5 more weeks in Canberra

I can barely believe it. But my time in Canberra is drawing to a close. This week went by like crazy and there are only 5 more weeks in Canberra. While I'm happy to be escaping the coming winter and excited about resuming backpacking, I know that I will be terribly sad to leave. I leave really great friends who mean the world to me here. Thanks to them, I really haven't been homesick much. Phil's family has been truly amazing and hospitable in opening up their home to me. Phil is like the brother that I never have. And there are a few other special people.

I really enjoy my job. Work continues on the microbicides symposium which will be taking place on May 10 in Sydney. I'm really looking forward to that. It'll be cool to see the culmination of my work over the past few months. I really hope that there is follow up after I leave. And that the microbicides advocacy campaign doesn't just fall to the side afterwards. It's been a tremendous learning experience. It was really rewarding to see my grant proposal requests come through. I've met so many great people who work in the field of HIV/AIDS here in Australia and it's been such an awesome opportunity. I hope to continue my work in the HIV/AIDS sector in some capacity after I leave Australia.

Oz is a lot of fun. Last weekend, as I mentioned before I was in Sydney. The weather wasn't spectacular but I did get some more touristy stuff in. I went to the Blue Mountains, walked along the coast from Bondi to Coogee Beach, went to Chinatown everyday to eat (there's a lack of Chinese dining establishments in Canberra), went to Hillsong church, and went clubbing late into the night, or rather, early into the morning. ;)

Like I said, this week went by in a blur. One of the highlights was having breakfast outside while watching a dozen or so hot air balloons take off from outside Old Parliament House as part of Canberra's Balloon Fiesta. Very cool indeed.

So yeah, only a few more weeks to go. :(

Sorry, that I haven't been super active on my blog. There just isn't that much stuff to report when you're doing the day-to-day things. I think of you guys from time to time. And I hope that you guys haven't totally forgotten about me.

Bye for now.