Backlog Blog # 1

“Welcome to Melbourne!”

The girls have looks, and the girls have rules –

They came here from their Bible schools.

They can make you pay attention

To the way you dress and eat

Make you trip over your own two feet…

I’m a teen for God!

It’s like this. The airport started out empty, three people within sight. Then all of sudden, it started to fill. And I slowly started to notice the kind of people with which it was filling. They showed a startling and slightly distressing tendency to wear matching tie-dyed or polo shirts, often with slogans like “Queen of Apostles Church” (one guy’s was far blunter than that, reading only: “Catholic”), wore wooden crosses on strings around their necks, sat together in little groups talking about Jesus, and were almost all teenagers or adults who looked like they had been herding teenagers through airports all night.

Oh, and did I mention the two priests, the deacon, and the friendly nun?

All put together they made a riddle with only one answer: World Youth Day in Sydney is this week, and Catholic teenagers from all over the globe are pouring into the city.

This made a nice opening topic with my fellow IES students, some twenty hours later as we sat bolting pizza in a Melbourne cafe as if we hadn’t eaten for days. It turned out that I was the only one who knew the why behind all the teens-for-god, but I was not the only one who had encountered them. Everyone in our small group of six had, and had been totally baffled by their presence.

I can just about remember the names of my two roommates, although there were six of us for lunch. One is called Keren (said Karen, I don’t know) and the other is Melanie. I packed way, way less than everyone else, and got to be just a little smug about it when I carried everything upstairs in one trip. Melanie in particular has two huuuuge duffle bags, bigger than my biggest suitcase. Not that this is much of a surprise; I’m actually a pretty light packer for long trips, although I hopelessly overpack for short ones. All the other girls basically stared at me open-mouthed, but I just don’t have that many clothes. Cassiel did the same thing when I got to college – “Where is everything?!” – but I think I packed well.

So I like all the girls. Keren grates on me just a touch, but I think that may have more to do with how little sleep I’ve gotten. I had a four-hour delay in LA, during which I slept maybe half an hour, and then got about five hours of sleep on the plane. So at this point (it’s about three on Saturday the twelfth here) I’ve been awake like thirty hours. Or more. I just had a shower, which made me feel more human, as did eating, so I suspect that when I get some sleep I will be much more kindly inclined towards everyone.

I am very fond of the girl from DC. She’s friendly and is doing her level best to get everyone talking, right up to asking us questions about where we’re from, what we study, what our families are like. She also takes huge delight in everything – we came out from the café and she said, “Look! A tram! Guys – guys, we’re here, we’re in Australia!” and laughed.

A few minutes later we had crossed the street (I am going to die crossing the street, the cars are going the WRONG DIRECTION) and found a little structure outside the post office. “There’s a kangaroo on it! And – oh my god, there’s a button.” She pressed it, and water came out. We all were totally delighted at this, which may give you a good idea of how jetlagged we really are, and spent the next few minutes playing with it. Then we went back to the hotel, I took a shower and began to realize just how tired I really am. My bones hurt.

And it is only three o’clock.

Alright, I’m going to go hang out down the hall. Well, first brush my teeth and put on my necklace, but you get the idea.

Cheers, mate!