On Friday night Peter and I went up to Mt. Coot-tha and met up with a bunch of people that used to live in PNG, that we went to high school with at one time or another....One couple lives in New Zealand, and just happened to be visiting Brisbane the week that I was there....
Saturday morning, Giok came by!! Giok's family lived in Port Moresby when we did, and we all went to primary school together....He's another one of those "little" brothers to me. =)
Saturday night, we met up with a bunch of friends for a night out! Brisbane has to be one of my favorite places to go out....I love that city.
On Sunday, Peter and I decided to go into the city and walk around. One thing I love about Brisbane is the diversity there. That, and even though it's a big city, it doesn't feel huge like Sydney always does to me. You can easily run into people that you know while you're out....That happened to Peter and I a couple times that day. We met up with Jason, and while the three of us were just walking through the mall area, Peter was attacked....by Michael! Michael and his brother, Charlie went to high school with us in PNG. They were just back for their sister's high school graduation, and their flight to Brisbane had been late so they missed their flight to LA and had to stay a night in Australia. It was so random to run into them!
We decided to meet up with the guys later that night for dinner. As we were talking through the city trying to find a place to eat, Peter was attacked again....by Deni! He lives in New Zealand, but happened to be in Brisbane for a week and a half visiting his girlfriend....and again, we just happened to run into them. I love it. We all ended up hanging out for the rest of the evening.
Peter had to go back to work Monday. That night, a bunch of the PNG athletes flew back in to Brisbane from being gone to the Oceania Athletic Championships in Saipan, Northern Marianas. I spent the rest of the week hanging out with them....A few of them are training for the Olympics this year in Beijing. So exciting!
Mowen (left) is training in the 400m hurdles....Beijing will be the third Olympic games he competes in. We first met him when he was training in California for the Athens Olympics. Salo (right) became one of my best friends in PNG when I was teaching there. She was given an athletic scholarship to train overseas and has almost cut her time down enough in the 800m to compete in the Olympics. The highlight of seeing the PNG athletes was especially being able to see these two. =)
As it always seems to when you're having a wonderful time, my week and a half in Australia ended quickly....I'm never ready to leave Brisbane. So many friends there, and I love the atmosphere. As I was leaving, Mowen said to me, "With your job, we know you'll be back anytime..." Definitely!
I realized while I was there, how blessed I am to have to many amazing people in my life. None of my encounters with friends there were shallow....we really caught up, had good talks, about the good things happening and the struggles....I cherish those kind of relationships.
I loved being back in that part of the world, and of course I can't wait to go back!!!
I realized while I was there, how blessed I am to have to many amazing people in my life. None of my encounters with friends there were shallow....we really caught up, had good talks, about the good things happening and the struggles....I cherish those kind of relationships.
I loved being back in that part of the world, and of course I can't wait to go back!!!
