beach in the city

On Saturday, Emi and Azusa and I went into Brisbane. Azusa and I are both leaving this week so it was an occasion for the three of us to go into the city and eat what Emi likes to call 'naughty food', meaning meat and junk food and anything non-organic and heavily processed (of course in the picture they are snacking on organic apples and homemade roasted organic pumpkin seeds).


We went to South Bank, which is a neighbourhood on the southside of the river where they have "Streets Beach" (used to be Kodak Beach but you know how corporate sponsorship goes). It's Australia’s only beach in the middle of the city. It's a man-made swimming beach overlooking the Brisbane river and downtown. It has lightly chlorinated fresh water, white sand, palm trees, rocky creeks and lifeguards, and, when we were there, they had a giant tv screen set up showing the Ashes cricket tournament.

Since it was a Saturday, the beach was crowded and there were many families there and the water was full of small children. I saw a little girl wearing a swimsuit with feet! It looked just like pyjamas with feet, but it was definitely a swimsuit (or as they are sometimes referred to in Sydney, a "cossie", short for swimming costume). As you may know, Australians are very conscious of the sun and the country has a high rate of skin cancer. It is quite common to see children swimming in rash guard shirts, which were originally designed for surfers. They now have them in lots of colours and sizes and varying levels of UV protection. Some children swim in hats, but this is the first time I've seen a swim suit with feet. Wish I could have gotten a picture to show you.

On Tuesday I fly to Sydney, back to stay with my friends Robin and Michael and their children. Dec 5th I fly to New Zealand - I need to get serous about writing my resume and thinking about what I want to do while there. I'm pretty much out of money, in part thanks to the dental stuff, so I hope to get a job pretty quickly.

back from diving

Back from my refresher diving trip - I'm glad I did it rather than trying to fake my way into a regular dive trip. Things came back to me quickly but I didn't feel as confident as I thought I would when first putting on the equipment. I don't think I was really up for a full fledged diving trip - the dive itself wasn't too ambitious (45 minutes in 18 metres of water) and I didn't have to pretend I knew everything.

The session in the pool was helpful. It really brought back memories of learning to scuba dive back in high school. I had forgotten how wearing a mask allows you to see things in the pool with a little too much clarity - things you know are in the water, but could happily live without seeing - hair balls, bandaids, etc. (One thing I saw that was never in the pool at home was a large beatle, swimming merrily under water). I have some fond memories of learning to dive and the subsequent trip to Jamaica. Memories of David Stocker, Jason Chang, Kunuk Rhee and I having races to see who could swim the length of the pool fastest (me!). Of the Open Water test in Tobermory - my first and so far only, shipwreck dive. Of Diadema antillarum and sea cucumbers. I wonder if the trip still runs every year and if the increased knowledge about reef conservation has changed how things are done - I remember the sea anemone that my group collected lost a significant number of tentacles to our inept handling.

The dive today was at Julian Rocks Marine Park, which is only about a 5 minute boat ride from shore. But what a boat ride it was. One of those little wave-runner type boats that Green Peace uses to harrass the oil tankers. It was really wavy - quite exciting, although I was a bit worried about getting seasick. The water was cold and my wet suit was a size too big so I was quite chilled afterwards. I found that most of my focus was on the physical stuff, like breathing and being cold, rather than on what was around me. I guess next time will be better. But I did see two huge sea turtles and a large ray swam by overhead.

byron bay

Byron Bay is a small town on the eastern-most point of Australia. Right now, the place is full of "schoolies", which is what they call the kids who just graduated from high school. It's tradition to go on vacation with your mates (friends) to celebrate - who needs prom when you can get away from the parents and hang out with your friends at the beach for a week? Walking around, especially at night, it feels sort of like frosh-week-at-university meets spring-break-in-Florida. Lots of young people, walking around in groups, checking each other out, some quite drunk. I felt underdressed, lonely, very uncool, and a bit old.

I met up with Rui, one of the girls who finished volunteering in the kitchen about two weeks after I arrived. Rui is Japanese and she's currently working as a waitress at a sushi-train restaurant. She's living in a tent in a very hippy-style backpacker hostel called The Art Factory. She pays $9 a night to camp there, although she's going to get to stay free in exchange for teaching the manager Japanese. She showed me around the town a little. In addition to the frosh week/spring break crowd, there is also the hippy/surfer/beach culture crowd - lots of busking and bongo-playing, girls in sun dresses and dreadlocks, two girls dancing while twirling sticks lit on fire. Rui wants to learn to play bongos. We went to a pub for a drink and to talk - I got carded! I guess, with all the schoolies around, many of them underage, the policy is to card pretty much everyone. And in the twilight, it's probably hard to guess how old someone is.

it's been a long time

Did my last day in the kitchen today (Friday). I was actually supposed to be done yesterday, but my original plans for scuba diving fell through because the place I was going to go to didn't have an instructor on site this weekend. It's been a long time since the last time I went scuba diving so I felt like I should start off slow. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I managed to make arrangements to take a refresher course in Byron Bay on Sunday. Byron Bay is about 3 hours south of Brisbane and it seems to be a big surfer and backpacker type town.

When people ask how long it has been since the last time I went scuba diving, I usually give them a vague answer of 6-7 years, but the more I think about it, the longer it gets. I got certified back in high school in preparation for a marine biology trip to Jamaica and you know, I don't think I have gone since. So that means something like 14-15 years. I keep meaning to go whenever I travel, but for various reasons I never get around to it. I was all set to go the last time I was in Australia. I had a three day, live-aboard trip arranged on the Great Barrier Reef and everything, and then I failed the dive medical because I was on some medication that had a low risk of seizures and the doctor wouldn't sign the form. So I went snorkelling instead.

And, of course, Canada is not really one of the top diving destinations in the world, what with the weather and all. There's some decent wreck diving in various places if you go looking for it and don't mind wearing a full body wet suit. Even if you get past the water temperature, it's not like diving in the tropics where everything is beautiful and colourful. Mostly it's shades of green and brown, heavy on the brown - the bottom, the water, the fish, the seaweed. In fact, the most colourful things down there are usually the other divers.

I'll let you know how it goes.

more kitchen photos

This is me, cutting the ends off 20 kilograms of carrots in preparation for putting them through the food processor. Don't I look happy in my hairnet, gloves and apron?

look into my eyes

Today I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary. I learned that koalas spend about 3-4 hours a day eating and 19 hours sleeping. Nice life.


My favourite part of the day was the sheep dog demonstration. I've watched the sheepdog trials on television before and find them fascinating. The dogs are exceedingly well-trained and follow commands with nary a biscuit in sight. I love it when everything pauses and the dogs stare intently at the sheep as if transmitting mind control beams with their eyes. It's like this bizarre interspecies staring contest that the sheep always lose.


I'm sure that most of you are familar with the expression about people behaving like sheep when they act like everyone else and don't seem to think for themselves. Well, sheep really are followers. They like routine. I saw sheep being milked at a dairy on Kangaroo Island and the woman there said that the sheep arrange themselves so they go into the milking area every day in the same order in groups of 20. I watched as each went straight to its preferred, regular milking stall with no prompting whatsoever. She said they get upset when their routine is disturbed.



Sheep don't even seem mind too much when the dogs walk on top of
them.




It sucks being a sheep. But maybe it's not too bad if you are too stupid to notice.

getting ready to move on

Well, my six weeks in the kitchen are up this coming Thursday. I'm looking into booking a scuba diving trip before I leave the area, if I can find a reasonably priced one. I think I've found something on North Stradbroke Island. I've had a good time in Brisbane, but I'm ready to leave. I made a good friend, Emi, one of the Japanese volunteers. We're already talking about her coming to Canada to visit. She once planned on becoming a professional snowboarder, so she wants to visit in the wintertime - not exactly prime tourist season in Toronto. And there's really nowhere to go heli-skiing in Ontario that I know of.

kitchen photos

Emi stamping "Best Before" dates on the packages.
Azusa, making lasagna

And where exactly is Luxembourg anyway?

Today we discussed the definitions for self-righteous, anxiety and wind chill factor. The electronic dictionaries the other volunteer each have are quite helpful in providing definitions for vocabulary ("yeah, that's what I meant"). One of the girls has one that can show pictures of a liver, in addition to the definition. She paid $500 for it in Japan. It can also translate the word liver into about eight different languages, other than Japanese and English. It will be helpful later this week when we are supposed to be getting two new volunteers from Luxembourg. We're not really sure where exactly Luxembourg is located - somewhere near France, Belgium and Germany. Apparently, its official languages are French, German, and, wait for it... Luxembourgish. According to Wikipedia, it is 2,586 km², which is 999 sq miles. It has 465,000 Luxembourgians. That's what? Smaller than Scarborough, right?

Jennifer's school of English

Most nights, after the dinner dishes are cleared away, the other volunteers bring out their English grammar textbooks and electronic dictionaries to study. They like to ask me questions and we often have quite interesting discussions about English, Japanese, North America and Japan. They ask me about various English phrases and expressions. In English, there are a lot of ways to say the same thing and there is not always an obvious reason to choose one way over another (there may be a subtle, technically-correct, grammar rule-based way to decide, but for the average English-speaker, of which I am one, it's a bit more flexible).

Sometimes the questions are challenging. The other day, Kaori asked me to explain the future continuous and the past perfect tense. I was unable to do so. Even after I read about it in her grammar text book. I draw comfort from the fact that, even if I don't know why you say it that way, that's the way English-speaking North Americans say it (and that applies to those things that are technically, gramatically wrong as well). But, when explaining why you can say "Long time, no see" but not "Long time, no taste", I resorted to "just because".

Slang is particularly fun - after the BBQ a few weeks ago we discussed the correct use of the phrases "pissed", "pissed off", "Piss off", and "piss drunk". And my favourite, the difference between passing someone on the street and passing out on the street (and I only explain these things, I don't demonstrate).

I try to be careful to distinguish between North American and Australian slang. In this part of the world, a woman does not get pregnant, she falls pregnant. And you ring someone up, rather than calling them. But alas, I have no explanation for why the Australians insist on referring to chickens as chooks.

Coolangatta

This weekend I went to Coolangatta, which is on the Gold Coast. I'm told it's like Florida, in that a lot of people choose to retire there. And because portions of it look a bit like the more touristy areas (Australia putt-putt!!!).

The beach was beautiful. Very windy - saw a seagull walking along the shore, kind of leaning into the wind, walking sideways. I was going to post photos, but left my camera at home today.

It's November

I can't believe it's November already. There's snow at my parents' house and I'm wearing shorts and a tshirt today. Heehee. High of 28.

Yesterday, we got some much needed rain. It doesn't just drizzle or rain lightly here, it pours. I got caught in it about two weeks ago and I could hardly walk the five blocks home from the train station because there was so much rain in my eyes. I ended up having to put a spare t-shirt on my head so I could see. Ever worn your contact lenses in the shower? It was like that - they almost got washed right out of my eyes.


One of the first things I noticed on the train in from the Brisbane airport were these large trees covered with beautiful purple flowers. It sort of reminded me of when the lilac trees bloom in the spring, but the flowers are on huge trees, not just little bushes. They are called jacaranda trees and they are planted all over Brisbane. They were originally brought to Australia from Brazil. They do very well in dry, hot climates. I went to New Farm Park and took this picture. There is a large circular road that is lined on both sides with jacaranda trees. As it gets later in the season and some of the blooms fall off, it looks like a pretty, purple blanket on the ground.

the price of things

Bananas are down to $11.98 a kilogram.




Went to the grocery store the other day. Couldn't resist taking pictures of the cost of tiny packages of blueberries and raspberries. These are those tiny little 1/2 pint (250 gm) packages.



Books are quite expensive. A pocket-sized paperback, which would be $10-13 in Canada, costs $21 here. Even in secondhand book stores and flea markets, they range from 6 to 8 dollars. I've found that places like the Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul sell some for $2-3 so I've been going there. But airfare within Australia is really cheap, thanks to Richard Branson's Virgin Airlines entering the competition and forcing the prices down.

a BBQ

Whatever was wrong with Canoemail and Brisbane seems to have resolved itself and my regular email account is up and running.


Called my parents on the weekend (Sunday morning here, Saturday night in Toronto). They just got back from four weeks in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and leave for Florida in two weeks. Rough life.

I called them at my sister Kathy's house, where our two dogs Marco and Maggie have been staying while my parents were away. So, my niece Lauren got on the phone to say that she now loves Maggie better because "Marco is stinky". Hey kid, if you didn't brush your teeth for 11 years you'd probably smell pretty bad too.


We had a BBQ yesterday. And, in addition to homemade vegetable patties (which are really good and blow Lick's veggie burgers out of the water), there was meat. Now, that's not to imply that I haven't eaten meat since I got here. Far from it - whenever I go into Brisbane I usually grab lunch or dinner there and it definitely involves meat and other stuff that we don't have at home or in the kitchen. I actually don't miss meat as much as I miss all the other familiar things that go along with meat, like bread and ketchup and all those things that aren't vegetables or soy-based.


The kids had a lot of fun playing with the water fountain, but since Brisbane is in the middle of the worst drought in 100 years we couldn't let them play for too long.