Leaving on a jet plane...

Hello everyone, this will be my last blog from Australia.

So its Wednesday morning very early, and we are catching our cab to the airport very soon.
This has been an amazing time. I have seen more things on this one trip than many people wil;l see in a lifetime, and I count myself as VERY blessed.

I cannot wait till marid 2011.

I miss you all and will see you soon.

The crazy part of this return trip is that we leave Sydney @ 10:00 am the 24th of July and land in LA @ 7:30 am on the 24th of July.

Flux Capacitors on!!!


Peace,
Hooge

Free Day 1 in Sydney

Hey everyone!

So we had our first free day in Sydney yesterday. It was kind of wierd not having your day completly planned out for you like it has been for the last week or so, but we managed.

We started our day by taking a stroll around darling harbor. and a bite of lunch. Checked into our hotel, the novotel @ darling harbor and a beautiful place, and then took of for a stroll around Sydney. I stopped by a store and picked up a sweet gift for Em, and then we took a train to the Circular Quay.

This is the location of one of he achitectural marvels of the world, the sydney opera house. I didn't realize it, but the roo fo this amazing building is made of ceramic tile. It is absolutely stunning, We ended the afternoon with a beez neez honey wheat beer on the warf at sunset. AMAZING!

We then took a stroll back to china town, but not before we stopped and listened to a sweet street performing techno digeredoo fat painted man. Rockin awesome.

We stopped in china town for dinner, and then ended the night with a bit of shirt ball in the hotel pool.

So far this morning i have woken up and had the most amazing brekky ever. Thanks for the 5 star hotel father.

Peace,

Hooge

WYD Mass

So we had a great past couple days. We started Saturday morning with a nice early 5:45 am wake up call. Then headed up to North Sydney to begin our pilgramage walk. The walk started with a prance across the Sydney harbor bridge, and after 3 miles we stopped for a mass with all the Catholic Bishops from the united states.

Then the final three miles to Randwick Racecourse where 500,000 catholics gathered and camped out for the morning mass with Pope Benidict.

It was quite cold so i couldn't sleep and so i passed the time by walking around and mingling with all the people from around the world. This was definitely an amazing experince.

I only have a couple more days here, and while i really miss my Friends, especially Emily, I am really enjoying my time here as well.

I have already put together my savings plan for the 2011 world youth day in Madrid!!!!

anyone comeing with me?

Thanks!

Hooge

Ok Finally I can write a proper blog.

Since I have not been able to blog for the last few days, this one will be quite long i think. I guess I will pick up where we left off.

Monday!

Monday was our travel day. We arrived at southern cross station early in the morning, but not before Margret served us a traditional aussie brekky of cereal, toast w/ veggiemite, eggs, aussie style bacon, and fruit. (If that sounds familiar, it is because australian culture is very similar to American culture with two major differences. 1. they drive on the left side of the road 2. they speak with an English accent.)

When we got to Southern Cross Station, we boarded a bus and checked our luggage, and headed off on a little 12 hour journey to Sydney. We were joined on the trip but a camera crew from channel 7 melbourne and Bishop Something.

Along the route to Sydney we stopped three times to let the drivers rest, and mingle and use the toilets. Lucky for us bishop something, who by the first rest stop had earned the title Bishop Windbag, left us at the first stop. His favorite thing to do was hear himself talk. So we were happy for him to leave us.

At one stop I chatted with group from Papa New Guinea (PNG). It was the first time that I was greeted by a non American with a genral warmth about being an American. I also got a bit of a history lesson. Appearently the US fought of the Japanese troops in WWII when they were trying to take over PNG. We then, with Australia's help, helped set up a new government in PNG and allowed them to become thier own sovreign nation. They are very grateful to the US, at a time when so many countries are so bitter toward us. They are also a very poor country, and thier youth leader told me that it was "only by the grace of god that they were able to come here" It was one of the more moving experiences of the trip for me so far.

We arrived in Sydney about 1:25 in the morning and had a nice surprise.....NO Luggage! horray for poor logistics systems. Oh well it is the cross we had to bear.

TUESDAY!

Tuesday was the opening mass, and the first real taste of what World Youth Day (WYD) is all about. We arrived at an old shipping yard on Darling Harbor called Barangaroo. This shipping yard was set up for the opening mass. This place is massive. there were over 200,000 people at mass. We were in a station with about 700 samoans. (I found out that Samoa is pronounced SAH-moa rather than sah-MOA like we usually say it.) It was a great experience.

The Mass was seriously the most amazing mass that I have ever been to. The Music was provided by the Sydney Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorale. Absolutely Beautiful.

After mass we came back to Bondi Beach and had dinner at a little pizzaria with a nice bottle of Shiraz. Great way to end the day if i do say so myself.

WEDNESDAY!

We started Catacisis on wednesday with the Bishop of Lexington,KY. Whoop Go america! Histalk was on trying to define the Holy Spirit, and how we can find him. It was a great topic, and the bishop was definitely not a windbag. He also said a beautiful mass after class.

Wednesday night was just a big youth festival. We started with a trip to St. Mary's Cathedral.

This is an amazingly awesome gothis Cathedral in the middle of downtown Sydney which is not a predominately Catholic city. They also unveiled a new painting of Our lady of the Southern Cross, a great painting, look it up.

After the Cathedral we went Back to Bondi Beach for a concert with Fr. Stan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgZbP8nddhU

and His dancing Franciscans! Also with Matt Maher, look him upon you tube too. Beautiful night on a beautiful beach under the Southern Cross!!!!!!!!

THURSDAY!

Yesterday we Saw the pope! Wow i was a mere 5 feet from him.

FRIDAY!

I am tired. Tomorrow is our 6 mile pilgramage walk. I will write more about it then, but I am vey tired now.

Love you guys.

Peace

Hooge

The internet at last!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Sorry it has been so long faithful reading audience. All 3 of you.

I have a lot to write, but i have an intimidating countdown timer at the top of the screen that will shut off my internet access when it reaches zero. 7 minutes from now. Spelling errors will not be corrected in this blog.

things i have seen so far.

1. 200,000 catholics celebrating mass at the same time
2. 50,000 catholics celebrating mass at the same time
3. 700 samoans gatheres all around me
4. 100 papane guineans dancing the electric slide
5. 70+ national flags
6. 50 angolans dancing and singing
7. 20 different religious orders
8. 15 priests concelebrating mass at the same time
9. 10 cardinals
10. 5 days of stew
11. 4 ugly people (there are beautiful people everywhere here
12. 3 bishops celebrating mass in 3 days
13. french p[eople kiss
14. 1 Pope Benedict the freaking 16th from no more than 5 feet away

WYD rules!!!!!!!!

More to come

PEace

Hooge

Ahhhh Melbourne

So my time in Melbourne is coming to a close. I guess this post will be a list

1. Melbourne is a beautiful city. There is art everywhere, the town is simply teeming with it, architecture, street music, museums, even the highways are beautiful. I would post some pictures here to help, but my I have lost my camera connection, so i cannot get my pics off the camera itself untill i get a chance to get to an electronics store
2. Melbourne is sports. The major sport in Australia, footy, is immensly popular here in Melbourne. 10 of the leagues 16 teams are from this city. and they routinely bring 40K to the games.
3. Melbourne is people. The people here are absolutely amazing. I would liken it to the American south. Where you can't walk down the street without getting a hello. We have never been turned down for help whilst staying in Melbourne.

Some other things that have happened while in town.

Mike and I will never go hungry in this town. Margret makes sure that we stay well fed. She has cooked us breakfast and dinner everynight we have been here. it has been quite nice.

I got a footyball from one of the men at church. I mearly mentioned that I would like to buy one whilst here, and 20 minutes later here he was giving me one for free. When I get back to OK, we will be starting a footy league.

Also on the way home from the footy game last night there were a couple drunk blokes on the train. One took some offence to my amazing new Brisbane lions hat. So he decided rather than harass the silly American, he would giv eme the scarf for his team. So i guess i am also a St. Kilda Saints fan now as well. Gooo Saints.


My foot hurts very badly. Don't ever step on a hot sparkler barefooted. Especially when you are getting ready to leave for another counrty in a matter of days. You will have a blister, and It will hurt. Luckily i have kept it form getting infected. I started walking normally today.

Today we went out to wine country. The countryside is beautiful. We were on a mission to find koalas. We stopped at an animal sancutary here in southern Australia. Saw a dick billed platypus for the first time in my life. That is one silly looking, yet amazing creature.

It has definitely been a great weekend. I cannot wait to show you all the pics.

The Pope landed in Australia today. That is going to be another thing that I will never forget about this trip.

I wish you where here with me Friends!!!

Love ya

Hooge

Footy

Seriously this is a sport that American's should get behind.

Rough, FAST, and TONS of scoring.

I honestly never expected to find a sport that was better than Football live. But Footy definitely gives it a run for its money.

The final score last night was 150-118. These dudes don't wear pads, and they are intense. There were at least 10 guys running around with bloody noses. They don't stop play for anything. This one dude had a very violent head to head collision. This would have caused a 20 minute delay in any american sport. Not in Footy. The dude laid there nearly knocked out, the ref signaled to the doctors, and they came out and worked on him and carried him off on a stretcher, and the whole time play continued on around them. IT was awesome.

I am off to mass now, but I will write again later.

Peace
Hooge

So we have arrived in Australia. Mike Garcia and I are staying with a nice australian couple names John and Margaret Livingstone. I can't think of a more Brittish name.

Last night we went to the commisioning mass @ the Telstra Dome. There were over 40,000 people from around the world there for the mass. COmmunion was quite the ordeal if you can imagine.

This guy said the mass for us. Cardinal Pell, and three of his cardinal homies. There were also over 70 bishops (We miss Eu B), and well over 500 other priests, in vestments. Fr. Novak just wore his blacks and his collar.


On the way back from the dome we were packed in to the train with a whole bunch of otehr people, and looked something like this.

On the docket for today: A footy game, and shopping, and a visit to the Cathedral.

Peace,
Hooge

"Marty! You gotta come back with me!!

Sorry, not Brian Hooge today. This is Zak Kastl with this WYD update.

We are currently in Aukland's International Airport waiting for our final flight to Melbourne. Some problems with the plane (either engine trouble or heater problems) are preventing us from leaving. The current UPDATE time is 9:30 NZ time. Despite this, we're still excited for the experience and look forward to all the fun!

By the way, though the blog will display the current time back home, it is tomorrow (9/11/08) here. Seeing the future, I can tell you all that today will be a good day. We have found a book here, called "Gray's Sports Almanac". It gives the scores of all the matches for the day, so let the betting commence!

Things that make me laugh

So a couple of things that make me laugh about flying southwest airlines.

1. They serve cheesenips. This struck me as very odd for a couple of reasons. First is that after doing my very unscientific consumer stud on square cheese crackers, people choose Cheezits 99.97% of the time over cheese nips. So this says to me that the only market that Cheese nips still has is that of airline travel and is then forced upon the travellers. Second is that there was a wimp on the plane that had a peanut allergy and therefor deprived the rest of us of our peanutty goodness.
2. I ordered a giner ale. There is only one reason for odering a gingerale. It is really really really bubbly. Unfortunately on Southwest they don't give you a can of ginger ale, they go to the back of the plane, pour all the pops and deliver them in cups, so when you get your gingerale in a little squatty plane cup, it is just slightly less bubbly than sprite (wich is only slightly bubblier than water)

So those things make me laugh.

Also, I was walking around the international terminal, and there is a distinct odor present. I think it is a mixture of all the funny smelling people from around the world mixed together. It is almost pleasent. :)

Then i was walking past some TSA people, and one yelled BRAVO at the top of his lungs and started screaming at me to stop moving. After everyone stopped moving, one of the head TSAers said, "Good Job everyone. That was just a test, but you did very well."

Anyway. I chuckled.

Peace,

Hooge

Phoenix/LA

So we had a layover in Phoenix that I was not really expecting.

The good thing was that mike and I decided to sit aisle and Window, respectively. With a couple of 300 pounders in the same row, you pretty much ensure that no one picks the middle seat. SWEEET!

Then We went to the greatest fast food place in the world and had some doubledoubles and fresh cut fries!

Soon we will be getting on a QUANTAS airlines 767 and taking off for New Zealand.

everyone is getting along so far. Let keep up the Hope.

Love you all!

Hooge

Peace I'm Outta Here

Mom is here! I am off to the Aeropuerto.

See you in a couple weeks!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

I have just finished packing for my trip to Aussie. Here is My packing list.

• 3 Short Sleeve T-shirts
• 1 Polo
• 1 long sleeve t-shirt
• 1 sweatshirt.
• 1 waterproof shell
• 3 pairs of nylon pants
• 5 pairs of socks
• 7 pairs of underoos
• 1 towel
• 1 pair of flip flops
• 1 pair of walking shoes
• toothbrush and paste
• deodorant
• pain killers / allergy meds
• small shampoo
• C-Pap
• sleeping bag
• laptop
• camera
• mp3 player
• Confessions by: St. Augustine
• My tickets
• My Passport

This should help me live for a couple weeks.

I dropped Emily off at camp on Sunday, and I really underestimated how much I would miss her.

This is an amazing picture of the two of us.
Don't be too jealous.

I leave tomorrow on Southwest Airlines @ 11:50 AM, and have an 8 hour layover in LA. I will tap into the Wifi There and update you!

Peace!

Hooge

Why?

Why would one decide to start a blog at such a time?

Well the short of it is that I am leaving for Australia in a few days and have decided that this might just be the best way to communicate with my loved ones!

Yep That's all for now.

Hooge