Fair Dinkum Aussie

On this year's Australia Day, I was just one of 78 people from 38 countries who turned up at the council offices of the City of Yarra in order to officially become citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia. The ceremony itself was relatively straightforward, but rather inspiring at the same time, particularly given the extensive rhetoric devoted to supporting the concept of diversity in Australia. While Australia's Liberal party continues to attempt to use immigration and multi-culturalism as a wedge issue, it's nice to see that many value the contributions that Australians (regardless of their origins) have made to the nation.

We celebrated my new citizenship in a traditional Australian manner - a day at the park followed by a few shrimps on the barbie (OK - it wasn't shrimp, but close enough, right).

Centaur

After a search spanning almost 70 years, the wreckage of the Australian hospital ship Centaur, which was sunk in 1943 by a Japanese submarine, has been discovered off the coast of Brisbane.

Cowboys and Indians

The past two years have witnessed rising tensions between Australia's Indian population (particularly in Melbourne) and, well, everyone else, due to what appears to be a trend toward a growing number of violent attacks on Indians. Personally, it's hard to conceive of how one would choose Indians as a population that merits being the target of aggression, but such is life. And of course, the more the media makes of the violence, the more others are tempted to single out Indians. At the moment, it appears that Indians have replaced Muslims as a subpopulation that some feel it is acceptable to discriminate against. I myself have witnessed some of Australia's less progressive youths practicing their Hindi on public transport - but only as a means to insult any Indians they might stumble upon. When bogans are going to the trouble of learning foreign languages just to be assholes, you know you've got a problem.

The backlash has been quick and substantial. Australia has rapidly developed a reputation for being less than welcoming to Indian students, with applications for Australia's educational institutions (which depend upon fees from foreign students) down substantially. There has been almost a 50% decline in applications for Australian higher education from Indian overseas students, and an approximate 25% drop in education visa applications in general. However, there is obviously uncertainty regarding how much of these changes in statistics can be attributed to recent violence vs. policy changes in visa allocations (including a crack down on fraudulent visa applications) not to mention the global financial crisis.

Nevertheless, the situation appears likely to grow worse before it gets better, particularly if the media circus continues to remain in town.

For some of the media stories, go here.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Our Christmas holidays were marked by extremes, meteorologically speaking. We boarded a plane in Melbourne in mid-December on a day where the temperature hit 39C (102F). We then travelled for 24 hours and landed in Hamburg, Germany where the temperature was -5C (23F).

We spent our first few nights in Hamburg in Winterhudeas guests of Pia, where we recovered from our jetlag and caught up with various Hamburg friends of old (e.g., Torbin and the Tanyas). Malia was fitted for some cold weather gear (of which Uta and I were quite jealous), which allowed us to venture out for strolls in Eppendorf , for dinner at Landhaus Walter in the Hamburger Stadtpark, and of course for visits to the Weinachtsmaerkte.
From Hamburg, we headed north to settle in with Buebi and Karin in St. Peter-Ording, just in time for Christmas, dropping in on Wacken to introduce Malia to her Urgrosseltern. St. Peter-Ording was cold, windy and snowy - perfect conditions for a cozy Christmas, something we've missed for the past several years (it's hard to get into a Christmas mood while grilling shrimps outside on the barbie).

Christmas isn't Christmas without plenty of friends and family. Fortunately, during our stay we were joined at various times by Oma & Opa; Katrin & Matthias; Tim, Merit and Nico; Bjoern, Nella, and Finn; Manni and his 'Liebling'; Halli & Kirsten; and Juergen (the insurance dude). We ventured out daily in Dorf, Ording and Bad, although the cool weather kept strolls to a minimum. We also made a day trip to Husum, for a bit of shopping, although Schmidt proved to be a rather difficult department store to navigate, particularly with a stroller. New Years was spent nestled comfortably into the Dittmer homestead eating tasty morsels and watching the spectacle at the Brandenburg Gate unfold on television (everyone there looked realy, really cold).

The return trip was a test of patience and a battle against the elements. Our flight from Hamburg to London was delayed for an hour, and our subsequent flight out of London was delayed by several hours while we waited on board for the plane to be de-iced not once, but twice. Fortunately, we managed to make our connection in Singapore, but or luggage didn't. Nevertheless, we were happy to be back in the land of warmth and blue skies, although we arrived back just in time for a classic Melbourne heat wave, with temperatures heading into the upper 30s (upper 90s F) to low 40s (100+F). As such, our trip ended much like it began.

Overall, it was an extremely relaxing and rewarding holiday season. The Preston family was treated like royalty, although Malia was, of course, the real star.

Samson & Delilah

Samson & Delilah won a range of awards at the Australian Film Institute Awards last night. The film, which took home the Camera d'Or in Cannes earlier in the year, took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Cinematography awards.

Group of Death?

Australia has drawn a fairly rough road to the World Cup. The Socceroos opening match will be against Germany on June 13 - rumour has it that Germany has a reputation for being a tough opponent. That will be followed by games with the other members of the group, Ghana on June 19 and Serbia on June 23.

A November for the Record Books

Although the Australian summer officially only started on December 1, summer weather has been with us for at least a month. November came to a close with another entry for Melbourne's record books. The city's average daily maximum temperature for the month came in at 27.4C, blowing the previous record of 25.5C set back in 1862 out of the water. The month included 10 consecutive days above 30 as well as one night where the temperature never dropped below 28C. Fortunately, the extreme temperatures were accompanied by extreme rains that offerred a temporary reprieve from Victoria's Big Dry.

A Week of Firsts

I used my attendance last week at an adaptation forum as an opportunity to take the family on short trip to Sydney. So mom and dad packed up Malia and her grandmother and headed east. The trip marked a number of milestones in Malia's life including the following:

1) First trip on a plane

2) First trip to another city

3) First stay in a hotel

4) First swim in the ocean (well, she put a toe in at least)

5) First ride on a boat (the ferry to Manly)

6) First ride on a subway

Granted, Malia is unlikely to remember all of this excitement, particularly because she slept through most of these experiences, but it was good preparation for her first overseas voyage later this month.

An American Takes the Helm of New South Wales

As of this morning, the State of New South Wales has its first female Premier, American-born Kristina Kerscher Keneally. The Premier-designate will replace Nathan Rees who, in recent months, was more commonly referred to as the 'dead man walking'.

If this is spring. . .

American celebrities are feeling the heat in Melbourne, with persistent abnormally high temperatures baking the city (with more on the way). Tiger Woods has been sweating his way through the Australian Masters and has received a welcome more akin to visiting royalty. Meanwhile, Britney Spears played a show in Melbourne Thursday, causing traffic chaos in my neighborhood just as I was driving home. You owe me 30 minutes of my life back, Britney.

Qantas: "The Spirt of Australia"

from The Age, October 30, 2009:

"Spirits and full strength beer have been banned on intrastate Qantas flights in Western Australia because drunken mine workers have become too unruly."

enough said. . .

Malia's First Halloween

Actually, I don't think it's fair to say it was Malia's first Halloween, given she largely slept through the entire day (heat makes little persons sleepy, I guess) and even she had been awake, I don't think she would have gotten the whole concept.

Brekkie on the Bridge

The Premier of New South Wales launched the first annual Brekkie on the Bridge last week - perhaps an attempt to elevate Sydney's standing on the cultural ladder. 190,000 people allegedly applied for the 6,000 picnic spots on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, which was covered in genuine grass turf. Rumour has it the event will be repeated next year - assuming the Premier is still in office. . .

Only in Australia. . .

. . . could a group of guys go on television in blackface and subsequently argue that the skit didn't have any racial implications - the logic being that if the perpetrators don't find it offensive, then it's not (and hey - they did it back in '89 and people loved it. . .). Given Australia's own humble origin, I'd think its people would be more sympathetic to culturally sensitive issues. However, it seems that approximately 75% of the population didn't see anything particularly racist about this shtick. Fair enough - it probably wasn't intended to be racist - yet it still managed to offend nonetheless, and anyone with 75% of a brain could have seen that coming. Australia continues to have an image problem in this department. Just when the tourism boards make progress in branding the nation as a friendly, open and diverse environment, some clowns step-up and do something stupid.

Aussie Nobel

Elizabeth Blackburn has won the 2009 Nobel Prize for medicine. Blackburn was born in Tasmania and is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, but currently works at the University of California - San Francisco. She shares the prize with Carol Greider at Johns Hopkins and Jack Szostak of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Busy Weekend

We had a busy weekend with Malia as we tried to introduce her to the neighborhood. Thanks to her baby carrier, she travelled with us to Richmond Market on Saturday morning to buy some veggies and she got to take in the sweet aroma of her first sausage sizzle. She also entertained numerous visitors including the local Maternal and Child Health nurse (who confirmed that Malia is rapidly gaining weight) as well as Emma, Jeremy and Ady. The highlight, however, was Malia's trip to the Royal Children's Hospital, where she was the guest-of-honor in an educational clinic on infant mental health and behavior. She put on quite a show, demonstrating skills even her parents hadn't seen before, such as tracking objects and rolling herself over.

The First Seven Days

What do newborns do when they aren't sleeping, eating or looking adorable? Well, ours appears to enjoy crying in the middle-of-the-night and consuming large quantities of diapers. After 7 days on Earth, Malia has largely been confined to quarters. However, she did venture out for some shopping (although she slept during the entire trip) and has gone for a couple of walks (although she slept through both of those as well).

Welcome Malia!

After 41 weeks of gestation and 18 hours of labour, Malia Sydney Preston finally arrived at 10:30 pm on 23 September, much to the delight of her parents. At present, she has her mother's rosy cheeks and her father's copious and chaotic hair. Her hobbies include sleeping and eating.

Aufpassen!

Germany's Oktoberfest, which strangely appears to be Australia's largest annual drinking event, has claimed its first Australian casualty, with a Queenslander falling under a train in Munich after a night of festing.

You can take the girl out of California. . .

. . . but you can't take California out of the girl. Brynne Gordon, fiance of former Sydney Swans owner Geoffrey Edelston, was just one of the AFL 'WAGS' (Wives and Girlfriends) attempting to turn heads at tonight's Brownlow Medal festivities. Personally, I consider the Brownlows to be the most profoundly boring award show on the planet, but at least there is always the occasional fashion faux pas to provide comic relief. Despite being an American, Brynne is clearly a big fan of AFL - not too many people would go as far as to have a couple of footys surgically implanted to show their love of the game. . .

Oh, and for the record, this year's winner of the Brownlow Medal was Geelong's Gary Ablett

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