People Watching

I really like people watching. One of my favorite P-days on the mission was my second week in Rome and the 4 of us sorelle went to St. Peter's Square, got a ton of McDonald's, sat on some steps in the shade and people watched. Hilarious.

Flashback!

So this Saturday there was a Greek Festival that Aaron and Sally wanted to go to, so I tagged along. Before it started we just sat on some grass at Southbank and I sat in the sun and watched people. Love it!

Then of course it was just really pretty as always!

We went to the festival and I was surrounded by delicious smells and tons of people. I tried many different types of Greek food that I had never had before, and it was the first time that I ate and liked calamari haha. Never been a fan before, but this stuff was tasty.

There was a Greek Orthodox church nearby so I went inside and enjoyed that. Beautiful church.

I can't escape the Saints!

Then yesterday when I got home from church (which we have 2:00-5:00...awful when you get out of church and it's getting dark already...) I had a beautiful view waiting for me from the deck!

Can you all just look how cute miss Emily is?

Check out that big booty!!! Thanks to her washable nappies that are massive haha. So cute!

Buona settimana a tutti!

I love to see the temple.

So during the week I'm sure I won't have much variety to write about as the days will become pretty repetitive mostly. But the past week was my first week taking care of Emily and things went well! We like each other and we have fun, so that is positive. :) Aaron and Sally treat me very well and so my living situation is great. All good things!

We are inside pretty much all the time, so we went on our first walk on Thursday which was much needed. Being outside just calms me. Emily falls asleep in the pram (stroller) really quickly, so I can just bring my ipod and zone out as I walk up and down the mega hills in this city. It was awesome.

Plus, this suburb is pretty nice and beautiful.

This picture does not do the hills justice.

I also went on a couple of runs this week. I'm working on being healthier since the past couple of years haven't been my best.

At night when Emily goes to bed we have been watching Band of Brothers, which is a fantastic series about a company of paratroopers in World War II. Insane to watch their experiences on a screen. I've read a book series by the LDS author Dean Hughes like 5 times called Children of the Promise that deals with a family who have 4 kids in the service during WWII - three sons as a POW in the Philippines and Japan, a Paratrooper, and a Marine, and then a daughter as a Navy nurse. I love these books and have learned a lot about the war from them. Band of Brothers is like watching the paratrooper experiences that I read about come to life. It's quite incredible. And incredibly sad. I recommend the series (both the TV show and the books).

Yesterday I went into the city again to explore some more. I walked a ton and got to see lots more stuff. I went into a museum and learned cool things, walked around Southbank a ton and had a Works Burger for lunch (piled high with hamburger, bacon pineapple, egg, lettuce, tomato, onion...and I think that's it). Apparently it's an Australian thing. Pretty delicious and MESSY haha.

As I was walking across one of the bridges I saw the temple in the distance and decided I wanted to go to the grounds. But I very much did not know where it was haha and I ended up on the wrong side of the river. So instead I walked along a pretty path along the river at the botanical gardens, then did a huge loop through the city to go back to Southbank and walk all the way back that way to go to Kangaroo Point and the CORRECT side of the river this time. It's kinda cool because you go up the cliff once you get up all the stairs...BOOM. There's the temple. :) I love to see the temple. I got to sit on the grounds for a little bit before I almost got locked in! I'm glad I eventually made it there after proving how directionally challenged I am.

Other cool things from this week:

Went to a market and bought stuff to make yummy food this week. Including lasagna. YEP.

Saw a protest parade for equal rights in the city. Lots of people.

Got a ride to church and my ward has more Polynesians than Australians and they are all so so so nice!!! Then I completely felt like a missionary again as I got invited to dinner at the bishop's house (his wife was the one who gave me a ride to church) and also to another family's house for dinner this Wednesday. I met a lot of YSA and was told about weekly institute and other things going on. I feel better now that I know I am where I am supposed to be and people are so willing to help me. I LOVE THE CHURCH! It's true no matter where you are in the world. I'm grateful for good people in the world.

That's pretty much it from this week. Good stuff to come!

Mamma mia!

I pretty much have the coolest mom. She knows I'm pretty strange but she usually just goes with it and laughs with me despite my weirdness.

Like when I send her weird youtube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awf45u6zrP0

Or write awesome poetry as a 5 year old.

She graduated college after years of diligence!!

And heaven knows that she helped me get to my graduation as well. :)

Mom, you're the bees knees. I love you more than I love In n Out and chili cheese fritos and slurpees (not together). More than a fat kid loves chocolate cake. More than the kangaroos and koala bears in Australia. You're pretty awesome you know, helping me get through high school, go on a mission, graduate from college, get all grown up. I know I do lots of things you don't understand and that we're quite different in lots of ways, but those times we butt heads I often believe it's because we're a lot alike. And if that's the case, I'm pretty lucky :) Thanks for putting up with me the past (almost) 24 years. Thanks for supporting me in all my adventures through Jerusalem, Italy, and now Australia. I'll try not to fall in love with a foreigner and if you do decide to come visit me here, we're gonna party it up and I'll take you to the good food places once I find out where they are too :) I'm glad you're where you are now in life with Bob, because you really do seem happy. I'm grateful for that. 

Ode to Mamma Mia

My mom is so sweet,

she likes to make a beat

with her foot on the floor 

or even when knocking on the door.

She likes to drink Diet Coke

and her arms are dark because they like to soak

the rays of the sun, but not her legs.

Those are white like the shells of eggs.

She sees the positive of almost everything

and she really loves to sing.

Family is her purpose and motivation

and she is way fun to take on vacation.

Sometimes I am weird and write a weird poem.

It's her creativity genes she passed in the home.

I'm grateful for my mom!

She really is the bomb!

The end

And I wish I could take credit for this one, but I can't. This is a true statement.

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!! I'm giving you a transoceanic hug right now!!!!!!!

Exploration

Yesterday I had my first explore solo in Brisbane. SO FUN. Eventually I'll get around to the planning phases and actually have set destinations, but for a few hours yesterday they dropped me off at an outdoor shopping center in the city and I got to just walk in whichever direction I wanted. I had some great fun.

I signed a Chinese petition.

I got a free Quran (which is awesome because I've wanted one for quite some time). And the guy handpicked a women's rights pamphlet for me to go with it.

I got asked for directions. And no I could not answer them.

I ran into the sister missionaries. The Mandarin Chinese speaking ones. Now I understand that this is a completely necessary calling because of the VAST amount of Asians in this city.

**Disclaimer: I'm not a creep because I took this photo.

I took a stroll by the Brisbane river.

I got a slurpee. Don't worry folks, 7-11 exists even down under.

I walked across a bridge.

I looked like a tourist with my camera. And I liked it.

I found some weird looking birds.

I found Burger King. I mean...

I found beautiful places.

I had a grand time :)

I'm liking Brisbane so far! There's a lot to do here and I look forward to seeing it all!!!




Other news: I am feeling pretty much back to normal. So that is happy. Food poisoning and jet lag combined suck. I went to church today, spanning over about 3 different wards haha. There are TONS of Polynesians here and they're so nice! Tomorrow if my first full day of taking care of Emily, so I'm a bit nervous about that and how she does away from mum for so long. But the good thing is Sally is in the house if I need her.

Bring it on baby!!

Down Under

Lots of people have subtly mentioned to me that they want to see pictures of my adventures this summer. So I reminded myself that I find some entertainment in writing blog posts and even more so in looking back to see what dumb things I can come up with to say.

So here it goes.

I'm in Australia.

Just got here a few days ago.

I'm here to be a nanny to a little 6-month old baby named Emily until mid-September.

It's been an interesting time so far. Not so great at the beginning to be honest. I had a 14.5 hour flight from LAX to Sydney where I watched 4 movies and slept little, went through customs in Sydney where I was slightly nervous that my visa had not been processed or something because I had to go to a separate desk where they said absolutely nothing to me...scary. And then the airport is all sorts of confusing and I went to the international flight place instead of domestic flight place and I was afraid I was going to miss my connecting flight...but made it to my gate right as they were boarding. Meno male. Then I flew to Brisbane. 

Commence stomach cramps.

Kinda unfortunate. Thought I was just tired or whatever so I drank some Sweppes lemon soda on the plane while I chatted with my Melbourne-native old lady seat neighbor. Got off the plane and got my bags then looked around to where I thought I'd find Sally and Emily waiting for me pretty quickly. Didn't.

Not feeling so good at this point so I sat down. Everybody cleared from my flight. So I walked around (those 2 bags got pretty heavy pretty quick haha!! weakling I am) and went outside. Hahaha...this back and forth and mega confusion lasted about 2.5 hours. Being the dumb that I sometimes am, I couldn't remember if I ever told them the airline I was coming in on (Sally was much smarter and emailed my mom the night before to get that information), or what kind of car they had, or even her dang phone number. I was not prepared. And like I had done a few times the past few months I had a freak out moment that the whole thing was a scam and now I was at an airport in Australia and no one was coming to get me. Sad moment.

But then I emailed her, hoping Sally used technology and would soon read it on her smart phone. Good thing she did. There was a mix up but things got cleared up, and they came and got me! It was so great to meet Sally and Emily in person!!!!!!!!

Talk about a sweet welcome sign.

So I'll summarize the rest quickly. Drove through the city, got some cool pictures, felt like crap, almost threw up in the car home (talk about a great first impression, right??), what's wrong? Food poisoning. Curse United Airlines. 

My first 2 days in this country weren't super pleasant, but I was able to get over jet lag because I slept for like 16 hours that first night. Win.

Today was more normal. I ate real food. Including steak and Tim Tams.

Quite delicious.

The neighborhood where they live is HILL CENTRAL. So tonight because I've been inside too much due to airplane and sickness, I decided to try just the one massive one that is their street. Holy cow. I only made it up halfway the first time then walked the rest. I was sitting on the porch, pretty much ticked off, so I decided to do it again and I shuffled up the whole way that time. I WILL CONQUER.

In the meantime I am learning Aussie words (per esempio...a torch is a flashlight, a nappie is a diaper, etc.), Emily and I are getting used to each other, and lots of firsts are beginning.

I believe tomorrow I will try driving. 

Pray for me.

Again I'll ask...pray for me!!!!!!!!! :)

Brisbane

Nice little backyard view :)

This is pretty much my dream to be here. When I leave I'll have to find a new one and who knows what that should be. Well, it should probably be to get married. Hopefully that'll happen one day. :)

Here's to a summer (or WINTER) full of good times!

Mission Address

If you're interested in writing...

MTC until approximately November:

Sister Kristi Megan Sobeck
MTC Mailbox # 335
ITA-ROM 1102
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Mission office in Rome after that:

Sister Kristi Megan Sobeck
Italy Rome Mission
Piazza Carnaro, 20
00141 Rome RM
Italy

Or use www.dearelder.com which is really easy.

Email address: kristi.sobeck@myldsmail.net

Also, my sister is going to put my weekly emails on a new blog: www.italiansobeck.blogspot.com . Or email me if you want to be put on the email list. Thanks!

It's Close

2 weeks away until I leave on my mission.

A year ago I was saying the same thing, but about Jerusalem.