West End

Caitlin took me to West End to go shopping yesterday. It is a lovely bohemian area in Brisbane with cheap ethnic foods and shops much more to my liking than those in the main part of the city. We went through many vintage clothing stores (I bought a dress at Box Vintage. It was the same price as if it were new but I couldn't resist) and "Op Shops," aka second-hand stores. After lunch at Three Monkeys, we went down the aisles of a random Asian grocery with our eyes closed and bought the first thing we grabbed. It was coffee jelly...

That night, I ironically ended up in West End once again at a place called the Shire. Gringo, Brie, a girl named Max and I rode bikes there to meet up with Steve, Laura and a bunch of Gringo's french friends. It was an outdoor place (I suppose it could be considered a bar) packed with all kinds of people playing instruments and drinking.

I met a few people who are on their work and holiday visas like me, though none of them were American. I've only met one American here so far-- but he's lived here for 6 years and may as well be Australian considering his accent has changed.

Whenever people last night asked me where I'm from, I'd tell them to guess. Their first answers were always ALWAYS "Canada." I guess I can't be too upset, since I feel as though every foreign country seems to have a plethora of Canadians compared to Americans...Why is that?

Anyways. The Shire in West End appears to be the cool place to go when you're feeling laid-back.

GOMA

GOMA = Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.


It doesn't have as much as New York City's MOMA, but it's still pretty darn cool.

Obscure Brisbane.

Thus far, I think my view of Brisbane-- and Australia in general-- has been obscure.

But let's pretend, if only for a moment, that I've come to Australia with no previous knowledge or notions about this large island of a country. Keep in mind everyone has been studying for finals, so I haven't met a ton of people outside of the house yet. Along with this, I've been observing mostly day-to-day experiences (meaning I haven't taken any crazy coast excursions or anything).

If I were to sum up Australia purely based on experience and the people I've befriended here, it would go something like this:

--People call dinner "tea" (and it's mega confusing!)
--They end sentences with "hey." A lot.
--They like to incorporate the word "heaps".
--There's lots of French people. And Asians.
--The toilets flush funny.
--They tend to not wear shoes, even in public places.
--They have absolutely no idea what rice krispie treats are but love them.
--They love art. And music.
--They don't know what a quesadilla is. And they can't say it right.
--They recycle and conserve.
--They drink tea like 3290 times a day.
--They really do say "G'Day Mate!"
--If they're low on food, they go dumpster diving.
--It's hot.
--They all have 4-minute timers in their showers because water is low.
--They love red wine.
--They wear all kinds of funky clothes.

That's my biased view so far. I'm happy it's mine to have.

Justin's been mostly studying, which has given me lots of time to get to know people in the house.

Yesterday was an artsy day. Steve, Shannon and I went to an empty warehouse (owned by Tom's dad) to make a darkroom out of one of the bathrooms. Shannon and a few of her art friends use the warehouse to do their work.

I got the chance to look at Shannon's work, which I was extremely impressed with. They were mostly realistic pictures of people composed of vibrant, mismatched colors.

The place used to be a fiberglass factory and it's exactly how I'd imagine the shell of an old warehouse to be. It's a big open crumbling space made of wood, decorated with rotting holes and art on the ground and walls.

One of the giant walls has a fence against it so that no one will go near what is growing on the wall. I'm not going to lie, I feared asbestos (EDIT: It's been checked for asbestos, there is none).

I was most shocked to learn that someone actually lives there. Shannon's friend Jack (he was out working at the time), a fellow artist who works at the nearby post office.


At night, many of us attended the 2high festival at the Brisbane Power house (an old power house thats now a bar/entertainment venue) by the river. Just before that, we stopped at an art gallery along the way, mostly because they were serving free drinks and everyone likes free. The festival was a mesh of art showcases, photography and music. All of the walls were decorated with original graffiti made by squatters over the 2 decades that the building was derelict. It was beautiful and I'm glad whoever restored the Powerhouse kept it.

Bamboo Banga/Pride Rock

Both names in the title are acceptable for this house.

The front:
Now, get ready for the backyard...

BAMBOO:
Haphazard bamboo teepee:
Where we hang our clothes:
The weird turkey:

Another inhabitant of the backyard includes Sally:
This is Sally eating her husband's head (he's underneath her):
Poor husband :(

(GObama!)

All of the housemates are constantly checking the election results as they study for finals. Apparently their prime minister followed a lot of what the Bush administration did over the years (especially with Iraq) so that Australia could be on good terms with America.

Everyone I've met here has asked me if I've voted, even the lady I bought my cell phone from. I hate to admit it, but the U.S. election is really more like a world election, only the U.S. is the only country who can vote.

I'm too tired to think of a title.

I'm startled at how bright it gets here in the morning. At 5AM, the sun has risen. Right now it's a quarter after 9 at night and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open.

The past few days have been a blur.


Yesterday (my second day here), I managed to take a bus on my own and explore the city. I passed people of all shapes and sizes, live concerts, artists and I even came across a man-made beach in the middle of the city. I was so excited about being there I could hardly contain myself. On the beach, I passed an ibis, a funny-looking bird that I feel I see everywhere. Although I haven't seen any kangaroos yet (not counting the one I consumed), I've seen several wild turkeys roaming about the backyard.


Today I worked on my resume (resumes here are typically 3 pages, not 1) and did some food shopping. There was lots of veggiemite and kangaroo meat. I made split pea soup for the housemates and they loved it. Steve, Gringo and a friend of theirs went dumpster-diving at a grocery store and brought back bags and bags of fruits and vegetables. It was kind of comical, considering a lot of it was the same stuff I had purchased earlier in the day. It looked clean and edible, although I haven't tried any yet.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to open a bank account.

First 24 Hours.

Despite its lack of Halloween spirit, I can already tell I’m going to like Australia. I arrived in Brisbane at 6:48am on October 31st. In EST, that would have been 4:48pm on the 30th. “Goodbye Sarah!” the flight attendants waved at me. The whole flight, one of them thought it was hilarious to call me Sarah Palin, on account of my frameless glasses. And it was funny. Kind of. JC picked me up and right away I of course made the mistake of trying to get in on the right side of the car, instead of the left.

The FIRST THING I saw when I left the airport:

Crikey. After several roundabouts and a quick stop to his parents’ home, we arrived at Justin’s house. Its inhabitants have lovingly dubbed it as the “Bamboo Banga,” on account of the large amounts of trees, bamboo, and all-around vegetation that surrounds the house. It’s one of the coolest houses I’ve ever seen, as far as student housing goes. I’ll try to post a picture later, if I can get one that I believe captures the essence.

The people living here are just as wonderful. Other than JC, there is Caitlin, Andy, Steve, Brie, Dan (from New Zealand), Tom (from Zimbabwe), Shannon (also from Zimbabwe) and Ramon (nicknamed “Gringo,” even though he’s from France). And now there’s me (for now). It’s good timing, seeing as how someone (I forgot his name), a Maori backpacker from New Zealand, just left.

After setting down my bags, Justin and I got fish and chips (upon my request) and walked around the University of Queensland campus. All around the campus (and Brisbane in general), there were beautiful purple trees, called jacarandas. My inquisitiveness got the best of me, seeing as how I asked about the names of every foreign bird, plant and giant lizard we passed (most of which Justin made up names for, because he didn’t know).

After unpacking (it didn’t take long at all—I brought a lot less than I had thought), I sat down for a cup of tea with Shannon, Caitlin and Dan.

EDIT:
...Sorry. I started writing this when I woke up at 4:30am but then I got distracted. It's the afternoon now and I've lost my train of thought. I think the important highlights, however, are that I ate a Kangaroo for dinner and fell asleep by 9pm. I didn't plan to eat the Kangaroo, it's just that people were already cooking it and they offered it to me. When in Rome, right?

It tasted a whole lot better than live squid, although that's mostly because it didn't move in my mouth. Tender. Juicy. Slightly bitter. I like marsupial.