The Priests and a stolen backpack

This past monday I had the opportunity to go to Sydney to this program called "Thelogy on Tap." My friend picked me up from the uni, and we drove to this lady's house who was going to drive us to Sydney. This deal was at an irish pub on the outskirts of Sydney. It was an older bar, complete with a really cool wooden winding staircase. The place was completely packed, standing room only. Theology on Tap orginally stemed from World Youth Day, which was held in Australia a year ago. Basically, once a month, they get a guest speaker to come and talk/discuss the Catholic faith with others at a bar. Great idea, right!? This particular night, they had managed to get The Priests to come. The Priests, are three irish priests, classically trained musicians, that have a recording contract with Sony. They have a cd out, that has already gone platinum, even if it isn't the type of music you are usually into, I highly recommend them simply because they are absoluty fantastic musicians. They were putting on a concert the following night in Sydney, where tickets were around $80, and we got to see them for free at the bar. They sung a few songs and then briefly introduced themselves and how they came to be sitting in a bar in Sydney. It was a great experience.

Anyways, so we drove home, and realized that my friend's car had been broken into. Someone had gone through the whole car and had taken a few of her possessions, and my backpack. My backpack happened to contain my laptop, notebook, sketchbook, wallet (minus my id and any cash) keys, calculator, Ipod, and sunglasses. They called the police, but they said they would not come out, so to just go home, but they had filed a police report. I called my parents that night, and they were very kind in helping me cancel my bank cards. I was a bit distressed that my notebook and especially sketchbook were missing, this past week I had a very big paper due, a presentation, and a final exam for an online class I have been taking from NMSU. Fortunatly, I did end up getting an extension on the paper, and I also got a 98 on my final.

My host mom was kind enough to post reward posters around the neighborhood that everything was stolen for my sketchbook, and my host parents also set up an old computer they weren't using in my room for the time being. Many people that found out that this had happened kept telling me that they were very sorry that this had happened to me in their country. Well, crime happens everywhere, really, it was only a matter of time before something like this happened to me. If anything, I have been overwhelmed at the kindness that has been shown to me by everyone here. Most people have only known me for a few months, yet they have gone out of their way to help me out, and for that I am very thankful. And, my parents as well have been very kind in helping me out.

A few days later I received an email from the uni here that someone had found some of my belongings. I called the number, and apparently a lady a few houses down from where the car was parked, found some of our stuff in her backyard. She found a book and a DVD of my friends, my wallet, sunglasses, sketchbook, and notebook. Everything was soaking wet, because it had rained all monday night and tuesday morning, but nothing was damaged terribly. Overall, I am very thankful, it could have been a lot worse, but, it wasn't.

On a lighter note, I am in the process of planning a trip to New Zealand the middle of June. If anyone has any suggestions on places to check out, let me know. We will be going around the south island, and hopefully get to ski one day as well.