Life updated

I’ve wanted to write a lot, but I just haven’t had the time. There always seem to be more pressing matters - whether they indeed are more pressing or not.

Maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t let the time run me over, so I hope you don’t mind me skipping a post here and there.  Sometimes it’s more important to get some sleep, prepare a nice dinner or simply chill out with no stuff on one’s mind.

Life’s been really busy with every passing day and with every new segment of work and life I’ve been involved in. Much more paperwork, many more meetings and dozens of e-mails I get to be CC-ed in make me have to try to get my head around things. I usually do that by taking notes, but when I got to five notebooks at the same time, the point was kind of lost.

Check notebook one for info about the details from the notebook three. Right.

I’ve also been travelling and out in the field a lot lately. Even though I’ve only been to two field surveys, I’m starting to do more and more. I’m actually supposed to lead the next one, which was confirmed for the next week just today. That means I’ll be flying out next Monday again, and flying back on Friday – right in time for the Australian Football League Grand Final.

A large part of your regular Australian’s social life spins around sports, especially football (the Australian kind) and, to a lesser extent, cricket. Soccer is also really in, but it takes a bit of insanity to wake up at four in the night to watch the English league.

I digress. I just use it as a chance to hang out with people, have a couple of laughs and, finally, trying to work out the rules. But considering that I managed the Cricket World Cup in India, I reckon this will be a piece of chocolate cake.

The thing that needs a lot more focus is located outside the city. Being in the desert is not as hard as it sounds, but dealing with people in their own environment, among their own kin and on their land is something that needs mastering.

People have been asking me how it is working with the Aborigines, sleeping out in the open and dealing with everything the desert brings. To tell you the truth, it’s not that different from what I experienced in India – people sitting in a circle on the ground, sipping tea and cracking jokes.

It gets a bit different once you get included into the stuff that’s going on, their personal issues, intra- and inter-community relationships and alike. That’s where your social, negotiation and human skills are supposed to surface. And not even decades of experiences can prepare you for that.

It’s definitely going to take some time to adjust to going out there on a regular basis, spending long (and I mean looong) days out in the bush, and communicating, co-existing and living with these guys day after day.

Most of the things going on are culturally sensitive and often related to a certain gender only. That means that the topic needs to be dealt with in a certain way, respecting the customs, the elders and everyone in general. It’s definitely a special feeling going to places that not even some Aborigines can go to, but it carries a lot of responsibility with it as well.

I just hope I can fill in the boots.

Other than that, I’ve just been trying to take it easy, not respond to all the stress piling up (Australians are luckily the type of people who take it all easy), and enjoy the free time I’ve got on my hands.

I joined H & G for a walk yesterday, and it was lovely. It was sunny and nice and there was a cool breeze that kept it all nicely wrapped up. We went for a round of the Waterfront, grabbed a couple of beers and caught up after a couple of busy weeks that everyone’s had.

 Hm, so may of my posts end up being I-posts, which I’m trying to avoid. It’s just hard to write about stuff that’s going on without starting a sentence with I. Or without writing in the third person, which might be an even worse solution.

I will try to write in more detail though, kind of more on a story side than diary style. So we’ll see how that goes…

For now, here's a couple of photos from yesterday arvo down by the Swan river waterfront...

And last but not the least, the tired, beer craving me, having a drink at the Waterfront.