Day 2 - Vegemite, Getting the hang of things, Federation Square, Simon

A good, long sleep did us well last night. In the morning it was raining but I went for a walk anyway. Our hosts served us toast and offered us vegemite. How can I describe the black butter that is vegemite? It is a spread for crackers or bread, adored by Aussies for its dark, salty flavor and incredible levels of B vitamins. It sounds great, nutritionally, which, according to the universal laws of flavor and nutrition, something that's good for you like vegemite really shouldn't taste very good. This is undeniably so. Think about concentrating down a nice, yeasty soy sauce into a thick, chocolaty paste and then spreading it thinly over your buttered toast and there you have vegemite.

Anyway, we started the day by sitting down and talking to the crusade undergrad summer project team that was getting ready to leave the next day. They explained some things to us, like the key differences between Australian and American students, the Tall Poppy Syndrome and false humility. They also warned us against eating pizza in this town saying "it's like spaghetti-o's." Noted.

Jared, Ash, and I then wandered toward the Yarra river and saw some sights. Melbourne is a real cosmopolitan area, so picture for yourself New York City and then widen the sidewalks bit. Innumerable shops, restaurants, coffee bars line the streets. Coffee in Australia is always espresso. Drip coffee, which, it may be argued, built America and is still largely responsible for the alertness of the the US population, is unheard of in this country.

We also met with Mike again and set up our schedule for the next day at Monash Uni. There was more coffee, some postcards, and a tour around Federation Square before we met up with our friend and world-famous Biblical Storyteller, Simon. Simon picked us up in front of the national gallery and drove us to Lygon st. for delicious eats. Italian, no less- the very thing we had been warned against this morning by the undergraduate cru team. Fortunately, this was not the same canned Italian they had sampled earlier. I had gnocci with black olives, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and avocado in a cream sauce that was divine. We stopped at a gelati place down the street and chilled ourselves to the bone eating exotic gelati flavors like caramelized fig.

As Simon drove us home, we were fading fast, but I managed to stay awake long enough to hear an Australian's view on Australian psyche. Bottom line: it's complex. Paradoxically, the humility of "tall poppy syndrome" is rooted in pride. People may not talk to you on a very personal level about their beliefs, but they will tell you personal stories and listen to yours. It was encouraging and I hope that we can learn more in the next days.