I'm in Sydney!

Hello! Well I made it safe and sound to Sydney. The story of my week: 

I flew out Monday morning, and had a long layover in LA. I dropped my South African travel friends off in downtown Hollywood to do some sightseeing, and headed to Pasadena to check out our future home for the next five years. Of course, it was like 95 degrees and I was feeling all sick anyway, so Monday was a very challenging day for me. I did see Fuller Seminary and met with my advisor, as well as checking out some housing options. I then hit a wall and headed to our good friends house and crashed on their couch for a few hours before heading back to the airport. 

The flight from LA to Sydney could not have gone better. I got on the plane at midnight, took an adavan for my "anxiety", and immediately fell asleep and woke up ... TEN HOURS later. What a gift from the Lord. I then watched one movie, started another, and we landed! Amazing. It was early Wednesday morning, so we checked into our hotel which is very nice. We're staying in the Four Seasons right across the water from the Opera House. Anyways, after checking in we started sightseeing! We walked around Sydney for awhile, went out to lunch at a gorgeous little cafe on the water outside the opera house (I know, you're all jealous) and then we went on a cool boat tour of the Sydney Harbor before calling it a night from the jet lag. 

After 12 hours of sleep last night (amazing, again a gift from the Lord), I woke up this morning and took the ferry to Manley, right outside Sydney, to meet my good friend Shauna from high school. We ate breakfast in an adorable cafe on the ocean, and then went on a coastal walk. I'm in her place now while she changes because we are headed to the zoo to see koala bears and then out for a night on the town. Should be fun. 

Hopefully I will be able to post again, but internet access in our nice hotel is $27/day. Ridiculous. So we'll see. Tomorrow is a "work" day. We are to meet our colleagues at 11am, they're taking us out to lunch, and then we're going on a tour of the blue mountains. I like working this week :). I then have the weekend to play in Sydney before flying to Canberra Sunday night to actually do some real work, if it's real at all :). I'll keep you all posted. 

For now, here are some pictures! 

Skattie, Nico and I - my traveling colleagues 

The Harbor Bridge 

The beautiful Opera House - Side A well call it:) (all the sides look different) 

The City from the boat tour

On the boat - my camera is in my pocket, I'm not pregnant

Again, the city - my hotel is the brown medium sized hotel - second from the right 

View of Harbor Bridge from right outside our hotel - the opera house is to the right 

With Nico! 

Okay, that's it for now. More to come soon (hopefully). 

Hugs to you all. I'll try to buy a lot of stuffed koala bears to bring back :)