The Panditarama centre held a food fair on Saturday to raise money for the Victorian bush fire victims and the Mandalay, Mya Yee Nandar Myo Thit fire victims. Like everything this community group organises, it was a success with $2300 being raised on the day. The proceeds were split 50/50 between the two appeals. The food on the day, as usual, was lovely and prepared by volunteers. The range of dishes was interesting, including Thai style deep fried chicken, chicken laksa, mohinga (the Myanmar national dish) and many others. Browsing each cooking area was like a visit to a different district in Myanmar. Thankfully we had our friends Ohnmar and Sandar to explain this to us, otherwise we would have missed this fact. ... read more

We celebrated Chinese New Year with our friends - Ohnmar, Sandar, Terence, Yong, Deborah, Nicky, Sarah and Mum (as in our Burmese Mum). It was a nice family day, sharing food, lots of laughter and stories about a recent trip the folks from the Panditarama centre made to Canberra. On Australia Day (also New Years Day) Lorenza became an Australian citizen. She has been an Australian resident for about 40 years and finally decided to take the plunge. Part of the reason she did not do this earlier was that the Aussie citizenship oath used to involve proclaiming loyalty to the British King or Queen, and Lorenza did not want to do this because the Netherlands has their own Queen, plus she wanted to give her loyalty to the country not the royal family of another ... read more

When my friend Ohnmar sent me a text to check on some events that were on at the Panditarama Meditation Centre on the 12th, the events page of their website stated "It's a big day 12th October". That statement was certainly true, the program of events included: 5am to 8am - fruit offerings, 10am to 12am - ceremony closing the month long meditation retreat, 1pm to 3pm - paying respect to seniors, 6pm to 10pm - 1000 candles lighting ceremony. Unfortunately, I did not make it until 1pm, but I was lucky enough to catch a dhamma talk by Sayardaw U Pannathami which reminded us of some of the key elements of Vipassana meditation. He also thanked people who had been involved in the month long meditation retreat. This was the first retreat held at the ... read more

Dinner at the Captain's table Lorenza's family recently celebrated 40 years since they arrived in Australia onboard the SS Himalaya. We travelled to Bargo to attend a great celebration with the family. The theme "Dinner at the Captain's Table". The party area was decorated in a nautical theme and looked great. Lorenza made two speeches during the celebrations, one to present her parents with a certificate that gave the details of a plaque we had purchased for them that will be installed on the Welcome Wall at Darling Harbour in Sydney. The Welcome Wall celebrates the contribution that migrants have made to Australia and families can buy a plaque to be put in the wall - a very appropriate gift. It was a fun after and night with the family and Pa sure looked the part ... read more

Lorenza, plus my Mum and Dad, took a short break on the north coast of New South Wales in Laurieton. The purpose of our little get away was to join in the celebrations of my Auntie Judy's 70th Birthday. The birthday bash was held at the Kendal RSL Club and it was in a great spot on the bank of the Camden-Haven River. It was great to catch up with various cousins, aunties, uncles and friends. Comboyne Quotes Lorenza and I also did some sight seeing and took a spin up to Comboyne, one of our favorite locations in that area. Lorenza was a little upset the forest road caused her lovely white car to be covered in red mud - such is life! Comboyne is just one of those magic little places surrounded by rolling ... read more