Canberra

4 May
Canberra
partly cloudy
<1000 steps

I'm at one of those overpriced internet kiosks, so please be patient with the spelling and sentence structure. This will also probably be short.

I was at my usual internet place in Sydney this morning, writing about Kings Cross, when their network froze and my entry was lost. I when that happens. I will try to recreate it, but I know that I'll fall short. I was writing about Kings Cross, as I don't think I've ever dealt just with the environs in the part of Sydney where we stay.

I know that I've alluded to the nature of Kings Cross, and it's deserved -- but to compare it with USA sleaze is unfair. Kings Cross is the area immediately around the intersection of Darlinghurst Road and Williams Street -- it's a little over a block long. The block contains many small shops: internet cafes like the one where I usually work on the journal; diners, pastry shops and other eateries; backpackers travel agents; and of course the trade. There are s that troll for business; it's best just to ignore them and move on -- to me, there's nothing attractive about that sort of thing at all; I see the economics of it all and none of the ism.
There are also street people: some aboriginals, but also out-of-luck white folks, too. They sleep on benches until the police chase them along; they beg for change; some of the women try to pick up men. It's all very pathetic and sad.
There's no doubt a business going on, but I really don't think that it leads to a lot of violent crime in the Kings Cross area -- that probably takes place out in some of teh western suburbs of Sydney, where there's more gang activity.

The internet cafe that I use is a small shop, probably a converted boutique of some sort. They've crammed about 40 older computers into it, running Windows. It's run by a Taiwanese family, who are very nice and seem to remember me from year to year. It's $3 for essentially unlimited time. Apart from the network crash this morning, I've always been happy with the place.

I don't recall describing the staff at the Bernly. The owner and his wife are immigrants from Italy, I think they speak at least four languages. They treat us very well; the owner is taking the faculty of the course on a private tour of Sydney when we return late in May -- I'm not sure exactly what a 'private tour' includes, but my senior colleague did ask him if he was a good driver. The owner has also arranged for us to have a group photo taken before we return to the States, so that's nice. Other staff members are from Germany, Indonesia, Turkey, and Korea; they are as friendly as the owners.
The faculty stay on the ground floor. We have 'en suite' rooms that include a bath and fridge. The floors above are for teh students. Some rooms share a bath, and allow for four guests per room.
The top floor gives a very nice view of Sydney; Kings Cross is at the high point between central Sydney and the ocean. If you were to continue east from Kings Cross, you'd eventually reach Bondi Beach.
The Bernly is on Springfield Avenue, one block west of Darlinghurst. It's a very short, narrow residential street that ends in an alley serving as the back door to the shops and boutiques of Kings Cross. We are within two doors of a medical clinic, and a half-block walk to the Kings Cross station of the subway. It is quite convenient. There's an IGA grocery store right across the street, and a street vendor selling fresh produce a little farther along.

There are also a variety of restaurants. Last night, we took the students to Out of India for an Indian-style banquet. I was a little nervous; I was not impressed with the Indian cuisine my graduate school friends at SIU would prepare for me. But it actually turned out quite nicely -- I was especially impressed with the tandoori chicken and the beef vindaloo, very spicy. So, I could be convinced that I misjudged it. The restaurant's owner claimed that Bill Clinton ate there and said it was the best meal he had ever had.

Our trip today to Canberra was very short. We stopped at a McDonalds in Goulburn -- they're the same all over, but we can't eat adventurous every meal. Our hostel here is somewhat outside the city, which is a bit disappointing, as it limits the amount of exploring the students can do. But it's a nice place: clean rooms and kitchen facilities; nice activity areas, and a friendly staff. We ordered 20 pizzas from Dominos for dinner -- and that is a bit of an adventure, as I don't think that Australians really do pizza well. I will never understand why someone would use BBQ sauce as the base for a pizza, though sdome of the students say they like it.