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Arrived in NYC tonight. In the space of an hour we have taken a yellow cab and had late night pizza. We’re almost locals. Bussed it in from Ocean City which took all day as Greyhound overbooked the first bus, so we detoured to Baltimore, and waited for 3 hours. Met an earnest young man in the bus terminal who is planning to go to bible college. We ate Subway together and talked about Australia and the Bible.

Washington was great. I could easily live there. Have visited lots of museums. The strategy of arriving at a museum and then separating to wander around on our own with a wave, a smile, and a ”See you at the front in 2 hours.” is working well and highly recommended for introverts travelling together. Have done lots walking. Developed some impressive blisters but they’re OK now. Have also developed a little cold. Nothing too serious and hopefully not swiney.

Ocean City was also great. The people were very generous and hospitable. We stayed with a lovely woman named Grace, which was very apt. They not only provided our accommodation, but insisted on paying for our meals. Providing for Tom I could understand since he was preaching at their church, but providing for me who was pretty much just tagging along was something else altogether. I have learned a lot from these people about hospitality and generosity. (By the way, Tom preached very well and has been invited back so they must have like what he had to say: As Christians, we are different, so be different. There was a bit more to it, but that’s pretty much the sermon in a nutshell.)

People here are very interested in all aspects of Australia, from our major agricultural crops to our dangerous creatures, from the weather to current events. Makes you realise how unique your country is, and how lucky you are to live there. Even though I could easily live in Washington. (Don’t worry Jane. I am not making any serious plans.)

How nice it is to finally be here! Arrived on Friday night after a dream run - three flights, no missed connections, no lost luggage. It was ridiclously easy. Definitely answered prayer! The A380 was very comfy. Managed to sleep some and watch a couple of movies and Flight of the Conchords. Construction works at LA, lack of signage, and impassive information officers, made things a bit confusing, but I managed to arrive in Mexico City with an hour to spare. Unfortunately half of the plane’s luggage didn’t arrive. Fortunately, mine had been checked through to the connecting flight to Guatemala. Arrived at about 11pm, picked up my luggage, had the third and final thermal scan, handed in the immigration and customs forms, and was on my way. Walking towards the exit I see a mad woman waving from outside. Jane! And Jo! Hugs all round. Stayed at Jo’s place that night. Had to borrow some PJs because the combination lock failed to recognise the combination. Hmmm. (Seems to be resetting each time it’s locked. Managed to break it twice by counting back from 999, but that’s not going to be a great look at US Customs, so switching to another.) Civil ceremony the next day was lovely. Victor’s family were so welcoming. Jo’s expression at seeing the Aussie contingent’s wedding gift was priceless. It was a great, wonderful day. Drove to Antigua that night. The house is amazing and the town even more so. Cobblestone streets, small enough to be able to wander around, large enough to have lots to see and do. Colouful buildings, friendly locals, great food. Highlight of the day: seeing a hummingbird flitting around a flowering bush as Janet and I sat in a courtyard drinking coffee and chatting abut life. All good. Hopefully climbing a volcano on Tuesday. A bit tired, but so far no jet-lag.

One bag to check, one to carry on. With a bit of room leftover too. It’s 9.45pm - a personal record. Leaving tomorrow afternoon on the Airbus 380. Looking forward to sleeping, iPod-ing, reading, and having a hot chocolate from the self-serve area. Have packed some colouring-in pencils and puzzles too. All set. Flying Sydney - Los Angeles - Mexico City* - Guatemala - San Salvador* - Washington - Ocean City - New York - Los Angeles - Sydney. (*stop-over) Nice. A little bit left to do tonight, but not much. Hooroo everyone!

Does anyone know of any local styrofoam recycling places? Or, failing that, how to re-use or recycle styrofoam? Apart from mixing with acetone to make glue or napalm?

Thirty eight days ’till I leave the country. Looking forward to catching up on sleep on the flight over. Heck, I’m even looking forward to being jetlagged! And being fingerprinted. Anything different to the current routine will be a welcome change. Yes, work is intense and relentless, but it’s all good. Learning a lot - about managing staff, finances, and time, and also managing myself. Setting clear boundaries between work and home. Don’t have any desire for it to be like this long-term, but for the moment it’s OK. The break in the middle is such a random blessing. I guess I have Jo and Victor to thank for deciding to get married in June! Thank you!

Most Saturdays I make a list of things I want to get done on the weekend. Chores, places to go, people to call. The usual sort of things. Rarely does everything get crossed off, and this weekend was no exception, but that’s OK. The two major items were done, so I’m happy about that. One was sending an edited manuscript back to the author for comment. The other was catching up on the leadership course I’m doing through work. (Only 4 modules behind!) The course is meant to wrap up in June, and I am determined to get back on track. Need a break and I’m really over studying. (On related news, I found out that because I only did a certificate course at uni, there is no graduation ceremony for me. Just a note in the mail. Oh well.)

The rest of the weekend has been good. Because work is so stressy at the moment, Friday nights are spent at home crying into my pillow. Not quite. Almost. No, chilling with a dvd is the current coping strategy. Watched Finding Nemo this time and loved it. Hadn’t seen it before and thoroughly enjoyed every minute. Saturday mornings are spent with the trainer (another coping strategy). Still a bit sore, but that’s the price we pay for buffness. Didn’t do much for the rest of the day. Had intended to knock over at least two course modules but procrastinated instead. Pathetic. Still, I did get to watch Cool Hand Luke which I haven’t seen since I was a kid and missed all the Christ-figure references. Good story, great quotes - “What we have here is failure to communicate.” - plus it has Paul Blue Eyes Newman. And Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton, and Wayne Rogers (a.k.a Trapper from M*A*S*H). And I learned where the National 9 News theme comes from - the music from the Tar Sequence. True! Still thinking about the allegorical themes - and boy, there are a lot! Some blatant, some subtle. Wouldn’t mind watching it again with a group. Anyone interested?

Have been thinking about David and B’s recent posts about church - what is it? what does it look like? what is it meant to look like? - on and off the past few weeks. We’re starting a series on the importance of public worship at St Matty’s. The first sermon was this morning and it’s given me more to mull over. (Listen for yourself.) At the moment I’m thinking that I need to commit not so much to the church as I do to the relationship with the church. What does that mean? Good question. I’ve been thinking about it in the context of a marriage relationship, or any other interpersonal relationship really. In particular, I’ve been exploring a concept I’ve read which suggests that we need to commit not to the person (who will inevitably disappoint us), but to the relationship. In real terms, that means we commit to strengthening the relationship, protecting it, and changing the bits about ourselves that don’t help the relationship (because we can’t change the other person). There’s more to it than those glib phrases, but that’s my starting point. It’s less about me and what I get out of it, and more about the relationship and what I can bring to it. Servanthood I guess. Still turning it over …

So here we are at the end of a super long weekend. It’s been a goody. The weekend started on Thursday afternoon for me. Had travelled out to Doonside to meet the staff, tour the sheds and see firsthand the storage issues. (e.g. pigeons nesting in the archive boes.) Left in the early afternoon and met Tom at the movie palace for Monsters v Aliens. A nice animated feature and nice use of the Axel F. theme. Insectosaurus was my favourite monster - so cute! The evening was Mil and Martin’s farewell bbq. Will miss them very much. Trying to keep the warmer lit all night took some doing, and there’s nothing like coming home saturated with smoke. (Is that possible?) Good Friday started with church and soaking up some gospel goodness. Home briefly before scooting over to Ness’s via The Gorge. A great afternoon of nattering and enjoying the kids. Then dinner at Mum & Dad’s and some Seachange watching. Up early next morning for some double gym action - cardio at Ferny with Jane, then training with Sandra. Lunges and step-up combo holding hand weights above my head, fly weights, chest presses, and medicine ball crunches were some of the treats on offer today. But I do feel better for it. Sore, but better! Spent the rest of the day pottering around, booking the LAX to GUA flight (yippee!), and tidying up. Met Janet at the movie palace to see The Reader. Not as harrowing as Revolutionary Road, but just as thought provoking. Had a quiet night in and checking out www.apartmenttherapy.com and www.readymade.com - my two favourite websites at the moment. Easter Sunday was very low key. Didn’t venture out. Didn’t talk to anyone until church that evening. This may sound odd, but I kind of liked that my first conversation of the day was singing to Jesus. So, so grateful. Talked with the minister afterwards about a new service that may be starting up later in the year, and a mission concept they have been kicking around for a while - opening a cafe. (!) Headed home. Today has also been very low key. Up early for more gym action with Jane, only to find we were early and Ferny wasn’t open yet. So we jogged up to the Hospital and back to pass the time until it opened. Not. No, we went to the nearest cafe and didn’t think twice about returning. We did do some circuits of Coles afterwards, and Jane carried the shopping back to the car. So there was some cardio and a bit of weights. I was feeling a bit queasy after all that exertion, so I pottered around some more at home, watched The Crucible, had some dinner, and chatted with the flatmate for a while. Now here I am, sitting on the bed about to turn in for the night and thinking that I am very blessed. Thanks Jesus for all the little moments that made this such a great weekend.