Almost done!

I’m 15 hours away from turning in my final essay for the semester, a sociological biography. Only about 2 weeks left in Perth. Scary stuff.

Anyways, I haven’t been working too hard on this assignment b/c I don’t feel personally invested in the class like I’ve had with biological oceanography and field techniques. That’s not the most legit line of thinking, but ah well. Also, this class is p/np. Unfortunately, I’ve made myself personally responsible for accurately reflecting on this person’s life. This is what I think I will be talking about: (1) something about Australia and immigration, maybe structural inequalities and (2) something about ethnic identity.

I’ve realized that having immigrant parents plays an unexpectedly large role in my identity. Like…my work ethic. You realize that your parents have sacrificed and stepped way out of their comfort zone so that you and your siblings could have a better life. At home (= California) that attitude seemed to be a given among most of the people I had hung out with because, well, almost everybody’s parents were first-generation immigrants (plus the whole filial piety thing). And, well, one of the reasons why you work so hard in school is so that you can honor their effort and sacrifice. I’m sure there are plenty of more nuanced ways I can go about thinking about it. I watched Mao’s Last Dancer with some of my friends, and in the scene where Li Cunxin arrives in Texas (the protagonists arrives in America on a “cultural exchange,” the first person from China every to do so), he’s overwhelmed by people friendliness and their gifts, shaking his hand and telling him, “Welcome to Houston! Welcome to America!” One of my friends giggled and asked me, “Is that what your parents felt like, Daphne? ‘Welcome to America!’” I was surprised at this question because it was the opposite situation I had imagined in my head: my parents arriving, lonely, in the middle of the Buffalo winter, not knowing anybody in the country, not knowing any English, somehow having to accept that they have left their families in Taipei and have moved to America, hoping their move will facilitate the moving to America of the rest of their family. So you know, they can all have this better life thing America has promised. Pretty proud of them, my parents.

Seriously, I’m too scared to study abroad for 5 months in a country that doesn’t speak English (not even a Chinese-speaking country), and my parents had the balls to pick up their whole lives and move to a country without knowing that language fluently. All in the hopes of having the best possible future for their children. I’m pretty sure if they had stayed in Taiwan we would be doing well enough now, but maybe my brother and I wouldn’t have the absolute best possible circumstances to set up our adult lives. So my parents decided to move.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Right-o. I may or may not go back to work on my essay. Toodles.

Cheers for that, mate

An e-mail from my friend (talking about finishing up an assignment):

okay i overestimated my abilities again! i guess i’ll wake sparrow
fart tomoz and finish the bugger off. Goodnight MATE!

This girl is hilarious, and I love her. She is the only girl I know that uses “mate.”  She also saw one of my folders labeled “hella data” and asked me what “hella” meant.

 

In related news, more on Australian (the language):

I’m going to head = I’m going to head off now
Let me know if you run into any dramas = Let me know if you have any problems
See how you go = Give it a go and hopefully it will work out
Are you guys still keen to meet this arvo? = Do you guys still want to meet up this afternoon?
cheers = “thank you,” or “you’re welcome” (confusing, right? I’m sure there are a few other uses floating about)
arvo = afternoon
post = mail
chemist = pharmacy
tute (pron. TOOT) = tutorial = discussion/recitation
programme = program
idea is pronounced “idear”
pattern is pronounced like “patent”
process is pronounced PRO-cess (instead of PRAH-cess)
data is pronounced DAH-ta, with DAH pronounced as in “dapper” (instead of DAY-ta)
“h” is pronounced HEY-che (instead of AY-ch)
“z” is prounced ZED (instead of ZEE)

For better or worse

Things I’ve gotten used to:

Looking left, then right, when crossing the street
Buses that run exactly on schedule
Buses that actually require fare
Buses that I can swipe my smartrider card on and have fare deducted automatically
My own room
Internet with bandwidth limit
24-hour computer labs, all at the swipe of my student card
Staying late at computer labs with mates to finish reports
Going to a university right on the river and getting to see the beautiful river scenery everyday
Dual-flush toilets
Rain that comes in sudden bursts
Cheap produce (especially kiwis and bananas)
Having a full-out rack for drying clothes outside
Free and practically unlimited source of fresh lemons
Living 2 blocks from campus
A library that tells you exactly where the free computers are
Awesome and lovely people in my units
Feeling safe walking by myself late at night
Small doses only of sleep deprivation
Lecturers that are very understanding and laid back and approachable (example below)
Calling professors “lecturers”
Feeling fulfilled in the work I’m doing
Feeling anxious at going home because it will be a change

At 4 AM the day an assignment was due, I e-mailed:

Morning Peter,
Would it be possible to get an extension for the biological oceanography report?

Let me know,
Daphne

A few hours later, he responded,

Hi Daphne,

No problem. Can you get it in by Monday? I know it’s a big report, so it’d be better if you had more time to finish it.

Cheers,

Peter

Granted, Peter is also the coordinator for another class I’m taking, and that second class also had a big report (worth 50% of our mark) due that same day, so he knew I was working on both reports. But still, one of the most encouraging messages I’ve gotten from a professor/lecturer.

Biological Oceanography, visually.

Here are some of the graphs I’m using for my report. There are 13 total pages of graphs.

You know, just in case you’re interested.

Our research questions: Do physical variables (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, nutrients) and biological variables (phytoplankton and zooplankton assemblages) vary with distance from shore and with depth? Are biological variables correlated with the physical variables?

Countour plots used to show the differences in 2-D, created in Matlab (by someone else, not me).

The austral summer

37 C = 98.6 F

Summer here is not to be taken lightly. The sun’s rays are INTENSE. Unexpectedly.

Even though that is exactly what they told us at orientation. The ozone layer has a hole over Australia, etc. etc.

By 10 AM, it was 85 degrees F. 12 PM, 95 degrees F.

We were throwing a surprise birthday celebration for my housemate and one of our friends today, so I had to make a few trips between the supermarket, uni, and a friend’s house. The sun was strong enough that I opted to wear a jacket to cover up against the sun and a baseball cap, no matter that the cap screams “American tourist.” I need to buy summer clothes because I packed mostly winter clothes in my 50 lbs of luggage.

Technically, summer begins in December. It’s still spring now; thankfully more reasonable weather resumes this week.

P.S. I only have 1 more week of classes. 3 reports due on Friday, worth 20%, 30%, and 50% of my grade. Then 1 week of study break. Then 2 weeks of exams. Then I’m free!

Tentative

I’m getting confused, so I’m writing it down:

16 Nov: Parents arrive in Perth
16 Nov to 2 Dec: Travel in WA, fly to Melbourne ($183 on JetStar), take train to Sydney
2 Dec: Sydney to Tazzie? ($130 on JetStar)
7 Dec: meet Ellen and Sam in Cairns (from Tazzie, $275 on Virgin Blue)
11 Dec: Cairns to Gold Coast? ($150 on JetStar)
13 Dec: Gold Coast to Sydney ($107 on Virgin Blue)
14 Dec, 1535 Sydney to SFO

Tentative total for Australian domestic flights: $845

Shit, son.

Here’s what it might look like. Just smooth out all the routes into air routes.

(A)Perth - (B)Melbourne - (G)Sydney - (D)Hobart (Tasmania) - (E)Cairns - (F)Gold Coast (Queensland) - (G)Sydney

Fest recipes: Dou4 hua1, cheesecake jelly squares, double choc chip cookies

What six people made over 11 hours:

1) four pots of dou4 hua1 (豆花, tau huay, soyabeancurd jelly: served warm or cold, a dessert served in East and Southeast Asia)
2) three 9″x13″ pans of peach cheesecake jelly squares (layer of cheesecake + fruit piece + layer of jelly)
3) about 250 double chocolate chip cookies

Cost of ingredients: $135
Revenue: $260

Our ingredients and everyone hard at work.

My camera ran out of batteries as I was taking my first picture AT Spring Fest. So no pictures, but the festival was insannne. It was surprisingly packed. There were more than 50 food stands, selling mostly Asian and S-E Asian food. Instead of pinyin (or even Cantonese pinyin), most of the food was labeled in Hokkien or Indonesian, definitely different than what I’m used to. I spent $35 that night on food for all of us to share, including $9 on cupcakes/muffins.

It was fun selling food we had made ourselves, and the entire event was very ru4 nao4 and exciting. I still don’t have a sufficient English translation for that word; exciting is the best I’ve come up with so far. Selling our food reminded me of selling cookies/cupcakes on Sproul and Girl Scout cookies in front of grocery stores: hawking your wares and trying to engage potential customers in conversations.

Jump for recipes!
A. dou4 hua1 豆花
B. peach jelly cheesecake squares
C. double chocolate chip cookies

Spring Fest.

Tonight is Spring Feast, which everyone pronounces like “Spring Fest.”

Here is 60% of the cookies we baked last night and the ensuing amount of ramen we ate at 11 PM.

After 8 hours of straight baking/cooking. (Disclosure: I was only involved in 3.5 of those hours.)

These cookies are chocolate chip cookies, with blended oats and grated chocolate in the dough. We also made cheesecake jelly hearts and dou4 hua1 (tau huay or tofu pudding). After tonight’s fest I will post more pictures and recipes!

Two arabesques.

Tonight S and I went to a beginning Chinese dance class tonight, $10 for drop in. The teacher is super flexible, but doesn’t explain the moves very much. The class is about 20 people, with 5 young kids, 3 uni students, and the rest mothers. There are all different dance levels. The teacher has more of a “watch my example and follow my moves” type of instruction, rather than deconstructing each move.

We did warm ups, some barre work, kicks and leaps across the floor, a little bit of breathing exercises, and a little bit of eye exercise. We ended with about 20 minutes of Yi choreography. It seems pretty simple because it is repetitive, and the dance is short.

To dance again is excellent. The endorphin rush is unmatched. Working on basics still takes a lot of focus and is very sweat inducing.

Also, we got rides to AND from dance class, which would otherwise be a 40-60 minute commute both ways. Afterward, we taught our two other friends, D and C, some basic moves. You can see one of them knocked out on the couch in the background.

more words.

I call it the "racoon bird."

“give it a go” = have a try
“oh, you’re alright” = what you reply when you accidentally bump into other people and say “sorry”
“I’m not fussed” = I don’t have a preference
the tav = pub on campus
school = secondary school only (not uni)
lecturers = professors
tutors = GSIs/TAs
school leavers = students that have left secondary school (= high school)
toolies = students that have left high school but go back to high school events

Melbourne is pronounced MEL-bin

pub = bar
dodgy = sketchy
queries = questions, as in “if you have any queries, let me know”
queuing = stand in line
enrolment, embelish = enrollment, embellish
jewellery = jewelery
loudhailers = loudspeakers
sunnies = sunglasses
fringe = bangs (hair)

mushies = mushrooms
brekkie = breakfast
wholemeal = whole wheat
biscuits = cookies
chook = chicken