Today was definitely a day for new experiences. This morning I went with around 20 of the (mostly Maylasian) kids from OCF on a trip up to Dandenong Ranges National Park. I’m still struggling trying to learn all their names, especially since some of the Asian/Chinese names are so strange to me. But on the way up there, we stopped in this tourist town in the Dandenongs called Sassafras, at Miss Marples Tea House. There I ordered a couple of fruit scones, with some wonderful raspberry jam and whipped cream. Delicious! (A scone is probably close to what we’d call a biscuit, only with the shape and consistency of cornbread — it’s hard to describe.) After that we made our way actually up to Mt Dandenong and the observatory/scenic overlook there, only there wasn’t much to see. Just dense fog (it had been raining most of the morning until then too). Occasionally a portion of the fog would clear, allowing us a marvelous glimpse of the city below for a few seconds, only for it to be shrouded in fog again. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll be back at Mount Dandenong again sometime when the weather’s better. On the way back we stopped in Olinda, the town right before Sassafras, at a cool restaurant called Pies In The Sky. There I had a curry beef meat pie, which was excellent. Several of their meat pies have apparently won gold medals in Australia, I guess they are to meat pies what Louie’s Finer Meats in Cumberland is to sausage. Meat pies and scones are very traditional Aussie food (which explains my title for this post; “fair dinkum”=”genuine/Australian,” and “tucker”=”food/cuisine”).
This evening after we got back, I went with Samantha and a couple other people from OCF to their church, Waverly Christian Fellowship in Glen Waverly. It was a charismatic church, I’d never been to one of those before. It wasn’t totally weird, but it was definitely different than what I’m used to. It’s also a huge church, with a few thousand members, and they’re just finishing up their new $7 million building. After church I went out to eat with them at Rock Kung, a Chinese restaurant in Glen Waverly, where we all split some roast pork and roast duck. It was my first time having actually semi-authentic Chinese food (the Chinese food in the States isn’t really Chinese food at all), and my first time ever having duck. It was quite good, although unlike American Chinese food, the meat in Chinese food down here has lots of bones and fat in it (in fact, it seemed to be very little meat). And let’s just say that tonight I utterly failed at using chopsticks. I can’t figure out how to use those things to cut something, or separate meat from fat, sigh. I ate my entire meal at the sushi bar a week ago using chopsticks, but I just couldn’t do it tonight.
Tomorrow morning I’m going to another church in Glen Waverly, I’m probably gonna sample quite a few churches around here to try to find one that I like. After that, it’s into the city for me, and my first experience at a yum cha restaurant! I’ll explain what yum cha actually is once I experience it first-hand, because right now I only have a vague idea (more Chinese food).
Here are some interesting links I’ve found in the past few days. From the Washington Times, there is new scientific evidence that — gasp! — the sun could actually be the cause of our planet’s half degree of warming over the last century. Who would’ve guessed it, that that massive ball of burning plasma at the center of the solar system just might have an effect on Earth’s climate? I apologize for my sarcasm. In another weather-related topic, satellites have confirmed the existence of freakishly huge rogue waves — some 10 stories high — in the open ocean. They’ve long been the stuff of legend, and have capsized (or nearly capsized) many a large ocean liner over the years. And for a bit of humor, check out this awesome Flash movie, which rips on both Bush and Kerry equally, entitled “This Land.” It really is pretty well done, and quite funny!