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

Rain rain rain...

It should be the middle of summer (like August in Malta) but for the past 3 weeks it has rained rained rained!! I had to wear a sweater because I was starting to feel cold!!










After 10 years of draught, heavens have opened and rain hasn't stopped pouring! The Northern cities in Australia instead of having bush fires have had floods this year!

Knitting

Having a sketch book, pencils and colours is enough to to be able to draw and create some art work, but not having a pencil case to carry one's tools in is a problem. I thus took up the project of making one myself - by knitting one!


I thought of this a couple of weeks ago when I bought some pencils and colours to be able to use the sketchbook Brendon bought me for Christmas. I always wanted to knit a pencil case, and since Brendon's mum is very good at knitting I asked her to help me out. Well after 4 weeks of on and off knitting I managed to finish it, and I'm quite happy with the result! :) I used to knit in the car when going somewhere (it always takes us around an hour to go somewhere by car if it is outside of town), on the train or while watching a film. It was a good way to relax and spend time doing some craftwork. Now I'd like to knit a sweater... it will take me some time to finish it, but here it is still summer, so by the time winter comes, hopefully I would have finished it. :)

Tennis

On Tuesday I made my first venture onto a tennis court... It was actually my second time, my first was when I was about 13/14 years old and at that time I didn't manage to hit the ball over the net - not productive at all!! So before playing a game I tried hitting some balls with Brendon; he served the ball onto my side of the court and I had to hit them back ... the first couple of times I didn't even manage to hit the ball with the racket let alone sending it to the other end of the net!!! Good thing it was early and not a lot of people where there - I was really embarrased but smiled at it.

We continued to play and I was getting better - at least I managed to hit the ball and send it to the other side ... hehe ... :p I played a game of doubles (two players on either side of the net) and actually managed to perform well!! I did manage to score some points... I was quite proud of myself! ;)

My 23rd birthday

Last Monday I celebrated my first Aussie birthday for my 23rd birthday. It was good, I enjoyed it. Some friends came over and Brendon's family was there. We had a typical Australian BBQ lunch and then spent the afternoon playing board games and also had a swim in the pool. We also played bocci in the back yard - it's like the Maltese game but instead of having balls of different shapes there are only spherical balls. It is quite common here. I don't have a photo yet... I should take one some time when we're playing it.