Kuala Lumpur
Anyway, I'll give a quick recap of the last few days. We arrived at our hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, late Tuesday night, I believe. Wednesday we set out for a good day of sight-seeing. We visited the outside of the king's residence/palace, saw a mosque (Islam is the main religion of Malaysia), and visited a Chinese temple palace.

We grabbed lunch in the mall at the base of the famous and most recognizable landmark in KL, the Petronas twin towers, which were formerly the tallest buildings in the world.

Afterward we travelled to the Batu Caves, which were my favourite stop of the day. While passing playful monkeys on the way up (reminiscent of Bali), we climbed a long, steep staircase to the entrance of a cave, where a man greeted us with a large snake around his neck asking us if we wanted to take our picture with it - we declined. The cave was a sort of Hindu temple and was absolutely huge. I was very impressed with it.

After those sights, we went back to the hotel, and I took a nice long nap before going out to an Indian place for dinner. The food was good enough, but after seeing a rat on the floor toward the end of the meal, I quickly lost my appetite.

After dinner, we went to a foot massage place. They have these huge fish tanks where you can put your feet in the tank and the fish come to suck off the dead skin and it's supposed to be quite good for you. I tried it for a few minutes, and they tickled like crazy! So much so, that I couldn't keep my feet in the tank and had to settle for a half-hour foot massage for around $5USD.

Later that night, we went out to the coolest bar I have ever been to. It was 30 floors up on the balcony of a hotel, with comfortable lounge chairs surrounding a lit-up pool that looked directly across at the twin towers, which were lit up beautifully. This night we also met up with our friends who do not go to SMU, but were other Americans studying abroad in Perth with us. They had gone on a study tour around Malaysia. It was really good to see them one last time and to swap stories from our experiences.

We were able to sleep in and have the following morning to ourselves. Since I had seen most of KL, I did some reading and caught up on a few emails before we headed out that afternoon for one last meeting on the Asia Pacific region at an institute.

That night, we had our final meal together - and what a special evening it was. We ate at the revolving restaurant on top of the sky tower where we were treated to amazing views and an all-you-can-eat buffet. Our group leader, Dr. Jim Elliot, made some closing remarks about our time together and had a funny, memorable comment to make about each one of us on the tour. We all appreciated having him as our group leader; he treated us like adults, sent email updates to our parents, had fun with us, and ensured everything went smoothly and according to plan.

Singapore
With the study tour officially over, we had a full free day on December 12, and we decided to pay $50 for a round-trip 50-minute flight to Singapore. We woke up bright and early, and were met by my Singaporean flat-mate from Australia who graciously agreed to show us around for the day.

Singapore is such a unique place. It's a small island off the coast of Malaysia that is both a city and a country covering 600 square kilometres (roughly half the size of the Hawaiian island of Kauai) with a population of 4 million people. The humidity and ethnical make-up is similar to Malaysia, but other than that, Singapore is distinctly Western with clean everything (it is illegal to sell gum and there are hefty fines for littering), developed infrastructure, English as the official language, its own stock exchange, and other "luxuries" that are consistent with developed nations across the globe.

Upon arrival we took the train/subway into the main portion of the city to walk amidst the abounding Christmas decorations. Next, we travelled to a Singapore opera house-type place with a perfect spot for viewing the waterfront and the main downtown buildings. Following lunch, we proceeded to briefly explore little India before resting for a bit at a famous hotel/bar place. Stewart and I then proceeded to walk around the city for a while before meeting back up with the group to return to the airport. During this time we found a nice park, discovered a river walk area, and encountered another SMU (Singapore Management University). We arrived back in KL at around 10 pm, which was exactly 12 hours before our flight back home to the US in the morning!

Home!
After reflecting back on all my experiences studying abroad, I still cannot believe all that has occurred in the last five months. I have seen countless new sights (including six new countries), eaten many new foods (such as jellyfish, a bit of chicken liver, peacock, bullfrog and ox-penis wine), made many new friends, had a ton of fun, and experienced much personal growth.

Besides the amazing memories, silly souvenirs, and countless pictures, I come back home a changed person. I am much more aware of the global world and the accompanying issues faced in addition to the differences in lives of those across the earth. In short, I have learned to expand the intake of my eyes and ears to occurrences outside the borders of the United States.

Personally, I come back home with a greater desire for simplicity. This last semester took me out of the busyness of life and away from the crazy schedule that I took upon myself while at school. I want to slow down, appreciate life more, and concentrate on what I have found truly matters in life - relationships.

Lastly, I have also grown in my personal relationship with God this semester through the extra time spent reading the Bible and through being removed from my "Christian comfort zone" back at school. I have truly been able to experience the beauty of His creation.

As I have returned home these last few days, it seems I cannot get away from Australia :) My flight home flew through LA, so some friends of mine flew down to meet me and go to Disneyland for two days. Two Australians were in the shuttle bus on the way to the motel with us, more Australians pointed out my Aussie rules football jersey while waiting in line, and the magazine on Alaska Airlines featured a whole article on Perth, which included descriptions of Fremantle, Rottnest Island, and Margaret River! I am excited to see how the memories and experiences there will continue to follow and shape me.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Stephen

I have two favorite buildings - the Jim Mao Tower, which is the 3rd tallest building in the world and is also home to the world's tallest bar (which we explored on the 87th floor). Its shape somewhat resembles an ancient Pagoda. My second favorite building is the 2nd tallest in the world, and it looks like a bottle opener because it has a large cut-out square near the top. I wish I could show you pictures, but unfortunately my camera has malfunctioned and will not work any longer. Therefore, if you are really interested, google Shanghai, and I'm sure you'll find what I'm talking about : )

Shanghai has a much more Western influence. All the sign have English subtitles, many more people speak English, and we run into many more Westerners. The city also appears to be quite affluent - though there is never any shortage of people trying to sell fake Rolex watches.

Wine session
Friday we travelled to ASC Fine Wines, which is a foreign wine importer and distributor in China. One of their employees gave an hour presentation about the wine industry in China and about their company. We were then able to ask more questions related to our individual group projects. This session was probably the most informative thus far.

We then had Brazilian BBQ for lunch, and this was our first non-Chinese food meal in quite some time. Later in the afternoon we stopped by the Australian consulate for another briefing before going up the TV Tower. The weather has been biting cold at near freezing temperatures with a sharp wind. We have been quite cold!

Trip to temple
Saturday the 6th we left to go see the Jade Buddha temple. We saw many people bowing down to statues and lighting sticks on fire so that the smoke would carry their prayers to Buddha. I did not particularly enjoy this experience; especially with the suffocating smoke enveloping the whole place. Next, we went to the Shanghai museum. Here we viewed ceramics, paintings, bonze things, and old coins. I probably could've lived without ever seeing this museum, but I guess it was interesting enough - maybe ...

Later in the day we stopped at some more markets before going back to the hotel for a two-hour nap before dinner at the hotel. My awesome group and I spent the whole rest of the evening working on our project and putting our PowerPoint presentation together. We made good headway, which enabled us to explore the city today.

Making friends
After sleeping in, we worked on our project a little more and then took the subway downtown. This was our first Chinese subway experience, and it didn't disappoint us. Even though it was a Sunday, all the train cars were completely packed, but we were still able to wiggle our way in. After we surfaced, we pulled out our map to see where we were, and three young Chinese people asked us, in near perfect English, if we needed help.

Long story short, we ended up making friends and walked around with them awhile before going to a little teahouse with them. The y were very friendly and kept on saying, 'more people, more fun." I was highly impressed with their English, and they asked many questions about the US. They also said that we didn't look like Americans because we were so skinny :(

After trading email addresses and parting ways, we went to Pizza Hut for lunch (they're actually nicer sit-down restaurants here.) Then Stewart and I walked up and down the waterfront and took in the sights while discussing all that we have seen. This time next week we'll be home. That point is almost unfathomable to us! However, most all of us are very excited to be home and see our families for the Christmas season.

Tomorrow (Monday) we give our presentations and then have a celebration dinner that will conclude our time in China. We fly out on Tuesday to spend a few days in Kuala Lumpur.

Take care and God Bless,

Stephen

Romans 8:39

The sheer scale of the Wall made it one of the most impressive sights I think I have ever seen. It curves across the jagged landscape like a snake and stretches some 6,000 kilometres! I cannot fathom people building such a massive structure so long ago. Some parts of the Wall were also very steep as we ascended and walked along it for about 45 minutes before turning back at the end. We all enjoyed it very much, and it was another one of those "pinch me" moments.

The Olympics scene
The following day was a free day for us, and I spent the morning around the Olympic buildings. The main stadium commonly known as the Bird's Nest was much bigger than I expected. Also, I was previously a skeptic of its unusual architecture, but after seeing it in person, I converted to not only appreciating it, but liking it as well.

Walking around the stadium and actually going into the 91,000-seat capacity and $3 billion Olympic stadium was an amazing experience. As I walked on the track in the stadium, I thought back to all that had happened in that building. Just three short months ago the immaculate opening ceremony occurred with countless world leaders in attendance, gold medals were won, world records broken, and dreams were fulfilled. I could not imagine how cool it would've been to be able to watch the Olympic events in that stadium.

I also visited the renowned Water Cube where the swimming events were held. After viewing all these facilities, I have decided to put "attending the Olympics" on my list of things to do before I die.

An alum in Beijing
That evening after group meetings about our project, Stewart, John, and I went out to dinner with a friend of John's dad who lived in Beijing and was actually an SMU grad! He took us to one of the most amazing dinners we have had on this trip. They brought out a pot of boiling water for each of us and plates of uncooked meat. We then proceeded to cook the meat in the boiling water and finished by dipping it into this amazing peanut sauce. We enjoyed the conversation as much as we did the food, and we talked about everything from doing business in China to life at SMU.

Our last day in Beijing we visited the Australian Embassy for a brief meeting about the economic, social and political considerations when dealing with China. It was informative, but the Political Science major in me was almost more excited about the dynamics of an Embassy and what they did.

Wine tours
We had an evening flight to Yantai, which is a smaller city (but still in the millions of people) on the east coast of China touching the Yellow Sea. We are staying in another amazing hotel that sits right on the water in a picturesque location.

The last two days we have spent doing wine tours throughout the region. We have been treated as VIPs at the wineries because they are not used to having western visitors. Everywhere we go we receive detailed tours of the vats, the bottling assembly lines, the wine cellars, and we have meetings with the general managers of the wineries. Overall, the wine we have tasted has been much improved from our initial Chinese wine tasting. Though not overly amazing, the wine in this region and at these upper-end wineries has been quite impressive.

Yesterday, I went on a delightful run all along the sea and even ran on the beach for a bit. Yantai really is a nice city. Also, Bratton and I climbed up a lighthouse earlier this afternoon. We stumbled upon a secret meeting of Chinese naval officers at the top of the lighthouse after enjoying the view of the city.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we leave for our last but probably most exciting city in China, Shanghai.

I hope you enjoy these brief little updates.

Take care,
Stephen

But first, we must go back to Xian to tell about the Terra-Cotta Warriors. The first covered "pit" housed around 8,000 different warriors, which were originally built for an egotistical emperor (there were many) so that he could have an army in the afterlife. Each one has different facial features, and all were actually quite impressive.

We viewed a number of smaller pits that held the generals, chariots and a few other artifacts. We briefly walked through a museum, and I realized that I am not a museum guy. I love what I have now deemed "experiential tourism." An example of this followed our time with the warriors. Xian has a city wall that is 14 kilometers in circumference, and we got to bike around the whole thing. A number of us got tandems, and we all had a blast. It was one of those few truly unique experiences of a lifetime.

That evening a few of us had delicious Indian cuisine, and it was our first meal which was not Chinese food. After dinner, we walked over and saw an amazing fountain/water/light show in front of the Wild Goose Pagoda. Once again, this was a truly unique and wonderful experience we all enjoyed immensely.

A Thanksgiving to remember
The following day was Thanksgiving in China. As I sat in the hotel restaurant eating breakfast I couldn't help but chuckle to myself about my situation. This was certainly going to be the weirdest Thanksgiving yet.

After a leisurely morning we had lunch in the city and proceeded to travel to the capital of China and home to 18 million people, Beijing. After the two-hour flight, we met up with our guide and had Thanksgiving dinner at - yes, you guessed it - another Chinese restaurant. The closest thing we had to anything resembling Thanksgiving cuisine were these fried pumpkin wedge type things that had a slightly furry consistency in the mouth ...

After arriving at our hotel we set out for Thanksgiving dessert by walking to the Dairy Queen and eating blizzards.

Sight seeing
Today we explored Beijing by travelling to Tiananmen Square, the Emperor's palace and the Temple of Heaven. Tiananmen Square is supposedly the largest city square in the world, and according to the Chinese government, there was never a massacre that killed thousands of protesting university students in 1989. However, our tour guide did acknowledge the incident.

Anyway, we walked all around the former Emperor's palace, which was very long with lots of courtyards and grand structures. The palace was adjacent to Tiananmen Square. Whoever reads this may be interested to know that the emperors had about 3,000 concubines. Don't worry, that was not the only fact I learned while touring the palace ...

After another delicious lunch (still not tired of Chinese food yet) we visited the Temple of Heaven. This public park is also a popular place for retired people to hang out. We saw ballroom dancing, card playing, cultural dances, and we heard some disappointing karaoke. The temple was fairly impressive, and the guide pointed out time and again that the building was pretty much a miracle because there were no nails used in constructing it.

After a brief stop to grab some money at the hotel, we went to some markets. Bartering is very fun. Very, very fun. I probably had too much fun. That in addition to the money feeling like Monopoly money led me to probably spend too much money. I won't tell you all that I got (some of you reading this will be direct recipients of my mad bartering skills), but I will tell you that I bartered something down from 1400 Yuan to 220 Yuan (about 35 USD). We will be going back to some more markets tomorrow afternoon after seeing some tourist destination called The Great Wall of China or something - I'm not really sure what it is. We'll see ... ; )

I am impressed with Beijing thus far. Traffic isn't too bad (partly because the government doesn't allow a certain number of cars to drive on certain days) and the buildings are all nice with many lights. The smog is fairly bad, but I don't feel like I'm breathing in fumes all day or anything. Well, that's all for me for now.
Take care!

We spent a short night at an airport hotel in KL, Malaysia, before waking up bright and early at 5:30am for our flight to Kunming, China. Kunming is a city of roughly 6 million people (considered medium-sized), which is known as the city of eternal spring and is also known for being quite natural.

Our amazing guide, "Mr. E," met us at the airport, and we drove to our nice hotel in the center of the city.

We had our first authentic Chinese meal on the top floor of our hotel overlooking the city. I am slowly but surely figuring out how to work the chopsticks, and all of us on the study tour have agreed that we are eating like kings!

That afternoon a number of us guys went walking down a street with a ton of markets where they were selling everything from Nike shoes to pig faces. I made my first bartering purchase when I stumbled upon a Phoenix Suns (my favorite NBA team) warm-up jacket. The guy wrote down a price, and then I wrote down a price. He countered, and then I countered before we agreed on the final price.

For dinner we drove with our guide to another fabulous dinner. On the way back from dinner I asked our guide a lot of questions about China, such as what he thought of George W. Bush, the problem of Taiwan, the family planning/one child policy, the tax system, what the Olympics meant to the Chinese people, and one government policy he disagreed with (he skirted this question by saying he disagreed with a decision to do construction on two major roads at the same time).

Wine business
The next day (yesterday) we were up relatively early again for a three-hour bus ride to Yuann Winery. The vines looked drastically different than the vines we had seen in Australia. The winery was surprisingly large with huge vats and a large cellar with thousands of wine barrels. We proceeded to sample the wine - one white and one red. Ben (one of our group leaders who is a viticulture major) said the wine was much improved from his last visit. Though no wine expert myself, I did not find either particularly enjoyable, and most all of us were in agreement.

Wine is a growing industry in China and is quickly becoming a status symbol to display one's wealth. Chinese are not educated about wine, and they often add sprite to it. I believe only about 5 percent of Chinese drink wine, but with a population as large as China, that means about 100 million people buy wine on a regular basis. I will continue to keep you updated on more of what I'm learning about the wine industry since this is one of the focuses of the tour.

Stone Forest
After the winery we drove another two hours (long drives are becoming a theme) to a famous tourist spot called the Stone Forest. I was impressed with the enormous limestone rocks that jet out of the ground across countless acres. It's rather hard to describe them, and I hope to include a picture of them in the next day or two thanks to the generosity of my friend Bratton, who will help me upload pictures.

After walking around the stone forest for an hour or so, we boarded our bus for another long drive to dinner, where my favorite dish was Peacock. We were supposed to watch a cultural show, but we arrived too late. Last night we also hit the town for a little bit, and at one of the bars we watched a show with a guy who did some cool tricks. At one point he put James on his shoulders and walked over glass and even jumped on the glass in bare feet. Later, I participated in tug-a-war where the man was in the middle and the rope was around his waist. It tightened around his waist dramatically as both sides pulled hard! Quite amusing and unique experiences.

On to Xian
This morning we said a tearful goodbye to our beloved guide, and we boarded our flight to Xian. Though sunny, the weather is significantly colder here (around 45 degrees), and this reminds me of Thanksgiving back in the States. We drove an hour into the city from the airport and stopped at the Wild Goose Pagoda, where we climbed the stairs to the top for a nice view around the square and the city as a whole. We then drove to the hotel and checked in before going out to explore the city and find food.

Nothing was planned this afternoon so we split up and did various things. I just returned from a long walk to the Bell Tower where we had dinner after searching for places for a long time. Tomorrow we head out to visit the Terracotta Warriors.

Views of China
Okay, so now some brief thoughts on China. My initial impressions of China going into the trip included the "made in China" label, a huge population, Yao Ming, Communist government, fireworks and the Beijing Olympics. I have learned a lot in my first few days here.

Also, if you have any questions about China please post a comment, and I will be sure to answer them as best I can.

First, the cities here are enormous. Only in China is a city of 8 million people (Xian) considered a medium-sized city. There are gigantic apartment structures built all around the city. They are also continuing to build a lot, and I counted about 30 cranes as we approached the city center earlier today.

The cities are much more modern than I expected, and there is more wealth here than I thought. However, there is also a huge contrast between rich and poor. I can't get over seeing BMWs pass mules pulling carts on the road. There is such a contrast! The disparity becomes even more stark as we drive 15 minutes outside the city and there are terraced rice fields and workers using hoes to weed the plants. The best picture I can give would be combining a modern city like Dallas to a town in Mexico - as weird as that might be, that is how I would describe China.

My picture and understanding of a communist government has changed, and I'm still trying to learn more about it. At this point, my understanding is that it's not based on a system of distribution of wealth, but the defining aspect of Communism is that it's a one-party system and the government still has a lot of power over the people - it's a little mind-boggling that the government can dictate that you are only allowed to have one child.

Mr. E told me the tax rates were quite low, and even lower for private enterprises compared to that of the government-owned businesses. 1978 was the most pivotal year for the Chinese economy because that was the start of the open door policy and allowed for outside investors to come in. Since then, the Chinese economy has grown exponentially. The other thing I have noticed, which will come as no surprise, is the group mentality of the people and the national pride they have. However, I also found it interesting that the Chinese name for America translates as "beautiful land."

Well, that's all for me for now. Please let me know of any questions.

Take care and God Bless,

Stephen

The last week and a half I have spent a lot of time studying. I had two finals in both my finance classes, and each one was worth about 50 percent of our final grade. My very last final had six questions, so each question was basically worth 10 percent of my grade. I remember back in high school where it was a school policy that no final exam could be worth over 10 percent of our grade. Those days have definitely changed.

I had a number of other friends in these classes, and studying together was very helpful as we motivated and challenged each other to finish this semester strong academically. Overall, the tests went fairly well, but we'll see how they're graded ...

In the midst of studying, I still managed to try to enjoy my last week in Australia. One day I ventured downtown with friends to do some souvenir shopping, and I also studied there at a coffee shop a number of times. On a sunny afternoon I went to a cafe overlooking the beach to continue my pursuit of understanding futures, forwards and options contracts.

We've had three more family dinners together, and I have included a picture from one of those gatherings. One thing my friend and I commented on is how much we will miss evenings like those, with simple gatherings of everyone together. When we return home, busyness and conflicting schedules prevent the ease of gatherings like the ones we've been blessed with so often while abroad.

Sunday, Fremantle had a festival, and I went there with a friend. Fremantle is the best place to people watch that I have ever been to. There are so many styles, people, cultures, and funky outfits everywhere you look. We also visited the Fremantle prison and took a guided tour through its halls. During the tour I felt like I was a tourist in my own town, so I guess that means I have been able to make Perth home for the last few months. One sidenote, the cells looked surprisingly similar to our dorm rooms here in Australia ; )

That evening, we went to a large gathering of over 200 churches right on the waterfront in a park in downtown Perth. There were close to 15,000 people there, and it was a really neat experience to see the unity in the churches coming together. The guy who spoke was even a pastor from Portland, Oregon (my hometown) - it truly is a small world after all.

Tuesday was the day of my last exam, and it felt great to get it over with. Though it doesn't quite make up for the stress in studying for a final, the relief one feels when finishing finals week is something truly unique and special. I will miss that feeling when I graduate from college.

Yesterday, we had a meeting to go over everything for our study tour to China, and afterward we spent the day at Cottesloe beach. Also, Stewart, one of my good friends here, met up with Dale, a guy he'd spent time volunteering with over the semester. Dale has cerebral palsy, and he wanted to have lunch with Stewart one last time. A number of us guys joined them, and it was a neat time.

Afterward, Dale expressed his sincere gratitude for Stewart's help and encouragement over the last few months and said how he would miss Stewart. It was quite touching and I believe Britney Jo would've cried. Anyway, way to go Stew for truly having a positive impact on someone's life this semester! (We rewarded Stew by burying him in the sand and I have included the picture :).

Today, I have spent the morning packing, doing laundry, and writing this blog! Tonight, we are hopefully going to make it out to watch one last amazing sunset over the Indian Ocean. Tomorrow evening, they are doing a going-away dinner for us at a local hotel. Since we will be in China on Thanksgiving, they are preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for us! Needless to say, we are very excited!

I will try to update this blog every few days in China to inform you of our daily happenings. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Take care and God Bless,

Stephen
1 John 5:3

After a very early morning flight, I caught a train to Circular Quay (pronounced "key"). My friend from high school is studying abroad in Sydney, and I was headed to meet up with her. She told me to get off at Circular Quay and proceed to wharf #3 to take a ferry across the harbour to Manly beach, where her school is located.

I proceeded to follow these directions rather robotically, as if I was just going through the motions. However, as I descended the stairs from the train station, the grandeur of the famous sights in Sydney stopped me dead in my tracks. While only seconds ago I was blindly following directions in mundane public transport, I was now standing near the centre of Sydney Harbor staring at the enormous Harbour Bridge off to my left and the notorious Sydney Opera house off to my right. I had to pinch myself in half-disbelief that I was actually in Sydney!

I met up with my friend, Deborah, at the ferry terminal, and we walked around the quaint beach town while also taking a stroll down the very popular Manly beach. After some amazing ice cream and catching up on former classmates, we embarked on the first of many climbs up a huge hill to her school, which looks like a castle but is actually a former palace where priests lived.

That evening a group of Indigenous Australians put on a performance and made the students an Australian meal complete with Kangaroo meat.

The following day, we were up early to take the ferry into Sydney, where we went to a popular restaurant called Pancakes on the Rocks. I highly recommend this restaurant to anybody visiting Sydney. After we were loaded up on sugar, we went through some Saturday markets and viewed everything from glass-blowing performances to American license plates and racing wooden kangaroos.

Though I enjoyed the markets, I was ready to move on and continue to conquer the city, so we proceeded to walk over the Harbour Bridge. Next, we walked through the city past countless retail stores, old government buildings, and large skyscrapers to the Sydney Tower.

We took the elevator to the top, where we had a view across the whole city. I didn't realize how much of Sydney was surrounded by water. Additionally, I saw just how big the city is. Compared to Perth, Sydney is an enormous city that is very developed with sprawling suburbs and countless high-rises. This does not mitigate its beauty, but it was striking to compare the size of the city after spending the whole semester in Perth. I was also able to see the Olympic stadiums from the top of the tower.

Later that evening, Deborah's study aboard group had a dinner cruise around the Sydney harbour. We dressed up in semi-formal attire and spent the evening cruising up and down the harbour while enjoying the food and meeting new people.

Sunday, we travelled to the famous Bondi Beach and walked around before following the boardwalk and viewing countless sculptures and modern art exhibits, which were part of a show that was going on.

Next, we took the bus back into Sydney (only about a half-hour ride), and I walked up the steps of the Opera house. It is a much bigger structure than I imagined, and it didn't fail to impress me.

We then walked around the gorgeous botanical gardens, and we were so exhausted from being on our feet since the early morning that we took a nap in the park. That evening we met up with some more friends and went to a concert by a world-renowned worship band called Hillsong United. Hillsong is a well-known mega church in Sydney, and it was celebrating its 25th anniversary. The band performed from a barge in Darling Harbour (about a 20-minute walk from Circular Quay) and ended the night with an amazing fireworks show.

Monday, I was ready to slow things down a bit, and I had seen pretty much everything I wanted to in Sydney. Therefore, I decided to stay around Manly, and that was a great decision. To start the day, I went on a truly delightful run up along the beach, which led up to some cliffs, and then proceeded up to Northhead, which is an old military establishment. It ranks as one of my top five runs ever (I decided to make a list during the run).

The rest of the day was a beach day. Deborah had class, but another one of her friends came and joined me for the day. We went surfing for a majority of the day and then played beach volleyball, where we got beat fairly badly (I was the weakest link, and with only two players, there's not much room for error). However, the two guys we played against were really nice and took time to teach me different techniques and things. That evening, we enjoyed a delicious meal at a quaint Italian restaurant.

The following morning, I said goodbye and had another early morning flight up north to Cairns, which is the town known as the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. This also marked my first truly solo adventure.

Upon my arrival, I immediately delayered as I encountered the tropical climate, stifling heat, and extreme humidity. I walked around town for a bit, and I honestly found myself a little underwhelmed with the city. It was fairly "resorty," but it didn't have a beach. It looked out onto the ocean, but there was more of a swamp in the immediate vicinity.

However, there was a great community pool right on the edge of the water and in the center of town. I had a few hours to kill before I boarded a boat for a three-night adventure out on the reef. By the second hour, I was twiddling my thumbs and second-guessing my decision to come alone. However, that feeling did not last for long and I embarked on the boat around 4:30 that afternoon.

This dive trip was one of the best experiences of my life. The boat had 27 passengers, and after a few dive briefings we "steamed" through the night, and in the morning we arrived at our first of 10 dive sites. However, I am not a certified diver (the only one on the boat who wasn't. oops.) so I only went diving three times and I snorkelled about five times. However, the times I snorkelled were just about as good as the diving, and the times I dove were simply unexplainably amazing.

Steve's Bommie was the name of my favourite place. It was a pinnacle of coral reef, and from above the water you could only see a lighter-colored circle just under the water. Once we were under the water, the story changed completely. Countless fish of all shapes, sizes, and colors swam all around us. Never before have I seen such variety in designs of fish, and never have I seen such vibrant colors!

The few pictures that I took do not even capture 1/1000th of the sheer beauty and colourful creations under the water. Once again, I was pinching myself as I tried to take everything in. When recounting the trip to my good friend, I told her that if I could go anywhere in the world this second, it would be underwater somewhere on the Great Barrier Reef!

My very first dive of the trip was at a place called Cod Hole. Here, we formed a circle while kneeling on the sand underwater and proceeded to feed these giant cod. They swam all around us and were in our faces, and we got to touch them and everything. It was so cool.

I enjoyed getting to know the people onboard the boat. We spent a lot of time together and told many stories. There were people from Germany, the UK, Sweden, Japan, Spain, New York, Indiana, and a few other places. Though I was the youngest one there, everybody was very welcoming and engaging. One man was a professional butler. It was very interesting to talk with him and his wife about their experiences in that field. I also got to know another wonderfully nice young couple who were originally from the UK and now live and work in New York. The husband was even gracious enough to give me a brief tutorial in regards to a few questions I had on finance.

At the end of the trip, I also had no place to go for eight hours before my flight, and they invited me back to their hotel for the afternoon. I am continuing blessed and thankful for the kindness and friendliness of strangers. On the trip, I also discovered that there is also quite an underground cult following of serious divers. After experiencing these dive sites, I now understand why. Once again, I can't recommend the Great Barrier Reef enough. Simply awe-inspiring and amazing.

Well, this has been a very long blog entry, and I appreciate your patience in reading it (assuming I haven't bored you to tears and you are still reading at this point).

We have less than two weeks left, and it's time for me to hit the books hard over these remaining days to finish strong.

Take care and God Bless,

Stephen

Once arriving on Rottnest Island, which does not have any private ownership, we met up with the rest of our crew and rented bikes (there are also no cars on the island besides a few maintenance vehicles and a bus). From there we embarked on a 10-mile exploration loop around the island.

We stopped at a few spots along the way and spent the majority of our afternoon on a completely deserted and white sandy beach. The beach was ours to enjoy, and we wasted no time in enjoying our time - for as soon as we left our bikes, we sprinted over the small sand dune and ran into the ocean. I have never been on a completely deserted beach before and neither have I seen sand so white. If you can't tell, I'm already slightly nostalgic about the place : )

Anyway, the rest of the afternoon we leisurely rode our bikes to a few more beautiful bays before heading back to the campsite for a cookout. That night we built a fire on the beach (I had been waiting to do this for a long time). However, the rain came right after the park rangers, and we had to put out the fire and run for cover from the torrential downpour. Thankfully, Stewart and I had looked at the forecast and booked a hostel that night in anticipation of the rain. The campers abandoned the drenched campsite, and we had a few extra visitors that night.

In the morning, we went into "town" for breakfast and later went to spend a good part of the day at the beach we had enjoyed the previous day. However, the weather still did not want to cooperate with us. It rained off and on, and we left to go back to Perth on the 4 pm ferry. I hope to go back to Rottnest once more before I leave.


Sunday after church, I went to Fremantle with a few friends to visit one of the oldest cruise boats in the world, which was docked in Fremantle for a few weeks. The Doulos is older than the Titanic, and it is currently run by a Christian organization. The boat is staffed by about 350 people, all of whom are volunteers, including the captain. They travel all around the world hosting a book fair at each port they visit in addition to supporting the local churches and doing some evangelism.

I had actually met a few of the people who work on the boat at the beach earlier in the week, and they were gracious enough to give my friends and me a tour. Two of them even had the afternoon off and hadn't really explored Perth yet. I enjoyed playing tour guide for the evening as I picked their brains about many of the experiences they have had travelling the world and sharing the Gospel.

The rest of the week, I hunkered down and did a lot of school work. Yes, we do end up doing school work here. My friends and I made a website for a final project in our Indigenous Issues class and I wrote/finished three papers - two of which were worth over 40 percent of my grade.

Well, I'm off to bed now for about two hours.
Not to sound like the end of a TV show or anything, but ... stay tuned next week for an account of my trip to Sydney and up to the Great Barrier Reef.

Take care and God Bless.

My jog turned somewhat interesting when I approached a section of the beach where people seemed to have forgotten their clothing. Needless to say, I was surprised to find a nudist beach not far from one of the most popular beaches in Perth. It wasn't a huge issue until one of the many overweight and middle-aged men happened to be directly in front of my running path. Wanting to keep as much distance as possible, I swerved and soon found myself half swimming in order to maintain an appropriate personal space area. No worries though, I made it back safely and relatively unscarred with a good story to tell.

I actually just returned from going to the beach this evening for the second time in one day. After doing my laundry and cooking dinner for myself (look, mom! I'm growing up! :), a friend I met at church here invited me to go to the beach with her and some of her friends.

As we sat eating gelato, I couldn't help but notice how cool it is to be surrounded by people from different cultures with such different backgrounds. Among our small group of five people, we were all from different countries - Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Australia.

And this is where I feel a need to make an unsolicited plug for studying abroad: living overseas has truly opened the door and provided a unique opportunity to continually engage with others from different backgrounds. The understanding from these conversations cannot be taught in a classroom, but must be experienced first-hand. I have learned so much about the world we live in through numerous conversations with international students from across the globe. For whatever reason, tonight brought about a culmination of thoughts I've had now for some time, but which I have never been able to put to words.

Exactly one month from today, I will be saying goodbye to Perth. My friends and I are starting to look at the clock and realize that our time here is quickly coming to an end. My Grandpa wrote me at the beginning of this adventure, saying that "almost anywhere you can go in the world there are interesting things to see and do and experiences to live. You should do it all while you're there because there's a reasonably good chance you may never be in Perth again." He went on to say that "when people grow old many of them regret things they did in their lives, but many, many more, maybe almost all, regret things they DIDN'T do. So do it, enjoy it, and keep us informed."

I am still trying to follow his advice, and I hope to make the most of my remaining time abroad with no regrets upon my departure.

Thanks for reading.

- Stephen

After driving four hours south of Perth, we arrived in Margret River, which is a region famous for its wines. The weekend served as an introductory lesson to the world of wine tasting in preparation for our forthcoming study tour to China, where we will be studying the wine market.

We spent part of Friday evening in a laboratory at the local college, which specializes in viticulture (yes, one can major in wine making). In the lab we began to learn about the differences between riesling, semillon, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, shiraz and cabernet merlot, among others.

I soon found myself realizing that wine connoisseurs speak a whole different language. I was struggling to retain the meaning of descriptive words and phrases such as, "This has more legs," or "Here you notice the buttery feel that is rather dry with a rich American oak flavour with tannins that grip to your gums."

I concentrated on trying to learn the vocabulary as I tried to train my tastebuds to recognize the peppery spices in the shiraz as well as the blackberry or blueberry qualities of the cabernet merlot (I later found that wines do not actually contain any berries or spices. I was a little disappointed).

Well, after a truly scintillating introduction to wine tasting, the following day we were up early to volunteer in the community. We started at a park, where half of us painted an ancient train named Kate, while the other half spread mulch.

The second part of our day was rather exciting as we helped the local fire station prepare for a potential disaster situation.

They made up seven SMU students with fake burns, charred clothing, charcoal all over our bodies, and blue make-up around the faces if the "victim" was having trouble breathing. The fire station was filled with smoke, and we were given roles to play.

Stewart was the only person who actually "died," and they even put him in a body bag! Jonathan had a broken leg and didn't speak any English. By the end of the day, I was ready to nominate him for an Academy Award. His acting was truly brilliant.

Others suffered from burns, asthma, and smoke inhalation. The production was quite large, and they even loaded us onto stretchers and into ambulances before taking us to the hospital!

We had no idea we were going to be so involved. Later that night we laughed numerous times as we recounted the events of the day.

On Sunday we visited four wineries including the best winery in Australia, according to some award it had won. Through these excursions I was finally able to begin to memorize the disparities between wines, and I even began to taste their different characteristics. That being said, I don't foresee myself becoming a wine connoisseur in the near future. After an amazing lunch at our last winery, we all slept very soundly on our way back to Perth.

I hope you have an amazing rest of your day - and feel free to leave comments on the blog as I am happy to answer any questions that you have.

Cheers!

Stephen
John 15:5

I took a red-eye out of Perth on Friday night and arrived in Auckland early Saturday morning. My dad and I were able to cover a lot of ground in the eight nights we were there, and one thing was consistent throughout - the jaw dropping and awe-inspiring scenery.

Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand with a population of almost 1.5 million, which is considerable because the total population of New Zealand is only 4 million people. For anyone who has visited Vancouver, British Columbia, Auckland is fairly similar to that city.

Our first adventure was to hop aboard an America's Cup sailboat for a two-hour cruise around the harbor. This was a great experience, and we learned the basics of sailing and even helped to pull in the sails and do other various tasks as we marveled at the beauty of our surroundings. The boat seemingly glided over the water as we criss-crossed the harbor. Later that afternoon we ventured up the Sky Tower, which is the tallest structure in the Southern Hemisphere at just over 1,000 feet tall.

The following day we drove further north to an area called the Bay of Islands. We went on a boat tour of the bay and once again marveled at the sheer beauty of the place. Dolphins even came alongside our boat and spent time interacting with us. I had never seen a dolphin up close before, and they were so fun to watch. Not that you care in the least, but if I could be any animal I would definitely be a dolphin :)

The boat also took us through a large hole in a rock, which is surprisingly called "Hole in the Rock." People here tend to name things as they are; which can be boring, but it can also be a nice warning when you come to a place such as "Shark Bay."

After taking a small ferry to an even smaller town for dinner, the next day we drove across the west coast of the North Island. The rolling green hills and the coastline made the drive fly by. Also, one of my friends told me before I left that his mental picture of New Zealand included sheep everywhere. Well, his thoughts on NZ were correct, and there are probably more sheep there than people.

Our next stop was the magnificent Queenstown in the South Island. As I stepped off the airplane and onto the tarmac, I once again marveled at my surroundings. The snow-covered mountains surrounded us. Queenstown is reminiscent of a fun ski town with about 12,000 people. It is situated on a large lake and is a popular tourist, vacation and extreme sport destination.

We took a day trip to a place called Milford Sound. The drive took roughly five hours, but it's hard to complain about a long bus-trip when the scenery around every corner left me awestruck.

When we arrived, we boarded a boat to give us a tour of the Sound. The pictures just aren't able to capture the magnitude of the mountains rising out of the water. I have included a picture where you can see a tiny white speck, which is actually a fairly large tour boat at the base of the mountains. That may help to provide some perspective to the magnitude of Milford Sound. We also got to see seals and more dolphins on the tour.

In Queenstown I partook in its reputation for being an extreme sport destination by going skydiving! A company drove us south of Queenstown to an even smaller town called Glenorchy, where a lot of the filming for the Lord of the Rings trilogy took place and where they are also about to start filming parts of the third segment of the Chronicles of Narnia.

I had a brief orientation about the procedures, met my tandem partner, got suited up, and before I knew it I was walking toward the airplane leaving my somewhat nervous dad behind. My tandem partner showed me his altimeter watch at 800ft, and I thought we were already quite high. However, we still had over 11,000ft to climb before I would jump out! I was mostly excited and, surprisingly, not too nervous. I tried to take it all in because I knew it would be over shortly. The best part was when we leveled out at 12,000ft and they flung the door open. Looking down I remember saying a quick prayer and realizing that I would actually be jumping out in a matter of seconds. Crazy!

Before I knew it, we were out of the plane. It only felt like I was falling for a second or two, and then it was just really windy as I plummeted toward the earth. We had about 45 seconds of freefall before the parachute opened and everything instantly became so peaceful and serene as we softly floated around for about five minutes before landing safely on the ground, much to the relief of my dad (and probably my mom for that matter, but she didn't find out I went skydiving until she opened her email and saw the pictures I forwarded her).

The next day we drove to Franz Josef glacier and hiked to the base. Driving to the glacier I told my dad that I thought I'd be under-impressed by the glacier. However, I was wrong and it was well worth the drive and the hike.

The following day we drove another 2 hours to catch the TranzApline train, which is supposed to be one of the top ten most scenic train rides in the world. The train ride was a great experience, but it was also the only time where I was slightly disappointed with the scenery. The weather was really bad and that prevented us from viewing the Southern Alps as we went through them.

The train took us to Christchurch, where we spent our last night. The city has roughly 300,000 people and has an English influence. The large Cathedral is the main attraction of the city. The architecture was beautiful and reminded me of one of the countless similar churches in Europe. The botanical gardens were also very nice and so was our last meal - I thought it was appropriate to have lamb the last night in honor of the thousands we passed by over the course of the week.

Well, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed hearing about my New Zealand adventures. I'm back in Perth now ready to hit the books for a rather busy last month of school.

Take care,

Stephen
Psalm 121:1-2

Two weeks ago I went in for a job trial (basically an unpaid two hour training session) at a local restaurant right on the water. Everything went well, and the few tables I waited were very enthusiastic to talk with me once they noticed my American accent. I left with the job and was planning to come in the following Wednesday to work for the majority of the day. I was excited. However, I received a call the next day informing me that they no longer wished to hire me because I wouldn't be able to stay through the Christmas season. So that's my story of being hired and fired within 24 hours.

Anyway, last weekend I had an amazingly unique opportunity to travel to the actual outback - meaning a mining company paid to fly five of us directly east of Perth to volunteer in a community of around 250 people. We flew over extremely flat, barren land that was, of course, covered in red dirt. The town is called Laverton, and the volunteer organization on campus has a continued relationship with them. They fly volunteers out there every couple of weeks.

The trip was more informative than anything else. There is a strong Aboriginal presence in the community, and Indigenous people in Australia still face many difficult issues. School attendance, a lack of work, alcoholism and racism against them are a few of the problems faced on a daily basis. There is a long history of cultural difficulties that reach back to the first settlements in Australia. Even as recently as the 1960s the government still practiced assimilation methods, which oftentimes resulted in young Aboriginals being forcibly removed from their family and placed into the home of a white family to be raised.

My time in Laverton really helped to flesh out and see first-hand what has been discussed in my Indigenous Issues class. I left with the realization that there are no easy answers, but that there are good people working hard to fix the problems and support the children. We spent time talking with the school teachers, police chief, hospital staff, and the volunteer ambulance crew. We ran activities for the kids on Saturday morning, and later in the day we played Australian football with the children before playing basketball later that night. Needless to say, we were tired by the end of the day.

Unfortunately, we were only allowed to bring one group camera and so I don't have pictures with the kids to show you. However, I did sneak my camera in my bag, and I brought it with us as we watched the sunset over the outback.

Well, that's all for me from now.

Take care and God Bless,

Stephen

PS I also just sent in my overseas ballot and voted!

The flight took less then four hours, and when we stepped outside the airport, it truly felt like we were on the other side of the world. The first few nights we stayed in Kuta, which is one of the main cities and was also the site of the tragic nightclub bombings back in October 2002. Though I had worried parents back home, I felt very safe while in Bali. The security and policemen were noticeably present, and even our taxis were quickly looked over before pulling into our hotel.

Our first day on the beach was terrific. We rented surfboards for two hours, and some of us even got massages on the beach after eating fresh mangos and coconuts. We also had sore throats by the end of the day from saying "no thank you" to all of the people trying to sell us stuff. They would sell everything from bracelets to, our personal favorite, a complete bow and arrow set. Unfortunately, one friend learned the hard way how close we were to the equator. Pale skin + no sun screen + oil from the massage + intense sun = one painful sunburn!

We loved the Balinese people and their friendliness. We learned how to say the simple "thank you" in Balinese - "suksumo" - and this simple gesture would brighten their faces. The streets would be crowded with mopeds, taxis, and a few bikes. It's a poor/developing country with 80 percent of their GDP coming from tourism.

We spent the bulk of our trip in Tanjung Benoa, which is near the Nusa Dua resort area. This became our home base for many adventures. My favorite part of the trip was our trek up a volcano at 3 a.m. to watch the sunrise. It was truly breathtaking (in more ways than one, if you include the two-hour hike up).

We also greatly enjoyed white-water rafting through the jungle. The gorgeous river flowed through the valley with terraced rice paddies rising high above us in the surrounding hills. We also ducked under bamboo bridges, got showered by waterfalls, and saw the occasional local person bathing in the river.

Other highlights from the trip include a boat ride and snorkel trip to an island off the coast of Bali, eating fresh seafood on the beach, parasailing, visiting a forest filled with monkeys, and watching a cultural dance while watching the sunset on our last night.

Needless to say, we were rather sad to leave. However, returning to Australia was also not a disappointment in the least.

Lastly, congratulations to the Mustangs on the first of many wins this season.

Take care and God bless,

Stephen
Heb. 10:23-24

Let's see ... One of the first highlights of my time abroad was our orientation retreat. We traveled over an hour outside the city to a place called Yanchep. There we stayed in a quaint inn and got inundated with Australian culture. American stereotyping of Australia includes kangaroos, cool accents, surfing, boomerangs and the Crocodile Hunter. On the retreat we got a firsthand taste of a few of these stereotypes. The kangaroos around the property did not disappoint us in their appearance and graceful hopping.

Furthermore, surfing that first morning was a huge highlight. It was after I had caught my first wave that I pinched myself and thought, "I can't believe I'm actually in Australia." Also, on the retreat we learned how to throw a boomerang and how to perform an Aboriginal dance. Most of all, the retreat provided a time for the 11 SMU students and 30 other students from America to bond as a group, and I have been blessed by all the new friendships here.

Curtin University is located in a suburb outside of Perth, which is a city of about 1.5 million people, and it's situated alongside the beautiful Swan River. The downtown area is fun to visit, and it takes about 25 minutes to get there by public transportation.

The surrounding coastal towns have also been quite fun to explore. Fremantle is one of my favorite towns. It's situated right on the Indian Ocean with a large harbor, quaint buildings, great fish and chips, and has a trendy brewery called Little Creatures.

The other spot my friends and I also frequent is Cottesloe Beach. The spot is a well-know surfing location for the locals with the waves cresting beautifully off the jetty (unfortunately, I'm not quite good enough to catch the waves here). The beach has a long stretch of white sand, and we try to come here every Friday afternoon. Though dodgy (that's Australian for "sketchy") at first, the weather has been fairly nice after our first few weeks of rain - it was a little hard leaving the American summer to come to cooler weather. Also, for all the Heath Ledger fans out there, his ashes were spread on Cottesloe beach.

Other highlights have included attending a rugby game versus South Africa, and also going to a couple of "footy" games. Australian football is a joy to watch and is best described as a mix between soccer and rugby with American football field goals. We also traveled on a winery tour around the Swan River Valley where we sampled local wines and even visited a chocolate factory.

Classes have been going fairly well. Each individual class only meets once a week, so it has taken a little getting used to not returning back to a class for six days. I'm taking International Relations in the Asia Pacific, Media and Indigenous Issues, Managerial Finance, and Financial Instruments and Markets. My finance classes have been challenging due to the contrasting teaching styles. We do not use financial calculators here, and part of our class is taught by foreign graduate students. Though I enjoy my classes, sometimes I find myself missing my SMU professors.

Well, that's all for now. I hope I've been able to give you a slight glimpse into my adventures and experiences while studying abroad. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Take care and God Bless,
Stephen
Romans 1:20