Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 October 2005 15:14:05
A packed day today, full of all manner of activities. A wonderful and fun day.
Though I came back with a thud when I was driving home tonight and tuned into ABC NewsRadio to find they were feeding from BBC World after the explosions in India.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
---
We now know all of the letters in the Arabic alphabet. And we learnt the numerals 1 to 10. Despite the fact that our numerals are called Arabic, excluding the one and nine they look nothing alike, and their six looks like our seven. Here are the numbers from 1 to 10 in Arabic: ١٠ ٩ ٨ ٧ ٦ ٥ ٤ ٣ ٢ ١ We also practised some conversation including, "Please come in.", "Please sit down.", "Would you like some tea or coffee?" I practised with several people from church tonight who seemed rather impressed.
After Arabic class, I had an afternoon of drinking and eating with two people from Ship of Fools. First was The Belgian Beer Café at The Rocks. It was my first time there and it is truly a beautiful place, as the pictures on their website show. I'm not a beer person, but I greatly enjoyed the Piraat and the Timmermans Peche Lambic (beer menu here) I had, the Timmermans' especially: a delightful peach taste with none of that aftertaste I find I dislike in beer. The Belgian Style Meat Balls Charcutiere I had were quite nice, and the mussels, herring and steak had by the shipmates looked equally delicious.
We then took a trip around the corner to the beautiful St Patrick's Church Hill -- take a look at the High Altar and the interior! Stunning. And it is wonderful to find churches open where one can refesh oneself spiritually and physically. It was then back to Circular Quay and some gelato from Gelatissimo.
It was then off to church for me for Vespers and Bible Study, which was on our readings for tomorrow, well today now ;-), 2 Corinthians 11:31-12:9 and Luke 16:19-31. As well as a discussion on "thorns in our flesh" and asking God to remove them, and Him not as it is not His will, and the importance of praying and aligning ourself to His will, and a discussion on Hades / Sheol, we were exhorted to be generous in love and generous in our dealings with all others -- the opposite of the rich man in the parable.
After Bible Study, fifteen or so of us went to a café to celebrate the 16th birthday of one of our parishioners: and I fitted in some garlic bread, spinach and ricotta gnocchi, and an affogato. It was a great time together with my brothers and sisters from my parish: a broad range of ages, from 15 to 50+, and we do get on well and enjoy each others company. Thanks be to God.
Well, I best get to bed. Daylight Savings kicks in in NSW (and the ACT, Victoria and South Australia I believe) at 2am this morning, so I'll lose an hour's sleep. A month too late in my opinion: the sun has been rising around 4.30 for the past two weeks: our Tasmanian brothers and sisters moved at the beginning of October. Far more sensible!