Familiar Contradictions in a Foreign Land

Having taken up an Indigenous Studies course, I am again forced to face the fact that America and Australia are very similar.  The course, taught by a white Australian, is made up of about 25 students, most of which are white.  I can't help but see a mirrored image in my mind of an African American Studies class back in the States.  I don't really understand why, even today, there are such divides, or what it is with this feeling of white supremacy.  One of the goals of this course however, is to remove the biases and stereotypes that often confound the teaching of these types of subjects and deliver the material through unclouded and unobstructed methods.  I am very much looking forward to this class and all that I can learn about the native peoples of this country, and hopefully I won't just be learning as a white woman in a foreign land.

The Small World Paradigm

     James Cook University boasts having a student body made up of around 30% international students.  From my experiences so far, I can't help but think that students from the U.S. make up the majority of those international students.  I have only been at Uni for a week and a half and have already met people who live or go to school within a one hour radius from me at home and others who go to school or live within a two hour radius of my home uni.  Perhaps most surprising is the fact that I've met multiple people who know where my school is and also know other people that go there. 
     So despite coming half way around the world, I am still surrounded by things, ideas and world-views familiar to me.  I'm finding it a bit more difficult to get immersed in this culture because of all the dominant American influences I continue to have be it from the students I am surrounded by or just from the overwhelming abundance of American media and industry that is so prevalent over here.

   Maybe it is a small world after all...but that isn't so bad, right?  It kind of paints a nice picture of the world being weaved together, everything being connected to everything else.  And maybe in the long run it will help us all understand each other and solve more world problems, because what's really hitting me know is that if something affects one place or one group of people, it will undoubtedly affect others.

The Land Down Under

I don't even know where to start, Australia is amazing.  It's also amazingly hot and humid, so much so that it is exhausting.  Even though the night life is great here I haven't experienced much of it because I've been turning in early most nights.  Despite this and the heat, I have had some amazing experiences, and it's hard to believe I've only been here one week.  I landed in Cairns exactly one week and three hours ago.  Since then I have snorkeled and dove on the Great Barrier Reef, learned how to throw a boomerang, held a koala, watched a crocodile feeding, shopped at a night market, went swimming at two beaches, one in a stinger net and one a man-made lagoon, participated in a drum circle, and countless other things.  I've moved into my dorm at James Cook University and gone through a few orientation activities and have another week of orientation before classes start. 

So I have explored two cities in the country so far, Cairns, where we had our program orientation, and Townsville, where the university is located.  Cairns is a rather touristy town.  It isn't too big, and it feels rather safe.  The sidewalks are packed with specialty shops and boutiques and at night and on weekends the streets are lined with vendors selling their wares.  Because of the marine stingers, or jellyfish, it is unsafe to swim off the beach so the city has built a lagoon that overlooks the ocean.  It has a rather picturesque view and is great for the community.  At night, bats can be seen flying across the sky, and during the day seabirds wander around looking for something to eat.  Townsville is also a small town, the university is actually totally separate from the town but luckily there is public transportation that runs between the two locations as well as the beach.  The beach is also closed to swimming for now because of the stingers so there are a few stinger nets which people can swim in with a bit more confidence that they won't get stung.  There is also a pool which filters sea water in and the beach ends at the end of the road at a small amphitheater which is where the drum circle was located.

Umstrittene Grenze

"Boundary in Dispute"
"Home," is by definition the place where one lives permanently.  "Home base," on the other hand is by definition a place from which operations are carried out, a headquarters. 

These two ideas, separated from one another by a single word, have vastly different definitions yet the lines between what to us humans is considered one or the other is often blurred.  In between journeys and adventures, making a quick stop home to unpack and repack does make it seem like the house I grew up in has turned into a home base.  And the sense of permanence is a bit of a foreign concept in a place which doesn't help matters. 

Home can also be of or relating to the place where one lives, in which case I, and many people that I know, have multiple homes.  My house at school and the house I grew up in are both homes to me.  But home base can also refer to the place that players progress to in games.  And so if one considers life a game, then yes, I do always strive at one point or another, to get back to this little, slightly run-down, weather-beaten house, making it, for me, a home base. 

Luckily these terms are interchangeable in many cases and can be partnered to describe a place.  So as I set off on yet another journey, it is good to know that I will have a place to come back to, what is, for now, home and home base.