Random thoughts:
Amazing, inspiring, insane, exhausting, unforgettable event, the like of which Australia has never seen. 5,500 people, that all... hundreds of volunteers and ushers, state of the art technology, awesome location in the heart of metro Sydney (Harbour). Best organised event i'd ever been to, despite the size and logistics of the event.
Between Vahid and I, and plenery sessions, we each caught less than half of the conference. Even though every effort was made by the organisers to provide live feeds in parent rooms, fantastic children's program, etc, it was still quite challenging with our 2 bunnies.
Saturday night was a thrill, a showcase of artistic talent relevant to the theme - 5YP. The auditorium was filled to capacity, show after show. Just can't do justice to it here, so i wont even try. At the end of evening (11pm), two sleeping kids to navigate out of this crowd, i lost my camera coming down the stairs. Within 5 mins of dropping it, i was already retracing steps to find it, asking ushers, security etc. No luck. Until the last minute of the conference i kept checking the lost and found desk - they got sick of me. Came home rather glum about the loss of precious pics.
3 days later, Dad randomly looks up the conference website, stumbles upon the lost and found section and voila - my camera is listed! The pics above would have been lost were it not for a miracle!
During the conference, we made pledges of service, which would go directly to Baha'i institions. The day after we got back from Sydney, we're driving along with dad and Vahid, and discussing what service activities we would like to do now in Adeliade. I mentioned tutoring. The words were barely out of my mouth when dad's phone rang, it was for me - was i available to tutor Book 3 tomorrow night?! 3 days later, we had completed the book (Teaching Children's classes).
Will be offering these spiritual education classes to neighbourhoods soon.
And yes, it was spine chilling to walk into the arena outside the Convention Centre, and see so many familiar faces from such diverse places, many of whom i hadn't seen for years, all in the one place! It got more freaky as the days went by.... But you generally had one chance to say hello before the face would be engulfed by the sea of perpetually hugging humans....
Ayyam-i-Ha this year was much anticipated. We made a count down (advent) calendar. I used a 9 pointed star template to cut out 19 stars for the Baha'i month preceding Ayyam-i-Ha. Every morning the kids would take off one star and put it in the box. The box sometimes had a little present or something to do to prepare for Ayyam-i-Ha, like make cards, bake cookies etc. During the 4 days, the kids had a ball, with numerous parties and presents from family and friends. Lots of precious handmade ones this year, mainly made by children for each other. A memorable evening with grandparents listening to a music we hadn't heard since I was a child and rediscovered. (William Sears tape about Ayyam-i-Ha). 
