As I may have mentioned, we are privileged to have a small lap pool in the basement of our apartment building. About 1.5 meters deep and 22 m long, our pool lacks the glitz of Victoria Park’s outdoor 50 m long one, but it suffices for intermediate swimmers like myself. Today I went down with a quick 30-minute swim in mind, and stumbled on one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had yet.
I walked in on a young woman essentially thrashing around in the water. I smiled and said hello, and she smiled, embarrassed, and told me to go ahead and swim; she would stay out of my way. I proceeded to start my laps, and about 5 minutes in I realized she was standing still at one end of the pool, staring at me openmouthed.
Now, I’m not one to enjoy being gawked at. Sure, I’ve danced onstage about a thousand times, but that’s voluntary self-display. I awkwardly nodded at her and hoped she would get the hint. She did not, so I decided to strike up a conversation. After establishing that she was from India and working on her masters in marketing here, she blurted, “You swim like a fish.” Given we were in the middle of a chat about the recession, I was completely taken aback.
I asked her what she meant, and she repeated, “You swim like a fish. I splash around noisily and you swim like a fish.” A few more minutes of conversation yielded the following details about her:
The young woman, whose name I can’t currently remember, grew up in a middle class family in India. She went through college there, and then decided to move to California for a year to take a stab at independence and a master’s degree. Due to the recession, she was unable to find work and struggled to make ends meet. On a whim, she decided Sydney looked promising, and more importantly, sunny. She never learned to swim properly, especially having grown up in a part of India with barely any water to drink, let alone swim in. She said she likes to swim, but she’s easily embarrassed by her lack of technique.
I wouldn’t classify myself as an especially good swimmer, but I would say that I’m a graceful swimmer, like my Mom. Evidently, she hadn’t been exposed to swimming like this many times before. After our conversation faded a little, she asked if she could keep watching me. She was truly impressed by my meager finesse in the water.
As I resumed my laps, it dawned on me that not everyone in the world learns to swim at summer camp, has high school sports, and owns a TV to watch Michael Phelps on. This thought may seem juvenile, but it was a big wake-up call for me to recognize that people from all over the world live their lives so differently. Yes, my anthropological studies have highlighted this, but it was especially interesting to me that people of similar socioeconomic statuses can have such different lifestyles. I would be devastated if I could never float in the ocean again. This woman probably wouldn’t notice.
Fortunately, she lives in the building, so I’ll likely run into her again. My friend Daniel has offered to teach one of our other friends how to swim, so I told the young woman she was welcome to join us. She seemed excited about this idea.
With that said, I’m off to continue this thought in Anthropology class. I expected to go about my day undisturbed, as usual, but like always, the most interesting experiences we have are the ones we stumble upon blindly. Can’t wait to see what I’ll learn tomorrow!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Saturday, January 17
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Yesterday, we selected our classes. I’m taking Australian Culture and Society (required), Economics and Politics of the Pacific Rim Region, and Australian Literature. Here’s why: 1- I need a social science course, and econ fits the bill while giving me Mondays and Tuesdays off; 2- Australian Literature requires a long-weekend trip to the Blue Mountains, which was high on my list of to-dos. My internship is still undetermined, but my advisor said it is quite possible I’ll end up with the Sydney Dance Company or something similar.
At night, we ventured out together on a harbor cruise, which was awesome. We had a great dinner of prawns, chicken, potatoes, and tomatoes and mozzarella, and saw some fantastic views of the Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, and the Botanical Gardens among other things. We then stayed on King Street (right in Darling Harbor) and hopped along the wharf to three different bars (Cargo Bar, James Squire, and Bungalow 8). We met lots of locals who were extremely entertaining, all of who enjoyed “taking the piss out of us” (messing with us- it means they like you). It was a great night that ended fairly early in preparation for our day in the sun!
Today was my first official BEACH DAY! We were offered three different “R.A. led tours,” and I chose to do a cliff walk along Bondi, Tamarama, and Bronte beaches. The “leader” of our tour was our friend Dan, an R.A., who admitted that he didn’t really know where we were going and that the “tour” was essentially an excuse for us students to follow a slightly less-confused R.A. around. We made a running joke of it and now ask Dan for directions every chance we get.
Anyways, the cliff walk itself was amazing. The layers of rock on the cliff-face are so distinctive and intricate. It was astounding to realize that water erosion caused all the different formations, which was especially evident by today’s rough surf. We didn’t get in the water until the end of our hike at Bronte, and when we did, we were completely destroyed by the pounding waves! It was a ton of fun, but made us realize how important it is to be smart in the ocean. The surf rescue guys take their jobs very seriously down here.
After we hung out on the beach (where I applied sunscreen probably 12 times and still managed to get some color), we walked up the road to a string of restaurants, found the cheapest one, and shared some eggs at an all-day breakfast joint. Everything I’ve eaten here has been SO delicious, but still very healthy! Full and smiling, we returned to the beach for about another hour and then took a bus back home. Tonight we’re having a BBQ on the roof with a few friends. Can’t wait! Then…who knows! Tomorrow’s plan: a museum of some sort and a film festival.
Yesterday, we selected our classes. I’m taking Australian Culture and Society (required), Economics and Politics of the Pacific Rim Region, and Australian Literature. Here’s why: 1- I need a social science course, and econ fits the bill while giving me Mondays and Tuesdays off; 2- Australian Literature requires a long-weekend trip to the Blue Mountains, which was high on my list of to-dos. My internship is still undetermined, but my advisor said it is quite possible I’ll end up with the Sydney Dance Company or something similar.
At night, we ventured out together on a harbor cruise, which was awesome. We had a great dinner of prawns, chicken, potatoes, and tomatoes and mozzarella, and saw some fantastic views of the Opera House, the Harbor Bridge, and the Botanical Gardens among other things. We then stayed on King Street (right in Darling Harbor) and hopped along the wharf to three different bars (Cargo Bar, James Squire, and Bungalow 8). We met lots of locals who were extremely entertaining, all of who enjoyed “taking the piss out of us” (messing with us- it means they like you). It was a great night that ended fairly early in preparation for our day in the sun!
Today was my first official BEACH DAY! We were offered three different “R.A. led tours,” and I chose to do a cliff walk along Bondi, Tamarama, and Bronte beaches. The “leader” of our tour was our friend Dan, an R.A., who admitted that he didn’t really know where we were going and that the “tour” was essentially an excuse for us students to follow a slightly less-confused R.A. around. We made a running joke of it and now ask Dan for directions every chance we get.
Anyways, the cliff walk itself was amazing. The layers of rock on the cliff-face are so distinctive and intricate. It was astounding to realize that water erosion caused all the different formations, which was especially evident by today’s rough surf. We didn’t get in the water until the end of our hike at Bronte, and when we did, we were completely destroyed by the pounding waves! It was a ton of fun, but made us realize how important it is to be smart in the ocean. The surf rescue guys take their jobs very seriously down here.
After we hung out on the beach (where I applied sunscreen probably 12 times and still managed to get some color), we walked up the road to a string of restaurants, found the cheapest one, and shared some eggs at an all-day breakfast joint. Everything I’ve eaten here has been SO delicious, but still very healthy! Full and smiling, we returned to the beach for about another hour and then took a bus back home. Tonight we’re having a BBQ on the roof with a few friends. Can’t wait! Then…who knows! Tomorrow’s plan: a museum of some sort and a film festival.
Sunday, January 18
Quick update:
Today we went to the Australian National Museum and saw the dinosaur exhibit (SO COOL), the Aboriginal exhibit (also SOOO COOL!), and the "How to Survive in Australia" exhibit (SOOO COOL and SOOO CREEPY!). Then we went to Paddington Market, which is basically just an insane maze of booths that sell every kind of crap you can imagine. From there we went to the fruit market and purchased fresh papaya, mango, and peaches for dinner tonight with some swordfish. I'm headed downstairs to the pool to swim laps before dinner on the roof part two!
By the way, I figure I should mention my new friends because they are AMAZING! Mallory went to NCHS, and even though we didn't know each other then, we've become really good friends and have a ton in common. We have almost the exact same aspirations for travel, we both hate downtime, and we are both aiming to fill our heads with as much knowledge as possible while we're here!! She's GREAT!!! We've become really good friends with a couple of the guys in our program, too: Dan, Daniel, and Jeremy. Dan is an R.A. (I mentioned him before), but he admits the position is kind of a joke. He's from Newton, MA, and actually knows of the Heilbron family through St. Johns Church in Wellesley. Daniel is a filmmaker from SanFran. He goes to USF and is an awesome photographer/ filmmaker, and he's hysterical. We had a ton of fun with him and some Aussie locals the other night at Bungalow 8. Jeremy is from Chatanooga and goes to Alpine U. He's so sweet and awesome and also has similar travel plans as we do, so we're coordinating trips all together. Bottom line, they're all great. Everyone on the program is super nice, but for travel it's great to find smaller groups of friends who have more similar interests. Needless to say, we're all psyched to start exploring together!!
With that, I'm off to the pool and then the roof. Classes start tomorrow, but I don't have class until Tuesday at 5:30 pm so we're headed to the beach again. Lots of love!! Haley
PS- photos coming soon I SWEAR!
Today we went to the Australian National Museum and saw the dinosaur exhibit (SO COOL), the Aboriginal exhibit (also SOOO COOL!), and the "How to Survive in Australia" exhibit (SOOO COOL and SOOO CREEPY!). Then we went to Paddington Market, which is basically just an insane maze of booths that sell every kind of crap you can imagine. From there we went to the fruit market and purchased fresh papaya, mango, and peaches for dinner tonight with some swordfish. I'm headed downstairs to the pool to swim laps before dinner on the roof part two!
By the way, I figure I should mention my new friends because they are AMAZING! Mallory went to NCHS, and even though we didn't know each other then, we've become really good friends and have a ton in common. We have almost the exact same aspirations for travel, we both hate downtime, and we are both aiming to fill our heads with as much knowledge as possible while we're here!! She's GREAT!!! We've become really good friends with a couple of the guys in our program, too: Dan, Daniel, and Jeremy. Dan is an R.A. (I mentioned him before), but he admits the position is kind of a joke. He's from Newton, MA, and actually knows of the Heilbron family through St. Johns Church in Wellesley. Daniel is a filmmaker from SanFran. He goes to USF and is an awesome photographer/ filmmaker, and he's hysterical. We had a ton of fun with him and some Aussie locals the other night at Bungalow 8. Jeremy is from Chatanooga and goes to Alpine U. He's so sweet and awesome and also has similar travel plans as we do, so we're coordinating trips all together. Bottom line, they're all great. Everyone on the program is super nice, but for travel it's great to find smaller groups of friends who have more similar interests. Needless to say, we're all psyched to start exploring together!!
With that, I'm off to the pool and then the roof. Classes start tomorrow, but I don't have class until Tuesday at 5:30 pm so we're headed to the beach again. Lots of love!! Haley
PS- photos coming soon I SWEAR!
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