Vegemite and Turkish Tea

The breakfast menu yesterday morning included toast with peanut butter and vegemite, and daring to start off the day being a bit adventurous, I went in for a thick vegemite spread. Note to self: it does NOT taste as delicious as it looks. Mentally, I was prepared for the thick, chocolate-y hazelnut spread taste of Nutella, its close look-alike, but ended up with a soy sauce-tasting mouthful. That's not to say Rachel didn't give me fair warning, but having tried it on my previous trip to New Zealand 10 years ago, I thought I would be more than prepared. It seems as though my taste buds have forgotten just how bitter it actually is. Really the taste wasn't all that bad, it just takes some getting used to. I can't say I loved it, either, and I don't understand the obsession and the need for travel-size pouches of vegemite to snack on that I've seen while taking the trains into the city. Not quite the portable go-gurt I've grown up with...
Sr Rose Mary, Elizabeth, Rachel and I took the train into the city to continue the NAIDOC week celebrations. The city library was screening historical dramatizations and opened this Aboriginal film festival to the public. Although the purpose of this week is to celebrate the accomplishments of the Aboriginal people, these films showed a darker angle of the Aboriginal past- the initial injustices imposed by European settlers around the 1840s, including seizure of tribal land, and later on the abuses to their freedom, basic human rights and dignity as mixed-race children were separated from their mothers and taken away to missionaries and schools. Many of the problems faced by the Aborigines mirror the challenges faced by the Native Americans in the settlement of the western United States. I find it interesting to see Australia come together for an entire week to honor and celebrate this unique culture within the country- signs of it are everywhere, including hanging flags from every lamppost in the city!
On the way to the library, I got a partial tour of the city, including the beautiful cathedral at St. Marys.

New South Whales Parliment House

City Council Building 

After the films, Sr Rose Mary, Rachel and I went to make a visit to St. Vincent Hospital to visit Nancy, a Solomon Island patient, who is being treated in Sydney for cancer. Because the hospital care in the islands cannot provide the care she needs, Nancy has been flown over to Sydney to get her treatment. Sr Rose Mary has described the difficulties and precious time Nancy spent getting the appropriate visa and passport to allow her into Australia, something which I had taken for granted in my own preparations for travel. We happened to be visiting on July 7th, the Solomon Islands independence day, and brought a bit of a care package. While Nancy was out of her room in physical therapy, Sr Rose Mary, Rachel and I decorated it with a huge Solomon Island flag and made her favorite comfort food of rice and Solomon Island tuna (much darker than what is available in Sydney). Sr Rose Mary then proceeded to teach Rachel and me the Solomon Island national anthem so we could perform it for Nancy, though anyone who knows my singing abilities realizes that this could be considered more of a punishment for anyone listening... However, at the end of Nancy's PT appointment, we marched down the hallway back to her room, Rachel and I behind her carrying the flag and all of us singing:

"God bless our Solomon Islands

from shore to shore. 

Bless all our people and all our lands

with your protecting hands. 

Joy, peace, progress, and prosperity-

that men shall brothers be, 

make nations see, 

our Solomon Islands, 

our Solomon Islands, 

our nation Solomon Islands

stands forever more."

Me, Nancy, Rachel, and Sr Rose Mary

Whether it was due to embarrassment from being followed down a public hallway by the world's worst singer or because she was being visited by friends who shared her love for her homeland (I prefer to think the latter), Nancy was beaming the whole way back to her room. I could sympathize with her celebrating her independence day away from home, having landed in Australia myself on the 4th of July, and not partaking in the annual fireworks and family picnics. I hope this goofy show was able to make her feel a little less homesick. She and a visiting doctor, Annalyse Crane, were able to give me advice for visiting the Solomon Islands and I am hoping to visit her again next week to continue with my lessons. 

After our visit, Rachel continued my tour of the city's nightlife and we walked around the main shopping center before meeting friends for a Spanish dinner and dessert in a delicious chocolatier. Mmm mmm. I warmed up with a coconut hot chocolate- with the wind in the city it is beginning to get much colder and a more shocking transition from Connecticut summer weather than I was expecting. 

Today was another jam-packed day- this time with a different focus of Dominican involvement in social justice issues. I met Sr Trish Madigan who runs the Centre for Interfaith Ministry, Education and Research (CIMER) in Sydney and who just returned from a 4 week stay in Northern Iraq. There, she was studying the different stages of female education through three generations of women and also oversaw the building of a new, private university for men in Halabja. I tagged along with her today and we made our way to the Australian Catholic University campus for a conference on global social justice issues. In addition to Trish's presentation on the importance of interfaith dialogue, other organization leaders spoke about higher education programs for Burmese refugees, combining faith and ecology to look at sustainability, biodiversity and climate change, and the problems of cyber bullying. Breaking into smaller discussion groups, Trish's discussion focused on the education of students in interfaith studies, promoting immersion programs, especially with Jewish, Muslim, and Christian students. She encourages these schools to see students of different religious background not as a challenge, but rather use them as a resource to broaden the curriculum and bring awareness to the rest of the student body. This was a great opportunity to see the real-life application of an entire theology lecture that I sat in on just a few short months ago in DWC!

Making our way back to the train, we stopped into the museum and the tomb of Mary MacKillop, Australia's first saint who was just recently canonized in October 2010. This woman was made famous for her commitment to education for the poor of Australia and even went as far as to defy orders from the local bishop who looked to control her and the sisters of St. Joseph. Despite being briefly excommunicated by Bishop Shields because of a rumor of a drinking problem, Mary is now the only Australian saint and is therefore widely revered by its citizens. 

We continued on our excursion, crossing the Harbor Bridge and passing Sydney Opera House on the way back out of the city. We headed to the Auburn Gallipoli Mosque, where Trish wanted to complete my 'interfaith culture' day. The Gallipoli Mosque is fashioned after the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey, and I recognized similar decorations covering the walls and ceiling inside. 

Unlike in Turkey, where you can hear the call to prayer over the loudspeakers from the minarets 5 times a day, Sydney has limited the loudspeakers from projecting outside of the mosque itself. 

Look Ma! No shoes! Everyone is required to go barefoot while in the mosque. 

Traditionally, the men pray on the ground floor, while the women participate in the service upstairs. 

Misbaha beads contain 99 beads that help keep count as the prayer goes through the 99 names of Allah. 

Leaving the mosque, we ran into one of the mosque's singers who was coming to evening prayers. After introducing myself as an American student, we had a long conversation about American views of Islam and talked about extremists, stereotypes created by the media, and the beliefs of the majority of the Muslim population. It was such an awesome perspective to get from someone of Turkish AND Australian background; I could see he felt it was important that he promoted a positive view of Islam, in contrast to much of what the media presented. Trish then took me to meet Ahmet Keskin, co-founder of the Affinity Intercultural Foundation, which took off after September 11th and the Australian Muslims saw the need for the greater society to increase awareness of the Muslim community. It's main goal is to increase positive dialogue so that people can come to know each other and understand each other in the other's frame of reference and break down stereotypes. Much like Trish's presentation and discussion group, Affinity also focuses on youth interfaith education, from elementary to the university level, organizing over 150 events each year for the NSW community. Ahmet was very down to earth, friendly and easy to talk to, and much like the man we met at the mosque, wanted to help shed a positive light on Islam. He directed us to a Turkish restaurant nearby, where Trish and I shared delicious naan bread, hummus, maua kebab, mauti with a yogurt sauce and spices, and sweet apple tea. With my stomach still unbelievably full and many of today's conversations crammed in my head, I have a lot to digest after today's outing!