Jenga - a universal game

Dee Why is a bit of an anomaly on Sydney's Northern Beaches.  For starters it has a much higher population density than the rest of the beaches.  It is also home for a significant number of Tibetan refugees (significant for Australia at least).

My partner used to exchange a passing nod with this gent in the park on her morning walk about 2 years ago or so and eventually got chatting.  To cut a long story short, he now comes over to our place for dinner every couple of months.  He's a Buddhist Monk who spent a significant period of time in exile in India prior to finally making it to Australia.

He's learning English and looking for work.  It's a very slow process.  It's hard trying to hold a conversation but we make do...  We've covered topics ranging from our families to the Chinese approach to Tibet, Buddhism, Dalai Lama (and the vexed problem of succession), the Four Noble Truths and Shakespeare (specifically the universal tale of Romeo and Juliet).  Not easy topics when we have little common language but it can be fun if nothing else!  Tibetan language conversion apps tend to focus on food, the weather and public transport (but of course).

In order to break the ice after dinner on his first visit my partner had the idea of playing Jenga as it's pretty simple to learn - simply point and learn.  It's become the ritualistic and most enjoyable way to end our dinner dates.