Welcome to Australia!

Hello Friends!

Just wanted to send out an update to let you all know I arrived safely in Australia! :)

I flew out of Spokane, Wa at 6 am on Jan 17^th, and flew from Spokane to Seattle, Seattle to Toyko, then to Singapore and finally arrived in Perth at 1:15pm January 19th! Yayyy! I think that tops it off for my longest trip at 40+ hours. The only casualties in my bag were a bottle of hair cream that was smashed and exploded (Thank You God for ziplocs), and my camera that is currently Missing In Action.

Christina and Aunt Sue in Albany, W.A.

On my flight from Seattle to L.A., an announcement came over the intercom “Are there any medical personnel on board the flight?” A woman had passed out on her way to the bathroom and wasn't responding. When I stood up to offer help, the flight attendant was bringing a tank of oxygen to the back of the plane. The crew were awesome and very quick to respond. I made an assessment, took her blood pressure and elevated her legs as she was becoming more alert. I think it was related to low blood sugar since she was up all night packing and hadn't eaten anything. She ended up being fine, and Alaska gave me a voucher for $200 off my next flight with them! What a huge blessing! And seeing how God takes care of me.

I'm here visiting my Aunt Sue in Albany (Albany, not ALLbany), Western Australia, a few hours south of Perth. It's been delightful to spend time with her and her husband Geoff and my cousin Chris. I'll get to see my cousin Ben Thursday night, whom I haven't seen since they came to the States 18 years ago!!!

Painting acrylics on canvas.
Who knew color could be so complex?

My Aunt Sue is helping bring out my creative side since she's incredibly talented and artistic. We're painting acrylics on canvas, and I'm painting a sunset on a beach of Nabua- paka, one of the villages we stayed in Papua New Guinea last summer. I've also been experimenting in the kitchen, making homemade bread with Geoff and helping with dinner. Sue is sending me with some recipes I can make in Townsville, that are already listed in kilo's and celsius, so I don't have to convert them. We're also going to make haloumi 

cheese, and crepes with quark...

what an adventure! :)

 

Christina with cousin Chris

Chris, Sue and Geoff have been teaching me some new vernacular I would love to introduce to you:

 To “send him up” is to make fun of someone or a parody of something, while “cheers” and “ta” are both words for thank you. 

A “jumper” is a pull over sweatshirt and I learned last night that what we call a “hoodie” over here is a “sloppy joe.” 

That one definitely threw me for a loop- I guess they don't have the famous cafeteria sandwiches. 

Sunset taken on Mt. Melville

I'm also grateful to be here in Albany right now as there is a cyclone farther north in Western Australia and Townsville (where I'm heading) so hopefully it will be gone by the time I arrive on Saturday.

Hope all of you are doing well :) Thank you for the love and encouragement you've given to help me get me to Australia and this continuing journey. 

Cheers from Australia,

Christina  :)