I heart Sydney!

I have had a few people ask if I've forgotten about my blog. No, I haven't started losing my memory...yet. I was just busy writing about International Relations theory--specifically, liberal internationalism as a U.S. foreign policy doctrine. (Not nearly as exciting as it sounds...)

When I finished that 6,000 word essay, I thought about writing a blog post. But, to be honest, I didn't really feel like writing at all. So I took a break. But now I'm back in the game.

Many of you know that Katrina arrived here a few weeks ago. She arrived in the midst of me working on said paper. She can attest to the state of my apartment--and my mind. Bless her. She entertained herself for the first week, and then we headed down to Sydney!

Oh, Sydney! I now have Aussie city envy. It's not that I don't love Brisbane--believe me, I do. But I can't help but realize now just why folks in Sydney smirk when I say "come visit me in Brisbane!" (I still have a soft spot for Brissy--I'm a sucker for the underdog). But I still can't help but realize that Sydney, in sum, has better sights, better food, and better looking men.

Our time in Sydney was one of reunions: Kat and I stayed with our friend Stephen, whom we met randomly 3 years ago while looking at mosaics in the middle of Sicily. We've stayed in touch with him and he was kind enough to let us take over, er, I mean stay at his house. Kat and I also met up with Georgia Guldan and Nicole Gruel, two folks that we lived and worked with in Bangladesh. It was an AUW Reunion Down Under!

The Sari Sisters with Georgia on Bondi Beach

and with Nicole in Manly

We also made new friends along the way...

At the Sydney Aquarium

and the Australian Museum

And saw the famous

Oprah...

er, Opera House

And ventured further afoot...

Royal National Park

The Three Sisters (missing one!) in

the Blue Mountains

Oh, and I mentioned the good food, right?

Korean

Thai

something beyond pub grub

and pies on the beach!

I heart Sydney!

Check out more photos HERE!

My new baby

I brought this beauty home a few weeks ago and we've been bonding.

We spend lots of time together, exploring Brisbane and taking in life.

She's quite a fan of long rides on the Brisbane river bank.

I think this might be love...

School of Hard Knocks

I am in the midst of writing an essay for Advanced International Studies (a.k.a. Political Theory) on Martin Wight's "The Three Traditions of International Theory." I have been staring at my computer screen for a few days now (with a bit of sleep, food, and a few bathroom breaks). I present here images of my exploit:

No, this is not the scene of a crime--this is my "desk." I am working in the living room because a) there is not enough space to spread out in my room and b) If I were in my room, I would be very close to the bed, and hence tempted to sleep.

And I know you are all wondering just what amazing thoughts have resulted from this paper trail. So I present to you here my take on Realism, Rationalism, and Revolutionism:

"In order to summarize the three traditions’ distinct views of human nature, I consider the people that might populate these political theories. Here I present three friends, each representing one of Wight’s traditions, expressing their views on mankind. The Realist believes that all men are self-interested bastards who compete with each other out of fear and for the sake of survival. The Rationalist concedes that, yes, men are bastards, but they are capable of behaving themselves because—for goodness sake, they aren’t beasts—they have reason. Meanwhile, irritated by what sounds like drivel from some book by John Gray, the Revolutionist asks, “Just what ‘man’ are we talking about?” While a man may be a bastard at some point, he is flexible and he can change.
Continuing with the analogy, the self-interested Realist sees love (the international system) as a battlefield ruled by anarchy. Men seek to be “the head of the household,” so an inevitable struggle for power and control ensues. For the reasoning Rationalist, however, love is a little crazy and anarchic, but overall is continuous with the virtuous state of nature. Relationships have the potential to lead to conflict, but norms, order, and justice guide behavior; cooperation creates a happy home. Finally, for the critical Revolutionist, there are general principles of humanity guiding love and there’s not much space for power struggles in a relationship, not when harmony and emancipation are a mutual goal."

Having shared this, I must now return to my mission. After I eat a few Tim-Tams.

Expanding My Horizons

If I had more time, I'd tell you about all the wonderful essays I've been writing on economic nationalism, liberalism, and clashes of civilization. While I'd like to tell you about how I'm stretching my brain after five years out in the "real world," this blog post focuses instead on me expanding my closet.

When I first arrived in Australia, the first thing that struck me as odd were the people. No, not the accents, but what they were wearing. I wondered how on earth the clothing that I had worn in the 80's had suddenly become fashionable down under. (Maybe this is a global trend; being from Manhattan, Kansas, however, I'm not exactly well-informed of the latest fashion). Baggy dresses, cut off short-shorts (with the inner pockets showing), and hideous sweaters (mind you, it's hot here). Of course, not everyone dresses like this here. There are others, men and women alike, who choose to wear skin-hugging clothing--spandex pants and dresses, skinny jeans, and tights. This last article troubled me the most. How on earth could someone wear tights in this heat and humidity?

Famous last words. I purchased some summer dresses at an op-shop (second-hand store) and realized they were a little short for me, Ms. Modest. What to do? Well, for some reason I had a pair of leggings that I had brought with me from the States. I had originally purchased the leggings years ago to wear under a pair of jeans in the winter. Who would have thought I'd end up wearing them in Australia during the summer?

A picture is worth a thousand words. Which is great because I don't have that much to say.

I've been so busy reading about embedded liberalism and realism that I can't remember if I'm a liberal and what is reality...

So, rather than waxing on poetically for this post like so many of the authors in my academic readings do, I will share some photos with you!

View of Brisbane from Mount Coot-tha. (It's not really a mountain. Well, it's more of a mountain than we have in Kansas).

Admiring the humidity, and the view, with my Rotary host counselor, Barb.

Rotary Peace Fellows, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars (incoming and outgoing), and Rotary host counselors at a Rotary Scholars Seminar a few weeks ago. Look--I have a few more freckles!

Down Home in Oz

Since uni commenced last Monday, I'm so thankful I picked a lovely setting in which to immerse myself in the all-consuming graduate student activity: reading.

I wanted to share photos with you of my new home in Oz! I share a 2 bedroom, ground floor flat with a 30-year-old male physiotherapist, the owner of the unit. There are 10 or so units in the entire building. I'm located about a kilometer from 2 major shopping centres and 2-3 kilometers from uni and there are a few bus lines that stop near my flat. I find my legs work just as well in getting me around when the punctuality and efficiency of Brisbane public transit leaves me fuming. I simply remind myself that back home there is no bus and there are 3 feet of snow on the ground and people have to walk to school uphill both ways...

Come on a tour of my flat!

Welcome!

The lovely kitchen in which I have been making spaghetti for dinner every night for a week. Need to do some grocery shopping...

My cozy bedroom

Closet where I store everything

Homage to Kansas: Wizard of Oz magnet, sunflower, and Rock-A-Belly coaster

The view from my desk

My bathroom, outfitted by yours truly

Living/reading room (dense readings on lounge/sofa)

Back patio where I take my brekkie and spend more time reading

Little yard area below the patio, occupied by large, scary spiders
and a foot-long lizard that sometimes hangs out with me up on the patio

"You can make friends with people by shaking their hands."

Hello friends,

Well, I assume you are my friends. Because at some point in our interactions, we have shaken hands, right?

This week is orientation week and I've been attending international student sessions. Many of these sessions are labeled "COMPULSORY" on the schedule. The thing is, you don't sign in and nobody's quizzing you later on about the information covered. I'm starting to wonder if "compulsory" in Australia means something very different than in the U.S. Like "compulsory if you can make it" and "no drama if you don't."

I attended a COMPULSORY international student welcome yesterday morning. I woke up very early (well, for me) in order to get to school by the 8:30 am start time. Arriving at the building, another fellow and I were engulfed in the swarms of people standing outside. Finally around 8:40 someone opened the auditorium and we flooded inside--air con! After finding seats, we waited. And waited. Around 9:00 someone announced "We'll be starting at 9:30." Seriously? I could have gotten some more sleep. Does this mean my 7 pm classes don't really start until 8 pm?

The session finally got underway and I felt like a little kid at an assembly. Lots of people were introduced and lots of talking ensued, most of which I did not understand. Yes, I speak English.

Here's what I learned at the session:
1) You can shake hands with people to make friends with them.
2) There are 669 Chinese students at University of Queensland and 369 U.S. students.
3) Mumbling Australians with faulty PA systems are generally not effective at communicating information to an auditorium full of international students.

Lest I sound like an ingrate, I did gather practical information from my "Safety Down Under" session today. Here we learned about all the stuff that can kill you in Australia--from drunken Aussies to spiders, snakes, jellyfish, and sharks. We were warned about the birds here that will swoop down and pull tufts of hair out of people's heads. The speaker suggested putting your "sunnies" (sunglasses) on the back of your head so the bird will think you are looking at them. I couldn't tell if she was serious or not. Still trying to get the hang of Australian humor. (On a side note, another fellow decided that my new Australian nickname should be "Sunnie." Great--I mean AWESOME! as they say here all the time). We were also taught that if we are in danger, we should SCREAM! Personally I find pepper spray to be much more effective, but apparently it is illegal here.

After the session I went to look at a double bed base and discovered these "when nature attacks" stories were chillingly commonplace. The person selling the bed told me that he was moving furniture last year in Brisbane and got bit by something, on his foot. Pretty soon his toe turned black and things went downhill from there. He almost lost his leg.

So the moral of the story is--if you see a spider, SCREAM!