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2007.09.27

[192] Degraves Street

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I've already written a few times about how Melbournians love cafes. Well, these days Degraves Street (pictured above) is one of the most popular places in Melbourne to find a nice cafe to relax in.

It's located in the middle of the city, and it's a skinny laneway with lots of cafes and bars. A lot of the cafes open right onto the street, so that the customers are sitting on tables and chairs in the laneway. At night the street is lit by cool-looking cast-iron lights.

The street has a very European feel to it, and it's a great place to hang out with friends. Unfortunately it can get a bit crowded, since it's so popular.

日本語訳はこちら
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100057181141

2007.09.27 11:52:27

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2007.09.24

[190] Melbourne Versus Sydney

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Going to Sydney last week made me think about the old rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney. For over a hundred years, the two biggest Australian cities have competed with each other.

At the start of the last century, the two cities competed over which one should be Australia's capital. In the end, they built a new city to be the capital, half-way between Melbourne and Sydney.

There are even stereotypes about how Melbourne and Sydney people are different. The stereotype of Sydney people is that they are superficial and uncultured, and lack style. The stereotype of Melbourne people is that they are pretentious, and tend to look down on other people.

Of course, these stereotypes aren't necessarily very accurate, but they do show the slightly competitive attitude between the cities. In the end, this competative attitude is not really serious, it's just about Melbournians and Sydney-siders being proud of their cities.

I'm curious, does this kind of competition happen in Japan between different cities? Write to me and let know!

日本語訳はコチラ http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100057032961

2007.09.24 17:37:22

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2007.09.20

[188] Another Visit to Sydney

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I spent the last couple of days in Sydney for business. I was attending the launch party of an online game that I worked on earlier this year - it was great to see it finally finished!

I visited my friend who lives in Sydney, and he took me on a little tour. I visited here before, but always very briefly... this was the first time I really got to see much of the city and the habour. Now I understand why people rave about how beautiful the Sydney Harbour is!

I visited my friend's house, which is on the North Shore, across the bay from the city centre. (The photo above was taken from near his house.) Apparently there are lots of Japanese people living in that area. There were plenty of Japanese restaurants there, and even a Japanese video rental store.

I really enjoyed taking a break in Syndey. I hope I get to go back there soon!

日本語訳はコチラ http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100056821408

2007.09.20 14:35:23

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2007.09.18

[186] Birthday Party

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It was my friend's girlfriend's birthday on the weekend, and I went along to her birthday party. It was a casual house party - there wasn't a dinner or anything like that, we just mingled and chatted.

It was a supposed to be a theme party (meaning that you're supposed to wear a costume that fits a certain theme) but I didn't wear a costume. Normally I would try to get a costume ready, but I just didn't have any good ideas.

Anyway, it was fun, and there was even some dancing. The party wasn't far from my house, so I could just walk home at the end of the night. It was about a 40-minute walk, but it was a good way to sober up before going to bed.

I was wondering: what do you and your friends usually do for birthday parties in Japan? Do people have house parties much? Let me know!

日本語訳はコチラ http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100056682977

2007.09.18 00:12:43

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2007.09.13

[184] Australian Culture: The Larrikin Spirit

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I've talked before about how Australians have a slight dislike of authority.

(You can look at my entries about 'mateship' for some more writing about this:
http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100046147526)

Another interesting part of Australian culture is that Australians like larrikins. A larrikin is a someone who likes to make trouble or mischief. Larrikins also have a disregard for authority and rules, and Australians find this appealing.

A good example of a famous larrikin is the Australian Olympic swimmer, Dawn Fraser. She was constantly breaking rules and being mischievous. During the Tokyo Olympics she was even accused of stealing an Olympic flag from the front of the imperial palace!

She was banned from the Olympics, but many Australians liked her 'larrikan spirit', and she has been given many awards since that time.

2007.09.13 11:59:15

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2007.09.10

[182] Driving Lessons

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If you've been reading this blog since the start of the year, you'll know that one of my new year's resolutions was to learn to drive this year. (You can see my resolutions here: http://www.c-player.com/ac55665/thread/1100041779079)

Well, I've finally started my driving lessons! My friend Ben has been giving me a driving lesson once a week. I've been driving around in quiet streets, slowly getting used to changing gears, indicating and turning.

I'm 32 years old, and it's pretty unusual in Melbourne for someone my age to not have their driver's license. I guess most people in Melbourne tend to drive to places, because our transport system isn't as fast and reliable as the trains in Japan's big cities.

Because I work from home, and live close to the city centre, I don't really need to drive much. But I still think it will be useful to have my license.

2007.09.10 13:20:07

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2007.09.06

[179] Malmsbury Bakery

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Earlier this week I went to some towns outside Melbourne as part of my work. My business partner and I drove to Bendigo, a big country town, to attend a meeting.

It's quite a long drive (it takes a couple of hours to get there) so we stopped for lunch at a famous bakery in a small town called Malmsbury. There are less than 500 people living in the area, so it's a very small town, but it's position on the highway has made it a popular spot to stop for lunch. And the Malmsbury bakery is very popular place to eat at.

It's famous for its delicious pies, cakes and bread. There's also a beautiful courtyard that you can sit in when the weather is sunny.

Whenever I travel out to the west of Melbourne, I always look forward to stopping in Malmsbury. If you ever travel in the countryside around Melbourne, you should check it out!

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2007.09.06 12:08:33

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[178] Malmsbury Bakery Courtyard

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The courtyard outside the Malmsbury Bakery.

2007.09.06 12:06:44

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2007.09.03

[176] Australian Culture - Cultural Cringe

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I'm going to talk a little bit more about Australian culture. This time I'm going to talk about the idea of cultural cringe.

People sometimes say that Australians suffer from cultural cringe, which means that Australians often feel Australia can't compete with Europe or America when it comes to creating art (such as movies, music, plays, or books), making scientific discoveries, or hosting world events. People often feel like things that we make or do here just won't be as good as things from overseas.

For example, when Australia hosted the Olympic Games in 2000, many people here felt that it was going to be a failure. The feeling was: how can we compete with America, Europe, or Asia? Of course, the Sydney Olympics were a great success. Australians were very worried about embarrassing themselves in front of the world, so they worked extra hard to make it a success.

In the last decade I think cultural cringe in Australia has decreased, but it's definitely still around.

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2007.09.03 13:03:30

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