Week 5: 2/23/09- 3/1/09

Cross given by Marc & Tzara

Sunday evening (2/22) Tash picked me up and we met up with Paul and Josh and went to another Church, Barabool Hills for an evening service. In Australia, it was a National Day of Mourning relating to the Bushfire tragedy. I had my first communion while in Australia at this service. Barabool Hills is like a sister church to Connect Church; it is currently meeting in a newly renovated building- a much larger facility than the media center of the school that Connect Church is meeting in now. After the service we saw an amazing sunset and grabbed dinner in town at an Italian place called Tony’s. I ordered a calzone with Satay (Thai peanut Sauce), it was yummy. We went to Paul’s parents house after dinner and watched the Pixar movie, Horton (Dr. Seuss style movie). Paul’s dad also pulled out his National Graphic map set of the US and made me show him where I was from. This was sweet.

Monday night I caught some of the Oscars, it was fun to see Jenni & Jeff be excited about Hugh Jackman (someone from their Homeland) running the show. Tuesday night Tash and Paul picked me up and I joined the gang at her place for dessert, The Farmer Wants a Wife, and a good game of Balderdash. If you ever want to get to know someone’s personality- ask him or her to play Balderdash- it most definitely requires some creativity. I remember playing this with Aunt Traci and the cousins on one of the Moss family vacations- such a fun game! Jenni made the best hedgehogs this week; hedgehogs are basically an Australian version of Brownies. She oftentimes hand delivers them if I am working on something-I am really going to miss this and the constant supply of fresh fruit. I really should be taking notes on her cooking secrets.

Wednesday night we had a Barbie, Jeff’s friend Trav came over. Trav is making a name for himself over in France, he is a wonderful chef, and I know this because he brought to Jenni & Jeff, a copy of his recently published cookbook. He is hoping to start working for Gordon Ramsey (a well known chef). Madison, you two would have really hit it off- he has some serious talent and is gifted in the food department for sure. Thursday I got an exciting package from home that made my day. I am listening to the best CD ever as I type, just one of its components- thankya very much!

Friday brought yet another weekend and one that was well spent. About fifteen of the teachers (talk about a close-knit group) met up at the Bush Inn Friday evening for tea (dinner) and then we all headed to the Geelong Performing Arts Center to see The Boy from Oz. This was really fun; the music teacher from Bellaire was actually part of the cast. The show was a high energy musical, about Peter Alan (a boy from Oz {Australia}) who actually made it to Broadway in the 50’s. We all enjoyed this outing. Afterwards, Abby, Blanche, and I grabbed a coffee at the Wharf Shed on the Waterfront. I love being close to the big water.

Saturday was Brooks and Callan’s birthday and a day of rest for me. I was so thankful for this catch up day and also for the opportunity to just sit out in the warm sun for a bit. Saturday evening Lou came over and we went as a family to the Grovie hotel for tea, we met some of Jeff & Jenni’s good friends here as well. I learned that hotels here are not what we would consider a hotel at home. They are generally just a big building with nice restaurants, pubs, and sometimes casinos. I had flake. When I ordered this meal I was thinking I was ordering a nice fish. Lou asked, “Who got the Shark?” and I quickly learned that it was me!! {Another adventurous food item to add to the list.} It was really good, beer battered- the best kind of good. Did I mention that earlier in the week I had Kangaroo for dinner?? That was a story in and of itself. You see... I had already tried Kangaroo a few weeks ago in a pie. So Jeff & Jenni waited to tell me that our roast Monday night was Kangaroo because they didn’t want to skew my opinion or to upset me sense I played with Kangaroos for an entire day on Saturday. When I said, “the meat was sooo good, how did you cook it Jenni?” The TRUTH came out amidst many laughs and smiles.

Sunday was cold and wet. I went to church with Tash and it was good. I was thankful for the “energy juice” aka coffee that Jeff made me when I woke up- it was hard to get moving but definitely worth it. In the arvo (afternoon) we went as a family to the movies. Jeff got like twenty free tickets from work. I felt like I was at home because we took in our own “lolli” bags, popcorn, and drinks. The girls saw Bride Wars and the boys saw Ghost Town. Sunday I played my first game of pool at the house- they say “Smalls’ and “bigs” instead of solids and stripes… I also played Wii golf, tennis, and bowling. We all stopped playing Wii to catch the very end of the world renown classic, Forrest Gump.