We got our Old Testament essays back today. I did well which made me very happy and relieved because I put in some hard yards with that one. I tried hard to respond to the feedback that I received from the other assignments so it was pleasing to have positive comments on areas where I'm not naturally strong. It's not really an advance in my understanding of the topic but in my ability to express what I've learned which is useful because there's not much point in knowing something if you can't express it.
It's a nice boost as we head into exams too. I've got Hebrew and Bron has her biblical exegesis exam on Friday. Then there's a week of SWOTVAC and then the others. It's crazy how fast this year has gone. God has been great to us in that we've settled in well, been provided for materially and spiritually and have had a great time at college and with our new friends. We're almost done. Bruny Island here we come!
Currently, when I'm not thinking about Hebrew verb paradigms I'm thinking about starting a hip hop blog. The biggest barrier at the moment is a name so if you have an idea let me know in the comments.
Hot Water on Tap!
Well, one of the positives about the sunshine and heat (31 today) is that, although not included in the provision of 1930s mod-cons, by the power of nature we have hot water on tap in the bathroom sink!
Yes, stunning isn't it what we'll resort to on a slow news week. Well, there's not much else to tell. College is pretty stressful, exams and niggly little assignments and taxes all need to be done and the weather is getting warmer. God is wonderfully good though, we look forward to seeing all of our lovely people back home and we're still eating crazy delicious food. Oh, on that note - I discovered a new range of Lebanese food at the local Leichardt Woolies (yes, strange it is the Italian suburb... but anyway) and will be trying them out over coming weeks. Last night was Meghli - cinnamon flavoured rice pudding. I'll tell you about it more soon but I've still got a reading journal assignment to finish.
Here's a quick excerpt: (it's about submission in marriage, in relation to Ephesians 5)
Yes, stunning isn't it what we'll resort to on a slow news week. Well, there's not much else to tell. College is pretty stressful, exams and niggly little assignments and taxes all need to be done and the weather is getting warmer. God is wonderfully good though, we look forward to seeing all of our lovely people back home and we're still eating crazy delicious food. Oh, on that note - I discovered a new range of Lebanese food at the local Leichardt Woolies (yes, strange it is the Italian suburb... but anyway) and will be trying them out over coming weeks. Last night was Meghli - cinnamon flavoured rice pudding. I'll tell you about it more soon but I've still got a reading journal assignment to finish.
Here's a quick excerpt: (it's about submission in marriage, in relation to Ephesians 5)
It is a hard truth to teach because, although it is a wonderful truth, it is grounded in the idea that we are to submit to God. Everyone who rejects God, or refuses to submit to him will find the idea of submission to fellow humans distasteful and they will always view submission as subjugation. The world's view of submission will always involve subjugation because it is corrupted by sin.
It is sad that often it is submission to one another (in various roles etc) which puts people off God. But we need to put aside their ideas of subjugation, see our need for God and repent and submit to him and then we will be able to see that the submission which God requires of us to each other is made of love, goodness and humility. Submission without subjugation is only possible when the existence of sin is acknowledged and the remedy for sin is accepted.
As Promised...
No, this isn't College... sadly! It's the amazing courtyard at Sydney Uni. Well, it's about 1/4 of the courtyard.
The Jacaranda trees are beautiful at the moment. They're like intense stands of ethereal violet. I didn't realise Sydney had Jacaranda trees, having only seen them once on a visit to Perth when I was a kid. But I'm glad they're here too. I'll try and get a photo tomorrow. The ones outside college are particularly spectacular.
Tomorrow at college we have a morning of prayer (they have that twice a year).
Tomorrow at college we have a morning of prayer (they have that twice a year).
(Red) Oaktoberfest
(aka: the Hunt for Red Oaktober)
Bron and I went to The Australian this afternoon for their annual Beer Festival. There were 20 of the best Australian breweries represented. The deal was that you paid $5 for a small tasting cup and then $1 for tasting tickets. Then you wandered round the closed off streets, through the mass of people and tried out awesome beer.
Between us we tried:
Red Oak - Irish Red Ale (Dan introduced us to this a while ago but on tap it was breathtaking)
Red Oak - India Pale Ale (it won the award for best beer at the festival)
Barons - Lager (Red Oak is amazing but Barons was the discovery of the afternoon)
Snowy Mountains - Charlotte's Hefeweizen
Little Creatures - Bright Ale
Scharers - Bock
Jamiesons - Raspberry Ale
Murray's - Nirvana Pale Ale (I asked for their pilsner but the guy misheard me)
We had a great time. We wish we could share it with everyone back home.
Bron and I went to The Australian this afternoon for their annual Beer Festival. There were 20 of the best Australian breweries represented. The deal was that you paid $5 for a small tasting cup and then $1 for tasting tickets. Then you wandered round the closed off streets, through the mass of people and tried out awesome beer.
Between us we tried:
Red Oak - Irish Red Ale (Dan introduced us to this a while ago but on tap it was breathtaking)
Red Oak - India Pale Ale (it won the award for best beer at the festival)
Barons - Lager (Red Oak is amazing but Barons was the discovery of the afternoon)
Snowy Mountains - Charlotte's Hefeweizen
Little Creatures - Bright Ale
Scharers - Bock
Jamiesons - Raspberry Ale
Murray's - Nirvana Pale Ale (I asked for their pilsner but the guy misheard me)
We had a great time. We wish we could share it with everyone back home.
The Happy Tape
It's a lovely lazy Saturday morning. We're full of crepes, lazing around reading and listening to my mix tape. Well, it's not actually a tape... it's a folder, but hey - it's a mix tape in the old school sense. And it's my happy tape. Here's what's on it:
U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
Lou Reed - Perfect Day
B...Surfers - Pepper
Doves - There Goes the Fear
Nena - 99 Luftballons (yes, the original - I love it!)
Ben Folds Five - Kate
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc ( - you know how in any good mix tape there's one song that you don't like and you don't know how it got there but you don't hate it enough to get rid of it)
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lookin Out My Back Door
Santana - Put Your Lights On
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Tom Waits - Another Man's Vine
Oh yeah... Greek went ok. I'm happy with it and hope that I passed. I'm sure even if I didn't that I got close enough to get a supp. And Nick was happy cos he got to walk out about an hour early! It's nice it's over. And this weekend is the "holiday vibe" weekend - before we have to get back into the rest of the exams. Can't believe it's only 2 more weeks of classes!
U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
Lou Reed - Perfect Day
B...Surfers - Pepper
Doves - There Goes the Fear
Nena - 99 Luftballons (yes, the original - I love it!)
Ben Folds Five - Kate
Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc ( - you know how in any good mix tape there's one song that you don't like and you don't know how it got there but you don't hate it enough to get rid of it)
Creedence Clearwater Revival - Lookin Out My Back Door
Santana - Put Your Lights On
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Tom Waits - Another Man's Vine
Oh yeah... Greek went ok. I'm happy with it and hope that I passed. I'm sure even if I didn't that I got close enough to get a supp. And Nick was happy cos he got to walk out about an hour early! It's nice it's over. And this weekend is the "holiday vibe" weekend - before we have to get back into the rest of the exams. Can't believe it's only 2 more weeks of classes!
We have our Greek exam this afternoon. I'll be very glad when it's over, and I think Nick will be a bit relieved too (Hebrew, in two weeks time, is the big one to worry about for him)
And the little one said...
There was something that I was going to blog, and for the life of me I can't remember what it was! But anyway, I didn't get around to blogging about this when I first saw it: an ad for a room to share - with 3 other people. They had bunk beds and all!!!! I can't remember exactly how much it was, I think about $100 p/wk. Crazy eh.
Today
Sydney
[edit: fixed the photos, hopefully they will stay fixed!]
We went for a walk down by the waterfront this afternoon and it was lovely. I've got some pictures from it on my photo blog but I thought I'd post these ones here cos they're not really arty, they just kinda have a really Sydney feel to them, and I thought it would be cool so all our peeps back in the 'hood can see what life's like for us here.
Some other recent photos of us I nicked off baby Simon's blog. You can see lots of our other friends here including Katie and Bernie, Suds and Adele, Bek and baby Azaria, Red, Aidan ( the New Zealander who is married to Soph) and of course, the proud parents Pete and Pamela.
We went for a walk down by the waterfront this afternoon and it was lovely. I've got some pictures from it on my photo blog but I thought I'd post these ones here cos they're not really arty, they just kinda have a really Sydney feel to them, and I thought it would be cool so all our peeps back in the 'hood can see what life's like for us here.
Some other recent photos of us I nicked off baby Simon's blog. You can see lots of our other friends here including Katie and Bernie, Suds and Adele, Bek and baby Azaria, Red, Aidan ( the New Zealander who is married to Soph) and of course, the proud parents Pete and Pamela.
Happy Dutchness!
I was helping Nick spell oliebollen by looking it up on dictionary.com (which is very handy for facebook scrabble battles...) Anyway, so I looked it up and they had an encyclopedia entry on it. It starts off pretty normal but kind of degenerates into weirdness:
"They are said to have been first eaten by Germanic tribes in the Netherlands during the Yule, the period between December 26 and January 6. The Germanic goddess Perchta, together with evil spirits, would fly through the mid-winter sky. To appease these spirits, food was offered, much of which contained deep-fried dough. It was said Perchta would try to cut open the bellies of all she same across, but because of the fat in the oliebollen, her sword would slide off the body of whoever ate them..."from http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Dutch_doughnut
Adventures in the Phenomenal World
This term eight of us have banded together in a brains trust. Each of us prepares a summary during the week and then on Friday we get together to talk through the exam. This afternoon was a double-header with the subjects Philosophy and Mission Foundations. We looked at:
1. Plato
2. Augustine
3. Kant (with Descartes and Hume)
4. Nietzsche and Heidegger (this is the topic I prepared)
5. Mission and the poor
6. Mission in the OT
7. Inter-faith dialogue
8. Paul's missiology
It took us a long time to get through it all this arvo. I think philosophy was the culprit as we tried to clarify our ideas and make jokes.
I feel pretty well prepared for the philosophy exam now - all the different ideas seemed to click pretty well. Mission Foundations however will require a bit more work.
I have a sermon to do on Sunday which I need to finish writing tomorrow morning. It's on Judges 16, the betrayal and death of Samson. I preached last week too on chapter 13. It was pretty intense and I still have some mixed feelings about it. It's hard to give it the attention I want because exams are looming so there's a bit of a tug of war going on in my brain. I think I'm turning into an exam zombie.
I've started reading the first volume of Iain Murray's biography on Lloyd-Jones. I'm not very far in yet but I'm loving it. I also started Crime and Punishment on my own (I'm not very far into it yet) and I'm reading Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man aloud to Bron. It's reminded me what an amazing author Joyce is. He had special literary kung-fu.
1. Plato
2. Augustine
3. Kant (with Descartes and Hume)
4. Nietzsche and Heidegger (this is the topic I prepared)
5. Mission and the poor
6. Mission in the OT
7. Inter-faith dialogue
8. Paul's missiology
It took us a long time to get through it all this arvo. I think philosophy was the culprit as we tried to clarify our ideas and make jokes.
I feel pretty well prepared for the philosophy exam now - all the different ideas seemed to click pretty well. Mission Foundations however will require a bit more work.
I have a sermon to do on Sunday which I need to finish writing tomorrow morning. It's on Judges 16, the betrayal and death of Samson. I preached last week too on chapter 13. It was pretty intense and I still have some mixed feelings about it. It's hard to give it the attention I want because exams are looming so there's a bit of a tug of war going on in my brain. I think I'm turning into an exam zombie.
I've started reading the first volume of Iain Murray's biography on Lloyd-Jones. I'm not very far in yet but I'm loving it. I also started Crime and Punishment on my own (I'm not very far into it yet) and I'm reading Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man aloud to Bron. It's reminded me what an amazing author Joyce is. He had special literary kung-fu.
You know, the hardest thing about making your own ricotta is getting around to going to Spotlight to buy the muslin/cheesecloth! I remember a few years ago the girl at the deli in Woolies told me how easy it was to make, and I've been meaning to since then. I just never got around to buying the cheesecloth.
So a few months ago when my thrufty friend Soph from New Zealand gave me a recipe I thought I'd better get cracking. A week or so ago I drove to Spotlight and got some muslin. Last night I gave it a go.
This is how you do it (1 litre of milk makes a bit over 200g of ricotta)
Line a sieve or colander with 2 layers of muslin and put it in the sink
Bring 1 litre of milk up to 93.3 degrees (or, if like me you don't have a thermometer - get it until it's very hot but not boiling)
Add in 1 tbl spoon of white vinegar. If it's at the right temperature it will curdle instantly. If not, continue heating gently until it does curdle (but not too much or it will kind of cook and it'll be dry and lumpy)
Pour into the muslin, leave in sink until cool enough to handle. Then tie it up and drain for half an hour (time depends on how dry you want it)
Add some salt (for savoury) and put it in the fridge. Voila, you have ricotta. It was pretty good, but if you have any tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I've since read that you're probably supposed to let it stand (off the heat) for a couple of hours to curdle further before you strain it. Kind of takes away the convenience factor, but I'll give it a try next time to see if it's any better.
So a few months ago when my thrufty friend Soph from New Zealand gave me a recipe I thought I'd better get cracking. A week or so ago I drove to Spotlight and got some muslin. Last night I gave it a go.
This is how you do it (1 litre of milk makes a bit over 200g of ricotta)
Line a sieve or colander with 2 layers of muslin and put it in the sink
Bring 1 litre of milk up to 93.3 degrees (or, if like me you don't have a thermometer - get it until it's very hot but not boiling)
Add in 1 tbl spoon of white vinegar. If it's at the right temperature it will curdle instantly. If not, continue heating gently until it does curdle (but not too much or it will kind of cook and it'll be dry and lumpy)
Pour into the muslin, leave in sink until cool enough to handle. Then tie it up and drain for half an hour (time depends on how dry you want it)
Add some salt (for savoury) and put it in the fridge. Voila, you have ricotta. It was pretty good, but if you have any tips or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I've since read that you're probably supposed to let it stand (off the heat) for a couple of hours to curdle further before you strain it. Kind of takes away the convenience factor, but I'll give it a try next time to see if it's any better.
We're really liking Sydney at the moment. Don't worry - we will still come back to Tassie! But I guess, we're really enjoying being here. We're really appreciating the opportunity to live in such a cool place, to have made wonderful friends and to have the blessing of all the great teaching at college.
Today we went to visit Pete and Pamela and their new baby Simon in hospital. He was very tiny and cute and it is cool to see people becoming new parents. We also didn't have any classes today so that contributed to the laid back vibe. Oh yeah, and we had a really really nice lunch today. I mean, it was just an ordinary college lunch - but it was a particularly good one. I will miss college lunches next year.
Today we went to visit Pete and Pamela and their new baby Simon in hospital. He was very tiny and cute and it is cool to see people becoming new parents. We also didn't have any classes today so that contributed to the laid back vibe. Oh yeah, and we had a really really nice lunch today. I mean, it was just an ordinary college lunch - but it was a particularly good one. I will miss college lunches next year.
College is hard for introverts. I skipped going to a friend's baby shower today. I felt really bad, cos I had already rsvp'd but I just had to have a day at home. To be able to face the week ahead it's so important to get good rest. For me, rest isn't just about not doing work, it's also about having time to just potter round at home.
So I made that yummy salad again, and I made a great sponge cake too. I'm now psyching myself up to wash the dishes so I can make Kevtedes (the greek meatballs). I always try and make enough of something on Saturday so we can have it on Sunday lunch. Often we don't get back from church until around 1:30 (later if we have to catch the train) and so we're pretty famished!
Tomorrow Nick is preaching at church. He will be on again next week too. I'm not sure of the exact text, but I think it's from Judges and about Samson. Does Samson have a "p"? Well, anyway - I will look forward to being there. We've missed quite a few weeks due to various sicknesses.
So I made that yummy salad again, and I made a great sponge cake too. I'm now psyching myself up to wash the dishes so I can make Kevtedes (the greek meatballs). I always try and make enough of something on Saturday so we can have it on Sunday lunch. Often we don't get back from church until around 1:30 (later if we have to catch the train) and so we're pretty famished!
Tomorrow Nick is preaching at church. He will be on again next week too. I'm not sure of the exact text, but I think it's from Judges and about Samson. Does Samson have a "p"? Well, anyway - I will look forward to being there. We've missed quite a few weeks due to various sicknesses.
Two things
This could be awesome. Shaun Micallef is doing a new series which starts next week (10th Oct, 10pm, SBS). I was just wondering what he's been up to.
Here's a preview of Jay-Z's new album. I'm starting to look forward to it.
Here's a preview of Jay-Z's new album. I'm starting to look forward to it.
Poo-York-Central and other silly titles*
Have you heard of No Impact Man? Here's the subtitle of his blog:
One recent post that really interested me was this one, titled: "living in gratitude instead of desire". He talks about gratitude and religion:
Now, I can certainly testify that gratitude is something which takes hard work to cultivate, 'religious' or not! But I kinda wonder if another casualty of secularism is this: having no God = no call to be thankful. Not being thankful = living for desire and well... living for desire = unhappiness. Perhaps a bit simplistic. But it makes you think hey?
*I figured I'd at least get Shiloh's attention ;)
[edit - I'm not surprised to find that, after doing a science PhD, he worked in PR. I'm not saying this to be cynical - more just appreciating PR done really well and for good reasons!]
Wow. Makes you think doesn't it? If you can do that in NYC, you can do it anywhere!
"A Guilty Liberal Finally Snaps, Swears Off Plastic, Goes Organic, Becomes A Bicycle Nut, Turns Off His Power, Composts His Poop and, While Living In New York City, Generally Turns Into a Tree-Hugging Lunatic Who Tries to Save the Polar Bears and The Rest of the Planet from Environmental Catastrophe While Dragging His Baby Daughter and Prada-Wearing, Four-Seasons-Loving Wife Along for the Ride"
One recent post that really interested me was this one, titled: "living in gratitude instead of desire". He talks about gratitude and religion:
"I’m not even religious, but I sense from people I’ve known who take the spiritual aspects of their religions to heart an emphasis on being grateful for what God or the Universe or the Oneness has given them rather than on what they don’t have. I admire that. I’d like to have more of that in myself, because I, too, often find that my prayer, if I’m not careful, is for more."
Now, I can certainly testify that gratitude is something which takes hard work to cultivate, 'religious' or not! But I kinda wonder if another casualty of secularism is this: having no God = no call to be thankful. Not being thankful = living for desire and well... living for desire = unhappiness. Perhaps a bit simplistic. But it makes you think hey?
*I figured I'd at least get Shiloh's attention ;)
[edit - I'm not surprised to find that, after doing a science PhD, he worked in PR. I'm not saying this to be cynical - more just appreciating PR done really well and for good reasons!]
