So . . . let me begin with a little anecdote about how small the world is. Callie and I were on the bus to Bondi Beach on Saturday to enjoy the beautiful weather and the Sculpture by the Sea exhibit when we were passing through a charming neighborhood called Paddington. Paddington is a posh, yet naturally affable, suburb on the southern side of the harbour- a place where you might expect to see a mom dressed in Dolce&Gabanna jeans driving a Maserati convertible down shaded streets past hip boutiques and terrace homes. Needless to say it is quite a nice place, and while we were enjoying the trip, our bus stopped by one of the many corner bakeries. As I turned to say something to Callie, out walks someone who had on an Alabama football shirt. Now I don't want to make this into a partisan Alabama-Auburn thing (it would be just as exciting to see an Auburn shirt), but it was pretty remarkable to be over 9,000 miles away from home and see a fellow fan of the Crimson Tide. Following this surprising encounter, we spent the afternoon at Bondi enjoying the sun and the artwork along the beach. I should also mention that we had visited the Powerhouse Museum in the morning, so our Saturday was quite eventful. On Sunday, we attended the Rotary District Conference at the University of Technology Sydney, a celebration of the incredible work local clubs have been doing over the past year and an opportunity to find inspiration for the work ahead. The ambassadorial scholars in the district had a chance to briefly introduce themselves, and we were each reminded of the call to "Service above Self."
This week is fairly normal for the most part: Callie is enjoying the more complicated tasks associated with her intermediate studies and I have finals coming up in the next few weeks. It's hard to believe that we'll be returning home for Christmas so soon, but I guess that time just moves more quickly when you really enjoy what you're doing. Given how much we've liked Australia thus far, we'll be back before we know it.
1 comment:
Not to 1-up you, but in the Okayama train station I saw I guy wearing a cub scout shirt, with a patch from the Birmingham Area Council. I had the same patch when I was in scouts. Small world indeed.
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