Relay for Life + Aussie Rules Football

Saturday was a busy day for me. I woke up early and headed off to participate in Relay for Life at Centennial Park in Sydney. It was the first Relay held at Centennial Park for the Eastern suburbs, so I was glad to be a part of the event! It was very powerful seeing so many people gather for a cause. I was especially struck by the opening events and the survivors/carers walk. It really made me realize how many people are somehow affected by cancer at one point or another in their lives. I got a luminaria for Dana and even though I did not get to see it lit up I know it looked beautiful!

Relay went well. It is a 24 hour event but we left for the Aussie Rules football game and since I have been sick I did not go back to Relay after the game. I am hoping to participate next year at Case and I will be able to participate in the entire event.

The Aussie Rules football (AFL) game was held at the ANZ (they pronounce 'z' as 'zed' here) Olympic Park Stadium. We went to see the Sydney Swans (nice name) take on the West Coat Eagles. The stadium is huge!! There were almost 40,000 people there and it looked half empty! I was glad that I got the chance to see the stadium, it is really nice.

I am not sure how I feel about AFL- it is like a mixture between soccer and rugby, but is really high scoring. I do not know enough to explain it well, but as you can see in the picture there is a goal post-like structure. A team gets 6 points if they kick the ball into the middle section, and then 1 point of they kick it into either of the goals on the side. The clock never stops (like soccer) and the guys are always running and kicking and catching the ball. I counted 18 people on each team on the field at one time! That is a lot of guys on one field. It is 'full contact' so there was a decent amount of shoving and pushing, which was probably the most fun part to watch. The game was really close at the end and the crowd was really excited. Sydney ended up scoring a 6 point goal right near the end making the final score 104 to 101. Overall it was a fun experience and I am glad I got the chance to see a game.

Today I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. They had some funky exhibits and it was nice to walk around and look at all of the art. It was a beautiful day today and so my friend Nate and I sat and ate ice cream at a cafe overlooking the harbor, and we walked around Circular Quay and enjoyed the weather. It was a nice afternoon and it was great to see Circular Quay on such a nice day!

Not too much is up for this coming week. I have another professional development workshop this Thursday, and I will be working on one of my final papers. I am beginning to feel the pangs of homesickness, so I am going to try my best to occupy my time.

The cooking class was officially canceled. One was rescheduled for when I was in NZ so I was only able to attend 1, which makes 2 total (i went during orientation). I still learned a lot from those 2 times, however, and I am looking forward to practicing cooking more once I return home! I never knew how much I loved cooking and having a stove/oven until I came here.

Love,
Becky