We made it!

 We made it to the Sydney airport at about 6:30 in the morning! Got our luggage, went through customs and started walking around. The airport was huge, but we really just wanted to sit because we were so tired. The first thing we tried to do is get our phones set up, so we went to a popular phone company in the area that was in the airport. We were so excited that we would be able to do it so soon and get that out of the way! When we got there the guy at the store told us that our IPhones were not unlocked, which means we would not be able to have a service over here until we contacted AT&T in the states to unlock our phones. This was a problem because we didn’t have phones, or anyway to get ahold of AT&T! We tried using their online support but that didn’t work either. As frustrated as we were, we just brainstormed to figure out the problem. We ended up skypeing with Bryon’s brother Matt and had him call AT&T for us to fix the problem. Luckily two days later we received an email from AT&T saying that they resolved the problem! We then went to the closest phone company and got our phones set up.

It was time to leave the airport and we ended up getting a shuttle to our hotel, as we were talking to our driver we were finding out some interesting information! He had pretty strong feelings about how bad the public transportation was in Sydney, which is pretty funny and kind of ironic considering he was an airport shuttle driver! At one point we also asked him if we had already passed the city, then he proceeded to call himself an idiot and cursing at the fact that he took us through a tunnel under the harbor instead of taking us on the bridge to see the whole harbor, it was pretty humorous! And it really didn’t bother us that much, because after sitting at the airport for 5 hours we were just ready to be at the hotel!

Speaking of the hotel, when we arrived we got our entire luggage out and onto the sidewalk so the shuttle driver could leave. Then we got into the reception area only to find out that the hotel had no record of us even making a reservation. We booked it back in the states several months ago, and we went through this company called Kayak which was affiliated with Expedia. The hotel wanted us to contact the company we booked it through but they are located in the states, so being an international call, they did not let us use the phone in the reception area, so we had to call the Hillsong School so that they could call Kayak. After about an hour and a half of playing phone tag with the school and Expedia we finally got to get into our room without having to pay any more than we already did!

Jet lag was pretty interesting, the first night we were her we ended up going to sleep at 6:00 pm and woke up about 5:00 am the next morning. Wednesday was the next day and we decided to try our hand at the public transpiration in the area. It took almost an hour on the bus to get into the area that Hillsong School is in. Upon arriving we realized that no one was even at the School because they were having a conference in a completely different area, so we just walked around the shops and places in the area! Also the first night here we realized, being winter, it gets dark around 5:00 or 5:30 pm, which doesn’t give you much time to do things during the day.

Later on in the week we finally ventured out into the city, ironically Bryon grew up with one of the students that attend the city campus; he has been here for about 6 months. So we called him and he agreed to be our tour guide for the day! It was amazing to see all of the cool things, in real life, that most people only get to see in pictures!

We also were able to attend out first Hillsong church service, it was amazing! We were going to try to go to one of the morning services, but then we realized that we would not make it on the bus because it took longer than we thought it would. So we decided to go to the 5 o'clock service, when we got there we could barely find a seat. Finally when we did and they started singing the first song I felt like I was at a Hillsong concert, that is an every Sunday experience! Then we left and got something to eat, and had to find our way home. Unfortunately when we decided to come to the 5 o'clock service we did not think about the fact that the buses don't run later on in the evening as much as they do during they day so we would have had to taken 2 buses and a train to get back home. Where as during the day that would have been only one or two buses. So we ended up standing in the freezing cold, finally deciding to call our firs cab, it wasn't so bad, just expensive.

We finally got to move into our house and met some of our new house mates, there were so many people coming and going that we were not quite sure who we actually lived with! When we got here there were five other single girls living in the house, but two were moving out the week that we moved in! We got the master bedroom with our own bathroom since we were the only married couple living in the house. We live with one native Australian girl, one from Switzerland, one from Japan, and one from Italy but she has lived in Sydney most of her life! They are all very nice girls. Our hours is one of the smaller campus houses, the majority of them have anywhere from 7 to 12 house mates! And most of the students have to share a bedroom!

A few days after we moved into our new house, we decided that it would be the best option for us to get bikes! We went to a store called Big W, which is kind of like there equivalent to Walmart, and bought two bikes! Which made us so much more mobile. The first day we got them, we rode the bus to the shopping center, bought the bikes and rode them home, which was about 3 miles. The next day we thought it would be good to venture out to one of the further shopping centers, it was about 4 miles away. When we got there we were very tired, but we got some food, got what we need to get and headed back, it was about 8 miles on a bike that day! We were exhausted!! We are also contemplating the option of getting a car, especially for me getting a job. Speaking of getting a job, I have been looking, I looked all day yesterday calling and looking up places online. Thankfully I have a interview on Tuesday at 4, which would be Monday at 2 Am for you, so pray that everything goes well and a job will come my way quickly!!

Everything here is pretty much the same as back in the states, except the malls are bigger. Most of the malls in the area have everything in them including grocery stores and stores like Target and Walmart! Also they drive on the left side of the road, but the right side of the car, which is  quite strange being a passenger because i felt like I should have had a steering wheel in front of me.  also most of the smaller roads use round-abouts, some of which are two lanes, which is a little bit scary for me because I am not used to that. So far it has been a very busy and eventful two weeks, we are looking forward to see what else God has in store for us!

Thanks for your thought and prayers, and for following us on our journey!
Bryon and Shelby Tatum