my heart like a kickdrum...: October 2013

What I've learned....

By Em O 4:40 AM Australia, DTS2013, MADYWAM, photography, photos, travel

So... if I sit here and actually think the thought "I'm living in Australia" its kind of crazy. It doesn't feel real. I am sharing a room with 11 other girls (dorm style.) I sleep on the bottom bunk. There is a room right next door with another twelve girls. We have three toilets and two showers. We are supposed to keep showers to about 8 minutes.

We have electricity and fans in the room... I can even pick up wifi on my computer. Its pretty comfortable. Right now, the weather is cool in the mornings, hot in the afternoon, and cool and breezy again in the evening. The sun sets pretty early... like, not long after 6pm. Things close early here as well... from like 5-6pm. On Thursday evenings, they have "late night shopping" where most of the stores stay open til 8 or 9pm.

About a 10 minutes walk from base, there is a shopping mall, which has a store very similar to Walmart (although, its cleaner and classier.) called Big W. And we can do grocery shopping at Woolworth's (anyone else remember having those in the Sates?)

Drink sizes are a lot smaller here. A medium at Macca's (Mcdonalds) is the size of a small in the States. (This didn't surprise me, since I have traveled before. Its funny though, makes me feel like the US is the Pawnee of the world... "“horrifying” 512-ounce cup, which is “roughly the size of a 2-year-old child, if the child were liquefied.")

They have a fascination with chicken flavored chips.

They drive on the opposite side of the road... and the opposite side of the car... its really hard to remember when crossing the street. I just look all ways like 10 times.

Apparently its illegal to have your arm outside your car window while driving...

The cafe on base makes the most delicious thick shakes. The Chai and the Espresso ones are my favorite. Next time, I'm trying the Dirty Chai one. Yes. I will come back 50 pounds heavier. Don't judge me.

The birds make the craziest noises. Like, they sound like they are laughing at you... or they're monkeys. Either one is a bit startling at 5am.

I've seen some CRAZY big spiders. And I moved on.

A bunch of us girls just spent like 20 minutes playing in photobooth- laughing til we cried at our photos.

We're eating a lot of pasta. I'm not really a pasta person... so... I need to get creative with how to eat my meals. :)

The fruit bats are HUGE. Like... a foot and a half from wing to wing. Really scary and freaky to see one for the first time.

Here Now.

By Em O 3:41 AM art, Australia, MADYWAM, music, Photo, photography, photos

Learning to live in the moment…

"...Momentary carbon stories
From the ashes, filled with Holy Ghost
Life is here now, breathe it all in
Let it all go, you are earth and wind…"

-Gungor, I am Mountain

Out and About

By Em O 12:14 AM Australia, autumn, DTS2013, MADYWAM, October, photography, photos, travel, YWAM

Thursday evening, my friend Shannon and I took the train into Brisbane to photograph all the pretty lights of the city together. It was a beautiful windy and cool evening and we had a ton of fun riding the train and chatting, walking about and snapping photos of each other with the city as our backdrop. The photos of me are by Shannon (thank you!) and the rest I shot.

I love this beautiful canopy of flowers down in Southbank....

We popped in at a 7Eleven (classy, right? They're everywhere here!) and bought drinks... Shannon had brought Tim Tams, so she had to try a Tim Tam slam.

Regardless of if it worked or not.... Tim Tams are always amazing.

I love that I've already found people to be my crazy self with... and they aren't running away (yet.) :)

So... we also had a moment where this couple behind me parked their stroller with their child right by us and then walked to the other end of the bench... and then, came back a few minutes later and thanked us. Apparently we had our first Australian babysitting gig and weren't even aware. I find it so hysterical that Shannon captured it... and my face. Because this is how we felt....

Goals and Projects

By Em O 11:41 PM art, autumn, double exposure, DTS2013, MADYWAM, October, photography, photos, YWAM

This has been a full week. Different morning classes, lectures, chores, activities and our very first art focus days.

I'm on the photography track on my DTS (if you hadn't already guessed) and so yesterday, the photographers all met to talk about our goals and schedule for the next few months. The two YWAM staffers leading our team encouraged us to write down three achievable goals for the next few months, having to do with our photography and the relationship of God within our art.

Then our assignment was to create three photographs that represented those goals. A touch abstract but a nice creative challenge.

I will do my best to share all three with you over the next few months, but here is my first one and how I am attempting to reach that goal.

At home in Ohio I am constantly pinning fun techniques or things to try, but I rarely get around to them. Here... I have the time and the purpose to work on them. There are some really beautiful (digital) double exposure compositions on the internet and I've always wanted to try my hand at some.

So, one of my goals was to create a series of digital double exposures with a common theme, thread or story. I'm not sure what that is exactly, but I had some fun playing around with my technique in Photoshop yesterday... something I haven't done in ages!

My beautiful team-mate and friend Julia was kind enough to pose for these.... (I'm still refining my technique, but I'm finding this quite fun and a good chance to think outside the box)