Meeting family

I visited Zija Pawla today. She's my grandpa's sister. We also met her daughter Bernardette, Alec, Andre and Orlando (who is only 14 days old!). It was an enjoyable morning.

Life

Everytime I post a comment I always mention some of the cool things I do, but life is not always so exotic and out of the norm. I actually live quite a normal life here. I do have days when I have nothing to do, and when I feel a bit lost. And I also have days when I feel a bit alone and confused. These ups and downs of life have actually been harder to face here being in a different country away from family, friends and my usual comfort zone. It's been quite a challenge.

They have challenged me into acting on my life and do the things I want there to be in my life. I always used to let things happen as they come and fill my time with what comes along... well... here that attitude had to change if I wanted things to happen.

At different points during these past 6 months I had to shake myself up, scold myself for being lazy and laid back, and try to stand up on Jesus' teaching and live the life that wants to live in me. It has been a trail and error experience but I'm getting there slowly slowly. I just have to remember not to give up when things do not go my way... hehe...

Symbio Wildlife Park

Last Saturday I went to Symbio Wildlife Park with a friend, Jess; we had a GREAT TIME!!

Have a look at the pics:

We had the opportunity to pat a Koala, feed the Kanagaroos and Wollaroos (Which similar to Kangaroos but smaller) and see a lot of really cool animals. Red Panda, Meercat (Timon in Lion King :p), Emus, Lamas, Ostrich, Tasmanian Devil, Deers, Dingos (its a wild dog that lives in Northern Australia)

Another week...

Another week has gone by... days are passing by very quickly - in a month's time I'll be sleeping at Randwick Park on the vigil to the World Youth Day mass with the pope, and in two month's time I'll be in stop over in Larnaca - 2 hours away from Malta.

Today I had a day off so I went in the city and was a tourist for a day:

• I walked round the Botanical Gardens
• Visited the Tourist Information Centre (for some more info about things I can do)
• Went to The Rock Discovery Museum (which explained some of the history of the City)

They were all interesting. But I think what made it an even more pleasant experience was the fact that I had started the day with prayer. It lightened up my mood, and helped me smile :) - I sometimes forget to do that.... hehe...

I then rushed home to cook dinner. I promised I'd cook Octapus stew today!! Outcome? - Delicious!! Thanks for the tips Ma! People went back for seconds! ;)

Picnic...

It was one of the few days when everyone was at home: We decided to have a picnic. We filled up the picnic baskett with food and sweet delicacies and went down to Wooloongong for a picnic next to the beach. It was a nice break to have.

Some of the 'bigs' in Australia

For those who don't know Australia is quite known for its 'big' things. On our way down to Victoria (~1000Km) we stopped next to some of these bigs:

First - Big Marino
Second - Big Ned Kelly
Third - Giant Chair
Fourth - Big ... emmm... mmm ... forgot its name!! :s

Puffing Billy - Steam Engine Train

I always wanted to know how it felt to travel on a steam engine train. Well... I was in Victoria I got the opportunity to go on one =D. It was quite an experience... hehe... It is very noisy and sooty but very cool. This old train is called 'Puffing Billy' and it works on coal. It's a very sweet train - like Thomas the train! :)

At one point during the journey we went up a relatively steep hill. The noise made by the train, chuff chuff, chuff chuff, had a particular pace that you could imagine it saying: I think I can, I think I can... hehe... It must have been quite a revolution for people used to travelling by cart or foot.

Beautiful Autumn Trees!!

I was really fascinated by the colour and height of the trees. They made feel so small!!

I felt insignificat when I looked up at these really tall trees that were hundreds of years old! I felt small and saw God so Big!

Otti tal-gunglien

Yep, baking again... this time it's the typical Maltese biscuit 'Figure of Eight' also known as 'Otti tal-Gunglien'. They turned out quite good for the first time - but need some improvements...










Next project? Hobza tal-Malti - Maltese Bread. Will let you know how that goes when I get to it...

Cricket

Have you ever played Cricket?? I assure you it is not an easy game... I played for an hour or so last week during a picnic - the next day i woke up with a sore arm!! (I'm not so fit at the moment that's true...). Anyway here are some pics of me playing - trying to hit the ball. I did manage to make some good runs for a beginner, but I'm not a good bowler. I perform better in tennis!! ... hehe... :)

Peeling Potatoes

I managed to visit the Missionary of Charity Sisters in Sydney these past 3 weeks. They have a soup kitchen every morning from Monday to Fridays for homeless or poor people living nearby. I help out in the kitchen in any possible way I can.

These last two weeks I've peeled nearly 2 bucketfulls of potatoes!! I used a potato peeler, ma, not a knife - that's why I managed to peel so many!! (for those who don't know, I take a long time to peel potatoes when using a knife - and usually leave most of the potato with the peel)

Conclusion: Ma, if you invest in a potato peeler at home, I'll help you peel potatoes when I get back home - I'm gaining some experience here. ;)

Tasmania

Here are some pics I took in Tasmania.

The first one is me serving beer at a beer factory. From there I got to know I like ciders, especially apple ones.
Second is me with a friendly Wolaby.
Third is me behind the bars at Port Arthur.
Fourth and Fifth are two of my favourite pictures of Autumn leaves.
Sixth shows very tall rain forest trees in Tasmania National Park.

Conclusion - Tasmania is an AWESOME place to visit and live in!

Easter Show

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is a big annual event in Australia. As its name implies it is set up during Easter time, although it has nothing to do with the Easter message. In few words it is a festival that promotes Australia's diverse cultural and rural heritage.

"Each year, the Show aims to highlight Australian agricultural excellence through Competitions and education, while promoting national and international awareness of the country’s proud rural heritage. " Quoting from the official Easter Show website - halli hadd ma jghid li qed naghmel plagerism! :p

Anyway, after giving you all that info about what the Easter Show is let me show you some photos of what we saw there. We saw a presentation of how sheep dogs manage sheep when in fields, sheep shearing (bil-Malti: kif iqaxru n-nghag mis-suf taghhom... hehe), cows (qatt ma rajt baqar kbar daqs kemm rajt hemmhekk!) , goats, pigs & piglets, sword swallowing show, luna park games and rides. It was an interesting place to be. :)

Keeping Tradition - Eating Figolli at Easter

An experiment that really turned out well! Since it's tradition in the family to eat figolli on Easter Sunday, I made it a point to make some. I had never made them before, and so having such a really good outcome made my day!

The funniest thing about it all was the icing. I didn't add enough water to it and so when i went to pour it from the pot on to the figolla it just went down as a blob! I really laughed! I was in the kitchen. Bren's father there ... he just looked at me and laughed.

Quote for today

"Let the life that you live be the life that wants to live in you. "

-J. Palmer, Let your life speak

It's interesting isn't it, that sometimes the life we live is not the life that wants to live in us. God has created us in a particular way for a particular purpose - it is the life that wants to live in us, but sometimes we're so into doing want we think we want to do that we miss out on discerning what life wants to live in us.

Preparing Catechism lessons

I've been teaching for 4 weeks now... conclusion: A real lot of work I tell you!!! I have 8 classes in all:

two year 1 class;

one year 2 class;

one year 4 class and

four year 6 classes.

It's a new experience teaching Catechism to a class for just 30 minutes a week. Seems very little to me but it's all the children attending state schools are allowed for. It is a demanding and challenging experience at times but equally rewarding.

Missing home

Over two months have passed since I left my home country and entered a new country. Many new things have happened since then. I'm getting used to the system and to the different culture. I think of Malta very often. I think of all you guys who give meaning to my life. Today I received Matt's cd containing video clips of some of you guys... :) Thank you so much for all your beautiful thoughts and messages. You make made me feel loved, accepted and wanted. It is something I always thirsted for in my life.

Missing home? - Yes, but it's a peaceful feeling because it is backed up with that feeling that it is God's plan for me to be here at the moment. Your comments, messages and encouragement have reminded me of how important it is for me to make the most of the time I have here, and make sure I don't miss out on any time or opportunity I have. :) Thanks for your support!

I've posted a picture of the bookshelf I have in my room. The shelfs are covered with the cards you guys gave me before I left and the birthday cards I got by post... :)

It is not so sunny ... it's RAINY instead!!

Many are telling me how lucky I am to be in sunny Australia... well to tell you the truth it's not so sunny... it's rainy and stormy in fact! The news people reckon that Australia hasn't had such a rainy and cold summer since the 1950's!! So it's either I brought the Maltese weather with me or the World Youth day Cross going around Australia proclaiming God's love, has opened up the heavens and broken the drought that's been around for 10 years. It has rained so much that the dams that were nearly emtpty are now up to 65% full.

A small moth found refuge in my bedroom yesterday. So small and so beautiful! It had beautiful amazing contrasting colours. Creativity is not a quality you lack Father! :)

Singing Maltese songs

When packing my luggage to come to Australia, one of the things I made sure I put in were the lyrics and guitar chords for some of the old Maltese songs. I got the opportunity to use them two weeks ago.

Brendon's nanna is Maltese. She left Malta when she was 23. Unfortunately she's suffering from dymensia and is now living in an old people's home. She doesn't speak much. She spends most of her day sitting in a chair, and any abrupt movement tears her skin because it is so fragile.

Two weeks ago I took my guitar with me and played some old Maltese songs to her... Hawn tal-pastizzi, il-Vapur ta' l-art and il-Karrozzin. They're the oldest songs I had. It was so beautiful to hear her sing along with the refrain!! Her face changed from being gloomy to being a cheerful old lady. She loves singing and those Maltese songs must have triggered some old memories. Those few minutes when she joined in were worth it all.

Making Ravioli ...

Hi everyone!! Every tried making your own ravioli?? Well I had my first try a few weeks ago... The outcome? ... better not speak about it!! hehe....

Well they weren't so bad. The problem was that I needed to knead the dough more and make sure it isn't too thick, but not too thin that the rikotta comes out. There's a great art in making ravioli!! If you at the picture of my ravioli you'll notice that they're very big... well I always heard these stories of the big ravioli they used to make in the past and so I thought of making mine big... The problem with that was that I couldn't get them out of the saucepan, or stir them properly!!!

Conclusion:

When making ravioli make sure you knead the dough properly and cut them out in a size that makes it easy for you to cook them!! ;)

Different Cultures, Different Religions

I had a tour round the city today... I just went walking round the streets on my own... It was interesting to see how many different cultures existed in the same city: Asian and Western culture all in the same place.







China Town vs the British and Spanish quarters; Tai, Indonisian, Malasian Cuisine vs American Fast food; and several smaller communities found in the suburbs... among them the Maltese one (I still have to find it).

You also find so many different religions and churches: Buddhist, Hindu, and all the various Christian denominations you can think of: Baptist, Presbyterian, United Church, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Catholic, Anglican, Salvation Army ... The different Christian denominations has made me want to try to understand the difference between them all. I'm reading some books about it and I often discuss it with Brendon, but so far I've only concluded that we Christians tend to forget the main similarity between us all - Jesus - and get lost in minor differences that at the end of it all aren't so important if we keep Jesus at the centre of all we do.

... Boq...

Sea Cliff Bridge & Stanwell Park

Beautiful view from Sea Cliff Bridge Standing on Sea Cliff Bridge

Fisherman at Stanwell Beach