Potts Point, Sydney, Australia
29 April
Sunny warm am, cloudy pm with sprinkles
4250 steps
We landed this morning at about 7:45 am local time. Immigration and customs was very fast, and out coach criver took a very direct route to the Bernly. So, even though we arrived a little late, we were only 15 minutes late to our first tour.
The trip was uneventful from my point of view, though for a few students, it was their first flight ever. What a trial by fire! We did encounter quite a bit of turbulence after take-off at JFK, and little pockets here and there over the Pacific. My colleague noted that QANTAS pilots seem less willing to turn on the "No Seat Belt" sign than do pilots of US airlines -- perhaps a symptom of our litigious nature. Anyway, the novice flyers seemed none the worse for wear, though all of us were happy to get off; we had been on the same plane for about 24 hours.
Most of the socks I have down here have holes in the toes. I pack the stuff that I don't mind chucking at the end of the trip; I get more souvenir room that way. But I felt a little shame before I left home, so I darned the pair of socks I was going to wear on the plane. When you have to take your shoes off for security, you begin to worry about holey socks. But, they didn't ask me to remove my shoes, and I set off no alarms. I'm tempted to say that it was a waste of time, though I did do some mending.
The students this year seem so far to be very good-natured and willing to engage the course; I've already had several good conversations with many of them -- I must confess that I don't know everyone's name yet, but this is a big group! I had one conversation about the Wright brothers, and what they would think about seeing machines like the 747 we were on. I wonder what Orville Wright thought about all the things that came from his idea. Though Wilbur died in 1912, Orville lived until 1948. SO, he'd have seen the stunt flyers, the first mail flights, the passengers flights, Lindbergh's flight accross the Atlantic, Amelia Earhart, and others.
We have at least one boyfriend-girlfriend pair on the trip, a first for us (so far as I know). It made me miss my lovely wife; I would love nothing more than to walk under the trees in Hyde Park holding her hand.
Each seat on the flight was equipped with individual monitors, so that you could choose your movie, tv show, or play computer games. One of the movies I watched, Hotel Rwanda recounts the events of the horrific clash between the Hutus and the Tutsis, from the point of view of hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) as he tried to shelter his family and staff from brutal gangs. This fact-based account is difficult to watch -- the world pretty much turned its back on Rwanda, and the resulting body count surpassed a million.
I also watched National Treasure, starring Nicolas Cage as a seeker of the treasure of the Knights Templar, which somehow fell into te hands of Fressmasons George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. It was fun enough, although it stretched credulity very nearly to the breaking point at times. There are conspiracy theories and then there are conspiracy fantasies.
Today, we visited the Hyde Parks Barracks and the Australian Museum. The barracks was great, as usual, the tour guides always do such a good job with it. Our guide this year emphasized that though the building is important to the history of the Convicts, it is also important for other things. It served as housing for women immigrants in mid-XIX, and it was the Government House until the early 1900s.
We also went to the Australian museum. I always learn something new when I see the Aboriginal exhibit -- there's a portion of it that describes the interactions of the Aboriginal religions and Christianity -- in a positive way. I am not sure at all that Christian Fundamentalists would be happy to hear of this, but I find it interesting, and want to know more about it. There seems to bee a book (or movie?) called The Serpent and the Cross that I hope to find about it.
The only other thing to talk about today is the Thai chicken salad I had at a carvery in a food court in downtown Sydney. Peppers, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, and mint, with a sweet Thai chili sauce -- I can still recall the taste.
Speaking of food ... it is evening, and I must go eat. look tomorrow for entries about the Taronga Zoo and the Sydney Aquarium.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Before class starts
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Elmira
Cold, cloudy am, clearing evening.
Sprinkles and flurries
4960 steps
We start the course tomorrow. I'm in the office this evening wrapping up a few things.
We always spend a few days on campus before heading out. Since we spent many Sunday nights during our winter term talking to the students about Australia, most of what we will do tomorrow and Tuesday involves procedural things: how the course will work, what's expected of them, how to act while traveling and while in Australia.
It's heartbreaking at times. For example, consider the matter of panhandling. When you or I are approached by someone begging for change, we either give them money or we don't, but we never think of it as a matter of law, only of conscience. We had an eye-opening experience the first year in Cairns. An elderly Aboriginal man approached a group of us as we were waiting for a shuttle bus, and starting saying "How're you doin'?" as he rubbed his thumb over his two fingers -- the universal sign (I suppose) asking for money. A younger woman standing some distance away hollered at him to get over to her, so he shuffled away. When he got to her, she slapped him hard and glared at us -- I don't think I'll ever forget the mixture of shame and anger in her eyes.
After she led him away, a couple of Australian men approached and asked if we had given him any money. We had not; the woman had intervened before it could have come to that. The men identified themselves as plainclothes policemen and told us that in Australia, it is illegal for Aborigines to beg for money, and it is illegal for anyone to give them money if they beg.
Of course, as a practical matter, we must tell the students things like this; we don't want them inadvertently breaking the law. And I think I understand that the Australian government is trying to do the right thing here, and perhaps is even working with the Aboriginal tribal leaders in enacting and enforcing such laws. I do wonder, though, about the place in a country's spirit from which such laws emerge.
As a part of the course, we are requiring the students to make a presentation at a reception for the course on May 30, when we return. I don;t ask the students to do anything that I won't do, so I'll probably do one of my own. The above incident has been on my mind for quite awhile. Maybe that will be my project.
Elmira
Cold, cloudy am, clearing evening.
Sprinkles and flurries
4960 steps
We start the course tomorrow. I'm in the office this evening wrapping up a few things.
We always spend a few days on campus before heading out. Since we spent many Sunday nights during our winter term talking to the students about Australia, most of what we will do tomorrow and Tuesday involves procedural things: how the course will work, what's expected of them, how to act while traveling and while in Australia.
It's heartbreaking at times. For example, consider the matter of panhandling. When you or I are approached by someone begging for change, we either give them money or we don't, but we never think of it as a matter of law, only of conscience. We had an eye-opening experience the first year in Cairns. An elderly Aboriginal man approached a group of us as we were waiting for a shuttle bus, and starting saying "How're you doin'?" as he rubbed his thumb over his two fingers -- the universal sign (I suppose) asking for money. A younger woman standing some distance away hollered at him to get over to her, so he shuffled away. When he got to her, she slapped him hard and glared at us -- I don't think I'll ever forget the mixture of shame and anger in her eyes.
After she led him away, a couple of Australian men approached and asked if we had given him any money. We had not; the woman had intervened before it could have come to that. The men identified themselves as plainclothes policemen and told us that in Australia, it is illegal for Aborigines to beg for money, and it is illegal for anyone to give them money if they beg.
Of course, as a practical matter, we must tell the students things like this; we don't want them inadvertently breaking the law. And I think I understand that the Australian government is trying to do the right thing here, and perhaps is even working with the Aboriginal tribal leaders in enacting and enforcing such laws. I do wonder, though, about the place in a country's spirit from which such laws emerge.
As a part of the course, we are requiring the students to make a presentation at a reception for the course on May 30, when we return. I don;t ask the students to do anything that I won't do, so I'll probably do one of my own. The above incident has been on my mind for quite awhile. Maybe that will be my project.
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