Shopping Mania, Kiwi and Koori

Australian Aboriginal Art

I'm moving in to my new apartment this Saturday. Woo hoo!! I've been shopping like a mad woman, burning through those Australian Dollars. My friend Jenny, whom I met when I was apartment hunting (she was looking for a roomate) drove me to Ikea and we were there for a zillion hours. That was my first Ikea trip and what an event. Super smart to have a restaurant in a store like that; you can power up with food and shop for hours and hours more. Plus, they have giant $1 Swedish milk chocolate bars for sale at the restaurant cashier; more fuel.

Even if you are not an economist, you can understand economies of scale. Population of Australia is approximately 21million. Population of US is 304million. Population is 15 times bigger in the US. Goods and service are accordingly 15x more expensive here. OK, not exactly, but you get the idea. Buying a smaller volume and having to import = cha-ching.

Kiwi Bird of NZ

My friends, Jenny and Brendan, both have station wagons and will help me move on Saturday. By the way, cars are another way that Australia and the US are more alike than the UK and the US. People here also have big cars. Not so in London. Nowhere to park in London. Anyway, Brendan is a guy whom I met at a Vipassana meditation sit. A group of us went out to eat afterward and we sat next to each other at the table and hit it off. Super nice guy from New Zealand. People from New Zealand are referred to as "Kiwis". Why not "bananas" or "apples"? I Googled it and apparently the Kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand, only found in New Zealand. The bird is either extinct or endangered; I read both facts. And, the bird is hairy and flightless-- barely has wings at all. My friend Jeanice suggested that perhaps the kiwi fruit is named after the kiwi bird because it is small and brown and hairy like the bird.

Aboriginal Art

Brendan and I went to the Melbourne Museum together last weekend and saw a visiting exhibition called Koori Voices. "Koori" are indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern day New South Whales and Victoria (two of Australia's states). The exhibit tells the story of the aboriginal people of Australia since the British arrival in 1830, the impact of colonization and the way the aboriginal people have struggled to maintain their culture. Something else the US and Australia have in common: appalling treatment of Natives. Sad and depressing. A positive thing about the exhibit was that it was curated by the aboriginals themselves, so the exhibit was what they wanted to show about their story. There were beautiful portrait photos and native music as well.

I've got loads more to write, but have to get ready for work.

WORD WONDERS

- chuffed: pleased, delighted

- ta: thank you

- winge/winging: whining

- arvo: afternoon