I got here Wednesday afternoon...well,
back up a bit. The five of us were having a great time together at our
camp in Sydney but I picked up some sort of sinus cold. When I got on
the plane to fly from Sydney to Adelaide, my sinuses went haywire and
basically gave me excruciating ear pain the entire 2 hour flight. By the
time I got off the plane in Adelaide, it felt like I had earplugs in my
ears; I couldn't hear hardly anything...which of course led to great fun that evening.
I met up with my contact, Flick, in the airport. She drove me around
a bit and explained the basic layout of Adelaide. Redwood Park (the
area where we are) is on the north-northeast side of Adelaide. (You can
see Soul Food on Google Maps.) She stopped for coffee with me
and explained the basic needs that Soul Food has that they expect me to
fulfill, the basics of who's who, and the general
feel of the cafe. She and Evan (the pastor of the church and the father
of the family where I'm staying) have this idea that I should have more
goals than "I'm filling a need" for my trip, so I guess I should come up
with those goals pretty quickly. Mostly so far I've had this idea that I'm simply filling a need for them, sort of like Martha in the Bible. She saw a need and had the energy, resources, and gifts to fill that need. That's kindof how I've seen it so far.
On a side note, a funny thing about this area: Apparently it's rude to call people
"Mr." and "Mrs.", or to say "ma'am" and "sir." I guess it makes them
feel old or like you're mocking them or something. Let's just say
they've all been laughing at my "quaint" habit. It's really difficult to
call people my grandparents' age by their first name and to just say
"Yes" when I reeeeaaaally want to say "Yes Sir." I was chatting with
Paula, one of the ladies at Soul Food, and she said it's a shame
that Australian culture has removed those terms from its vocabulary, she
agrees with me that it's a term of respect for elders. Everyone else
I've asked has said it's generally frowned upon, but that nobody will
get upset with me if I accidentally slip up because I'm American and
they apparently are used to forgiving alot of differences like that.
Anyway...Flick took me to the Johnson's house (the place where I'm
staying). The family is made up of Evan and Michelle, Georgia (10 years old, she's really cute), Zac (around 8 I think, he's at a farm
camp for the week and I didn't meet him until last night), and Bethany (6
years old and freakin' adorable). It's kindof difficult for me to read
Evan because his sense of humor is very stonefaced, but I love the girls. I like Michelle, we stayed up for about
an hour just watching TV (me asking questions and she explaining
things from advertisements and their reality shows). Flick and her
husband Glenn (he's one of those gentle and kind
people) came over to the Johnson's for dinner, and they asked me a whole
bunch of questions about where I'm from, what kind of church I go to,
what y'all are like, what I want to do when I grow up, etc. They all made full use of the fact that I couldn't hear anything, and I'm pretty sure they were joking alot. ;) It was a
really pleasant time with them, but I started getting sleepy at around
8. I guess I was still dealing with jet lag.
I got up Thursday morning and went with Kate (one of the employees at
Soul Food) to the cafe, where we worked until 5 pm. It was a bit
overwhelming to have so much information thrown at me all at once: the
cafe is espresso drinks, milkshakes, basic food (burgers, sandwiches,
soup), and desserts like cake and cookies (or "biscuits"). Everyone was
really nice to me and I had a good time, even though most of my day was
spent shadowing Kate and doing prep work/cleanup.
The cafe is really cute (pictures coming soon). It's in a little
strip mall, and it's really little. Well, it's little when you factor
in the children's play area. It was alot of locals and people from the
surrounding neighborhoods who meandered in and out all day. As soon as I
can get a hang for the rhythm and procedures of the place, I think I'll
be really comfortable around there. A few of the other members of the
church group came in and hung out and met me. They all seemed really
nice, and one couple was super-personable. Their names are Paula and Steve, and they are super-funny, really friendly, and very easy
to talk to. They live up in the hills a few miles away on an acre of
land, and they offered up their "caravan" (otherwise known as a garage
that has been converted into a guest house) for a weekend if I want to
stay with them. They also have a wildlife park across the road from
their place that has a "hold a koala" attraction! WHAAAAT! ;)
It's amazing to me how many of the church members really have
invested in this ministry. Most of them don't get paid to be there, they
all donate things to the ministry (whether it's dishes, toys, food, or
merchandise), and yet they all absolutely love being there and freely
volunteer at least a few hours every week. Even Christian people who
attend other churches come in and volunteer at Soul Food. Kate drives 50
minutes each way, and yet she repeatedly told me how much she loves her
job (she and I had some really good conversations and I think I may get
close with her, too). Although the ministry is barely making ends meet,
everyone believes in it and fully trusts that its needs will be
provided in time. There are even some non-Christians who come in and
volunteer every so often, just because they like being there (and
because they get free coffee).
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