second gasp!) It’s been tiring, exciting, fun, and a great three months.

Planetshakers was mindblowing. 4 days. 4 of the best days of my life. The speakers (the people who talk) and speakers (loud machines blowing music at record breaking decibels) and just being with the most awesome people in the planet. Late nights, unreasonably early mornings, a lot of jumping, Reggie Dabbs, double-ball f00sball and Wii. Snacking on Milo Cereal (no milk) for supper and Milo Cereal (with milk) for breakfast. Ben annoying me with non stop “How does she knooooooow” lines. (From Enchanted) Honestly, it was 4 incredible, incredible days. That was back in January.

Also, in January, was me going back to the hometown. Crowded, loud, congested hometown. Ah, the life. Food, shopping (shopping!!) and of course, family. Meeting with my cousins again after more than a year was pure gold. Nicole and Isaac (10 and 8 years old respectively) from Penang. Wow, Isaac grew so much! It’s hard to believe the little kid who used to say “L for Lion… Rawr!” is now in Grade 2. In Malaysia, Grade 2 means a whole lot of work. And then Megan and Zac, (4 and 2 respectively). The last time I saw Zac he was that big *makes a small gap between hands* and now he’s walking and talking and watching Disney 24/7. Megan has started kinda and ballet classes, and very protective over her little brother. Then there’s Bryan and Eunice, who are a little older. (Way into Primary School) It was good to see them again. And finally, Yu Yang, all the way from Xuzhou in China. He’s got the “china apek” accent down pat and loves Disney as much as little Zac does.

And that’s enough rambling about how much my cousins grew and changed in a year. Youth has been awesome! There was church camp just 2 weekends ago (over Easter) and it was great. Ti Ti Quah was awesome, as per usual and it was just another great 4 days to “bond” with the most awesome people on the planet. We pulled late nights and on the last night, an all nighter. F00sball and table tennis and pillow fights. Outdoor devotion sessions at 7 in the morning. (Grr highschool leaders. Nah, it was nice… except for that uphill track thing with the poking. *cough* Rachel *cough* Paul) And just last Friday we pulled another sleepover in the church. Cold, and not exactly comfortable. But the Wii Tournament at 4am made it very, very worthwhile. =)

School’s been awesome. The first term’s been slack, but I’ve been told that the work picks up quickly next term. But even with minimal work, school is tiring because of the travel. I need to get up at 6 (6!!!) to catch my 7:11 train and get to school on time. And I usually only get home at 5pm, even though school ends at 3:10. It’s a lot of travel. About 2 and a half hours a day total. But besides, that, I really love MacRob. I’ve made some really good friends, my classmates are all friendly and hilarious to work with. (As in v. v. funny) The teachers are mixed.

My Geography teacher (really hoping he doesn’t read blogs) is monotonous and detached to his subject. Very very monotonous and detached. Boring. And many worksheets. Many, many worksheets.

Maths is mainly as expected. The teacher is good, and cares about the topic. But no teacher can make Maths interesting. So it’s a half half sort of thing.

English is outstanding at MacRob. Seriously! The teacher is obviously passionate. In one term, I was pushed more in my writing skills than I have ever been pushed in the whole of Year 8. It’s the fact that everyone around you are top class writers and your teacher has higher expectations that make you work extra hard (very extra hard) on your essays.

Science is, disappointingly, a bore. The teacher knows her stuff, but tends to drone on monologue for half an hour at a go. Sending half the class to sleep, and the other half doing maths homework. There’s a lot of theory and very little prac. And it’s chemistry, my least favourite branch of Science. Hopefully things will pick up at Physics or Bio.

And thats it. Hopefully I’ve rambled on enough for you Shuway. Enough for three months. That was for you. xD

For most schools in Victoria (or as far as I know, anyway) there is a End of Year (or Year End) Program (YEP) usually consisting of activities such as sport, city excursions, music and art. We get an individual timetable after listing the activities we want in order of preference, and we can also to chose to partner up and have the same timetable as a friend. (Most people go for this option). It’s a lot of fun, espeically if you’re with your friends, and doing what you chose to do.

So for the past week and a half, I’ve gone to IMAX, to Museums, to Art Galleries, viewed Street Art, gone to the Botanical Gardens, Zoo and RSPCA and shopping in Chadstone. I partnered up with Olivia (DUM DUM!!) and we decided, before YEP, to buy a respectable amount of POCKY (asian biscuits) to eat while at YEP. (At the end of YEP, we were extremely, extremely sick of Pocky)

We had a lot of food… and exercise! We had to climb up the hill to the train station almost every single day, and up to the RSPCA on one day! (The people who live in Mount Waverley around the Stephensons Road/Dampers Creek area know what I mean)

So… rundown of what YEP was really like:

IMAX Theatres
We watched a 3D Underwater Creatures Documentary. Although the actual film was rather boring, the 3D Jellyfish, 6foot long squids and leering sharks sent the whole female excursion population screaming. No kidding!

After that we went to some museums and had lunch. Interesting, with lots of cool things like Bugs, Marine Life and a rainforest section.

Inschool activities
The second day was full of incursions. We basically just did Drama O Rama (inprovising) and Origami work. I liked Drama as I already did Theatresports Impro Drama as an extra curricular anyway. Origami is surprisingly fun, but all my hard work got crushed by my bag on the way home.

Explore the Zoo
Now this was craze fun! We basically got released into the wild the minute we stepped into the zoo. I was with Maxam, Chris and Olivia.

We walked so much that day! We saw the elephants and giraffes and orang utans! One orang utan was peeing on the viewing platform! =D There were zebras and giant turtles as well. We also walked through the Great Flight Aviary with tons of birds just flying around us! There was also another similar thing, but with butterflies instead. After that we collapsed into the cafe for lunch.

After lunch we saw the reptiles, lions and the other bigs cats. We were already really tired, though, so we didnt enjoy it as much as the other ones. At the end of the day, we were all exhausted. Good thing I had a note that allowed me to take a different train line straight home instead of back to school. (Cutting my travel time in half)

Christmas Shopping in Chadstone
Tiring, tiring, tiring. Okay, first, we had to walk from East Malvern station to Chaddy! That’s… long! But it was pretty fun, in chaddy itself. We shopped and had food. Maxam and Rebecca (a French and Canadian) tried the Shanghai dumplings I bought for lunch. They liked it! =D

RSPCA Visit
This one was actually… quite boring. We had to walk all the way to the RSPCA! That’s really far, especially when there’s a bus route from right outside the school to right outside the RSPCA (The bus I usually take to get home anyway). All we did was walk, see animals, walk, watch boring dog video.

Okay, the animals were cool. We got to see a few happy ending dog stories first hand. But the video… Let’s just say I slept through it (literally)

City Art Experience
This one was interesting. The day is broken up to exploring the NGV (National Gallery Victoria) by ourselves in pairs or groups, and viewing street art after lunch.

NGV was pretty good. There were really cool exhibits. One thing, though. There was a Vietnamese guard whose middle name is annoying! Seriously, he kept going on about the “loss of asian language in australia”.

1. We’re in Australia. The main language is English anyway. If you want Asian languages to be used commonly, go to Asia.

He was so infuriating! We eventually ended up in an argument about the borders of Asia! (He got it wrong. FYI: Asia does include India!) The argument… let’s just say it wasn’t the friendly type. It was more of a heated, you’re SO wrong, get over it type.

2. Don’t argue about Asia with students who just spent 2 months studying about it full on in geography. Especially if you’re going to state that India isn’t in Asia.

The second part of the day was cool! We walked through a back street that’s meant for graffiti! The art was amazing. But this is when something went wrong. Quite wrong.

Olivia, Sherri and I stayed back to take one last photo. We turned back to the group and saw that they were crossing the traffic lights (you know how it is like in the city) and we missed the lights. By the time we crossed, they were no where to be seen. So we were stranded in the middle of the city. (Actually I know perfectly well where we were and how to get back. We just needed to find the rest of the school group)

We walked, checked the train station entry, and panicked. Finally, I called Mrs Pap, another teacher who takes the chaddy group. If this sounds weird, it is. I only called her because she was the only school-related number I had. So I explained the situation and she told us to check the Glen Waverley platform in Flinders Street. We found the group. But it was a scary, scary experience.

Botanical Gardens Walk
Another free free activity. This was our last day of YEP. Olivia and I just walked around the Botanical Gardens. At this point in the week we were tired and just wanted to relax. So I (who just happened to be the one navigating -_-) had to get to the lakeside cafe. It was a 33 degrees max day and a very hard walk. The gardens had annoyingly weird signs that didn’t co-ordinate with the maps very well.

We finally made it to the lake, taking the long way round through the Fern Gully and Rainforest Walk and had cold drinks. And just relaxed in the cafe.

At the end of that day, all students in every activity had to go back to school for an end of year assembly. There were speeches and we got our reports (I did OK =D) and we were released! In a few days time, when the exit form is handed in, I won’t be a student of MWSC anymore… officially. So sad! =(

MacRob Orientation Day
The day before YEP started I had orientation in MacRob. I met my classmates and some really friendly people. The atmosphere was surprisingly really good. It feels like a really good school to go to!

First post in about a month… I’ve been slacking off. =(

We’ve moved from Burwood East to Forrest Hill. It’s an awesome place, right opposite a HUGE park and playground. It’s also right down the street from Koorong Bookstore. One downside, though, which brings me to first blogging point of the post:

Public Transport

The new place is ages away from school. Which means I’m stuck taking the 733 bus from school, then changeover to the 75 Vermont South Tram, then taking a 703 bus that stops right outside Koorong, and then walking down the street for about 10 minutes. That takes about 40 minutes, when I’m lucky.

But I’m not always lucky. I’ve experienced just catching trams, just missing buses and maybe even one or two cases of desperate jay-walking. (shifty eyes). All my stops are around main road traffic lights which means I can’t catch the bus just by running: I need to wait for that damn light to change. Annoying, much?

Missing a bus ends up me getting home about 20 minutes later, too. So! annoying!

But, for the past maybe week and a half, I’ve been getting alternate modes of transport:

Visit from Family Friend

An old family friend and (her) family are moving (migrating – birdees!) to Melbourne, so recently I’ve been getting rides home. Easier. =)

School

It’s been a tough two weeks with lots of assignments and tests. (Guess why no posts?) It’s nearly over though. I’ve reduced a 10+ assignment/test to-do list down to about 2 or 3. By this time next week, I’ll be home free and counting down to YEP. (I’m actually already counting down to YEP. The Year End Program with lots of fun, and no work. Yep, YEP!)

So far, the results rolling in are looking alright. My first maths test went well, got a good mark. But no end of year awards. =(. But the things are balancing out.

Music
I did my Grade 5 exam about 2 weeks ago? Yeah, 2 weeks ago. I completely (And I mean completely) nerved out and stuffed up at first. But towards a third into the exam, I relaxed a bit. The results came in two days ago. Passed with merit (pwned!) which means I’m now officially skipped into Grade 7 (Yep, seven!)

Church

This Friday is HS Breakup night. SueAnn, Christiana, Sammi and I (BFFLS! ) have been planning like crazy and I can’t wait to see them people get all **********. Opps. It’s a surprise!

Christmas stuff is coming up and there’s quite a bit going on! I can feel the Christmas cheer already. I love this time of the year!

And that’s it. Finally done. Need to finish off my last projects.

Shuway’s 21st was… what do you call it? Awesome? Hell yeah.

Some photos. Thanks to Jon. The dress theme was school. These will be stocked up in the gallery soon. Along with the others.

Prom King and Queen (Shuann and Cat)

School Misfit (Paul)

Birthday Girl – School Teacher (Shuway)

Haileybury Kids (Bryan, Sammi C and Rudy. Notice Marianne spraying stuff on them from the stairs)

School gangsta and Lollipop lady (Jon and Josh)

School teacher and School nurse (Shuway and Van)

Nerd and librarian… what a good fit. (Me and Jo)

Science Profs… (U Ben and David)

School girls (Rachel – Innocent. Kenji… not so innocent. (Right to left))

Punker Christiana… how awesome is her hair??

Group Shot

If you live in Australia, you’d know about news shows like Today Tonight and ACA having stories about the “manipulative” and “cash crazy” and generally bad Hillsong Church. Religious giant that just wants money and will do anything for it. It’s so annoying having that kinda of news on TV…

So what if Hillsong Church is raking in the cash? So what if they are selling a huge number of CDs and hitting Arias charts? So what if 4 contestants in Australian Idol either come from Hillsong Church or are Christian? I think this is good. They’re bringing Christianity to pop culture. The music is good. A lot of us love the songs and buy the CDs. Some of us really prefer some good old Hillsong to the latest pop star who swears every second word in their songs. What’s wrong with that?

Who knows, maybe Today Tonight or ACA are just desperate for a story.  Maybe it’s a lot of people who are just skeptical about religion. I don’t care. I’m just saying some Christian artists really earned that Gold Aria. After all, Christian albums usually cost twice the price of a pop album. If we are willing to pay for the music… doesn’t this show that the music is somewhat good?

Whatever. This is just a girl who loves the Hillsong music and needed to rant.