Chillin in the city ..

Hi All!
Its been a little while since i have updated..so I thought I would let you all know what I am up to at the moment. Things at YouthWorks are going awesome!! I am absolutly loving to there, the people are amazing..so much fun. So that is going great! We work with all different schools from all over Sydney, some private schools with the snottiest kids i have ever met, and some schools from the country with hillarious kids. Basically I teach canoeing and stuff like that. I am now officially requalified as a lifeguard and I have my australian boat licence. Its been a really busy month, but totally great! This weekend I made my way to Jills and have spent the weekend chillin with Jill, Mark Wilkinson, and Ben. Good times. Here are some pics from the last weekish..hope things are going great in Canada. I think I have successfully convinced at least 3 people to come to Canada. so good!
Lots of love
Melisssa!

This is Ash one of my good mates from YouthWorks, hanging out by the opera house!

Hawaiian parrtay! at Jills! Tom, Mark, Ben, Jilly, Jills Dad, and I had a blast hanging out in Turramurra this weekend!

Chillin in Jills new pool!

celebrity

so i wanted to let you all know that i am now famous in australia. no not because i am just that awesome....i have made an apperance in the media...well one that i didnt know about untill last week...haha...heres the story....i was in the city one night with Jill and Tom and we went to a neo-soul hip hop show..... the artists name was common..hes really good..i was impressed...apparently there were members of the press at this event as well....and Tom and I somehow managed to find our way into a photo...which then found its way into a sydney wide weekly paper called drum media quote "sydney's largest circulating free music publication"...check it out at www.drummedia.com.au

left to right....Tom Ricks....some random guy who decided to enter my personal space...and me!

vineyards and new views

Hi everyone.. well I have finally organized myself to post some new photos. So here we go.....

I went to an all day festival in a vineyard area called Barowl ... it was so beautiful..called Day on the Green. I went with Jill and some of her friends. Went to Wolly's..the most popular grocery store and packed a great picnic and headed out. The festival featured a bunch of really great Australian artists... it was a great day...Now thats what I like to see!!!!

This is Missy Higgians the headliner of the day...shes great...I bought her CD...so you will all be forced to listen to it when I come home!!

So here are some pics of my new home at Anglican Youth Works - Port Hacking...here is my little room...its pretty sweet as ......like the wall decor...haha..

Here is a shot of the living room in my little house...also the tiny kitchen..and the other door goes to Susans room...This is a shot of the river that my house looks on to...this is where we have all of our water activities...its so beautiful..huge sandbars..starfish..pelicans..dolphins...This is a familiar sign on the road that I walk down to get from my house to the site office in the mornings...looks normal..only slightly different!

its......UNBELIEVABLE!!

hi all....just a quick note ....
things are going great at Youthworks...I finally have it all figured out and am starting to really enjoy myself...i think the next couple of months are going to be great here...a cool story from today...
I was out in a dragon boat...kinda like a war canoe...and we were paddling out to a sand bar...so fun! and just to our right and DOLPHIN!!!!!! started swimming up and jumping out of the water!!!
it was so increadible to see!! love it!! i had a little bit of a freek out and the kids all thought I was weird cause they see them all the time...but again my touristy obnoxious canadian self came out....haha...it was great!

oh side note...two Canadian girls are here for two weeks just checking the place out..its great to have more Canadians around...there from Orangeville...weird eh ?

lots of love
melissa

sisters, oztag, and che

Hullo! How you goin, mates ?
Here are some pics from the last little bit...hope you enjoy!

The weekend before I started work at YouthWorks, I went to a convention with Jill's church in a city called Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. It is absolutly beautiful there and I had a great time! One afternoon we did a little site seeing and went out to see the three sisters, here they are below...
You can actually climb out on the "1000 stairs" and go to the first sister...its freeky but we did it..seriously your walking on stairs that are as steep as a ladder....

This little bridge takes you out so you can go on the first sister....i did it..the view is beautiful!

In the city there is tons of grafitti ... its weird but the city doesnt really care..because most of the time it looks amazing..i think it kinda goes with the surf culture..every year at new years they havea big sign on the Harbor bridge that lights up during the fire works display...this year it was the word eternity...because for years a homeless man in the city had been writing it on stuff...and you can find it all over the city...its pretty cool....anyway...this is a pic of che...on someones garage...pretty good if you ask me...

One night afterwork I went with a bunch of people to watch an Oztag game...its like the intermural version of rugby...but with weird rules...it was confusing...ahah...anyway its like ultimate frisbee around here...

hope that you are all well

lots of love

melissa

YouthWorks

so I havent dropped off the face of the planet...i have been so busy at work and the only time i can use the internet is after work in the camp office...SO...I will be doing a huge update this weekend with pictures and everything....
things at YouthWorks are good, its a little tough getting used to a whole new camp with new people and of course they do everything weird compaired to pioneer.
BUT the people here are great and I am starting to get to know them so that is good... this week coming up i am teaching a bunch of activities with a group of grade 9 and 10's so I am really looking forward to that. I am living with Susan Doyle in a cute little house with a 5 star view...and a massive ant problem..so says Susan. Its been great catching up with her and having her here to show me the ropes!
So I hope that you are all well and that winter isnt too harsh at the moment,
thanks for all the emails and posts its nice to hear from you all!
lots of love
melissa