Lessons

October 12, 2001-Learning

Along with the supremely satisfying sounding town names of Barrumbuttock and Tittibong, I would like to add Blackbutt. It pays to read letters to the editor.

My culinary skills are being challenged. The utensils I’m using are inadequate for all but basic fare. I just made a kugel by using an undersized saucepan to cook the noodles. I had to do it in three shifts. I don’t have a strainer so I used a pasta fork. It was a messy but efficient way to drain the noodles without loosing them down the sink. Speaking of losing things, a pot lid handle came off as I was lifting it to see if the water was boiling. Pieces and parts of the handle went floating off in the boiling water. I fished them out and repaired the handle. Did you know that a fork tine is useful for tightening a Phillips screw? I used an oversized salad bowl to mix the ingredients. I’m going to bake it in an aluminum foil "grill drip-catcher" pan of some odd dimensions at 200 degrees Celsius and hope it comes out ok.

October 13, 2001-Terminology

The kugel was fine and everyone enjoyed it. It’s fun to experiment with foreign cooking measures. We’ll invite the Bruce’s over for dinner. They’ve agreed to bring their own utensils and dishes if necessary.

We went to the PFLAG (Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) meeting in Brisbane today with congregants formerly of Toronto and Florida. Their son and his partner live in Sydney. On the drive up we passed a car dealer that advertised “Roo Proof” cars. Hitting roos on the road is a major hazard. We also learned that if we wanted to find any bedding in a store we needed to ask for Manchesters. That’s what they call it. It’s an English term and probably derives from the area of England where they were manufactured. Another term they told us about is “bowser.” It has nothing to do with a dog. It’s what they call a fuel pump. No one seems to know the derivation of that one. Last night one of the Bruce children asked if we knew what poppers were. We defined them as we knew the word pertaining to the drugs used in gay bathhouses. Here they’re just juice boxes. The term I like is one that’s used right before David walks onto the pulpit. A leader of the congregation will stand on the pulpit and announce, “Will everyone please be upstanding.” At that point they all rise. It’s a stitch. I’ve never heard upstanding used in that way. David loves that he comes in to a silent, but standing ovation.

PFLAG

There were about 20 people at the PFLAG meeting. It was more than usual. We gave them a picture of GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual, Transgender) life in our country then asked them about Australia. There was agreement that Sydney was the Mecca of GLBT acceptance. They even have a contingent of Jewish parents who march in their Pride parade. Queensland, unlike New South Wales, is more redneck (their term) in their attitudes although Cairns to the north is more accepting and is opening some gay resorts. Aussies aren’t open about GLBT adoptions or artificial insemination, nor are they for any singles becoming parents by adoption or AI. There’s no guaranteed safety for students in the schools except for a few private high schools. It’s easier at the university level where there’s a policy of equal rights that’s enforced. The military was unclear. Everyone agreed that there were gays in the military, but they didn’t know if they were open and accepted. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were. One of the most interesting pieces of information came from an aboriginal mother of a gay son. She said that aborigines were very accepting. Since they'd been so oppressed, they have a live and let live attitude. We mentioned that in the U.S. it was hard for some minorities to get past the image of the macho male and on to acceptance.

Cultural Exchanges

Had lunch at a Subway and didn’t know how to order the sandwich size. They’ve gotten some signs and banners from the U.S. and have had some made locally. There were 6 inch or 15-cm. Subs as well as foot long and 30 cm ones. Ah, the dilemma. David had the Aussie. It was basically an elongated hamburger with a choice of toppings. Yes, beetroot was among the choices.

We went to an art center in Gold Coast tonight to see the movie Liam. The center has other cultural events including dance and live theater. It’s a lovely modern building with a good selection of entertainment. The movie was about a young boy whose world falls apart. It takes place in Liverpool, England and is set in 1930. It shows the beginnings of fascism and anti-Semitism .It was well done and we only needed sub-titles for part of it.

Toby