Foooood

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; 

knock, and it will be opened to you. 

For everyone who asks receives,

 and the one who seeks finds, 

and to the one who knocks it will be opened." 

- Matthew 7:7-8

Last night I went to Eat Street Market with Urbanest (my apartment), and we rode the ferry to [I don’t even know how to describe it. A carnival of food?] Eat Street Market. There were basically a lot of food stalls selling pretty much everything you can imagine, including, but not limited to: Pizza & Pasta, Seafood, Fish & Chips, Burgers, Sausages, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Korean, Peruvian, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Greek, and crazy, crazy dessert options: donut holes, ice cream, crepes, gelato, donuts, candy, canolis… the list goes on. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, because I don’t know what words to use (and I’m at a point where I don’t know what accent to use. Should I sound American or try to adopt an Australian accent?). A German guy commented that Eat Street felt very American. I’m not sure what he meant, but there was pretty much everything one could ever want to eat and a lot of different options. I wonder if he was referring to the diversity of the food, or simply the concept of eating, drinking, and indulging yourself. What interesting perceptions people have of places. 

Eat Street Market

The Food (top right: massive cotton candy)

There were SO many options, and being the very indecisive me, I spent an hour looking at everything trying to decide what I wanted to eat. I wanted to try something new, and I realised that I’m so blessed to have grown up in a diverse place like the Bay Area. Every time I came to a new food stall, I asked myself, “Have I had this before?” And every time, the answer was yes. I also wished my family was there, so we could all get something different and try everything together. But after WAY too long, I finally decided on Spanish-Peruvian paella, and even then I got half and half because I couldn’t decide whether to get seafood or chicken and chorizo. It was very good, but also probably because I was very hungry and cold. 

Paella

What I really appreciated about Eat Street was that the chefs in the ethnic food stalls were actually from that region. Unlike the Bay Area where Hispanics cook everything, at Eat Street (and in Australia in general), Japanese make the sushi, Spanish make the paella, and Chinese make the dumplings. Although the apartment staff said the Asian food is not that great, it was nice seeing some attempt at keeping authenticity in the food (or maybe this is for image purposes? Not sure).

I’m meeting so many people! And with that I’m learning so much about the world. From Hanu, I heard about racism in Malaysia, where there are three races: Indian, Chinese, and Malay. Everyone is Malaysian, but priority is given to the native Malays. Only Malays get 100-seed scholarships for uni and are allowed to have big families. It’s crazy to think that in the 21st century this kind of discrimination still exists. From [a girl from the hula dance session], I learned about the problems that plague the Pacific Islands. The coral is dying (coral keeps the island rising and sinking with the sea level [I don’t know how that works]) so freshwater sources become contaminated during storms. Tourism led international businesses to swamp her island, raising the rent and putting the locals out of work. And there’s the struggle to preserve their culture. It sucks to hear about the troubles in the world, and I wish there was something I could do to help. But for now I can only listen, learn, and pray for the people (and the countries) that hurt. God has opened my eyes so much to see what a blessed and spoiled child I am. I have all that I need, and I don’t need to worry about injustices that hurt me. My problems are truly first-world problems, and I can’t be grateful enough. 

Other random (possibly interesting) things:

- What do college students do with their free time? Sleep. I went to bed at 9.30pm Thursday night because I had no homework to do! And I was tired. But then I woke up early to get an Australian meat pie from the bakery for breakfast, and it was still warm. I've had better breakfasts, but it was worth the try. 

Aussie Meat Pie

- I got access to the practice rooms! Thank God :) Now I can swipe my card and get in (no more 2-minute bathroom breaks or annoying "access denied" emails). The person who approved it was the staff that let me in three times this week. It reminds me of the passage in Luke 18 about the Persistent Widow (which I think relates to persistent faith and persistent prayer). 

- I went swimming at the Somerville House pool (that I stumbled upon during one of my neighbourhood explorations) on Friday. It’s a really nice outdoor 50m pool, and I got an entire lane to myself. My mom would really enjoy swimming there (if/when she comes). Note to self: buy sunscreen.

Somerville House Pool

- I met up with Sarah from FOCUS, another Christian group on campus, and it was so refreshing having a one-on-one with a sister in Christ. She reminded me that, wherever I go, I have Family ❤️ And I love conversations that end with, “Is there anything I can pray for?” 

- And if I haven’t shared this with you yet, I really like this song (I made a new playlist on Spotify called “My Prayer” and accidentally added this song twice). “Down upon my knees/ I’m lost in worship/ Humbled by your majesty/… /Jesus, you have me completely/ Every breath that I breathe/ I am absolutely in love with You.” - Starfield, Absolutely

Keiko came over to my apartment to use our rice cooker, and she missed rice so much that she just ate a bowl of plain (but fluffy!) white rice in my room. We hung out for the evening, but please pray that I would be able to use these moments to have Christ-centered conversations.  But it's bedtime now. I hope I won't be sore from dragon boat training tomorrow. It's not fun playing viola with sore arms/shoulders.