More from Ed

More recollections from the first day, and continued:

"We took our food to the nearby beach. The sand was a mellow, near-white hue. You know how grains of sand are pretty loosely packed, and coarse? Like, you take a step and you sink a little bit? The sand on this beach was almost powdery; the grains were like white sugar, but not as brightly colored.

The undulating waves were lined with dedicated surgers, and the wet sand dotted with occasional runners. We enjoyed our meal in peace until the seagulls began to surround us. They were grumpy opportunists, waiting for us to leave or toss them food, and making noises at other seagulls when one got too close to the other. Surfers must love this place. It's the middle of winter over here, and yeah, I could've gone without seeing a guy in a speedo. Gross. Other than that, the view was remarkable. Well, if you're into speedos, even better. Gross, again.

Monday, the 14th - about 0800h

As we perused the city streets, plenty of things came to mind. Baskin Robbins isn't much of a big thing around here. In fact, one branch by the beach actually closed to due to lack of business. McDonald's is popular, though; locals affectionately dub it 'Mack-uhs,' and many locations sport sliding doors. Actually, lots of places had sliding doors, even the restrooms (aka 'toilets' here. One could draw many, many similiarities between Sydney and San Francisco. They're both culturally diverse, they're right by the sea, full of tourists and tourist attractions, the shopping centres are chock full of avant-garde fashion, ads are everywhere, and so much more. Of course, there are inherent differences. The streets in Sydney are significantly wider, blah blah blah. One exciting thing, was that banners of WYD 08 were on lamp posts all over town, and even taxi cab advertisements cautioned people of extra pedestrians who are possible WYD participants. If you looked in the right places, you could see various venues preparing for events. St. Mary's Cathedral had this electronic sign counting down the days until the start. Our Big Papa was everywhere, too. T-shirts, newspapers, televised news... it's awesome.

Ask us about Sky Tower, if you get the chance. Nice little side story there. I want one of those jumpsuits, though. Filipino food = "Filo" food. After dinner, we checked out a local grocery store. BIG CULTURE SHOCK. See the pictures to believe. More cute little stories, etc.

We had Mass on Sunday morning with one of the many visiting bishops while at St. Mary's Cathedral (which is beautifully designed, rich with intricate details which left me awestruck at any given moment. The coffin of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati was on display to the side of the altar. He's one of the patrons of WYD, and obviously led an exemplary life by virtue of his status. Read up on him, he was truly on fire."

Back to now:
All three of us are writing on the blog from St. Ursula's College in Kingsgrove, a slight way's off from Sydney, but we've been alotted bus passes. Sweet, eh? This is our first night here, and my cousin Julie was kind enough to drop us off after a temporary goodbye. We had heaps of fun over the weekend, ending with a visit to the Featherdale Wildlife Park, was it? and our first meal from Macker's featuring McAfrica, McAsia, and an Aussie Big Mac. McAmerica is only available for breakfast. We did a lot of walking around in the city, and eventually my cute little cousin, Julie's son, Ezekiel, joined us. From here, we'll let the pictures speak for themselves until we write about more of our experiences. I had some on my brother's camera, but I'll upload them ... somehow...

We've been going through the Magnificat, which is absolutely smashing. Today's Mass reading, and the Magnificat's overall theme of today talked about getting out of one's comfort zone. A complementary reading from St. Paul's letter to the Philippians speaks of how Paul considers "everything a loss because of Christ," in order to gain Christ. Even this Sunday's gospel struck a chord in my heart because of the familiar parable of the seeds trying to grow in different places. Almost tailor-made for all of us pilgrims, see? Understanding what Jesus commands through these passages and through our Tradition helps us to become true pilgrims.

Remember, all of you, that even though you haven't physically come here with us to Australia, that you, too, are pilgrims. I don't recall where, but I remember reading about how we're like pilgrims in this life, which is only temporary compared to the eternity of God's Kingdom. We're only "strangers and nomads on earth." There are plenty of pilgrimages throughout the history of our church and by the church itself if you think about it. So as we embark on the start of World Youth Day, recall that we appreciate your prayers as we have taken your prayers with us to the other side of the world to be lifted up with those of countless others with The Holy Father.

I'm getting really excited on the inside. Pray for me and for all of us, because of the battles we're fighting individually, but together. A lot of the prayer intentions from the binder and personal messages are for the sick and the suffering. Just seeing the innumerous amount of intentions kinda makes me feel responsible yet strengthened to offer them up to God. I've experienced a lot of magnanimous people in my life, but man, everyone's just so... great. I love Catholics. I love my family. I love you guys. I love God. I want one of those shirts that Guy Sebastian had that said, "I (heart)." Get it? Instead of I (heart) NY or something. My family's been really supportive, my Auntie Mila's family near spoiled us and fed us and sheltered us, and my Auntie Naty (who's a nun! I keep forgetting to ask what order, though) called from the Philippines.

Remember that rumor that WYD might be in Spain in 2011? A Cardinal passed by us on the Mass processions. We should've been like, "*COUGH*Spain*COUGH*España*COUGH."

Wow, this is long. We're chatting it up with two of the teachers overlooking the computer room. They're hella fun. Cheers, mates.

Godspeed!