Week 8

Did you know the leading cause of death in Australia is skin cancer? There is no ozone over the country. It has been entirely depleted. People burn here so easily and no one wears enough sun tan lotion. Many state schools do not allow children out at recess unless they are wearing a hat and sun screen.
Racism is rampant in this country. The native Aborigines are treated unfairly. Have you ever heard of the "Lost Generation?" No neither had I. "The white society thought it would be in the best interest of the child to remove her from the corrupting influence of her Aboriginal family; they would send the girls to an institution or foster home, and train her to become a servant. There were no rules or regulations for the treatment of the Aboriginal children who were sent to work...The forced removal of indigenous children happened in every state and territory of Australia. The separation of Aboriginal children started in Victoria and New South Wales as early as 1885 and, in some states, was not stopped until the 1970s. About 85% of Aboriginal families have been affected in some way, either by having children taken away from them or by being forced to make major decisions to avoid having their children taken. Often the white people would send Aboriginal women out into the white community, and if they came back pregnant, the rule was to keep each woman for two years and then take the child away; sometimes mother and child would never see each other again." (Thanks to http://www.iearn.org/hgp/aeti/aeti-1998-no-frames/aboriginal-children.htm)

Okay pretty much to sum up the treatment of Aborigines: These people have been hunters and gatherers on this continent for the past 40,000 years. When the white settlers came there were approximately 250,000 Aborigines. They systematically tried to force them into the bush and murdered thousands of them. When they realized they weren't going to go away, they tried to breed them with white people in order to make them more fair skinned. Children were sent away from their families to white-training camps. One Aussie told me the government only apologized just last year. WOW. One Aussie told me their nicknames are "Booma's" because they are sound just like a kangaroo when they get hit by a car. WOW. Also, a constant joke that goes on around here is "Don't give any spare change to the Abos! They will just go sniff petrol with it."

I did see some Abos on the beach and they were swearing loudly in front of little kids, which I did not appreciate. But how can an entire group of people be judged by one man on the beach? And how do we really expect some of these people to act after being treated like pieces of crap for so long? No excuse for violence and vulgarity, but I have certainly heard plently of Aussies rampantly swearing all over the place as well.

How about the treatment of Jews? Well honestly, I have met some extremely anti-Semitic people here, which is not only appalling but truly disappointing. I was at Don's Tavern with a friend of mine. We went inside the bar to grab a stein of beer. (did you know stein means rock and berg means mountain Steinberg= Rock Mountain! strong last name thanks dad anyways..) So we came back outside and there were no chairs left. Some girl yelled out "No chairs for Jews find another table." I was about to knock the girls pearly whites out but my friend said, "No No she is just kidding. She's a friend of mine." I said friends don't say that jokingly or not. I let it go...

Until she was leaving and yelled some retarded thing like "Fake Jews!" and something ignorant and stupid. Last straw. I said, "Excuse me are you racist or something? I think we should talk about this. Do you hate Jews? Why are you racist huh?" She circled her fingers near her head and said "You're crazy! You're crazy!" I said, "I'm crazy? I think you are for stereotyping and being a mega-racist!" "You're crazy!" "Oh okay. So either stop being racist or come over here and we can talk about it huh? Come over here. I just wanna chat and see why you are like this!" (Chat?....) She ended up running off whimpering. I didn't even need to knock her out, I just wanted to understand where this hostility and ignorance was coming from. Is it because people are scared of what they don't understand? Is it because that's what the media portrays? Are her parents subliminally teaching her to be a racist? Or is she jealous of me being prettier and with a cuter guy than she? (sorry had to say it try to uplift my mood)





So returning to what I was saying in the last blog entry.. Sunday we went to Manly Beach. It was cool. We ate at a Mexican joint and had a few beers while people watching on the beach from a rooftop bar. We went back to Uni Lodge and chilled with some other NEU people I have know for awhile. I was pretty exhausted so I chilled on the couch and watched two movies, both with subtitles. Hey, free basic TV here alright. One was a French film about an extremely overweight policeman who found out a woman was having an affair with her uncle who he thought she then subsequently murdered. Her father was paralyzed and the mother died in the same accident that did it to him. He made her eat dinner with him for 2 hours a day for company in return for him not turning her in. In the end, it was the paralyzed father who murdered his brother. The car accident happened because his wife was having an affair with the uncle and she felt so bad she tried to commit suicide. The father couldn't stand letting his brother have EVERYTHING he ever loved and cared about. As you can see it was twisted but it was so well put together I really want to figure out the title. It deserves an award. The second movie was a Chinese film that wasn't as good but it was okay.

The next morning Kayte and I went to the beauty salon. They were must cheaper in Sydney because of the increased amount of competition from small shops. I got a wash, cut, and dry for $35AUD. We then got lunch at Broadway Cafe and I watched the Red Sox lose to the Devil Rays. Hopped on a plane and made it back to the Gold Coast in time for dinner.

Tuesday I intended on going to my classes but unfortunately didn't make it. I went to watch my first full New England Patriots game at Tavern. It was awesome!! We won by like 30 points. So proud of my team even sans Tom Brady :) Then ACES (Australian Culture Exploration Society) had a drinking sports game competition called Dizzy Bat. You have to chug a beer then spin around with your head on a bat 8 times really fast. Then you have to hit the ball and run to the base, but there is only one base like in cricket. Cricket's actually a pretty cool sport; I like it. Then we went to the bra for dinner and then to CBD and Varsity Tavern for the usual festivities. I left early to hang out with some Aussies and watch tv shows I haven't been caught up on.

Wednesday I went to Robina Town Center to talk to Westpac (Bank of America affiliate) because my ATM card hasn't been working. OF COURSE it worked there (and then didn't work again today the day I am typing this up GRRRRR). Today was strange. BIZARRE! There were two MAJOR hail storms. Okay it was like 65 degrees here.. and giant balls of snow/ice were shooting out of the sky. Really bizarre weather that day..

Thursday had a midterm and then went to Tavern. BlahBlah

Friday went to my friend Adam's multi-million dollar house on the water. We could hear the Indy 500 race track and see the helicopter shows. We just chilled in his pool and had a great party. I am telling you his house was crazy nice. His dad went to Duke Uni and Bond Uni.

Saturday chilled around and then went to "Indy Undy Ball" where everyone was in their underwear at the club. We stayed for one drink and left. There were so many creepers there, you can imagine. Indy 500 + women in underwear + booze = filthy men. Ick. lol. Then our buddy Will had a party and we stayed there all night. I fell asleep pretty early, which was fine by me.

Next Week will be more interesting I swear...
Wednesday: My 22nd bday and Skydiving in Byron Bay
Thursday: Flying to Melbourne
Friday: 9 hour planned tour of forest/Melbourne/ancient history stuff
Saturday: Derby Day of the famous Melbourne Cup (horse races)
and then the next week: Thursday: Cape Tribulation Zip Lining
Friday: Scuba Diving the Great Barrier Reef
Saturday: Level 3 and Level 4 White Water Rafting
Sunday: Bungee Jumping from 50 meters up...

COMMENTS WELCOMED!!!!

See you when I am old.