Arrival to Orientation

Hello Family and Friends,
There is so much new to share, so much I want to tell you...I'll give you as much as I can!
Staying with Aunt Lynn and Uncle Jack for a time before leaving was so wonderful. Exactly what I needed, when I needed it! Thank you so much for your support, mighty prayers and for making sure I got on the plane! I want to share every bit of this time with you because I know strongly you prayed for me and with me leading up to this.
I arrived here Thursday afternoon and there weren't many new students on base. That's what we are considered, students, as we are participants of the Discipleship Training School. Over the next few days, 14 other students would arrive for my school and about 80 students for the schools that are running concurrently. Plus about 100 people on staff as teachers, local daily ministry members , base directors, maintanence, and support. Thats way too much of "Hi, I'm Laura. I'm from the US. I'm here for the Sports DTS." Plus trying to remember there name, rank and country, but I'm doing pretty well with that.
I thought the first thing I would do was shower, but instead I went to town with a girl, Andrea, who was back in Perth YWAM to do the School of Art Evangelism (SAE). I didn't really need to go to town, but knowing how to get there seemed like a good idea. So how I get to town: walk about 5 minutes including on a foot bridge over the freeway to the train station, Claisebrook stop. The train is similar to the Light Rail in Sacramento. Two stops in brings me to the Perth city center stop. There are 4 main lines that radiate into the town from the city center. The train is free for the first two stops, which luckily includes us! After town, I finally showered and made it to dinner at 5:30. Dinner is another experience. A dining room which can hold about 300 people. They let the YWAM families sit together and the rest of us sit at a table with them if there is room or together at the other tables. Almost everynight there has been a birthday and this is celebrated for each person. They get a special table set for them and 7 friends with nice plates, napkins (which we don't use here b/c they are a waste of money, if anyone wants to send me a cloth napkin or two it would be welcome!) and snacks. At the end of dinner, everyone sings a special birthday song and they bring you out a homemade cake. My roommate, Elle from England, is having a birthday next week so I'll get to share in the festivities with her! Ok that enough about that day.
Roommates:
I live with 5 other girls, in a room about 12'x14'. We have 3 bunk beds, and wardrobe closet and a shelf unit. You can probably see why on the frist night I was asking myself why I left my nice apartment, income, and friends to come live in these conditions!
My bunkmate, Verena. She is 19, from Germany. Today I realized this is equivelent to having my little sister with me!
Another 19 year old, Jes, from Denmark.
Elle, 22 355/365 (her math) from southern england. She is an absolute kick!
Kathy, 30, from Canada
Coriana, from Holland, but she is leaving tomorrow as she did the last school and has just taken her time leaving. We get a new girl in a few days who is arriving late for our school.
All of the girls are in the Sports DTS with me.
I have made friends with so many others too. The ones closer to my age group offered for me to go hang out at their house if I ever feel like the younger gals are getting to be too young!! Everyone here is so friendly and look out for eachother. As Elle says with her British accent, they are sound as a pound! There have been so many signs that I was headed to and am now in the right place. It's so amazing!
Today was orientation where we paid fees, got our books, took base tours, and filled out interest forms for our work duty assignments. Class in the afternoon. Our days are going to be so busy! Then we all went to King Park, which is a huge, beautiful park and garden and wildlife sanctuary all in one. We all, students and staff, played a few games together including slip and slide tug of war. It was a lot of fun and I will go back to the park to explore more. We were supposed to have a bar b (bbq) at the park today, but the weather was very tempermental , rainy and windy today so they brought us back to base for a feast of burgers and hotdogs. The experienced ones tell us don't get used to that much food! There is plenty to eat, but our plates are not overflowing with food. Makes me realize how in American culture we are used to having so much on the table, even if we don't eat it.
It is now almost 11 pm my time (8 am tues morning your time) and this is the latest I have stayed up since I've been here. See what having the internet does to you! Good night! I love you all!!