Well then, I’ve gotten rather tired and a bit lazy to write this silly blog, which is why I haven’t ideed updated it on any sort of regular basis for quite some time now. As the main reason for starting this blog in the first place was to try to keep some contact with people at home and otherwise key down some reflections on whatever experiences I have had during my time in this peculiar country called ‘Australia’, I thought it would be fitting enough that I stop it now that I am “soon” leaving (March or April 2010). So this is a sort of summary for my “Perth/Australian experience.”
Good Things about Perth:
1. Asian food: I assume it’s because of so many Asian people living in Australia because of the closeness especially to Singapore and Malaysia. There are plenty of very good Asian restaurants in Perth. Also a lot of Asian food stores which is certainly something I would like to have more of in Sweden. Tip: Chilli Squid Tentacles at the ‘Asian Caravan’ (which is not a caravan anymore) at Murdoch Campus, or Roasted Duck at ‘Fortune Roasted Duck House’ (something like that, not sure) on Williams Street in Northbridge.
2. Peanut butter: For some annoying reason peanut butter is not particularly popular in Sweden and as a result there is not much of a selection, which is unfortunate for me since I really like it. In Australia there are many varieties of peanut butter, and the best, according to me is one called ‘Dick Smith Foods Peanut Butter: Super Crunchy’.
3. Multiculturalism: Everyone is an immigrant! (Apart for the aboriginal Australians of course) In a nation created by ‘immigrants’ and where more and more are coming each year there is a great potential for cultural diversity. Unfortunately this also has a backfiring effect: point 4 in the next list.
4. Margaret River: Wine districts. Wonderful landscape and good wine, don’t need to add much more than that!
5. Cheap things: Clothes in general tend to be, sometimes quite a lot, cheaper in Australia as compared to Sweden.
6. Alcohol: Much cheaper! Also there are, in fact, even drive-through liquor shops!
7. Public transport: Again far cheaper than in Sweden.
8. The language: The main reason I came to Australia in the first place was the fact that they speak English, it was a great opportunity to both get a university degree and improve my English at the same time. Although, I have to add, the Aussie accent is a bit tricky at times.
9. Outdoor Theatre at UWA: Wonderful atmosphere watching film on a cinema screen under trees in a little patch of forest hidden away behind some dull university buildings. I saw the Swedish film ‘Suddenly’ (in the Perth International Arts festival programme) here and enjoyed it very much, the film was good, the environment was good, and what’s more, they sold beer! Also, if you like theatre you should give The Blue Room in Northbridge a try, there are some very interesting amateur/semi-professional plays there and it’s all very small so it’s quite different from a ‘normal’ theatre experience.
10. The Beach: An obvious thing perhaps, the beaches in Australia are great, I cannot deny that, however, personally I don’t really enjoy the beach and so I haven’t been that much at all during these three years … twice I think.
Bad Things about Perth:
1. The meat: I don’t know what they do with the meat but for some reason it just taste terrible, especially the sausages, and I am most certainly not alone in thinking this many others agree, including people from various places all over the globe, Europe, South America, East-Asia, Middle-East and Africa. Everything tend to taste a bit like mutton to me, very odd.
2. Dairy products: Not a very wide selection range, I miss the cheese and I’m sick of cheddar this and cheddar that.
3. The humour: There is something odd about Australian humour as well, either it could simply be considered bad or at least very different. Try watching an Australian comedy show, it’s not even funny, you simply won’t laugh. I suppose it’s more of a straightforward sort of humour, like slapstick and cheap sexual references and perhaps not as witty as what I’m used to, you don’t really have to think, well that pretty much says it all. There tend to be some sort of issue concerning irony and satire as well, it’s just very basic or more simplistic, the people at Worstofperth were very defensive when it came to this issue and said that, “no it’s you who do not understand irony and that it’s because of your understanding of English as a second language”, odd thing is, of course, that other English speaking people not from Australia (or to some extent U.S) interpret irony the same way I do. Communication breakdown?
4. Racism: As mentioned in point 3 in the previous list, there is a great issue concerning racism and overly done/expressed patriotism/nationalism that exists in Australia. The reason for this is most likely the many immigrant that come here each year (well, obviously…) and I’ve seen plenty of graffiti and stickers (if these can to some extent indicate a popular general opinion in some way, there are other examples as well) of racist sayings e.g. “We’re full, go home” or “Keep Australia White,” all of which are rather ironic considering any white Australian must inevitably have a immigrant background or immigrant parents/grandparents/great grandparents/… /…. At what point does a person cease to be an “immigrant” and start being an “Australian” ? Australians appear to be very proud people (although I’m not entierly sure what it specifically is that they are so proud about) and some even get offended if one is left indifferent to something that to them is a “great tourist attraction” (e.g. Rottnest island), and on this subject I was given the explanation by a professor at the university that Australians don’t tend to travel very much and therefore have a narrowed perspective on things, and that within this narrowed perspective something that is ‘nothing special’ to a foreigner may be seen as something rather huge to a local.
5. Egg tossing: For some reason there are quite a large number of (mostly young) people in Australia who appear unable to behave in a civilised fashion. This is displayed by, for example, throwing eggs through the window of a car at people passing on the side walk, or random testosterone-reeking-fights in nightclubs, or general loudness for no reason whatever, and other child-like behaviour without purpose.
6. Buildings: Everything is build with stone walls, one layer, which is great in summer since it keeps the warmth out but in winter, since there is no insulation at all, you’re bound to freeze a lot. An advantage with a warm climate is that you can build very cheap building with very cheap material, the problem, however, is when this is taken a bit too far. The walls of Murdoch University’s new student village are mere millimetres thick and already covered with plenty of holes.
7. Infrastructure: You NEED a car, seriously pedestrians are certainly not favoured. There are barely any zebra-crossings, and I can’t figure out why.
8. The flies: The flies in early and late summer are terrible! I simply hate them!
9. Internet and communication: Internet communication in Australia is something that is quite far behind the rest of the modernised world, to my surprise. It’s much slower and far more expensive and for some reason they also have quotas, meaning that you can only use so and so much during a certain period, very strange.
10. Isolation: Perth is the world’s most isolated capital city….
There you have it!
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Older Saved Posts: (A few random texts of very random quality) (All other posts have been deleted for various reasons, mostly because they are too silly and therefore have no worth in being kept. The internet is far too full of crap already)
On the Masculinity of Australian Men
The Fiction of the Bible and Blair Witch
How to Survive the End of the World
Non-Questioning and Absolute Certainties
World’s Longest Rabbit-Proof Fence
Valued Customer or Constant Suspect?
On Heart of Darkness and the Story of Kurtz
I Secretly Want to Poke Slow Walking People in the Back of The Head
Blog stats: (at closing time)
Total views: 24 004 (most in 2007)
Busiest day: 683 (Tuesday, September 18, 2007)
Posts (total): 343
Comments: 458
Spam: 6 528
Quite obviously there were plenty more people reading this blog when I was writing it in Swedish and during the first year of uni. During my second year I was becoming far too busy to write much more than complete nonsensical entries without meaning. Ha!
What now?
I have for intention to eventually start another blog, a blog more seriously intended, and when I do I will post the link here, but for now … I don’t know, I just don’t want to write on this one anymore.
From now on I’m just going to focus on graduating, writing and then planning for next year, a Master’s degree in Literature, or Film possibly or in Creative Writing, it really depends on what I find. Also there are plenty of travelling plans, possible destinations: Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan followed by Europe: Germany, England, Scotland, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Malta and probably others.
For whatever else might be going on, this can better be read on by beautiful girlfriend’s blog: chokladig.wordpress.com
Well that’s it! Good night and Thanks for the Squid!