"Spaceman Jack and the Sleeping Giant"

[Editor's Note: The pictures below--most have been deleted for easier scrolling through the entire blog--were taken at the Garden of the Sleeping Giant, located in the hills above Nadi, Fiji. The garden, which features a collection of tropical orchids, was started in 1977 by American TV actor Raymond Burr ("Perry Mason", "Ironside"). The garden is named for the nearby hilltops, which resemble the profile of a giant laying on his back. Peter created the story--TO COME--for his Australian school friend, Jack, who gave him a small astronaut action figure before we left Newcastle. Peter and Jack are pictured above at a Hamilton School picnic in Gregson Park, half a block from our house.]

SPACEMAN JACK AND THE SLEEPING GIANT

Tennis Mates

Here's my Tuesday night doubles partner David "Tiger" Paine, at National Park, Newcastle, located near the center of town.

And here's my Thursday night partner Daniel "Daniel!" Benn, at District Park, Broadmeadow, a short walk from our house.

Below are Mark McGinty, left, and Col Chapman. Col runs the courts and competitions at Newcastle City Tennis Centre. I took my first-ever tennis lessons with Mark. I learned heaps in just six sessions, especially where my backhand return of serve and net play are concerned. In general I've been playing way over my head since returning to Pittsburgh, thanks to these guys and the rest of my Newcastle tennis peers. Cheers mates!

Newcastle Friends

I tend to take too few photos of people. Here, however, is a round-up of some of the great friends that we made in Newcastle. It's trite but true--the people of Australia are the country's greatest asset (followed closely by the beaches and coastline, if I may say so myself). But Sarah and I were bowled over time and again throughout the year by how friendly and helpful everyone was--from the school teachers to the bus drivers to the car repair people and the folks staffing the phones at the utility companies. At every level of Australian society, the "no worries", "no dramas" and "you're alright" ethos seems to govern interpersonal relations. What a refreshing change from the sometimes defensive, conflict-ridden daily exchanges in the U.S.

But enough. Above are Chris and Nathan. They did a great job helping Peter and Nicholas develop their artistic skills at weekday afternoon and weekend art classes.

Here's Peter with his school teacher, Ms. Nelmes, and good friend, Jack. Next is Hamilton School Principal David Jack, a gem of a guy, unique personality, exemplary administrator, and tenacious, occasional tennis player. He hiked around the Simpson Desert during a long vacation early in the school term.

The group photo is from the last class of the term for Peter's P.A.C.K. class, an art class run on Monday afternoons at Hamilton School by Nik _______, pictured in the right-hand part of the photo, wearing the beige cap.

Further below is Nicholas' soccer team photo. He played in the Adamstown Rosebuds junior league. The coaches, pictured, were Troy _______ (left), a Newcastle police officer, and Steve Filmer, who lived a couple of houses down from us on Buchanan Street.

Fiji - One Year Later

Some random shots from our 4-day return visit to Fiji, heading back to America.

More Christmas in Australia

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published this story of mine last week about Christmas in Australia and India:

Can you catch the Christmas spirit in sun-baked Australia? (A sidetrip to India helps.)

Here's an excerpt from the story, and a bit that got cut, that describe the pictures above:

"Each day seems to bring another jarring Aussie Xmas juxtaposition.

Like my recent Sunday excursion to a Christmas concert in a local park. Small children dressed in T-shirts, flip-flops and Santa hats lined the steps of a Victorian bandstand. On the lawn, an expanse of proud parents lolled on blankets and lawn chairs, knocking back cold beers and glasses of "chardy" as they swatted at flies.

Traditional carols were a little too heavy for this fine afternoon in the land of "no worries." Instead, the kids belted out pop tunes about putting the turkey on the barbeque and wishing for a warm Christmas, chiming over and over, "San-ta's wearing shor-orts ... San-ta's wearing shor-orts ...

The final song in the program heralded the great man’s arrival.

Covered head to toe in a red suit, Santa hid out of sight behind a gnarled fig tree near the edge of the park, waiting for the singing to stop.

“You’re supposed to be wearing shorts,” I joked as I walked past him.

“I wish I had a pair,” he said."

Here a trio of young elves play Christmas melodies on clarinets outside a newsagents in Hunter Street Mall. Another trio of larger elves wear Christmas shopping bags at the annual candlelight Christmas carol concert and fireworks event at King Edward Park, on the cliffs above Newcastle Beach and the ocean. It seemed to be the city's premiere Christmas event.

Keralan Kids

Kids love the camera. Many of these shots are of students at Auxilium School, which shares facilities with Home of Hope orphanage. Others feature students "out of uniform"--neighborhood children who come to play in the school grounds after class time and on weekends.

Nick's School Paper about India

By Nick Zurawsky
12/2/2007

India

Map of the world with India marked on it

In this paper I am going to be discussing some facts about the history and religion and culture of India.

There are many languages in India but the main languages are Hindi and English.

The main religions are Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and Sikhism.

80% of India follows Hinduism which is the oldest religion which still is alive. It is based on the practice of dharma which is religious living. It also has something called “samsara” which is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, as different animals or as a human.

Only about 1% of Indians are Buddhists, even though Buddhism began in India. Buddhists believe in reincarnation after death. You could be reincarnated into a different animal or a human. Its main aims are to “achieve enlightenment” and to attain inner peace and be a good person. The goal is to achieve total enlightenment and never be reincarnated at all.

About 12% or 13% of Indians follow Islam which is the teachings of Mohamed. He was a prophet, like Jesus, only Muslims do not believe that he was a son of god. The word Islam literally means “submission”. This means submission to the word of God.

Sikhism which is the religion of the people with turbans wrapped around their heads. It is the fifth largest religion in the world. Sikhism is based on meditation on god and reading Sikh scripture.

Only 2% of India’s people are Christians.

India is near the equator so most of it is hot. I visited in the southern half of India in October. So it was very hot. The average high temperature is 29 or 30 degrees where we were. The equator crosses the southern tip of India.

One of the types of Indian clothes that stand out is a sari. It is a long piece of cloth that you wrap around your body. Men wear tablecloth-like material around their waists called a dhoti. Teenage boys mostly wear shorts and a tee-shirt.

There are many types of housing in India. This house is a traditional Keralan rich person’s house. It has wood paneling and flooring. It is one story high and (you can’t see it) there is a wall around the house. [Sorry Nick, I couldn't find exactly the same photo that you used, so I posted this one of Emerald Isle, the place where we stayed in the backwaters near Alleppey.]

This is a picture of a house you might find in one of India’s typical towns. It has one story and a couple small rooms and a big back yard.

Indian food is very different to ours. Different places in India have different food. Most dishes have rice with them and almost all of them are curry. Curry is a dish made of vegetables, spices and sometimes meat, with the sauce, over rice. In south India the dishes have coconut and curry leaves in them. Almost every house has a curry tree in or near their back yard. The Indian food that we get here in Australia is mostly northern style Indian food. Lots of spices grow in India like cardamom which is one of the world’s most expensive spices. It is used in a lot of sweets (and in my opinion it is not very good). Pepper is grown in India too.

Indian history goes back to 3300 BCE. It started out as the Indus valley civilization. Later on it was made up of a lot of kingdoms and empires. The 4^th-6^th century A.D. was the “golden age” of India. Islamic invaders came and marked the start of the Mughal era in the 10^th-15^th century. The British East India Company ruled the country in the 18^th century, and then the government of Britain took over until the Indians overthrew the British in 1947.

One of the most famous people in India’s history is the Buddha. He established Buddhism. He was born a Hindu in the golden era and grew up a Hindu before establishing Buddhism. Another great historic figure is Mahatma Gandhi. He led Indians in protests against Indian racism and stopped the English rule over India. A famous Indian writer is Salman Rushdie. He wrote a book called “The Satanic Verses”. The book offended a lot of Muslims. There was a fatwa (basically a religious license to kill) issued against him and he went into hiding for a while but then came back again when it had all calmed down and he is still alive today.

The Indian hello is “namaste.” Indians are very polite and easy going but feel safe to ask pretty personal questions. Their main values are family and religion. Driving in India is very catastrophic experience because there are cars coming up behind you, there are cars blowing their horns every two seconds, and the streets are crammed. The reason for the horn blowing is the auto rickshaw.

It is a little three wheeled car with three crammed seats and only two rails at the right side of the car (the left side is open). They can take you almost anywhere in the city. It has a sign on the back that says honk when passing.

The biggest industry in India is movies. It has the biggest movie industry in the world. Another big industry is the textile industry because they grow cotton and silk. Tea, silk and spices like cardamom and pepper have been traded from India since ancient times. Indians grow a lot of crops on spice plantations. They also grow lots of trees like coconut, jack fruit and especially rubber trees. They also have the trees to grow cocoa beans for chocolate for the Cadbury Company.

Interesting facts about India:

1. India made up the number system.
2. Chess was invented in India.
3. India is the 6^th largest country in the world.
4. India has the most post offices in the world.
5. The value of “pi” was first calculated in India.
6. Algebra Trigonometry and Calculus were invented in India.
7. India has the earliest medicine school in the world.
8. Indians invented the decimal system.

The climate is hot and sunny and they have a rainy season so it is so easy to live there that you can even live in the woods. Because it is hot the people need to rest a lot during the day. Also the climate is at the temperature that spices grow so they have put it in their culture to eat spicy foods.

Most Indians like every meal to be home cooked and more of them are vegetarians. The reason for this is because it is expensive and sometimes unsanitary to eat out. Indian women cover up their bodies more. You would not see an Indian women walk around with a tank top on. Australians on the other hand like to eat out a lot. Also Australians love to go to the beach all the time whereas Indians, even if they live close to a beach, don’t.

One of the most obvious differences is that Indians, unlike Australians, usually wouldn’t be found at the beach “sizzling a prawn on the Barbie with a stubby in their hand.”

References:

http://www.pegasusinfocorp.com/resources/india_info/people_lifestyle.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/india

http://www.twf.org/Truth

http://www.religioustolerance.org

http://www.indianchild.com/amazing_facts_of_India.htm

Christmas in Australia

'Tis the Season Down Under. If you're looking for spirituality, or even that warm, fuzzy feeling, forget it. Summer's here and everyone's gearing up for a long school break, weeks of vacation, and, of course, the beach. Above, Santa surfs in the window of the Macquarie Hotel, in Port Macquarie, a seaside resort town 3 hours north of Newcastle.

Here's the Target at the mall in downtown Port Macquarie. Note the beachwear and elves in shades.

An irreverent surf shop window in Manly, a Sydney coastal suburb.

This koala skeleton hangs out at the Koala Hospital in Port Macquarie.

Australia has a real thing about national identity and claiming things as its own. Advertisers and promoters slap "our" on everything--Our Rum (Bundaberg Rum); Our Bridge (Sydney Harbor Bridge); Our Jen (Jennifer Hawkins, Newcastle native and former Miss Universe), and here, Our Christmas, on a banner strung across Hyde Park, in Sydney.

In a more traditional vein, here are two nighttime versions of Sydney Town Hall, garlanded, treed, and artistically lit in a changing array of colours (note spelling) for the holidays.

This tree is in St. Martin's Place, the Rockefeller Center of Sydney. That's the Customs House tower in the background.

At Waratah Village, a nearby outdoor suburban Newcastle shopping mall, a kangaroo and emu--imitating the Australia coat of arms--share the stage with a parrot and a sulfur-crested cockatoo. That's a waratah flower in the middle of the wreath. A rugby team in Sydney is named after the flower. (Note the two women in strapless tops outside the store.) I've been hearing sulfur-crested cockatoos loudly screeching this morning on their way to Gregson Park.

Parade Floats