New, new, news

Oi!

I’ve been so busy I didn’t have time to write anything, and let alone post it. Now I had dinner, did all the chores and I’ve got some time before I faint and hit the pillow. I’ll hopefully remember my face hitting the pillow.

Now there’s something wrong with Word and it’s not helping my mood. I’m super busy at work, there’s more and more paperwork cluttering up my desk, but there’s an upside to it. I have a new office.

The company got the other part of the building, so we’re all over the building now. The whole building. It’s an old red-brick school overlooking the park, with high ceilings and wooden floors. That might not sound special, but it’s so rare you wouldn’t believe it.

All in all, the new office is at the end of the hallway, there’s only three of us in it so far and it’s much better than the middle-of-the-office desk I had before. Another bonus is the high windows that reveal the sky, the treetops and the rain that’s going to fall as I finish work.

I moved into my new apartment two days ago. It’s not only furnished, but it has a TV, an amplifier, speakers, vacuum cleaner, iron, AC, kettle, toaster, washing machine and even a coffee machine. The TV does lose reception when the train passes, but it’s just something to remind me of reality.

No, seriously, the place is awesome, it’s right by the train station (it takes a four-minute morning no-coffee walk) and it takes me about seven minutes to get to work. I’m planning to get a bicycle, but it’ll have to wait until I have a bit more time to research.

I won’t be spending much time in the apartment though, since I’m going out into the field. I’m leaving on Monday and I’ll only be away for four days, but I’m going to a very special place, reserved for men only, due to its ritual significance. I already met some of the Traditional Owners I’ll be working with, and I’m still working on brushing up on my Aboriginal phrases.

After that I’ll have the weekend off and then I’m off again, even further and for even longer. I’ll be away for ten or so days, which will probably knock any memory of a comfortable bed out of my head.

With that thought, I bid you g’ nigh’…

Time Laps Perth

Check this out!

An update on life

Well, I just move into the new apartment!

I'm waiting for the Internet and it's not the best time. Even the server at work went bust.

Talk about work, I'll be super busy in the next couple of weeks. I'm going out to two heritage surveys in the next two weeks, so I'll talk to you guys around mid September, when I'll surely have a lot to say.

Here's just a couple of photos from the new place. Enjoy!

More on Indigenous Australians

Dirty windows on my flight from Adelaide to Perth

Coming back from a conference/education/seminar/course in Adelaide, I was sitting on the plane and pondering upon things.

One of the very interesting things is that Qantas showed an Aborigine-themed film both on the way there and back. The first was The Sapphires, a group of four Aboriginal sisters who got discovered and sang for the troops in Vietnam during the WWII.

The other was Mabo, a film about the first precedent in the Australian law system, when a Torres Strait Islander got the native title over his land in the area. Even though it was a ten-year fight and he didn't live long enough to witness it, it was that day in 1992 that changed everything.

Note: There is a slight difference between the terms Indigenous and Aboriginal. People who lived in Australia before the discovery by the white man were divided into several groups. It is thus not the same nowadays. Both Aborigines and people who live in the Torres Strait Islands are Indigenous, but are considered separate groups. In the official paperwork there is a question regarding whether one consider oneself to be an Aboriginal person or a Torres Strait Islander.

Anyhow, listening about the history, the struggle and the law cases, and hearing personal stories and experiences from the elders (older, wiser and decision-making Aborigines), it got me thinking.

The whole story's incredibly close to what happened to the Indian (and later African) people in America. The harassment, the segregation, the misconduct, the loss of right, the shooting-off-the-property. It just made me realize how wrong things went.

I'm therefore very happy to see that at least something is changing these days, and that I'm part of the whole story, with as little as I know and with the even less I can offer. But there's a good feeling in each case won, in each agreement settled and each smile upon people's faces.

It just gives me an additional buff, verve and zest to sleeve up and hit it off!

Seminar in Adelaide

So, I'm in Adelaide at a seminar my company sent me to.

I was lucky enough to squeeze into it because the project tends to be quite busy, so I was happy fo find myself on the 09.30 flight from Perth to Adelaide.

The seminar welcomed around 30 people from all around Australia who are involved into Indigenous issues (I won't go into detail or I might get googled). That means there's an abundance of people to observe, find weird and, finally, keep finding weird.

- Mentos munchers

- heavy breathers

- lazy walkers (those who take a taxi to the restaurant)

- common courtesy ignorers (it might be mi, but yawning with your mouth open is never polite)

- vibration refusers (and even after their phone rings, they don't set it on vibration)

- sketching addicts (those show some talents at least)

- nail biters (in close relation to the Mentos munchers)

- close talkers

- do-you-mind-if-I-join-youers

- high pitchers

- loud talkers

- table shakers

- back turners

- I-don't-give-a-shit-about-thisers

and many, many more.

In the end, after meeting some of them, I realized they're OK and that we all have our own little things.

I wonder what they dubbed me...

Workshops, discussions, role plays...

Around Australia Take One

A quick hi from Adelaide, SA!

My hotel room view of the historic West Terrace Cemetery, which dates back to European settlement of South Australia (around 1837) and is one of the nation's oldest operating cemeteries.

Perth and stuff

My babies are here!

Other than that, I went to the Art Gallery of Western Australia to see the exhibition called From Picasso to Warhol. It's basically a posh bunch drinking bubbly, but I did see some Mondrian, which is one of my favourites.





All in all, a nice hang out with my hosts and colleagues from work.

Now, I had too many beers and I just can't be bothered to post anything, so here's some photos.

Aboriginal languages

Of ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur the elit. Etiam nulla erat, porta eu more et, fermentum ut than. Phasellus aliquam faucibus nisi two scelerisque. Fusce a hundred neque. Fusce nisi enim, and non varius fifty, pretium in massa. Phasellus ac Aboriginal lorem. Pellentesque consectetur languages dolor eu fermentum only metus sixty, pharetra et eleifend a, languages ut arcu. Mauris non dui are. Maecenas tincidunt considered ligula et sagittis. Vestibulum alive ultricies and in condimentum. Nam ut healthy sapien. Aliquam enough volutpat auctor. Fusce tincidunt to pellentesque. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique be et netus et malesuada used ac turpis egestas. as hendrerit a et first molestie hendrerit tongue eget ipsum praesent today. Amet quam erat, in tincidunt dui fusce. These ligula, lobortis et pellentesque sixty, consectetur in enim. Nunc languages interdum urna, eu are eros gravida ullamcorper. represented in mauris by, nec varius orci. Nulla the nisi, pulvinar ac bold vitae, words et sem. Nunc mauris ligula, sagittis condimentum eleifend sed, placerat ac in. Proin nulla nunc, this non vulputate text. Consectetur vel. Each nam eu dui of amet the hendrerit other eu at sapien normal sagittis purus words, ac lobortis orci. Lorem stands dolor sit amet, for adipiscing elit an elementum consectetur Aboriginal eu posuere. Aenean language consequat consectetur that in tristique has. Sed euismod pellentesque vanished quis feugiat. Maecenas vitae with orci. Phasellus a sem the. Ut pellentesque death libero, id of diam tristique sit amet. Etiam its nibh eget last suscipit speaker. A ac lorem nunc tempus blandit.

Taken from http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/language.

4WD course

I had my four-wheel-drive course today.

For lack of a better phrase, it was an utmost exciting day. And I got to see my first kangaroo(s). So, here goes.

Kangaroos in Gidgegannup, WA

The rest comes later. I need sleep.

Shopping photos

Oh, I actually do have some shopping photos.

I had to buy shoes for the field and after checking the ones in adventure stores (and costing 90-280 Australian dollars), I went with these.

Not bad for 25 bucks, eh?

Ordered these babies - getting them on Saturday

The next thing I was going for is this love of mine, but it turns out they've been sold out for a while now.

No wonder.

:heart:

When the Three Planets are in Eclipse

I have no idea what's been happening to the stars lately, but they've started aligning alright...

I got a flat. In fact, I got the flat.

The first one I checked was such a fiasco I won't even bother to comment. The next one I applied for seemed very cosy, homey and kind of right. I went and checked it out (because you have to see it in person out here) and I liked it.

There were didgeridoos and surfboards around, small things that make it feel great, a red brick wall in the living room, two bedrooms with a big bed in each; it's on the first floor in a small complex of only about eight apartments, a four-minute walk away from the train stop, a seven minute train ride into the city, and a couple of pedals away from a bicycle lane that leads all the way to my office...

It's just sweet.

A photo from the real estate site

P.S. Apologies to those who're waiting for photos, but I've just been ran over by time and errands and trips and tasks and payments and rides and food containers and little creatures...

Hello, South Australia!

It looks like I'm going to Adelaide next week.

My office is sending me out for a seminar, so I'll be taking off on Monday and flying back on Friday. Considering the fact that I haven't even been here for two full weeks, and that my calendar is already alarmingly full (don't forget I have my 4WD course on Thursday), I kind of get an image of what life - or better put, work - is going to be.

It was all sorted within 15 minutes, like it usually is here. I got into the course, got my room booked (in the same hotel where the seminar takes place) and that was it. I could even pick my flight!

So, preparations shmeparations. I'm off!

Photo taken from the Internet
Courtesy of South Australia

A good Monday

Today started off quite bad.

I woke up after what felt like seven seconds of sleep, it was still dark outside and it was time to go to work, and it's been raining for days. It kind of felt more like England than Australia. I sat up in my bed, still a bit unsure of my exact whereabouts.

Luckily (or not, considering the status of my brain), it wasn't time for work. Actually, it was 01.10 and I still had another couple of hours of sleep ahead of me. Nevertheless, from what I hear from people, it was a weird night. H and G didn't get much sleep either, and a couple more people at work were zombieing around the office.

Still, that didn't bring me down. I remembered to go out to the terrace and get my clothes off the line. It was surely going to rain, so I thought I better take it off and place it on random stuff all over the terrace.

Even though it started raining as soon as I left the office - while it's been sunny all day while I was sitting in the office - my clothes were safe and sound (and dry) by the time I got home. I was caught in a bit of rain, but it didn't really matter. Although in a weird way, it made me feel a bit more local.

I went to check a flat and I have to say it looks great. Well, at least it looks like it does on the photos. It's right by the train station, seven minutes from work, and the price is acceptable. Right at the limit I'm not really willing to go over. And I'd have a spare room for all the people who'd eventually crash.

After I got home, I realized that my Master card had arrived and I found some more important post in the letter box. Nothing for H and G, but hey - it's kind of my day. We had dinner and a beer, and watched an episode of something on the TV.

Now I can only hope together is going to be as good as today. And that tonight will be better than last night...

Sunday afternoon

...or Sunday morning for most of you...

I did two rounds of laundry, got them out and am chanting as we speak for no more rain. My last batch got stormed down five minutes after I put it out. And I do need clothes to wear. At least to work.

I just skyped to Ante a bit and am waiting for some more people to come online. The time difference only allows skyping on weekends, and even then I have to wait until it's 16h or more to catch anyone awake.

And how're you spending your Sunday?

Shopping in Oz

I don't intend to go into too much detail here, but check this out:

- hiking shoes

- trekking shoes

- slippers for around the house

- funny T-shirt

- four pairs of good woollen socks

- two hoodies

- one fleece jacket

- a rucksack

- two big chocolates

- a pair of trousers

- one shopping bag.

Total:

185 AUD.

An amount less than a pair of trekking shoes I was checking out.

No wonder it's a consumer world...

::

Fucking panic attacks!

For a minute there I was so paranoid and bummed out and lonely and sad and messed up and clueless and all. Phew.

Not that I feel awesome now, but at least I don't have a feeling that everything is crumbling under my feet.

Now it's bed time. And after last night's first sleepthrough in a week, I'm hoping tonight will be the same.

So, good night!

Meh

Kind of the first gray thoughts.

Was on my way home after taking a stroll around CBD. Then waited for the train, witnessed a fight on it and walked home in complete dark. Kind of feels like winter in Croatia, when you go to work at dark and come back home at dark.

I better hit it off and go watch something. Wouldn't want to get drawn in it...

Lunch break

It's been raining lately. The last two or so days. And it's going to keep on raining. Nevertheless, it's a good thing, because apparently it hasn't rained in ages. If it doesn't rain during the winter, the summer is usually, well, problematic.


Right when I was going to go on my lunch break (because I was already feeling dizzy after having eaten five almonds only), it started pouring. There was nothing else to do but keep on crunching paperwork. Luckily, the rain didn't persist too long, so I left the office for a sunny stroll, a super hot sandwich at the Subway and an ice cream.

Claisebrook park, with a small stream and a duck pond

A birdie joined me and came closer than an arms length
(unfortunately, all of my sandwich was already gone)

Perth CBD from Wellington Square

"Dork eating ice cream" Aquarelle on paper, 174 cm, 2012
Wellington Square - the park in front of my office building