Merry Christmas!

I can't believe it's Christmas!
I got sunburned while walking to Kangaroo Island...in DECEMBER!!!

Anyway, we finished our lecture phase of DTS two days ago, and our team is STOKED to go on outreach. Here's the people I will be spending 3 months 24/7 with...hehe!
Michaela (she's ENGAGED!), Diane (USA), me (Canada), Liz (NORWAY), Rebecca (my bunkmate), Lindsey (SPRUCE GROVE), Joe (Mr. Team leader), and Dre (USA)!

Well, this blog is going to be a quickie..I just wanted to wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Luv ya all!

P.S. One concept I learned from Ned Flanders aka Dean Sherman:

The works of the devil are OOBBVIOUS!

The IKEA blanket from...(not heaven)

Up until a month again, I adored Ikea. I remember taking an extreme liking to their neatly organized showrooms, their creative display and usage of colors, and their super value built-in restaurant. I mean, ice cream cones for $1 is extremely cheap, don't you think?

With all those wonderful and happy Ikea memories dancing in my mind, Nate and I decided to venture to Perth's Ikea. I find this lovely advertisement for a feather filled blanket for only $24.95! As I would say: "What a steal of a deal!". That is, until I brought it home, opened it up, and this terrible stentch bombarded our olfactory nerves, causing the boluses of food from my lunch to abnormally exit my lower esophageal sphincter and into my mouth! I nearly passed out! Seriously guys, it smelt like a dead duck!

So, I had this brillant idea to wash it in the washing machine. The blanket stunk up the whole landry room, and that's when I noticed that the feathers were not white and fluffy. Instead, they were black and hard. I think there was a bit of red too. Could it be...blood? Well, I guess I'll never figure out. Unfortunately, after two washes and 3 days of hanging out in the sun, the smell never came out. I waited two weeks before I decided to wash it again. I thought it'd be real smart to stick my pillow case and some clothes in with the blanket. BAADD IDDEEAA. The Ikea blanket caught on FIRE in the dryer and scorched my pillow case! (I'll add a picture later). AND the blanket still smelt like a dead duck..well, more like a roasted duck! So my theory is that there's part of a dead, rotting duck in embedded in the blanket.

Fortunately, I was able to refund it. Phew! So my advice to you is... smell your blankets before you buy them!

As for life down under...all I have to say is:
Man, it's so hot here!

Tim Tam Slams

Ok, prepare to hear about a snack that will blow your mind...and salivary glands. Here in Australia, there is a really delcious chocolate biscuit/cookie known as...
These delicious delicacies may look like regular chocolate biscuits, but they are the CRAZE over here, especially among our YWAM base ppls. During my first week here all I heard about was this very specific eating ritual of these biscuits known as the Tim Tam Slam. Just when you think eating those chocolate coated biscuits on their own was good enough...

So what is it? It's so simple. All you need is a Tim Tam and a cup of hot drink (coffee, hot chocolate, milo). You take a Tim Tam, bite off the opposite corners of either end, stick one end into the drink, and suck on the other open end. The hot liquid will enter the Tim Tam like a straw and melt it immediately. This causes the cookie to completely melt and get really soft. As quick as you can, you pop the melting cookie into your mouth. You can tell who's a veteran Tim Tam slammer by how much/little mess they make on their hands and mouth. And this huge wave of super sweet chocolately goodness will invade your mouth and explode your senses, leaving you with a deep sigh of delight.

Since I don't have a camera, I searched on the net and found all these people doing the Tim Tam Slam together. It may look like they're inhaling cocaine but that is not the case. They're merely enjoying the Tim Tim Slam.

Ok, and this one is us doing the TIM TAM SLAM!

So my question is, do they sell these in Canada? Rumor has it that they may be available in Superstore, can someone check and let me know? (Just comment on the blog) Cuz if not, I may have to bring a huge box of Tim Tams home! :D

Disclaimer: As a nutritionist, I feel I should post a word of wisdom: Everything in moderation!

Paradise

Starting the beginning of this week, our school is required to exercise at 6am for 20 minutes, Mon-Fri. If we were late, we had consequences. At first, I was like...BLLLAHHH! That's insane! Who even wakes up that early? (besides Ken, haha). Anyway, there's a few choices to choose from, such as soccer, walking, jogging, and aerobics. Being the optimistic, energetic one, I decided to take on jogging, an exercise I haven't kept up with in the last six months. At first, I was like, oh yah, I can definitely keep up with the people in the front. Everything was fine, until they passed the required running distance because they wanted more "run time" and I stubbornly ran with them. It was crazy, cuz my heart was beating like 200 beats/hour (or it felt like it!). The common phrase "If you don't use it, you lose it" came into effect as I eventually fell behind and had to catch my breath on a nearby bench while my jogging buddies dissapeared into the distance.

This applies to us spiritually as much as it does physically. There are so many things you do in life, and it's either good for us or bad. If we don't exercise what we've learned, we'll soon realize we suck at doing things we once thought were easy or ok.

On a brighter note, I've decided that I really enjoy waking up early in the morning and running along the river of East Perth. The river (Swan river) is so beautiful and the neighbourhood is just gorgeous. It reminds me of Disneyland or some movie cast set. Beautiful isn't it?

I'm learning so much over the last two weeks, there are so many stories to tell. Life here is so jammed packed with good stuff, I even have longer lecture times than when I was in University taking a full course load! CRAZY! Anyway, time is scarce, gotta go!

More Pics of Swan River(these ones I took myself!)

Why are bugs crunchy?

Ooooooohhh deeear!

Why did God create cochroaches? What is their purpose? They just crawl all around and poo little poos all over the ground. And when you step on them, they are crunchy, like egg shells, and their guts spew all over the floor.

Oh yah, because the computers here are slow, I can't upload any pictures to help you visualize the ugliness. But if you feel the need to donate a lap top to me, I'll gladly accept it. So for now, instead of having Sarah pictures, you can have internet pictures.

Moving into the base was kind of neat. We live in a place that is five mintues away from the base. With two big rooms (20 girls/room), it is actually quite cozy for two reasons. First because it feels like a giant girls sleepover party, and second because we also share it with a colony of cochroaches. As many of you know, I'm terrified of bugs. And when they're 2 1/2 inches long and 1 inch wide, they look pretty scary.

This morning, I found a baby cockroach crawling on the wall right beside my bed. I literally stared at it for 2 minutes. I was too afraid to hit it, and if i did hit it, i didn't want to hit it with my property then have the bug fall on my bed. Ahh...what are you supposed to do anyway? If anyone have cochroach stories or ways to get rid of them, please lemme know. Your advice will be well accepted.

Picture Perfect

Pictures are so fun!! They captivate life’s happiest moments. Time is frozen and you’re forever young (or old, depending on when you took the picture! :p). For those with “brain damage” AKA forgetfulness, a snapshot definitely aids in triggering those neurotransmitters. However, pictures can also help recall moments that have haunted you, or ones you would rather not remember. Like the time you got your finger stuck in a hose, those fashionable “bowl” haircuts, or when you decided for some insane reason to look like a freak for chinese school pictures (click if you dare).

Anyway, this blog is dedicated to Nate (whom by the way has given permission for the posting of this entry). Two days ago, we accomplished something that we thought was utterly impossible. Since…forever, Nate’s room was used to look like this:

And after FIVE hours of hard work, whining, fits of frustration, choking in dust, discovering non-living objects that move, and lots of perseverance, "Sarahnate" tore the place apart. Behold, the miracle:

So congrats to something we thought was equivalent to slaying a dragon. I wish this sends out a message to all our messy room keepers out there…that there is hope! Haha, no excuses now! Oh, btw, the loose change found around your house is actually worth something. With over 950 pennies, and hundreds of other coins, Nate is now $46 richer!!!

Oh my goodness, it's a freakin' (b)log

After countless hours of computer technical difficulties followed by piercing headaches, eye spasms, and cries of insanity, the troublesome site aka www.blogspot.com was finally defeated and managed by none other than yours truly. How can blogging be so hard, you might ask? Well, besides trying to find and load a picture through a URL (I still don't even know what it stands for), finding the title option for my blogs, and clicking on some script that shut down my entire internet explorer, I think blogging is extremely user-friendly. Now, onto my main subject before blogspot decides to delete my account...

I've had the privilege to travel across Canada (literally) this summer. Stanley Park, Grandville Island, Niagara Falls, CN tower, La Ronde, Magnetic Hill, Hopewell caves and Peggy's Cove were among the attractions I visited. But one of the most traumatic yet exhilarating adventure experienced this summer was the mountain biking expedition in Northshore, BC. In June, my biking buddy and I decided to venture out to Mt. Seymour for some RECREATIONAL mountain biking. Although riding up the mountain expended most of my energy and left me looking a little funny lookin'...
...we managed to make it to the semi-summit in due time. Unfortunately we were faced with another challenge: getting lost. Sick of riding the boring uphill path, we ventured to the left and started looking for some downhill trails, only to find two extreme hardcore bikers wearing full gear. Compared to us in our recreational helmets, shorts and t-shirts, those people looked like armored knights with their full-faced helmets, shin/knee/elbow/ pads, and bikes that have shocks with at least 10X as much travel. We approached them as gracefully and as nonchalantly as we possibly could...

Sarah: My profound sense of direction has left us lost in these woods. Do you suppose our bikes and gear will allow us to safely travel down this trail we are about to enter?
Crazy Mountain Bikers: Perhaps, although your bikes are not built for this kind of extreme biking, it is possible to complete this trail. Cliffs and jumps are readily present, however you can go around them.

We took their word and started going down the trail, stopping only to read this giant sign posted at the entrance:

Blue and Black Diamonds, eh? Oh well, it can't be THAT bad...

...until we came across a 20-foot log suspended above the ground! The title of today’s blog and my audio profile clearly represents our sheer sense of shock and bewilderment. One false move, a tiny imperfection, or a marginal error can easily induce serious injuries. Luckily, after receiving a permanent scar on my right forearm from being lodged between the log and a tree, we both made it across and even had time to tape the whole thing.

Anyway, if riding down a 20 foot log wasn't enough, the trail became increasingly technical. Riding down large, wet slippery rocks, carrying our bikes while stumbling across a 2 by 4 through the middle of a swamp, and remodeling our legs with spiky twigs and rocks were just a few of the activities we had the opportunity to partake that day. Behold...the insanity!!!

Well,eventually we made it out safe and sound. What an exciting experience to start the summer off!

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