Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Wednesday, 9 Nov 2016

This morning we were able to Skype with Mike's mom, as usual.  Always good to be able to keep in touch with family and see how they are doing.  It is really good that we can talk with Mike's mom each week.    We then worked with some of the Elders on English.  One of the Elders is trying to qualify for BYU-Hawaii so he has to pass a "Michigan English Test".  We were able to find some practice tests for him and the tests were a bit of a jolt to him - they are harder than he expected.

After lunch we headed out to the Ultimo section of town.  Ultimo is on the back side of Darling Harbour and near UTS (University of Technology, Sydney).  We had 11 "lost sheep" that we tried to locate.  Many of the YSA live in apartment buildings that are locked so you have to buzz the flat and hope someone is home to answer your buzz.  If you get no answer, then we try to find the building manager which is not always possible.  And then the building manager looks at you sideways and is not overly willing to share any information with you - not even if the person lives in the building.  Some managers are much more helpful than others. We did not find anyone at home, We did make a few connections on the phone, but we were not always happy with the conversation - but we always hope it will get better. One just keeps plugging away because you never know when you will reach someone who is ready to come back and not be "lost" anymore.  There is so much that can distract the kids, especially when they are working so hard at school.

A benefit of going out and looking for the lost sheep, is that we get to see various parts of Sydney.  We saw some interesting architecture today, along with some standard housing designs from the early 1900s.

Building on Parramatta Rd near UTS.  There is all the greenery that is growing around each flat.  Plus there  are the parts of the building hanging out into space.  The lower structure is a solar panel farm

Across from the "green" building is part of UTS where several of the YSA attend. Many are taking English classes at UTS.

Down the street a bit from the green building is "The Upside Cafe". 

The Upside Cafe claims to have the largest hamburgers in Sydney.  Looking at the pictures in the window, I can believe that.  Notice the hands holding the burgers on the left and right, plus the "chips" next to the double burger in the middle. Definitely a burger to share.

Some of the row houses with the typical wrought iron fence and veranda railing.  I am not sure what time frame these were built, but probably early 1900s

Another typical house in Sydney.  Note the rounded, metal window covering on the left of the bay window.

The Glasgow Arms with the typical wrought iron railings.  Most roofing in Sydney is either tile or metal, but there is some shale tile


No comments:

Post a Comment