Update

Well, I guess an update is due, as I haven't written a whole lot on here for the past couple weeks.

I left off with my trip to Cairns. I headed up there with 8 other ASC kids, where we rented this sweet apartment on the beach for the week. The two major things we did while in Cairns (pronounced Cans) were hike through the rain forest in Kuranda (and saw the Barron Falls), and snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef. Both things were just amazing testimonies to the beauty of God's creation.

The week after was the Bush Trip - which I already wrote a bit about and posted some photos, so no need to write more about that. Although I will say that my camera broke on that trip, so if you're wondering why there haven't been any pictures lately, thats why. I ended up buying a new one this week, as I know pictures from this trip will be so valuable to me later.

This week has been fairly uneventful. SAPC is here from the states, and they are basically reviewing our program and deciding if they want to continue accrediting it for the CCCU. SAPC is a group of administrators from different CCCU colleges throughout the US. While they are here they interview ASC students, professors, host parents, Wesley students, etc to get a general idea of what goes on here. Tonight the SAPC people came and talked to me at my service project, which was cool - although they got there right as dinner was being served, which is the busiest time for me. So I was running amok throughout the kitchen trying to get dinner out and let them interview me at the same time. Tomorrow night Sarah, Michelle, and I are talking a few of the SAPC people out to dinner, and then on Saturday morning they are coming over to our apartment to interview us and Gail and just see how our living conditions are. Perhaps I'll clean my room before then....

PS - Mom, thanks for the chocolate bunny. It's fantastic and I've missed dark chocolate.

Tomorrow in class we are having a panel of Aboriginal adults come in to talk about what their lives were like as part of the "stolen generation." Basically, aboriginal children were taken away from their parents between 1910-1970, put into camps, taught the ways of the white man, and then sold or adopted into white families, in hopes of eventually eliminating the aboriginal population. The idea behind it all was that aboriginals would have kids with white people, whose kids would have kids with whites, until eventually their aboriginal blood was compleltly diluted and they appeared to be "normal." Essentially, the stolen generation was a small holocaust, except most of the kids didn't die. They just suffered extreme identity loss, abuse, and were denied an education. Anyway, sorry for the random tangent, it's just really interesting/tragic and I'm looking forward to hearing some first hand experiences of what it was like growing up in that kind of environment.

Well, it's 9:15 here and I'm already exhausted. This morning I went to the beach, relaxed, and then booked it to Newtown. I spent 5 hours in the kitchen cooking dinner. It was so tiring, but as always, I enjoyed my time there.

I love you all and am looking forward to coming home. And in case you're wondering, it's 66 days away :)

Love,
Kristin