Catch-Up

I've already been here for a week so I thought I'd catch you all up to speed on notable things i've done (and only notable. i promised no lunch reports. unless lunch is really good...) and things i've learned since being in sydney.

Notable Things I've Done:

1) Strolling Around Newtown Sunday afternoon

Newtown is my favorite neighborhood in Sydney that I've seen so far. It abuts the University of Sydney campus and feels a lot like Greenwich Village meets Astor Place. Interspersed in the sea of ethnic restaurants serving everything from Tom Yum to Injera to good ol' Pies (an Australian specialty) are musty used book stores and used record stores - a rarity in the era of the ipod. Men in Doc Martens with Mohawks rivaling Everest in heigh stop up the street holding hands with lithe girls in fedoras and skinny jeans. The side of almost every corner building is blanketed by graffiti, often evocative and ornate. My personal favorites was the vibrant portrait of the Hindu god Ganesh, a saffron map of Africa with borders meticulously marked (at least where borders can be agreed upon) and a cobalt Thomas the Tank Engine surrounded by his multi-colored locomotive pals (my number 1, obviously). 

Ganesh!

Newtown After the Storm

Thomas 

2) Went to the Sydney Aquarium on Monday

Monday was overcast (again) so we nixed our initial plan to go to the Taronga Zoo and instead headed to the indoor, aquatic equivalent: the Sydney Aquarium. We were lucky enough to get a photo op with Bruce of Finding Nemo fame, though sadly he refused to do autographs. Something about arth-bite-is... (wow, that was bad even for me. i appologize)

In addition to rubbing fins with celebrities we also saw Dugongs, an endangered relative of the Manatee. Apparently there are only 5 in captivity in the World so it was impressive that Sydney had 2 but that being said Dugongs are one of the more laughable critters i've ever seen. First off they are MASSIVE. We're talking Star Jones pre-gastric stapling, Sumo wrestling champion, massive. They are also adorable. Tongues lolling, they clumsily flop around, pressing themselves to the side of the tank to rest every 5 seconds or so. On a total aside, after sending a camera photo of one of the Dugongs whom I affectionately named Blubberbooty IV my Dad replied: "I think i was fixed up with one once...xxxooo, Dad". Sorry about it Dad.

Blubberbooty IV

Another thing I was reminded of when visiting the aquarium was my fervent love for Platypi.  I mean COME ON, how could you not become obsessed with an egg-laying, venomous (little known fact: male platypi have stingers on the back of their feet for hunting), duck-billed, beaver-tailed, furry, otter-footed mammal? When they first encountered it, European naturalists were so flummoxed that they considered it to be an "elaborate fraud" - a factoid that in turn baffles me. How could an animal possibly be a fraud? It seems those confuddled European Naturalists were giving our friends the platypi a bit too much credit. egg-laying and venomous and duck-billed and beaver-tailed and furry and otter-footed? Yes. Masters of costume design? Probably not (although with platypi, anything is possible). 

Silly Platypus going Bananas. 

Notable Things I've Learned:

1) Rugby Parties are the same World-wide.

Well maybe I'm overgeneralizing a tad considering I've only ever been to Rugby Parties in the US and now at University of Sydney in Australia but they were so incredible alike it was scary. Shirtless, sweaty ruggers happily pushing each other around and chugging beers while the girls try not to get mauled over. The only difference was the stench. Australian rugby players need a SERIOUS lesson about how to apply deodorant. So goodonya (good for you) American boys, you have one up on the Aussies. 

2)  'Strine is Crook! (Translation: Australian is Awesome)

The first thing you need to know when trying to speak 'strine is to abbreviate everything. E.g. Australia = Oz, breakfast = brekkie, cup of tea = cuppa, university = uni. 

Secondly: speak like Tigger and you'll fit right in. What do i mean? If a letter or number is repeated in a word (like l in balloon or t in committee)  Australian's always use the expression "double". So just as Tigger spells his name T-I-double guh-err, Aussies say double seven instead of 77. 

Here is some of my favorite 'Strine I've heard so far:

Boofhead ~ (n) fool

Daggy ~ (adj) unfashionable, goofy

D&M ~ (n) deep and meaningful conversation

squiz ~ (n) a look e.g. i'm gonna take a squiz at that dugong

narky ~ (adj) annoyed

nibblies ~ (n) snacks

furphy ~ (n) tall tale, exaggerated rumor

I plan to keep adding these as I hear more because they are just too good.

Anyhoo, I should go pack for Surf Camp but I'll check in when I get back on Sunday. 

Cheerio!

G'day (or night now) from Oz

My roomate Julia and Me in front of the iconic Harbor Bridge and Opera House

Greetings from Sydney!

For those of you who don't know I'm here for 8 weeks doing a Travel Writing program through Boston University. The course is structured so that we have six hours of class (OUCH), three days a week (berry naice, ai laike) where we're lectured on journalistic techniques and how to capture the essence of a place. Sharon, a lively Aussie sheila (ill get into Aussie terms a bit later on) teaches the creative writing portion while Sue Williams, teaches the journalism section. Sue has had some of the craziest experiences I've ever heard. Once while traveling through war-ravaged Uganda she was abducted from the train station by 3 Ugandan soldiers (for no reason) who dragged her across a patch of waste land to their hut where they played Russian Roulette for her life. "If the gun lands on you, we'll kill you," she recalls them saying. After several unsuccessful spins, the revolver finally landed on her and the soldiers happily prepared to shoot her. She ran through every possible threat and persuasion tactic her panic would allow ("My husband will avenge you" "Lady, we're the army", "I work for the UN" "We hate the UN") before she offered them all of the money she had on her and they agreed to release her. As she walked back towards the station, the men fired shots over her head. When she arrived back on the platform those who had witnessed her capture insisted she hide under a pile of dirt-caked blankets, caged chickens and produce because the soldiers would surely return for her. Return they did, but luckily never found her hiding spot (which could not have smelled good).

Listening to her stories made me restless to continue to travel and determined to pursue my own adventures (minus the whole Russian Roulette for my life business).

But back to class, since we have class only 3 days a week the Travel Writing clan (there are only 5 of us) is in the midst of planning 2 long weekend trips, one to Melbourne where we'll take a day trip to Phillips Island (home to a huge population of Fairy Penguins who supposedly "parade" at sunset and also a night zoo where you can pet Koalas) and another trip up to Cairns in the North to dive (both in the Great Barrier Reef and out of a plane).  

Additionally, we leave next tuesday June 9th (my birthday!) to go on a 12 day research junket around small towns on the eastern coast. The towns we'll be visiting (notably Braidwood, Milawa, Bermagui, and Eden) are very small - so small in fact that none of them have traffic lights (Sharon's main requirement when choosing the sites). In these towns we'll be visiting some mainstream sites such as an aboriginal cultural center and the graves of famous bushrangers such as Harry Powers and Captain Moonlight (great name). However our main objective is to search for the heart of the towns we visit. Then we're supposed to generate a few good pitches for travel stories - anything from a profile on the owner of the Cukoo Clock shop we're visiting (so bizarre) to the inhabitants' opinions on infamous bushranger and Australian icon Ned Kelly. I don't have any breakthrough ideas yet but I'm hoping they'll come once I actually see the places and interact with the residents. Also, I'm open to suggestions so please throw them out. 

On a completely different note, tomorrow evening a bunch of kids from the the Boston University programs (not just Travel Writing but the internship and film studies programs as well) are going to surf camp about 90 KMs south of Sydney. It should be totally ______ (insert surfer word for cool here. suggestions: gnarly, tubular, righteous). I have wanted to try surfing for eons so I'm as excited as a puppy who's just been given a new squeak toy (except my puppy, Nigel, who's utterly blase about everything, including squirrel shaped, ball shaped, and rooster shaped squeak toys. Cant say we haven't tried...). I'm a tad worried about getting hypothermia - this is the last weekend they're running it because it's winter here and the water temperature is plummeting - but hopefully the wetsuit will help. Also, I'm not exactly pleased about the whole Great White Shark situation but i figure if sharks are as intelligent as they are reputed to be they'll know to go for someone a bit meatier who doesn't know that the best way to combat an attacking shark is to rip at its gills, poke its eyes and punch its nose (thank you Worst Case Scenario Handbook).

 

A Disclaimer

I Gorilla, hear me RAWR against blogs (and simultaneously become a total hypocrite). 

In the interest of full disclosure I must admit that I have always been suspicious of blogs and by extension bloggers. 

To start, blogging is completely presumptuous. When a person blogs about their life and opinions it is with the assumption that other people will be interested. 

There is certainly a place for this brazenness. Lisa Ling is justified in thinking that her 10 day stint shadowing an LA gang member is worth attention. But Lisa's blog is an exception to the rule. Picture how interesting it would be to watch a catatonic snail try to finish a marathon. Now halve that amount, halve 20 more times, and multiply it by .5 (gotcha!) and thats about how interesting most blog fodder is. The exact time the blogger awakes, their anguish when discovering that someone has finished off the Fruit Loops, and the regularity and appearance of their bodily functions are archetypal blog topics. 

And then there's blog jargon. For me, the word "blog" conjures up a vision of a jiggly gelatinous puddle sort of like Flubber except the color of mud. Similarly "blogger" makes me think of a Frosty-esque creature comprised of one larger mud-colored, jiggly, gelatinous ball and one smaller, head sized sphere with stick arms and stick legs - more the stuff of nightmares than a "jolly, happy" image. 

After my diatribe against blogs and bloggers you're probably wondering what changed my mind and convinced me to join the ranks of the sludge fiends? I assure its not because I suddenly think you'll be interested in what temperature my shower was this morning (104, just in case), what i had for lunch (turkey sandwich), or the super long line at the coffee shop this afternoon (although it was really long). I have to apologize because in fact its much more boring than that. I am starting a blog to hold myself accountable for recording my experiences Down Under (and wherever else I travel in the future) in a hopefully articulate and cohesive way. Even if not a single pair of eyes other than my own reaches this blog (although that would be very sad considering i have a mother and a father and two brothers who at least pretend to love me) the mere possibility that someone might read it will force me to organize my thoughts, edit my words and thus improve my travel writing. So thanks imaginary readers!

Here goes...