Tim Tam Slam

There are times when I wander around the city at night. It's an old habit from when I was here last. There is imagery that I would like to capture, but I have to experience it as it happens. However, I do make the attempt to invoke some of the experiences though my rudimentary photography. And so I have adopted this practice of night photography. The essence is loneliness. Places outside of the parts of the city with a lively nightlife are in the shadow of a sleeping titan.

Tonight, however, was nothing like that. Tonight I had my first Tim Tam Slam. While grocery shopping a few days back, I came across something called Penguins. The biscuit, not the bird. These seemed familiar to me and I instantly remembered, and hoped that I was correct because I did not want to buy the bird, that these were the British versions of Australian Tim Tams. They were only a pound and it also included 100% more free! I couldn't resist. Even if I was buying an endangered animal, at least I was getting two times the amount. Last Spring, Nadia had told me of this delicious Australian ritual called a Tim Tam Slam. This specifically involved these steps: 1) biting of both ends of the double-decker milk chocolate covered biscuit, 2) dipping it in the tasty hot beverage of your choice, 3) sucking the liquid through the biscuit, 4) shoving the biscuit into your mouth before it fell apart into your beverage thereby ruining it. Knowing this, I was wishing even more that I was not purchasing something that I would regret biting both ends of.

Now, I didn't have all of the necessary equipment to attempt this feat. I first needed tasty hot liquid, and second a mug to put it in. So I went to Tesco and bought some mint tea, my favorite thing to dip chocolate things into. Next I went to Woolworth and spent a good five minutes trying to find a suitable mug. I found a rather cute one with a tiger on it. I figured that if it was indeed chocolate covered antarctic wildlife that I had back in my room, that the tiger would eat it first. No, I didn't seriously believe that, I just liked the tiger. So now I was prepared to experience my first Tim Tam Slam.

After I had dinner, I prepared the mint tea in the tiger mug and lined up three individually wrapped Penguins. I was prepared with a bowl in case there was a mess. I waited for the tea to cool while I read how Gordon Brown is setting himself up to take over as the second most hated politician in the UK. My tea had cooled, so I unwrapped a penguin, bit off both ends, and stuck it neck first into the hot tea. I sucked cautiously at the other end and then with more intensity as I encountered the chocolaty mint tea. As I felt the biscuit start to give away between my fingers, I shoved the saturated mass into my mouth. I realized that was the "slam" part as soon as the sensation of warm mushy chocolate reached the top of my spine, knocking me back up against the microwave. No, that's not serious either, I am sure I just looked pleased. However, I quickly became conscious of how I must actually look should anyone have come in at that moment. I had melted milk chocolate covering my fingers and my face like some four-year-old who discovered how to open the jar of jam. I didn't really care that much, after all, I had just successfully completed my first Tim Tam Slam.

I promptly followed the experience with two more that were still individually wrapped. This is something that I will be sharing with other people I meet while I'm here, as long as I can get 100% more free!

I also had my second of four courses today. This course, or "module" as they are called here, was Building and Developing a Commercial Website. The lecturer was a rather old and rather large man, not unlike Santa Clause, with a slight German accent. He has a serious sense of humor and I found myself wanting to argue every point that he tried to make about web design, fairly frustrated that he was convinced that he was right in all cases. So naturally I am keeping this course, even if I am not sure how it will transfer back to Portland State.

Yesterday I met up with the Danish girls and the two French guys after class at the student bar. I took this opportunity to re-learn and even write down the French pick-up line I had so recently forgotten. And tonight while dancing, I met a girl from France. I left my notebook at the dorm where the magic phrase was written, so I will have to try next week, but obviously things here are coming together rather nicely.