bye bye Australia...

Cottesloe Beach (Perth, Australia)

Sorry for the lack of blogging lately. Been really busy and stressed with exams. Fortunately they all seemed to go quite well... thanks for all your prayers =)

Today's my last day in Perth... craziness! I'm heading for Sydney tomorrow, and then back to Canada later this week. Oh man.. I'm gonna freeze! It's been like 35 degrees with blistering sun here for the past week. Fortunately it doesn't seem too cold back home at the moment (7 degrees), although the temp may go below zero in the evening. At least I don't live in Calgary, where the current forecast is for snow and -24.... yes that's negative 24 for all my non-Canadian friends. You enjoying Calgary so far jh? =P

Well, that's it for now. I guess next time I update will be from the frozen north. See ya later Australia! It's been fun...

Beauty in the little things

Changdeokgung (Seoul, Korea)

Racism at the grocery store

As I mentioned before, in general, there's a lot more racism over here. This incident took place back in April, while I was at the grocery store. To understand this story, I'll have to explain a few things first. Perth has a reputation as being a great, and relatively inexpensive, place to study english. As a result, there are tons of asian students (mostly Koreans and Japanese), who study english here. Most of the english schools are downtown, and so there are always tons of english students at the grocery store in late afternoon. Another thing is that stores close REALLY early in Perth (5:00-6:00pm!), and so there's always a mad rush between 4-6.

Waiting in a long line at the grocery store, the lady behind me turns and says:

Lady: The market is so bloody crowded. It’s all these awful foreigners, taking up our space.

Thinking: Whoa… that wasn’t very nice. Hmm… I think I’m gonna have some fun with this.

Jason: (playing dumb) But… but… I’m a foreigner.

Lady: (realizing her mistake and thinking that maybe I’m a tourist) Oh, oh.. that't not what I meant. I meant the foreign students.

Thinking: The foreign students… right.

Jason: But, I’m a foreign student

Lady: Err… uh… uh……

Thinking: Oh, you meant the non-white people

Jason: (Waiting just long enough to make her feel awkward and then smiling) Yes, it’s very crowded today. Must be all the people on their way home from work.

Haha.. I'm such loser sometimes. I realize that this probably wasn't the most mature way to handle the situation.... but I must admit... it felt good to teach her a lesson. =)

Do you like bananas?

There are 3 kinds of shortages that are regular news in Australia: the skills shortage, the water shortage, and (the topic of this entry) the banana shortage. Australia produces bananas in northern Queesland, somewhere near Cairns. They have protectionist laws that support the domestic industry by making it illegal to import bananas. This year, nearly the entire banana crop was destroyed by a cyclone, so this (see below) is what's passing for bananas these days.


The sad thing is, these aren't even the worst bananas I've seen. How does this personally affect me? It doesn't! I actually hate bananas! You couldn't pay me enough to eat one. Hmm... well.. maybe that's not true. Any offers? haha =)

Because of the crop destruction, and refusal to allow imported bananas, sickly bunches like this have sold for x5-10 what they used to. It's also spawned a new kind of crime... banana theft. I kid you not! I wish I'd taken a picture of this, but when I was in Sydney I passed by this small restaurant that sold 'interesting' sandwiches. Just like those notices at convenience stores or gas stations where it says that they don't keep much cash overnight; taped to the door was a notice saying that they don't keep bananas in the store overnight. I'm not making this up. I saw it with my own eyes. Guess the banana shortage has driven some desperate folk to resort to stealing to get their potassium fix.

This would make a great economic case study, on the elasticity of demand for bananas, and destructive effects of protectionism. Hopefully by the time I come back to Australia next year, the new crop will be ready, and the banana S and D curves will be at equilibrium. I also hope that I won't be sounding like my textbook anymore. =P

The food chain gone seriously wrong

Check out this article

This is so messed up! I'm never going to look at a pelican the same way again. I think it's going to give me nightmares now, haha.

Guess what this is?

City Beach (Perth, Australia)

So... any guesses as to what this is? I saw it rolling along the beach (Perth is very windy, haha). I'll buy dinner for the first person who tells me what it is.... or at least guesses what I think it is.
Just leave your guesses in the comment box. B, you're disqualified from guessing since I told you already. No annonymous guesses blogstalkers, unless you want to donate your free meal to me =)

Another side of Perth

Old Power Station (East Perth, Australia)

I took this picture as part of a project last semester. G and I needed some harsh, ghetto-like pics for this assignment we were doing. Most of Perth has either a suburban or small-town feel to it, so we were really stuck at first.... then G remembered this place. Perth people... you wouldn't believe such a place existed unless you saw it with your own eyes. It's an old abandoned power plant, but it feels more like somekind of prison camp.

Old Power Station (East Perth, Australia)

Starting to feel a lot like Christmas?!!

Christmas Decorations (Perth, Australia)

The Christmas decorations have gone up in downtown Perth. It feels so weird though... I don't normally associate 30+ weather with the coming of Christmas. As a Canadian friend of mine would say... this is really messing with my 'seasonal cues'. It never really occured to me that this side of the world experiences Christmas in the summer. Apparently it's not uncommon to spend Christmas at the beach, or hiding in the A/C, because it's usually unbearably hot. At least Santa won't have to worry about any fires in the chimney... but I really hope he's got a summer version of his big red suit. =)

Church Together

Church Together (Perth, Australia)

I just got back from this really awsome worship service called Church Together. It's a yearly tradition where all the churches in Perth get together for this big service outside, to celebrate our unity in Christ. There were thousands and thousands of people there... some coming from as far away as Broome, just for this event. I'm sure most of you have no idea where Broome is.... so lets just say that it's very far. I think it would be like the equivalent of 8 trips from Ottawa-Toronto.

After the main service there was a concert "for the younger folks", with Hillsong United. During the last song, B and I decided to go all out, jumping, moshing, etc... which is probably a bit hard to picture knowing us, haha. Apparently I mosh like a Canadian... meaning hockey style. You know... just lower your shoulder and body check. =) Hmm.. maybe it's a good thing I didn't go all out until the end... I'd better save those body checks for the ice.