"What are Hershey Bars?"

During my brief time here I have come to the conclusion that Australians and American candy do not mix. Much in the same way that Americans and the Australian “Vegemite” do go well together. But I’ll get to the second one in a bit. I want to first talk about one of the most amazing and puzzling questions asked to me by Karen, my Australian host (they don’t use Mr. or Mrs. here. Still getting used to that). We were standing in an American food store that she took me to when she preceded to ask me what Hershey bars were. After getting over the shock of the question I sought to find only the best, most elegant and wonderful of words to describe something as magnificently delicious and simplistic as a Hershey Bar. It was my responsibility, my duty, as an upstanding citizen of America to find the perfect expression to do the candy bar justice. “Um… it’s a big chuck of chocolate’ Looking back this wasn’t the most charming of ways to describe something that I find to be so incredibly amazing. It was then that I realized I must buy a pack of my favorite American candies and pass them around to the people that I know. The best American candy is of course a Reese’s (like I had to tell you) so I bought a bunch of Reese’s minis. Clearly no one would know what a Reese’s was. Even the head youth guy at the Church, who owns and runs a candy factory, had never heard of them. However, it seemed like everybody that I gave one to liked it. Success! Well…almost. One of the funniest moments here so far involved me giving a Reese’s to one of my friends. She opened it up and put the whole thing in her mouth. She was really quite for about a minute and I thought to myself “man she must really like it!” Then I noticed that she had this really funny expression on her face. The question that then came out of her mouth was not what I was expecting. “Um is there supposed to be paper in this candy?” Along with the Reese’s she had put the whole outer dark paper in her mouth too! She just thought it was supposed to be dark chocolate.

Note to Self: Do not send parents Australian food in the mail that has been washed once in the laundry. Even if it looks fine there could be soap hidden within the package and they might mistake the soapy taste for the authentic taste of Australian food. Yeah that did happen. I was so excited to mail my family Australian “Vegemite” but I overlooked the fact that I accidentally washed the package of vegemite with my jeans. However, most Americans might agree that Vegemite wouldn’t taste any worse if it had been washed. I also mailed it to Stephen and his family and I think the unanimous opinion was that it made them want to puke. I must admit the stuff is an acquired taste. I had some on my toast this morning and find it quite appetizing.

So I started my first week of classes on Tuesday and I’m going to be so busy! Over the course of 12 weeks along with my homework assignments and readings I will also have to write 11 essays and do one 35 minute presentation. Ha! I was worried that I wouldn’t be busy enough here! Nevertheless, I think I will really enjoy my classes. I’m taking the Gospel of Luke, Youth Ministry, Practical Ministry Awareness and Spirituality. These are all the types of classes that I wanted to take during my time at Ouachita but couldn’t fit into my schedule. I realized late on Sunday night that I had to report to Mitchum Baptist church early on Monday morning for a college meeting. That meant about as much to me as it does to you. I had no idea what and where Mitchum was. I had never heard of this place in my life. I had no car and I can only run so far. Everyone who could help me was already asleep so I just pulled out all the train maps and figured it out myself. I arrived in Mitchum (almost 2 hours away) but then I had to find the specific church in the city. I had no idea how to do this so I just started walking. I stopped random people to ask if they knew where I should go. Eventually I found the place and got there in the nick of time. I must admit I was pretty darn proud of myself for navigating the train system. I believe it makes up for getting completely lost the first time. Like I said I’ve been pretty busy. Some of the stuff that I’m doing in the near future include: cooking Texas Chili for the youth group (never cooked chili in my life), trying to start a new bible study group, getting to know the nursing home residents, coaching a B ball team, planning a 15 minute lesson, getting accredited so I can teach religion in the schools (you can do that in Australia!), helping out with the big expo event, learning how to become a Chaplin for a middle school and going to all the planned youth events throughout the week. Whew! But I’m glad that I’m busy doing stuff I feel is important because I want to make as much of a positive difference as I can. I feel called here for a reason and I’m leaving behind people that I don’t want to leave behind. I want to make the most of my time here so I know that it was all worth it. So far I think I’m doing just that.

Randomness:

~ It rains quite a bit here. I’m so tired of this rainy cold weather! In fact, I find it much harder to adjust to the weather here than almost anything else. I can’t ever seem to get warm! But what don’t kill you….

~ It’s common in Texas to hear the saying “if you don’t like the weather in Texas then wait a day, it’ll change.” Yet in Melbourne it goes more like this, “If you don’t like the weather in Melbourne then wait an hour it’ll change.” In any given day, I’ll wake up to “warm” sunshine, get caught in the rain on my afternoon run, get blown over by the wind on my walk to the coffee shop and watch the stars on a perfectly calm, clear night. Melbourne is called the “four seasons in one day city” and I now see why.

~ We’re having an upcoming “mystery night” for the youth. It involves things like traveling all over the city, finding one of the church members dressed as a leopard and hiding in a store, searching for a kidnapped girl, and running around a mall . I’m excited about that and I think it’s a great way to help reach the youth.

~ Once people find out I’m American (usually after I open my mouth) they generally ask me one of two things. A.) Have you shot a gun? B) What do you think about Obama? Isn’t he amazing? Hmmm……

~Wagley's Wonderful Weekly Australian Slang Lesson:
Wagging= skipping. i.e: Shelby was so excited about the A on her paper that she WAGGED up and down the hall.
Lollies= candy i.e: Matt chose a Heresy bar for his Lollie but Ken decided to go with a Reese’s. NOBODY ever uses the word candy.
Runners= sneakers or Nikes. i.e: To play basketball Mary had to bring her runners.
Floss= cotton candy i.e: At the fair Jenny had so much floss that she threw up on the ride.
Boy= girl. Just playing

~“Who is Helen Keller?” Some friends and I got into a conversation the other day and this is the question that was brought up. What? Helen Keller! So again, it was my duty as an American to find the proper words to describe this incredible women and her amazing achievement. How can I give them an idea of what she means to us Americans? However all I could get out was “um she was some blind and deaf chick who did some cool things.” Fail. Again. Man I gotta get better at describing things that are common knowledge in America.

~ 2 layers of socks, 3 layers of long sleeved shirts, a scarf, gloves, long johns, jeans, and a jacket. On any given day this is my attire. Not that I wear all of these items of clothing every single day but I’ll wear most of it. It’s particularly off-putting when I see a kid half my age running by me in shorts and sandals. It’s not that Australian winters are any colder than Texas winters but the fact that in Texas, people heat their houses and close their doors and windows.