Shoot dude, I think we're lost

Ha, that is a perfectly fitting title for this message. So I have realized that I dont like to get 100 percent directions because there is something that a man takes great pride in, finding his OWN way around. Well seeing as this city is so spread out and it has around 2 million people, I probable should have known better. Needless to say Marc spent the first couple hours pissed off at me, but I'm sure he eventually got over it. We woke up today with plans of heading on the bus, then the train in order to get to our gym. We figured the bus system our pretty quick and the train wasnt that hard either. It's kind of surprizing how nice people are and willing to help. They make you feel very comfortable and dont look at you like you're an idiot from America which is what we both are.

We hopped on our train and took it north about 10 miles to an area called Joondalup. That is where our gym in at. Coming out of the train station I then had no clue where to go. All coach said was it was a short walk. So I called Dean (our pastor friend) and had him look up the basketball arena. If only I would have said stadium instead. He gave us directions about a mile north so we began. When we arrived we came to a real nice sports facility. There was a football field out front (Aussie rules) which looks like a large oval soccer field. The grass was just like a fairway on a golf course and as green as you can imagine. Walking into the place we looked at eachother and said this is incredible. Playing in China we know that basketball overseas is NOT the same, so we were a little surprized to see the arena so nice. I told the lady who we were at the front desk and she looked at me as if I wanted a medal for being from the USA. Picture this..."Hi we are Scott & Marcus Moore from the United States and we are here for the Wannaroo team. Ryan Hunter said just to come on in and he would take care of everything." After stating this and folding my arms as if I was ready for an applause, the lady sat blank. Come to find out there is a Joondalup Sports Arena and a Joondalup Sports Stadium. Guess which one we were supposed to be at?

After hearing Marc complain for the next half hour we made our way BACK to the train station. Sure enough the stadium was DIRECTLY behind the station. I could have thrown a baseball and hit the thing. BTW there was a shopping mall there as well which was absolutely massive! (That's what she said) We entered the stadium and a nice lady came to the door and said, "ello Scot and Mahcus..howya goin?" She was very nice and got us set up. Then entering the gym we felt more comfortable. This is what I had expected from the beginning. The gym looks VERY old and would be the worst gym we played in at Grace. Yes worse than Marian. They dont have air conditioning because the weather is so comfortable at night during there winter. We met a big guy who was on the team named Jon. He wasnt that great, and he knew it. He introduced himself as the guy who spent more time on the bench than anywhere else but he was very pleasant. The gym is a GREAT shooting gym so we worked out for about an hour. After that Marcus went home and I decided to explore the downtown. I found a SWEET outdoor shopping area that covers about two full city streets. Very similar to Chi towns. Dean picked me up about 5 and we grabbed some drinks. That night him and Lisa took me back and Marcus joined us for a swim in the ocean. It was 83 degrees out and it was 8:30 pm. Not complaining! When the sun goes down here the whole horizon line turns bright orange. It's the most beautiful thing you can imagine. We will be adding pictures soon. Basketball tomorrow at 630-9. Will post results then! But its 11 here so I'm off to bed.

P.S. Cricket is the most confusing game I have ever seen, and they play it on TV ALL DAY on like 36 channels. Neat. :-/ This is DJ Skizzy...out!