The hope in every heart

June 30, 2005:
Rain. It doesn't stop. Wind. Very strong. It becomes almost useless to carry an umbrella because you feel like the wind could plausibly carry you away along with the umbrella, which has flipped up and is now looking rather odd. I wish i were at home, watching Love Actually, with my feet tucked warmly under the duvet. But all i do is walk in the rain with my friends. Friends can make walking in the rain seem almost fun. I arrive home drenched and exhausted. To de-stress, i cook for my friends. We sit in the living room and have bowls of steamed jasmine rice and satay chicken. My friends give me gifts they've brought from home. I can't believe my dearest June is here. I give a little yelp and jump up and down excitedly when i see what Jo has sent along with my friends. Proverbs 18: 22 says this: Friends come and friends go, but a true friend sticks by you like family. My girls are my family. At 11pm, i finally get into bed with my hot chocolate (and marshmallows from the USA, which thankfully don't smell like cough syrup like Aussie marshmallows do). I pick up where i left off in Bergdorf Blondes. I amaze myself with my choice of literature sometimes. Mrs.Dalloway will just have to wait. As the clock strikes 12, i extricate myself from the lives of the Park Avenue Princesses and get ready to sleep. The deejay on the radio announces that You and Me will be playing next. I give a sigh and turn off the lights. I never get to hear the song.

July 1, 2005:
The alarm rings at 6:15am and i wake up with a start. I put the clothes in the wash and get back into bed, lying there trying to decide if i should go for a walk. A decision gets made 20 minutes later and i put on my runners. As i walk, i can't believe the sun is out. The air is crisp and i want to leap like a gazelle. I manage to contain myself. I come home, hang the clothes out to dry, take my shower, flat iron my hair, have a cup of soy coffee and run for the bus. The deejay plays You and Me. I give a sigh, lose myself in the song and become a little bit dreamy. I arrive in church, have raisin toast that the Brazilian boys made and get ready for service. Cheryl, my new friend from Northern Ireland, sits next to me. We learn to discern between princesses and prima donnas. I'm quite alarmed to discover that there's quite a bit of prima donna in me. God is definitely trying to get me to change and it's time i checked myself. During the service, i also spend some time trying not to look at the boy who's on stage playing the guitar. It proves to be a a tad difficult since he's directly in my line of vision. I tell myself that it's ok to be attracted to him even if he has a girlfriend because you and i know that i'm not the sort of girl who does something to jeopardises someone else's relationship. But anyways. I take some photos in church and then ask Cheryl if she'd like to accompany me on my search for an mP3 player. She does. We walk around for five minutes before i realise that what i really want to do is talk to her. Turns out Cheryl wants to talk too. We settle ourselves down in Gloria Jean's and Cheryl buys me a Macadamia Nut Latte. The coffee and the company are excellent. Two hours later, we walk back to central- me to catch a bus and she to catch her train. In the bus, a man with very big hands sits in front of me and i spend some time secretly examining his hands and then looking back at mine, which seem teeny in comparison. I notice that the hands belong to a man who also happens to have very nice eyes. I turn towards the window and look out. I arrive home with blistered feet and make myself a fruit salad. I turn the computer on and smile widely when i realise that i'm the recepient of encouragement- from Andrea (a friend of a friend who will soon become a friend) who left a very lovely comment on my previous entry and from Craig, my supervisor who tells me he knows i'm going to have fantastic material for my thesis. Also, i have finally gotten my ethics approval and can thus begin my interviews. I'm excited! I realise i need to have a time-table now but it's all good. It's all going to be good.

Rain or shine, God is here. He's my rainbow.