Steff the Chef: Banana Non-Tumble

My second attempt at this delicious banana cake turned out fantastic! As you can see, its form is perfect, and it tastes just as good as last time. I just love banana cakes. In fact, I love almost all banana-products; smoothies, sundaes, shakes, pancakes, slices... I'm just so glad the terrible banana disaster is long gone!

Some of you may remember my first attempt at this, which barely resembled a cake at all. In fact, we turned it into trifle. If you don't remember it, it can be found here.

Do you miss me?

Holidays!

Finally. For once, due to the nature of 'time in lieu' I have almost two weeks off. Don't get too excited filling up my social calendar though, because I reckon I need to spend at least a week straight in bed. To say I am exhausted would be an understatement. How I look forward to next year, where I once again promise myself that I will fix my priorities and put an end to this ridiculous break-neck pace of living!

After the holidays we go straight on prac for three weeks. That means I don't see my Flora Hill guys for 5 whole weeks, and strangely, I will miss them (well, my Year 7's at least). There's such great classroom dynamics, and just the whole level of language which is so different to that of primary school. To think I only have them for four more weeks...

Drugged up

Another update on my trip - man, things are going so fast!

After getting a passport, booking my flights and selling my fundraising chocolates, it was time to get my jabs and scripts for various other travelling pills. I went to see my doctor on Friday to make an appointment to have them, since I didn't think he'd have that kind of thing just laying around in his fridge waiting for randoms to show up saying they want to head overseas. However, I was mistaken; they must be pretty common among the nursing students too, and the campus nurse prepared them while I waited - eek!

Anyone who knows me knows I'm terrified of needles (although more so the intravenous ones, not so bad about the flesh ones anymore). But I must say I was very brave while I endured shots of typhoid and hepatitus A + hepatitus B. As an interesting side note, since I had already had my three hepB boosters, I am now "super immune" and all drugged up!

Perjalanan ke Indonesia!

Most of you already know about my plans for an adventurous jaunt to Indonesia in just under three months. For those who don't, here is the grand unveiling of my Indonesia trip!

On the 27th of November I will fly out of Melbourne with my travel group, headed for Denpasar, Bali. From there, we fly to Ujung Pandang (also known as Makassar), the capital of the island of Sulawesi. An easy way to spot where I'll be is to look for the 'k'-shaped island on SBS world news!

Because Sulawesi has a rather mountainous region in the centre, its four peninsulas are actually completely isolated from one another. The only way to get between them is by boat or plane. So, we catch another plane from Ujung Pandang/Makassar to Kendari, the regional capital of Sulawesi Tenggara (South East Sulawsi).

In Kendari we'll attend a 10-day language course at a university and home-stay with lecturers. Classes will be in the mornings (Indonesians start school earlier than we do!), and buddy/tour-guides will show us around in the afternoons as 'field experience'.

Next we visit a village in Sulawesi Tenggara for a six-day survivor-style experience! Here we get to teach English and cultural studies for two days in each of a primary, junior secondary, and senior secondary school. Aside from our busy teaching schedule, we'll get to tour the village and help our home-stay families with their daily work (hopefully not rice fields for me!).

After our hard work in the village, we sail from Kendari to the tiny island of Hoga, part of the Tukangbesi island group in the reef area of Wakatobi (named after the four most important comprising islands in traditional Indonesian style). Here we stay in a "resort" (very non-Western longhouse), and relax by the beach for three days.

Then, while some of my travel friends go off to tour Bali and Java, I will make the long three-leg journey home to Australia on the 21st of December to see my friends and family who will have sorely missed me!

First detention

I've never had a detention, so I don't know what it's like to get one. They're not much fun to get, and they're not much fun to give out either. Some people love having this power. I don't.

You're Next

Specially dedicated to Stoz (ask him why).

'When I was younger, I hated going to weddings. After the wedding and during the reception, my aunts and the grandmotherly types would come up to me and poke me in the ribs, cackling, "You're next."

Finally they stopped, when I started doing the same to them at funerals!'

- Rex Cornelius via GCFL

Walk the line

So many people think you can get to heaven (if you even believe in it) by doing good for others, and that a sin is something which is socially unacceptable. To them, Christianity is just another religion among the many crazy, antiquated belief systems with long lists of negative regulations and hocus-pocus spirituality.

Of the 8 respected and responsible people present in the discussion (including the self-professed Christian teacher), only 2 said that having 'premarital relations' was sin. I guess I shouldn't have been so naive. How do we effectively walk the line between 'holier than thou' and set apart for God in our discussions of such topics?

Apakah kukehilangan kesempatan lagi? Bagaimana kubisa menjelaskan hal-hal pokok agamaku kepada sesamaku? Terus terang, perbuatan-perbuatan baik tidak cukup untuk dimasukkan sorga. Sebenarnya, mengikuti Sepuluh Perintah Tuhan tidak cukup untuk dimasukkan sorga. Percaya pada Tuhan juga tidak cukup. Kalau percaya pada Tuhan karena takut dimasukkan neraka, kepercayaannya tidak begitu benar. Kalau melakukan perbuatan baik atau mengikuti perintah Tuhan karena takut memasukkan neraka, kepercayaan tidak begitu benar. Menurut pendapatku, mencintai Tuhan adalah hal pokok agama Kristen. Tuhan yang Maha Esa, yang Maha Kuasa, yang Maha Tahu mencintai setiap orang sebagai anakNya sendiri. Oleh karena cintaNya, kita bisa cinta kembali pada Tuhan dan berhubung denganNya. Kalau kita mencintaiNya dengan benar, kita akan ingin mengikuti perintah-perintahNya, melakukan perbuatan baik dan membantu anak-anakNya yang lain. Untuk dimasukkan sorga, manusia harus menyerahkan diri kepada Tuhan dengan cinta kepadaNya.

Yang juga penting: mengikuti perintah-perintah Tuhan tidak buruk, membosankan atau kodot! Semua peraturan Tuhan diciptakanNya dengan niat mengirimkan manusia hidup yang penuh kebahagiaan. Peraturan diciptakan untuk melindungi kita. Betapa sempurnanya kehidupan kalau kita mengikuti peraturan-peraturan ini! Malang, orang-orang dewasa ini kurang mengerti...