Some time ago I had two people over to my home in Australia to join me for morning tea.
A carryover from Britain's influence in Australia, morning tea is also known as "smoko" among the working class, whether one smokes or not. It occurs between 10 and 11 a.m., for about 15 minutes, just before lunch.
Afternoon tea, also called smoko is between 3 and 4 p.m. Tea or coffee is served with some sort of bickie (cookie) or sweatbread pastry.
But I've digressed already.
Denise and Noesja (say NOO-sha) were my visitors. I poured American fresh-ground coffee with American creamer I purchased from an American specialty store. They brought a cream and almond-filled pastry bread of some sort from a local bakery which sent my system into sugar overload.
The three of us chatted for the better part of the morning about life, love, and a few other things.
During the course of our visit, I pondered something: I am American, Denise is British, and Noesja is white South African. Not an Australian among us.
Our conversation was varied, with all of our accents filling my home. Our discourse was interesting because of our subtle cultural differences. Politics, religion, family, relationships, childhood...so very different from each other's outlook.
Until I left American shores, I hadn't ever met anyone who had lived outside of my American circle except for at church on missionary Sundays.
How sheltered I had been.
Love it! So fun and stimulating to learn from people of other cultures.
ReplyDelete