Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Last Few Days


Sunday was our last day in Avoca, and it was a rainy one. That was just fine with me, because I had a lot to do before we left the next day. Katie and I hung out around the house and spent the day packing and with the family. It was nice to have time to just reflect and breathe before the journey home. Being in Avoca surrounded with such wonderful people this past week, has made it that much harder to leave Australia. Although I am anxious to get home, this place has become another type of home to me, and it’s a bizarre feeling to leave it. Four months doesn’t seem like such a long time to be away, but at the same time, it’s felt like ages. Maria was talking to us about our decision to come to Australia, compared to another country with less similarities to America. She pointed out that although being with a similar culture is “easier” to adjust to and live in, it is that much more interesting to see the little differences between such familiar cultures. I definitely agree with that, as even in another English speaking country with American-type customs, there has been misconceptions, misunderstands and complexities when blending in with this place and its people. I’ve gained an entirely different viewpoint on many topics such as America’s role in the world, Australia/Asia’s identity and my own character. Being one of only a few Americans in my classes has truly changed my perspective on America. I never thought I’d be someone to defend my country, as I’ve never claimed to be overly patriotic. Although when an Australian or Chinese or German student would diss America and generalize about our people, I had an immediate defensive gut reaction and spoke forth. It wasn’t fair that many of the students would truly base their understanding of America on what they saw on T.V…reality T.V no less. Interestingly though, I found myself talking up Australia when locals would disagree and say America’s got it right in that certain category. For instance, I would mention American’s lack of knowledge about the rest of the world, and how we are so focused on our own nation, we miss out on the bigger picture. An example is the Olympics, where in Australia, they have different countries/events constantly rotating and don’t spend 95% of the air time on their own country. They don’t pump the national anthem into every sporting event possible, and so on. Yet, my Australia, Asia and the World class had a consensus that Americans are more educated on worldly matters and seem to know geography, history and science better that they do. This is not a generalization, but many students in the class had no idea how many continents there were, and thought that Paris was a country. Again, I’m not saying Australian’s are uneducated in the least bit. What was interesting is that many of them admitted to their lack of worldly knowledge and agreed that American’s knew way more than them. I am taken aback by how little I knew about Asia and its role with Australia. Sure, I’ve spend whole semesters discussing globalization and China’s role in our global economy and all, but to specifically learn about the countries that greatly influence Australia was new for me. I didn’t know that Turkey, Russia, India, Afghanistan was classified as Asian countries, and how they group with Asia in politics and government over the European Union. Gaining insight in Aboriginal challenges in Australia today, and comparing them to our Native Americas has helped gain a whole new level of respect and compassion for their people. Also, learning the other side of the story, the white side, and observing how they’ve reacted and attempted to solve past wrongs has led me to think more objectively to certain subjects. Before coming here, it was sometimes hard for me to think in gray shades. I was determined to state things one way or the other.  After this semester, and because of my wise professors and open friends, I’ve learned the value in going at a topic with an opinion, but not being afraid to challenge and change my own thought process. As a result, I know I’m coming back to America with a framework that will help me in future engagements with people of differing backgrounds and cultures.

Another part of this trip has been my change of social character.  In being challenged again with room mates that party like its Friday night every night, I’ve learned to stand up for my needs and speak out. In past years, I may have let their sporadically ignorant behavior slide. Through lots of patience, attempts at ear plugs, and hours of cleaning the next day, we gained a mutual understanding and were on a new level of kindness by the second half of the semester. In fact, we became close in our own ways, and learned how to live in the same building with mutual respect and some fun roomie bonding time. I’m going to miss Tiana the most of anyone in Oz, because we got so close over the past month. She’s such a humble person that I didn’t even know she was an incredible artist as she showed me some of her sketches. We would draw together and laugh at how completely opposite our styles of art were from each other’s. I’m glad I was able to break outside my travel group and make friends with Aussies on my own. At the same time, we were able to go from travel buddies to best friends in this process. I’ll be forever grateful for the chance to travel with these girls and gain such genuine friendships. Getting so close to Justin and Tyler was another great part of my social life in Oz. As a goodbye gift, they make us a video of them singing and acting out all of our favorite songs and inside jokes from the semester. I feel so fortunate to have met so many incredible people here, and now know what it’s like to have to say goodbye to people that you’ll truly miss.

Sunday night, we had an incredible family dinner of roasted lamb with gravy, grilled choko (a green veggie), sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and pavlova with custard for dessert.
After dinner we watch Ian’s dvd purchase of an amazing ventriloquist and had a great time laughing at the show.  Murray brought out a photo album from ten years ago with what else in it but a few photos of my family when we visited. It was SO funny to see me there, in their yard or petting a Koala looking so young yet remembering so much of the trip. This whole time here, I’ve been able to recall my experiences ten years ago from Melbourne, Sydney and Cairns, but to actually see me in the photo album was a great way to be reminded of my determination. Murray was so kind and told me he was truly impressed by my ability to make my dream come true, and return to Australia. It was funny to think I may not be back here for ten more years, and I joked that every ten, plan on me visiting. Perhaps with a brand new family, as weird as that is to think about!!
That night, I barely slept an hour because my heart was racing about the fact that we were leaving Australia the next day. Katie was up all night too, but we just laid there and tried to relax enough to get some sleep.

We got up early for our last Aussie brekky, and I had a cup of English breakfast tea which is pretty much all they serve here. Any family house I’ve been to has that as their only option for tea, so I’ve grown to love it (with milk). Katie and I put out wine bottles that were gifts for Murray and Jeanette with a thank you note attempting to describe how grateful we were. They were truly the best hosts in the world and made our last week here absolutely amazing. I wouldn’t change a thing about our time with them, as it is filled with so many wonderful experiences and memories. We got really close to Nicole so it was hard to say goodbye when the time came, as it was for the rest of them as well. With our stuffed to the brim suitcases in stow, we headed to Sydney where we met up with Ian’s cousin Margaret, for lunch at her house. Meeting all this family is so nice to me, because it gives us a chance to experience “real” Aussies, their neighborhoods, and their conversations. We had more meat, and more meat, salad and scalloped potatoes for lunch and talked about Aboriginals, political correctness, university’s worth, cost versus value, retirement, sailing (Margaret’s husband is a retired sailor and loving it), and a number of other actually interesting topics. (I think I’m becoming more fond of adult conversation as I genuinely enjoy contributing and listening). We had some tea, (you know what kind), and dessert, then visited their daughter’s jewelry business. She wasn’t around, but Maria received a very sweet necklace with her and Ian’s initials engraved on it. We said our goodbyes and got invitations to come stay with them any time in the future. That night we stayed in a hotel 5 minutes from the airport and ended on the classiest note possible, with a Sydney Stack burger (it had pineapple and beetroot!) from McDonalds and our last 30 cent cone of the trip. Maria and Ian have been pretty amazing and extremely cool stand-in parents for the past week, with Tim Tams for brekky and Maccas for dinner. I guess they’re wonderful for other reasons too, (like driving us to the airport at 3 am), but I’m going to focus on the fun food experiences. :)

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