"And on, and on, and onto the next one..."

We are about to embark on my least favorite part of traveling: repeating myself. It will get really old by my fourth hostel when I'll have reduced my life story and what brought me to Australia to a thirty second or less soundbite, but it's begun at work already. People stopped by reception all day to inform me that tomorrow is my last day and to enquire whether I was excited or sad or would miss them, and where I was going afterwards. I do realize that it's very sweet of them to be interested in my plans, and actually, repeating them helps them become more concrete and real to me, but I get bored listening to myself recount it all. When they ask if I'm excited, it's usually a chore to say yes like I mean it, but at the same time it helps me refocus on the exciting part of traveling, instead of the stressful bits I get stuck on when dealing with the details.

I am excited, but I'm also nervous. Melbourne doesn't have the same tourist checklist that Sydney does, so I talked to everyone I knew who had been to or lived in Melbourne to get ideas and now I finally feel like I know how I'll fill my time there. I consulted my friend Shana from college who studied abroad there, Coworker Erin and Bookclub Meg who both used to live there, new Sydney-based friends Esben and Adina who have both visited, our Melbourne office colleagues, the New York Times, and my Lonely Planet guidebook. I'll stop by the Melbourne office sometime during that week to say hi and finally put a picture to it in my head, even though I don't know them very well. It will be nice to feel like I have some friends in the city though!

Speaking of the office crew, it was lucky one of them sent around an email about Monday's holiday, because I was going to visit them then! As I explained before, each state decides what holidays it's going to celebrate and when (see "Australian cooking measurements," September 17, 2007 in the blog archive to the right). It turns out that Monday is Labour Day in the great southern state of Victoria, so many an office and, I can only assume, museums and other activities, will be closed.

Next week is a big week for Melbourne: the holiday on Monday and then that weekend they host the Formula 1 Grand Prix. I am a little turned off by it all, as I tried to explain to several Aussies, because of the bevin (car-loving white trash) stigma attached to car racing in the US. However, as it's a big deal to Melbourne, I will take a passing interest , maybe buy a souvenir, and then get the heck outta Dodge! (Ooooh... no pun intended!) It goes Thursday to Sunday and I skip town early Saturday morning. We shall see how it goes... stay tuned!

Visaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Trivia answer: (d) Australia is home to 17 of the 851 World Heritage Sites (see the list here). I will leave Australia having seen four of them (I think).

New trivia: To what does "Manchester" refer, to an Australian?

a) a department store section

b) an ice cream flavor

c) a town in Queensland

d) an ABC (PBS) television show

Visaaaaaaaaahh!

After too much stress, I finally determined that today would be the day I would head down to Immigration and try to sort out my application for a tourist visa. My program recommends that you give the government 2-3 weeks to sort themselves out and approve your visa change. I, of course, dared to be different and marched my manila envelope of papers into their office myself. There were so many variables to take into account and I just hoped that this being the wonderfully laid-back Australia I've come to know and admire, that there would be no snags and all would fall into place my way.

First up was the question of the timing - if I went too early, they could revoke my work visa entirely and leave me up a creek for a couple weeks with no work. If I went too late, they could not grant it in time, leaving me here illegally. They could also ignore my request to work until the end of my visa and give me the travel visa as of today, putting the kabosh on any more work. They could not accept the ATM printout as proof of funds and demand a full-out statement (for which I'd have to stand in line and pay at the bank - argh). They could tell me I needed to present myself at an office or be able to receive something in the mail after March 9, the day I fly out of Brisbane. They could be picky about the fact that I hadn't gotten their name exactly right on the money order and send me away, having wasted $10 on a worthless piece of paper. I could have bungled the application. The line could be a million people long and take all day. The office could have moved. It could not be the right office for my particular question... the list goes on and on.

Miraculously, none of these things happened! It was all smooth sailing. I did get a little anxious waiting in line to get a number, and then waiting for my number to be called, but once I found Cubicle 26 in Cubicleland, the girl was friendly as could be. She told me I could work through next Friday, and that on that day they would email me my new visa information, which I could then print out and keep with me as proof, and that's it! The entire process took about 45 minutes and I sauntered in a whole 15 minutes late to work (I'd called to remind them today was the showdown), which I easily made up at lunch, and was so giddy and relieved the rest of the day! It's amazing how you don't realize how stressed something is making you until it's suddenly resolved and you feel TONS better and happier.

Phew! Now on to the next tasks: finding a new housemate to replace me (Alex and I already collaborated on the ad tonight, and they're ready to be put up on the way to work tomorrow), and make sure all the details are in place for traveling!

Sorry?

Yesterday, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd "said sorry" to the Aborigines. For those unfamiliar with the history, until shockingly recently (1969), Aboriginal children were torn from their homes (opponents use the term "abducted") and sent away to western-style schools, much like our own history of stealing Native American children to be sent away to boarding schools. These Aboriginal children are now called The Stolen Generations. (See the movie Rabbit-Proof Fence to get an idea.)

Anyway, for such a drop in the bucket, it sure was like pulling teeth. On TV, the newscasters interviewed people who said it meant a lot to them: those of the Stolen Generations, their families and friends. But what would real action mean to them? What would listening to what they want and learning to understand and treating them, if not with actual respect and reverence, at least as equals, mean? A four-page, formal, forced-sounding speech from a brand-new Prime Minister, while the jerk who held the office before him stubbornly stays absent from the scene - what does that accomplish? Rudd's predecessor, John Howard, made a big deal of refusing to apologize for the atrocities committed against the Aboriginal communities. For all my daydreams about how fantastic this magical world of Australia would be, their treatment of Aborigines has by far been the most crushing disillusionment. To me, native culture is to be celebrated and respected, not steamrolled and assimilated.

As I said to someone who described the Aborigines she saw portrayed on the US news shows as "sketchy-looking," that image is due mostly to rampant poverty and alcohol abuse, direct results of the racism and lack of respect from the ruling government who supposedly was educating the children to be able to fit in and compete in their world. We don't have to agree with, like, or even want to adopt Aboriginal ways of life, but we do have to not only tolerate but appreciate, respect and learn from them. They have so much wisdom about surviving on this land (which, I'm learning, was not even as harsh an environment until westerners introduced certain key plants and animals) that is simply disregarded when it could be life-saving, so much soul and uniqueness that would enhance everyone's life to know of.

Another northern-hemisphere friend and I agreed recently that the northern constellations were more interesting because they have much more history and mythology behind them. It's true that the stars I could see from the beach in Byron Bay were primarily in one band across the sky, and even of those I recognized many from the northern hemisphere. But I suddenly realized we were wrong - who knows how much mythology Aboriginal culture holds? No really - who knows?

Election Madness

First, a bit of housekeeping: I took some time the other day to add tags to most of the entries, at least the ones after leaving home. They appear at the end of entries and help describe what was in each one, so theoretically you click on a tag and can see all the entries that deal with that subject. As you can see, some of my entries jump around a bit and so have many tags. Anyway, go nuts... or not.

Now, on to the election. Saturday was the big federal election. If you are familiar with the Parliament system, like England, this will make sense. (If not, join the club - I'm already Prime Minister... I think...) When someone runs for Prime Minister, they are essentially running for a seat in Parliament. If their party has a majority of seats, they as the leader are then Prime Minister. If not, they are just another Member of Parliament (like a Congressman). The candidates for Prime Minister do not run against each other but are put in "safe" electorate areas - ones that traditionally vote for their party. Then the other party tries to run a strong candidate against them. That is what happened on Saturday - the current Prime Minister, who is in the Liberal party, ran for his seat against a good candidate from the other party, the Labor party, and lost. The rest of the country elected mainly Labor candidates too, so not only did he not become Prime Minister, but he lost his seat too, which was a huge upset. So the new PM is Kevin Rudd, and the old, John Howard, has a week or two to get the heck out. Oh - another interesting thing is that everyone 18 and over must vote or they will get fined about $150. It creates a much different atmosphere around voting, I think.

So that was the big excitement around here on Saturday. Sunday, I wandered out on a wild goose chase for a farmer's market. (Turns out I was just on the wrong side of the bridge/main drag - dang!) Instead I stumbled upon the anniversary celebration of the State Library of Queensland in West End. They had a bunch of activities but what caught my ear was a concert by the Birralee Blokes, who I guess won the national choir competition last year and get to record a CD. They did a few songs a capella, including Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and a traditional Kenyan Christmas song, and then a few songs with keyboard accompaniment, including some funny sea shanties. Completely delightful!

Master's in Australian Culture

(Re: photos - apparently there is a max per month and I have hit it. More photos in a couple weeks.)

After moving in on Saturday morning, I started right away on my goal of learning about Australian culture. There is an election coming up so a lot of talk has been focused on that. Alex and I got into a whole conversation on the differences between American and Australian elections and federal government. There are lots of ads for the election on tv, and we've watched a lot of tv. We watched a show called Rove, which is kind of like the Daily Show only about 2-3 hours long, with many guests. We watched some cricket on tv and I got a crash course in the rules before Alex deemed it too boring and changed the channel. We watched Kath & Kim, which is an awful show about a mother and daughter who are both pretty crazy and detrimental to the other and sort of white trashy. We also played some Euchre, because somehow Alex knows Euchre, and we will teach our other housemates one day (we played a two-player version).

Some other things I've learned:

• Foreign language study was not compulsory until recently, but you can study Indonesian
• People expect you to walk on the left side of the sidewalk, like you're in a car
• The $2 and $1 are coins
• The game played at the World Cup is actually called soccer - Football means "Aussie Rules" - which is apparently soccer with its own rules unique to Australia
• Banks are only open 10-4 or so, and not at all on the weekends. Libraries keep odd hours (the one by my house is closed Sun-Tues, open Wed-Sat 10am-5pm and Thursday until 7pm). Lots of things are closed on Sundays. The green grocer is only open in the morning.
• I think the Bill Bryson book "In a Sunburned Country" has the title "Down Under" here. An interesting switch...
• Someone working in a store asking you "Are you all right?" means "Can I help you?"
• Our house is a typical Queenslander - up on posts to avoid flooding from the wet season and catch the breezes when it's hot, has a long hallway running straight through and verandahs front and back, with open areas over the doorways all to faciliate air flow. Guess it gets hot here ;) The toilet and kitchen are on opposite corners of the house and usually not connected to the other rooms (though our kitchen is).

Ok, I know there are more things I'm forgetting, they keep coming to me at inopportune moments but I will try to have paper handy when they do come to me, walking down the street, for next time ;)