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July 03 Moment of ReflectionHappy Canada Day! Wow - how time has flown by so quickly... can you believe I've been living in Australia for 4.5 months already? Where did the time go? More specifically... what the heck happened to May and June?!?! I can't believe it's already July. I must admit that I'm jealous of the great weather Toronto has this time of year... although a Sydney winter is NOTHING compared to a Canadian one, it is still jacket-and-sometimes-scarf weather, not tank-tops-and-flip-flops weather.
 Although I still have one more weekend trip to blog about, I figure since I've passed the halfway mark, I should take this time to reflect on my time in Sydney so far. Overall it has been a great experience... but I have to admit that I am glad it is coming to an end, and I'm looking forward to coming home. Australia is a great country with a lot to see and do, but I haven't quite "fallen in love with it" as many do when they travel here. Its a combination of many reasons: coming here in the "colder" months, being on a crazy circus-like work project, commuting 1 hr each way to get to work, and also just the timing in my life. I think I left Toronto at a time when I was happy, enjoying living in the city, and everything was actually going well for me! Whereas in contrast, when I went to London, I was bored and dying for a change of pace and scenery, so it was just what the doctor ordered, and is probably part of the reason why I fell in love with London.
 Another thing I've had a chance to observe as a resident of Sydney, which many have asked me about, is the issue of "racism" in Australia. When I first arrived, I didn't experience any racism (or nothing that was obvious to me), and I thought that Sydney was quite multicultural. Its only when you spend more time here that you see beneath the surface of it all. Many Australians take pride in the fact that their country is multicultural. But being "multicultural" doesn't just mean having multiple cultures co-existing in one city or country. It means that the many different cultures not only co-exist, but BLEND and MIX in such a way that when you walk down the street, you wouldn't take notice of an Indian or Chinese person any more than you would a white person. Don't get me wrong - I'm not naive enough to think that we in Toronto all live in blissful harmony... everyone is guilty of stereotypes and such, but I think here it is more blatant - there's just a certain level of ignorance. I have heard people in public places, and in the workplace, make some very outright comments about certain races, which would be deemed as highly inappropriate and offensive if the same words were said in Toronto. It has been quite shocking at times, and although we are not perfect either, I'm glad to call Toronto home, and this is one of the reasons I don't think I could ever call Australia home.
Now I know it sounds like I only have complaints about Australia, but that's not true, and I will make up for it in a happier, subsequent entry.
But I do have one more negative (yet I'm sure entertaining) story before I sign off for the night. So basically, as nice as the city of Sydney is, I don't feel a special bond with it - I don't walk around in awe and wonderment like I did in London. And I think Sydney feels the same about me. So remember the story from one of my first blogs, about me being shoved by that girl at the train station? Well that was incident #1. Now for incident #2! A few weeks ago, I was walking home from Kulvir's place... it was Sunday around 8:30pm. So yes it was dark, but it was not late, so I didn't think it was "dangerous" to be walking home alone. I was crossing the road just outside my place, and a car whizzed by me. These guys started yelling out the window, and I couldn't understand what they were saying, but chalked it up to rowdy-Aussie-drunkeness, especially since the city had gone a bit cuckoo over the Socceroos in the World Cup. Then out of nowhere, something hit me hard in the arm. I was stunned and confused, and then looked down at the floor and on the curb was their weapon of choice - a BREAD ROLL. Yes, they threw a bread roll at me!!! Who the heck would do that??? It took a while to register what had happened, but its true - I was breaded. And I guess I will never know why. So the conclusion from this incident is that Sydney and I are just not meant to be, and its time for me to go home!!!!!!! |
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