A Point of Difference

(The only problem with living in gorgeous natural surrounds is that when it comes time for the trees to get a trim it is a VERY NOISY sleep defying procedure...between the horsepower revolutions of the electric chainsaw to the *whoosh!* as the thundering vibrations of large branches fall and hit the ground...)

I recently came across a character so refreshing I felt genuinely compelled and drawn for no other reason than uniqueness and a MUCH NEEDED 'breath of fresh air'...a point of difference amongst the stock standard majority culture of this isolated backwater.

Recently I felt so frustrated in this country with its trademark chauvinistic treatment of women to its low standards, anti intellectualism and bordering racist treatment of ethnic minorities...I remember learning about our country being a "melting pot" in primary school... rather than a melting pot it is increasingly pockets of different ethnicities all co-existing side by side and failing to have any flow of discourse between neighbours...breeding resentment especially if that culture wants to practise and preserve its indigenous traditions. I think the problem needs to be approached with a healthy balance...that all ethnic groups should have the freedom to practise their culture such as religious festivals and whatnot that doesn't violate the laws of that country however they should still care to make an effort with the mother tongue and integrate with the rest of the residents of their host country...

So as I've exited a globally flavoured educated intellectual context I have more than noticed the external population here have a really strong reaction to me- they either like or dislike me immensely...I have the ability to polarise populations! LOL Basically I think it stands as this...anybody who appreciates uniqueness and individualism will side with me but those who feel threatened by anything that is not status quo and need a generic robot standard will find me very challenging because I refuse to conform. Perhaps why I well deserve the "anti-conformist" and "rebel" label my folks pinned on me at a young age...

When I was younger perhaps it was more a case of "rebel without a cause" but as I grow older and feel incredibly oppressed by the dominant dissonant culture I feel a need to assert my right to be different and resentment towards people wanting to push me into boxes just so they feel more comfortable about themselves! And more than ever I feel a need to preserve my standards...and that the way forward is to push boundaries and always aim towards higher things. Not to stay complacent and degenerate...So there's definitely a clash of values happening here...

I guess when one's character defies all common and expected norms and sits at the far end of the bell curve and is not mute...yeah that invites a lot of arrows fired your way. I guess insecurity is a normal part of biological evolution...and a healthy characteristic of self preservation and survival instinct...so at the end of the day ALIENS, UNITE! lol well either that or leave like everybody I actually like seems to...

Foreign and Interstate Imports...

Sometimes I feel like this is what I have to do for any decent people or good company in my city...geez it is not something that has long term sustainable ease, viability and feasibility.

Boy the culture and people in this city is taxing and draining. It's like unless you can be fake worldly bimboey glamorous dishonest flakey and shallow you aren't going to get on with 95% of the locals in the young generation anyway...

How can one city be so different from another just 1000km apart I wonder? I'm talking Melbourne, Melbourne is definitely more for me...sigh, this is becoming an age old problem for me...

INTERNATIONALS.....Arghhhhhh!!!! :-D

THANK. YOU. GOD!!!!

May you and I all never forget that God is faithful and answers prayers :) ^^ ^^ ^^!!

So anyway I was *so so excited* I finally cracked through my monoculture no culture brains void bang head on brick wall issue here....

I seriously had had it up to HERE(motions 50cm above head) with the uncultured yob factor and Tall Poppy Sooks I get subjected to here...not to mention all the vacant stares...seriously, okay for sure it's elitist and Aussies have major overaffliction of Tall Poppy Syndrome and thus related oversensitivity but SERIOUSLY, sometimes it IS just about being able to converse with people at the SAME LEVEL of your understanding on various things...I don't know why such offense and discrimination is directed at cultured intellectuals in this country I mean I wouldn't have a clue what you were talking about if you talk engines and tools yet I don't get a CHIP ON MY SHOULDER because of admitting I'm ignorant about cars!

So yes Thank God for the Multi-cultured seemingly less neanderthal Internationals :)

I reflected on the whole debacle of how I CLASH so much with the majority of native locals left in this country these last few years since 90% of my friends went overseas...the solution I found had a lot to do with teeing up with a really really old friend of mine who went to the same infants, primary, highschool AND uni I did...all in all we received a pretty high and advanced standard of education as can best be expected in Sydney....she too has found herself less than ecstatic with the Aussies and in love with the foreigners!! Like just about all my friends...

And I realised it goes like THIS....once you get out of fairly academic environments you get presented with the REAL state of Australia...and that is one where there is a very very low level of education among its residents....by this stage many of the highly educated typically go overseas since their qualifications give them access to more promising encouraging environments. I guess it's also cos our population is not that big either and not to mention higher education is a bit costly :P so relative we have quite a small population of very educated people, maybe throw in we are marooned on a desolate island far removed from the rest of the world...and it is so easy to shelter in a kangaroo microcosm where that much sun fries the brains and that much water clogs the ears that people aren't that broadly informed either...

And that is why as highly educated intelligent minority ethnicity FEMALES we are subjected to a huuuuge amount of disfavour and discrimination by the dominant majority in this country...I guess being a male minded non submissive slightly feminist INTJ doesn't help either ;) lol the more minority you are I think the more of a rude shock it is for the average person to encounter ...like something they have never encountered...and they don't quite know how to handle you but lament you are weird and abnormal because you are such a rare and special minority...hehe...if people thought I was weird here I wonder how HO gets away with it??LOL Simple. SHE is in America the Land of the Free! lol and anYthinG really does go there!!!

But seriously...in the last few years as the success of the asians particularly the Mainland Chinese has really made a huge presence known in this city I have really felt a level of racism and jealousy never experienced before growing up just because of what I look like on the outside! Which in turn has naturally made me start to feel resentment toward the other side...I know it happens all over the world but for the first 20 years or so of my life it was seriously a non issue, which is how I would have liked it to stay!

Wow code cracked, I'm glad...it's been such a mystery my inner psychologist has pondered so much about why I clashed so much with locals especially Aussie men of my vintage and younger my whole life...

It IS a cultural issue. Anyway once you work out what it is that is irking then you can just avoid it as much as possible...yay! ...Happy days! :)

Sydney: Making peace with "The Big Smoke"

Okay so you've all heard how I detest cities in general particularly the one I'm most familiar with...

But I have to say I'm starting to make peace with it...it's all about perspective...seen 4 really good friends the past fortnight and so the city has become synonymus with lazing at the beach, catching up with good friends and STUFFING FACE with much better food than can be seen the in my not so bumpkin but still bumpkin town ^^. Ouch my belly seriously hurts from STREEETCH...lemme see...did a big organic beef burger and fries, a double gelato, an apple, a grass jelly premium pearl milk tea with taro pearls and plenty of water.

Enjoyed no cost beauty therapy...experiments with exfoliation of "chicken skin" with sand and surf with my b'day twin since we both suffer the problem. It was funny perving on all the beautiful (and not so beautiful bods on the beach-actually more this) LOL, it's okay to be completely open and honest admitting to shallowness and superficiality when you're amongst old good friends that are your serious doppelgangers...it's pretty funny actually cos we agree about everything...it's like all the fun and convenience of a real twin without having someone to cramp your space or steal your look! LOL

Happy Days...now I just need to wait for the next season of foreign visitations!

Sydney Fringe: HIGHLY recommended!!!

Hey, I just wanted to do a bit of a plug in the lead up to the Fringe...just cos I was so, so impressed (and HEY I am a very VERY hard person to impress!)

I was in Adelaide at "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" during the Fringe Fest earlier this year (by accident) and I splurged on heaps of tickets for the short time I was there cramming so much in that I was totally laid up after, sick from all the cigarette smoke in air, lack of sleep and late nights!

ANYWAY while there I saw one of the best live performances EVER...maybe I'm biased cos I'm a huge fan of Frida Kahlo and I guess you appreciate it more when you've spent a fair few hours studying FK but Las Dos Fridas by Meiwah Williams is AWESOME...if you are having trouble choosing what to see, I HIGHLY recommend that you check this out...I doubt you'll be disappointed...it is rare to see a one person show with SO. MUCH. DAMN. TALENT!!! lol I have to admit when I saw this performance I was like geez...why can't IIII be super good at SOMETHING when some people are super good at soooo many things! LOL p.s the musical score deserves a big thumbs up too!

Anyway it was really that good & from a local as well! And I think I've been to quite a few of these kinds of things in my time...not to mention have good taste ;) So yeah...Go see it!!!

ZHEN WANTS A FARMER?!

lol apparently this is a TV show my friends would tune into. That not being encouragement enough, lucky for me and the TV companies I have so few friends still left in this country :p that it doesn't warrant decent ratings. If I was extroverted and liked attention and didn't care for privacy I probably would go on though...how else do wannabe cowgirl farmgirl city slickers meet all those cool people that FARM and live on FARMS?? :P

I'm just curious though...cos they say your friends and family know you best...and HO this primarily is directed at you...if you were to choose me a farmer which one would you pick?!

I'm still trying to acquire an appropriate countrygirl hat btw ;) - tis proving very hard to obtain now that I am not in rural farm country...hopefully I get it by the time my farmer friend comes to town! I think it will be pretty funny walking through the city with a bonafide farmer and wearing cowboy hats...and didn't I say I hate attention? lol....actually, there is a big difference between blatant subversion and pure attention-seeking. Obviously I love Sydney city and it's Sydney-esque inhabitants too much... :-p

Overheard: Sydney...from a Brit's Perspective

JJ this post is dedicated to you-how timely, on your birthday!!!...lol so smooth...yikes, people might start suspecting me of being a Sagittarian, lol...

So, I was sitting on the bus tonight...when this COMPLETELY drunkard man plops himself next to me almost rolling over- has absolutely no sense of polite own bubble space, turns on this annoying noisy little radio which you're not sure if holding to his ear he is talking to it or listening to it, goes and harrasses old people on a nearby seat, starts ranting something about the war and Germans, stinks of something like red wine and drinks something out of a stained takeaway coffee cup which judging by the heavy reek was probably red wine.

So anyway an amused Brit sitting on an adjacent seat to me is chatting to his friend (back home) on his mobile phone...I overheard him saying something along the lines of:

"So you know Sydney is so famous for all its beaches and all that...well you know what else there are SHATLOADS OF TWATHEADS as well! "(He said something like that...not sure if I caught the expressions right, if they are the expressions I'm very amused :)...the gist I got if I were to translate it into Australian...that Sydney also has shitloads of serious loonies and wacked out people all over the place."

Anyway he was listening to the drunkard and laughing and I was listening to him and laughing while trying to avoid the drunkard sitting on me and falling all over me. If I was in a less tolerant mood and had a big old handbag I would have just wacked the drunkard over the head, (or was at least tempted in my imagination...)

Anyway I am sooooo tired....totally socially drained and exhausted and need bed desperately so will leave this very clumsy inarticulate post here...I just thought it was funny.

Saturday Nights Out Are Creepy.

Last few days I've felt sick and incredibly tired. At 7pm I felt it was bedtime but it was 2 more hours I would have to wait to forcibly drag myself out to attend G(my last friend left in this city's) big 30th!

So anyway. Rip off taxi drivers, way too many dodgy, skanky cig smoking people on the street and male harrassment aside I was in a jazz club. Which was all fine and dandy until...the singer opened her mouth....the audio visual that immediately came to mind was: Cat being mauled in a washing machine. Ouch! Totally harsh and ungracious spectator I know. Sorry. Just, where music is concerned I have high standards and I was expecting something more at the level of angelic voice a la Katie Noonan...but no such luck. And not only that, despite the instrumental band being good, the group felt the need to play adulterated pop jazz crap and that is when I really let out a couple of sighs and wanted to bury my face in my hands...Why is it so rare to find REALLY GOOD jazz in this city...I guess I'll have to sate my expectations in Prague, Warsaw or Manhattan...

Texted my music INTJ mate my state of woe to which he wisely replied that I'd learnt my lesson and I should stick to my INTJ instincts next time...eg stay at home on a Saturday night! LOL

Yup, I'd much rather spend my Saturday nights IN cuddled up on the couch with a good DVD or book and some hot chocolate. Okay, or even studying in this instance :P

Ironically though as soon as I left that little box of too many random people who I immediately just categorised (by virtue of being in this city) as daggy, pretentious tryhards or sleazes looking for a hookup, and was out in the fresh air walking next to some marvellous old fig? trees under the open sky, I felt a whole lot better....and THAT my friends was the most enjoyable part of my Saturday night!

LOL, some people were just BORN to be Party Poopers. G is lucky I left early ;)

To be fair I am just in such an anti-this city sick of this country mode right now-it's not SUCH a hole here- my mind is just far far away all over the globe anywhere but here! And the reality is getting closer, if I want...the opportunity is tangibly there for me to defect...I just need to work out where!

What did I say...

LOl this article just confirms exactly what I have been spouting all along!

p.s got preoccupied with wacky dreams and old souls...will catch up with email soon!

My Scandalous Unit...again.

If you've followed me through my various blogs over the past few years- I think that means you M- you might remember that I published a very hysterical excerpt from a strata report about the problems with the tenants in my unit...

I just received this year's minutes from the AGM....again...my unit gets a special mention...for it's unruly inhabitants...

I so had no idea as the agent had "conveniently" left me uninformed about the whole situation...bless the attentive secretary- these are her notes:

"In November 2007 a young couple became tenants of Unit X. They were soon joined by various others who came and went. In February 2008 the young woman moved out. Soon drunken visitors rang the doorbells both by day and night, sounded car horns repeatedly in the early hours, shouted and tried to climb into Unit X's windows using the garbage bins to stand on. Beer bottles were left on the doorstep and in the junk-mail bin near the letterboxes. When one man tried to climb into the adjoining unit's bedroom window, the tenant called the police. I also went to the Police Station and made a report. After repeated calls to the agent for unit X, it was agreed not to extend the tenant's lease. On 20 May the unit was vacated. Damage to the front step of the unit had to be repaired and the intercom which had been ripped out of the wall had to be replaced."

Holy sheesh-what hoon heads!!!

Things that make me sad: Monoculturalism

I grew up in Sydney at a wonderful school with great exposure to a diverse mix of cultures - there was nothing but integration, inclusion and acceptance there...well maybe we were also too young and innocent to have much prejudice.

I feel sad that these days I rarely witness this same beautiful vibe.

In my new class this year, a distinct line down the middle separates the people with black hair with the people with any other coloured hair. When I first came to this new class, I had issues...I had NO IDEA which side of the line to sit on! By all superficial aspects, I knew which side of the line I belonged on but I didn't have a whole lot in common with that side of the line. But then again neither did I have too much in common with the other side of the line...after all I'm a Third Culture Kid ;) I was BORN to be a fencesitter...so I went for the middle :)

Anyhow, I was organising dinner with some asian friends and looking forward to eating something a bit different...african, spanish I suggested...I was not happy when I got an email back from a very good friend (who was actually born here so by some logic should be less Asian than me!) saying she REFUSED to eat either cuisine(has she even tried it?)...I also felt shocked when another 2 asian friends told me they had never tried Spanish food in their life!!!!!!! It was at this point I felt some serious frustration with how narrow minded and monocultured many people can be...

I don't think there is any way in hell I will EVER understand Monoculturalism...to me there's no attraction- it's just absolutely hands down BORING AS HELL...a primitive attitude that belongs in the past and definitely has no place in this jetplane, internet connected GLOBAL society...

I think I'm going to have to practise some "narrow-minded Exclusivism" of my own from now on... if you wanna be part of MY Clique you can't be an Uncultured Monocultured unprepared to venture outside your own doorstep for even one night! Grrr.

THERE...how's that for Dis-crim-in-ation?! LOL, that's probably my first attempt at un-inclusivism - I think I'll get better with practice though haha.

Honestly, I've not really noticed any discrimination until the last year or so...surprisingly, it's taken being back in this huge "melting pot" to actually notice it...(and it's right up there on the most disgusts me list along with smokers)...although we are such a richly diverse city I can't believe how much each clique still sticks to themselves so there are just separate pockets of cultures co-existing on the same turf with little interaction with each other. Maybe that is normal? What are your experiences with multiculturalism where you are?!

addendum: 21-11-08 interesting topical piece

I can't wait to get out of this damn city.

Screw that, I'm not going to waste my money keeping a city pad in this city after all. I want to move FAR FAR AWAY- and if I feel the need for city conveniences I'll fly for a weekend or something and I'll rotate between cities cos frankly if there weren't friends and family here I'd rather spend weekends in any OTHER city- airfares are so affordable these days anyhow...

So I set out of the house thinking..."wow now I'm not burdened by studies I feel so calm, content, happy, comfortable, peaceful"...

It didn't last long.

It first started with being shoved and barged past with no apologies or excuse mes in one serious caterpillar inching crowd(I should have known better to avoid the festival crowds but hey this is my local area!)

It then followed with escaping the crowd by ducking into a shop and lining up to get a sandwich. The bad vibes dude behind me was so impatient and kept inching uncomfortably close so I could feel his angry breath on my neck so I moved to the side a little - the f*kng a-hole(F.A) took that as a sign to move ahead of me and take my rightful place in the queue. Before it even entered my mind that these days you can't even be assertive because you're likely to get bashed up or stabbed these days when trying to seek just conditions, then the woman behind the F.A decided it was Her right to shove ahead as well. UNBELIEVABLE. I know for a fact this does not happen in more civilised locations...people actually ask if you are in the queue if they're going to do that.

So no doubt when I was carrying bags and bags of groceries which I had put down to unlock the common door and I stepped aside to let a neighbour through first but he held the door for me...I was honestly shocked and let out a really shocked "Ohhhh, thanks!"

The immediate city environment in Sydney is an ugly place because of the inconsiderate people in it...once you've lived out of the city and realised how much nicer places where actual Nice and more civilised beings exist...you can never see the city in the same light again let alone find it easy/enjoyable to live here especially with such daily occurrences....and also, your standards and expectations of yourself and the rest of humankind have transformed to exist on a higher plane.

Cheers to Diversity: The World Is My Oyster :-)!

THANK GOD FOR THE INTERNET!

Because I don't do long haul flights, I think I'd go insane without all the international friends and penpals it's enabled me to make :-D

Today was a...different...day. Not quite pleasant but not wholely unpleasant either.

It started with the usual-cramming- freaking hell-who the hell has to do exams on Saturdays?!
Me Obviously. When I say my career choice wholely consumes my life at the present moment I'm so not exaggerating- I have lost entire weekends to seminars let alone all semblance of a normal twenty something life!

So anyway after that debacle(I think I did okay despite everything) I crashed out for a bit and then hauled ass to an old friend's farewell drinks...yup, everybody disappears on me...I've learnt to stop caring though ;)

In any case, for this happy home hermit getting out was...intriguing. Cos basically it doubled up as a 10 year high school reunion -and it was pretty bizarre. Basically I felt like I must have grown up in some hick country town cos pretty well these people had the same predictable linear lives with the same limited social circle from school and were all at the same stage-in the same careers following uni, engaged or married to either the same boy from school or else all incestuously interlinked to each other cos of the very limited social circle.

I came out thinking to myself "MAN. You've come a looooong way Baby!" And despite all the adventure, bumps and bruises was grateful for my breadth of life experience. I felt SO OLD. These chicks from school in many ways still struck me as teenybopsters and some even still dressed the part...

I have to say this city especially its nightlife is so vacuous, tacky and devoid of class...people dress so tacky and the chicks are totally overlathered in makeup. And the music in these joints is absolutely terrible. And so many smoke(cos they have nothing better to do) and speak in grunts. Uncouth. Uncultured.

Again, I am so grateful for my interaction with the broader world community...

Adventures in the city

So. I spent the entire weekend sitting on my ass in a seminar...but it was surprisingly enjoyable...and my brain juices were all stimulated and flowing and excited...inspired... so that's what I call a GOOD TIME! LOL does that make me a "N-yerd"?! (You so gotta see American Splendour if you wanna know the origin of that expression!)

Anyhow after being on my ass enclosed all day I decided to take a long protracted wander exploration in the search of some fish and chips...weird sudden craving cos really I don't really eat fish- I think I went close to 20 years completely fish free before I started it again (in the interests of good health of course!) It all started with a trip to the fish market when I was 3 or 4 - I saw all the glass eyed fish and asked my Pa if they were sleeping? When I found they weren't I felt very empathic with them and went on a fish boycott.

It continued when I saw some cutesy Japanese cartoon pencil case that said "Fish are my friends not my food!" and I stuck to it faithfully before I started getting all into diet therapy...

Asides aside, I ended up walking through a part of the city I'd never walked before and it was nice checking out all the old architecture and imagining picture perfect freeze frames for when I get my DSLR- I just love sandstone and cobblestone alleyways!

I also found myself *daydreaming* about when I can finally leave this city...in total honesty, I find this city very disheartening...on the rare occasions I do get out of my bubble I can't help but notice that there really are so many A-holes around! Several words come to mind when I think of Sydneysiders...Superficial, Shallow, Selfish, Pretentious! oh and increasingly...really quite materialistic!

Being back in Sydney these past few months is the sole reason I attribute to my gradually diminishing faith in people and also the reason why I've stopped making any effort to even vaguely meld and I've also stopped bothering being overtly nice, considerate or decent...it's also the reason why I love the *nice* haven of the blogging world and also physically escape every small opportunity I get with the past winter break and this summer break no exception...I escape this city purely so I can face it again with a renewed faith in people(!)

So anyhow my daydreams are not only filled with short breaks out of this city, they've actually evolved into detailed and practical plans for how to permanently leave and resettle in some other part of this awesome country! I have a fair few ideas about where but Western Australia is the final unchartered frontier I need to check out before I can firm up deciding on my final destination...

I'm feeling good as my dreams become concrete and practical plans and as the time ticks on I just get closer and closer to my dreams coming to fruition which once seemed so far away and intangible!

In this sense, it was a really satisfying day :)

Weighing into the Great Cities of The World Debate...

Like I said. (article: "Sydney suffers and the winner is....Melbourne!")

Am I aiming to be contentious and provocative in writing this post?

No. Rather, this is just an expression of my honest opinion.

I've only ever been out of Sydney 1 year of my life and that was all that was needed to convince me Sydney no longer deserves such high ranking in the most liveable cities in the world as it always used to: that's a totally bygone era.

Sure, Sydney was a great place growing up 20 years back but now on my return although it makes for a great tourist visit city (great beaches, good food, iconic landmarks etc) it's not particularly liveable- most notably,
Crime, traffic, high housing, petrol and rental costs, really bad public transport...even food costs which used to be relatively cheap, the rapid inflation on that I've witnessed in the past year alone has been incredible!

People are also not as friendly as they used to be(ok, bar rare and random exceptions)- everybody is very much caught up in the rat race as people work ridiculous hours comparable to any other major city, just to survive.

The irony is that most Sydneysiders still retain that "superiority complex" that they're better than any other inhabitants of Oz! Basically while Sydney has been sitting back resting on its laurels, other cities have actually made effort and bypassed it!

Before Global Warming became so apparent these last 5 years or so, yes we had awesome weather as a major liveable city drawcard but now...there are no longer 4 distinct seasons- so we have become just like Melbourne where you famously get '4 seasons in one day'!

Unlike most globe trotting Sydneysiders who have not set foot in their own backyard, I've actually travelled most of this big brown land and I'd have to say there are still plenty of really nice places in this country to live, just Sydney is not one of them!

If you have an opinion on this, feel free to weigh in on the debate ;)

3:30am Hungry-Itis

So I was dead tired- went to bed at 9pm and hence probably why I have the munchies now so am cooking myself a nice bowl of congee which should be done by breakfast...

Yesterday was nice- spent a rare day with the jetsetter sis :)

Had a much needed bit of culture and refinement which was nice for a change. Had brunch at a place that is pretty 'en vogue' at the moment -big sister's treat^^-spanish baked eggs with chorizo and a berry frappe- was o.k but for the price, the wait time for such simple food and the fact there were egg shells in it wasn't very impressive...the chorizo was blah. In any case haven't been to that part of Sydney for a bit- I forgot how pretentious (in general) Sydneysiders are...

Now my sis has become a 'burbs' chick since getting married I also showed her a couple of the artsy design shops and we checked a couple of galleries which weren't having anything great on but she was glad for cos apparently she's totally dagged out in the burbs LOL- then I also showed her a really nice French Patisserie :) For a bit she struck me as a tourist...I guess when one works so hard and is such a jetsetting career professional they kind of never have time to discover all the hidden treasures of their own city...

I'm so over this city though- I can't wait to move to regional pastures...by the ocean :)

So anyway we then made our way to the last final of the International Piano Competition...I think the majority of the crowd there was about 80- it's a shame how appreciation for classical music is so dying...

The competitors: there was a Russian, a Japanese and an American playing Prokofiev, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky respectively using a Steinway, Kawai and Steinway respectively.

Growing up with a European piano I definitely preferred the less bright sound of the Steinways but the Japanese guy was such a cutie- he was like Winnie the Pooh with glasses :) and his performance was...pleasant, whimsical even.

The Russian came across as very austere...he played a very unusual piece- from a layperson listener's view it was hard to engage with the Prokofiev- it was very temperamental, moody and changeable- it was like Bipolar...as music!

The American rounded the competition out with Tchaikovsky- his performance was a real crowd pleaser- I'll admit he was my favourite but what do I know? In the end the Russian won, the Japanese came 4th and the American rounded out the competition...

Final thought seeing it's the first time I've been to a piano competition...these piano geniuses really ought to get out in the sun more- they all look so sickly from being closed up all day!!!

Welcome, Pilgrims! =)

PILGRIM...what an archaic word(!) I don't think that word has been a conscious part of my vocabulary since high school days of Latin translations!

Today I met up with my super motivated already a physiotherapist but becoming a doctor friend for lunch and managed to witness the city abuzz with pilgrims. It was pretty cool- I haven't felt such an electric "the world has gathered" atmosphere since the Olympics! And haha since collecting flags has been on the brain lately, I really loved the pilgrims who were wrapped in their country flags- if I had more time to kill I would probably go out just for the fun of flag spotting! Today I consciously noticed Mexico, Canada and Germany flags but I'm sure there were many, many more.

Since his Holiness arrived the weather has suddenly turned balmy so it's been a great change and I even managed to take advantage of this by sneaking in a quick beach visit- I enjoyed observing the pilgrims admiring our golden sands and big turquoise waves...including nuns and priests swathed in full robes with rosary beads etc...

I hate crowds, but I love having so many people from all over the world around, so this is one exception when I like crowds and I like the city - surprisingly we're handling it far better than I expected in terms of traffic, crowds and transport.

It's such a shame you're not here M, I think for Catholics, it's an amazing experience to be part of! I'm still deliberating on whether I should bother trying to sneak a peep of the Pope Mobile!