My first hosts were Joel & Rosey, in the eastern suburb of Blackburn, just a stone's throw from the Laburnum train station (just two stops closer to the city than and on the same line as Nunawading, where Tracy's been staying). I met both Joel & Rosey in the Christian Union group at Monash in 2004. Rosey's currently on staff with CU, and Joel's working in pest control while trying to find an engineering-related job. They're probably the friends I've kept in most frequent contact with since I left Australia. They're both nerdy (love to play Starcraft and watch Stargate), and Joel is fairly reserved, but Rosey is quite possibly the most outgoing person I've ever met (right up there with Heather H., anyway!). They gave me a key to their house and loaned me their car (more on that in another post coming soon), and also had a package of Tim Tams and my favorite Aussie cereal (Just Right) waiting for me. :-)
On Friday night last week they volunteered to host a get-together of people from the Monash CU group back in 2004, and that was an awesome, awesome time. Not everyone was able to make it, but still quite a few people showed up. Of course while I wasn't able to talk to everyone quite as much as I would've liked, it still was a great time. And perhaps the neatest thing about the evening was that I provided an excuse for all of my friends to get together with each other too. Because they live in several different suburbs, and because of everyday life getting in the way, it'd been several months since some of them had seen each other. I've missed all those people quite a bit.
Then on Saturday night my friend Paul (from Monash CU) took us to the Geelong-Collingwood footy match. Tracy wrote a lot about that a few days ago, but I will add that Paul was so excited (then again, Paul's just about always excited, hehe) that I was able to explain pretty much all the rules of Australian football to Ash & Tracy, and that I already had a Geelong Cats footy scarf and t-shirt. Paul has commissioned me to go forth and spread the footy gospel in the USA, hehe.
My second hosts were my friends Rob & Simone (and their 1 1/2-year old daughter Hannah), who live in the northern suburb of Brunswick East, a short tram ride from the city center. Again, I know them both from Monash CU; we had a Sunday night Bible study in their house, and they've since both been on staff with CU part-time a bit, though neither are currently. They're both taking courses at Ridley (a seminary), and Rob's also working full-time with The Backyard Bard, the same Biblical storytelling group that Simon Camilleri is with (those in State College may remember Simon performing "Elijah" in 2008). Because we had appointments in the city on Sunday, Joel & Rosey kindly brought my luggage to Christ Church in Hawthorn in the evening, where Rob was performing a storytelling of the entire book of Revelation. Seriously, he memorized the entire book, and it was amazing. Hearing the whole book read/performed in one sitting helped it make more sense, and the performance helped me picture it in my mind's eye much better, without overwhelming or overriding my mind's picture in the way that a film would.
Rob & Simone are planning to move to the Middle East to work with a deaf ministry in about a year and a half, and they hope to move to the region permanently eventually. They have a heart for Middle Eastern culture (perhaps partly because Rob's mum is Lebanese), and as such much of their cuisine and even the furniture in their house has a Middle Eastern feel. For instance, instead of having a couch in the living room, they have a muffraj (sp.?), which is basically some cushions or pads laid on the floor and against the wall. I'd even drag the muffraj into the study at night to sleep on it, so it's quite portable.
On Tuesday night Rob took Ash, Tracy & I to a Yemeni restaurant in the suburb of Ascot Vale. Coincidentally enough, the restaurant is called Yemeni Restaurant. Rob & Simone visited Yemen (and other countries) last year, so Rob was showing the restaurant owner some photos on his iPad -- and the owner even spotted his former house in one of Rob's photos of a city in Yemen (Sa'na?). Anyway, eating at the Yemeni restaurant was quite a neat cultural and culinary experience. First off, the food was excellent. We sat on the floor, and the dishes were all laid out for us on the floor as well. For the various bean, meat and rice dishes, we'd scoop it all up with pieces of Yemeni bread (much like naan bread in Indian cuisine). We were all dipping and scooping the bread on the same plates, so we really were sharing a meal together, not just eating our own separate dishes while happening to be at the same restaurant or table. We all felt like it gave us a much better insight into what it means in Middle Eastern cultures (and meant, in Biblical times) to sit down and share a meal with other people. It really is more of an experience, and one in which you have to trust the people you're eating with, because they're dipping bread into the same bowls or dishes as you.
On Wednesday I toted my suitcase along with me down the tram to the University of Melbourne for my next research seminar, and from there on the tram and train out to Mt Waverley to go to my friend Jillian's house for dinner -- she'd invited several CU folks over for burritos. They weren't quite Mexican burritos, but rather an Australian take on burritos. First, in addition to the usual marinated chicken, lettuce, tomatoes and onions, there also were sauteed mushrooms, pineapple chunks, and either sweet chili sauce or bbq sauce (there wasn't any salsa). And the tortillas were lightly crisped in the oven before serving. They were still really good, but not quite like burritos I'm familiar with from, say, Qdoba. ;-) Anyway, it was great to have another evening hanging out with my Monash CU friends.
My third hosts on this trip are my friends James & Alison, who live in the far southeastern suburb of Hampton Park, about a five minute walk from the Hallam railway station. Alison is a primary school teacher, and James currently is a chaplain in a local public high school (the relationship of the Australian government and schools with religion is worth another post by itself), though until a year ago he was the national youth director for the Christian & Missionary Alliance church in Australia. I met them a few days before I went to Australia in 2004 because they were visiting the States, and Alison's parents know my parents (her parents, who are Australian, spent a few years pastoring a small CMA church in western Minnesota), and they were pretty much my adoptive family while I was studying at Monash. They even stopped by Penn State for a quick visit last April when they were visiting some family and friends in Michigan and Pennsylvania (and yes that photo was taken at The Creamery at PSU).
Ali came to pick me up on Wednesday evening following the dinner with my CU friends in Mt Waverley, and it's been great to be at their place again. They have several pets, including a couple rabbits (Fudge and Bubbles), a sugar glider (Cookie), a shingleback lizard and a couple bearded dragons (they're in accidental hibernation for the time being because James forgot to plug in their heat lamps). I was told that if Bubbles woke me up during the night by making a racket in the next room that I should just say, "Bubbles, stop!" and he'd stop, haha. On Thursday night they had all three of us over for dinner too, for which they grilled kangaroo steak, beef porterhouse steak, sausages and prawns (big ones). We were all sated, to say the least. :-)
And then this afternoon (Friday) the three of us went downtown to the banks of the Yarra River to the Melbourne Aquarium, where my friend Emily (again, from Monash CU) works. She wasn't able to get us discounted tickets (but our Penn State student IDs saved both Tracy & I about $12 each!), but she was able to give the three of us a guided tour, telling us all about the various fish and marine creatures in the tanks. The Melbourne Aquarium is really quite nice, and has been rated as the best tourist destination in Melbourne. They're also home to the world's largest species of stingray, and croikey were those massive! The penguins were also really fun to see and watch, but really, just about everything at the aquarium was neat to see. It was great to see her again and hang out a bit (she wasn't able to make last Friday night's reunion thing, but was at Wednesday night's dinner).
I guess the bottom line is that, for me, the friends that I made and still have here are one of the primary reasons why I continue to be so drawn to Australia. It's important to have a community when you live someplace, and they welcomed me into their community back in 2004. Things aren't exactly the same as they were six years ago, but I wouldn't expect them to be. It's been great fun to come back and see and hear how everyone's doing, to laugh and recall good memories, and to make new ones. I've definitely felt like I've been able to get reconnected with them on this trip, which has been great. And because of that, I have no doubt that I'll be back in Melbourne again someday, whether for a visit or for something more long-term.
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