Happy Winter.
Left Perth. Feeling rather down today. Not too tired, a bit out of sorts. Feeling wrong or off, and there's no evident reason. Maybe it's the transition. Although I'm also feeling ready to come home. This is after a brief surge of temptation to extend my journey, cancel my stay in Adelaide, and instead opt for a week in Western Australia(where I wanted most to go and never went) and rejoin Wanju Broodjah group next week for a Field Trip down the southwest coast, to orginal tribal land of the Nyungar.
Eminem's "Stan" is playing in the background, and I'm thinking of Sammy. He introduced me to this song, with its haunting melodic beat and cryptic message of fan ideology and suicide. I miss my family.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awKoTDIdKrg
So, it's off to Adelaide. Home of churches, wine & murders. What's that? Adelaide is known as the "City of Churches," but recently has gained notoriety as being the city with more murders than any other in Australia. Now it's called the "City of Murderers."
Churches, Wine, Murderers. Oh, and Germans. Connections? Correlations? You decide.
Supposedly they have a 5-star YHA-- best of the best-- in Adelaide. Will find out soon enough. There is plenty to do and explore in the area, but I'm feeling low on funds and motivation. I think I'm just getting done.
The journey seems to be a metaphor for life. Let's say 100 years are condensed into 6 weeks. I guess by the last week there is a stronger pull to be done than to continue. Death seems to be about the call to cease kicking and stratching and clawing away from it. But, what the hell do I know, at 45.
If 6 weeks is life, then 45 would have put me at Uluru-- and that seems about right. I felt very "me" then, including the rhythm and time into the trip. In Perth, I'd been a bit panicked about the Last Hurrahs-- Western Australia, the Nullarbor Plain (another place I wanted to visit)-- the sweet nothingness of Australia that I haven't seen enough of.
It's a bit hard if you don't drive. And, I don't. You rely on buses, trains, and tours. You're looking at 100.00 a day just to travel somewhere "remote" and sometimes that's one way. So I've balked at the opportunity to jump on a bus and just go somewhere bush. Tours cost about 150.00, but you're so rushed, you don't have the luxury to put in a good hike and look around.
So... next time (next life?) I will plan fewer locations, explore more fully, and bring someone along who will brave driving on the wrong side of the road. People say, "Aawh, just hire a car!" But I still struggle with walking on the wrong side of the street. To put my fellow drivers at risk with me behind the wheel? Ich don't think so.
Speaking of "Ich" I hear Bruno is quite a funny flick. I'll plan to see a few movies in Adelaide. If Samson and Delilah comes to the states or Netflix, watch it. Just watch it. Truly depressing and leaves a horrible stain on your psyche. Nothing but stark reality pertaining to Aboriginal life.
Delilah lives with her grandmother on a reservation (community camp). She takes care of her, gives her medicine, etc. One day grandmother dies and Delilah goes off with Samson. Samson is a young man addicted to huffing-- sniffing gasoline constantly.
What a depressing horrible movie. The scene where Delilah tries to sell her grandmother's paintings in town-- well, just see it.
Later on (now in Adelaide).
I like Adelaide. Small city, about 1 million. Wide streets, plenty of elbow room. It's like someone scanned the entire city into a computer and then zoomed it to 139% and put it back. I've never seen streets so wide in a city-- there are three lanes per street way. Buildings are wider, not taller. It's so expansive.
I imagine Asians from cities might find it odd and disorienting. Even for me-- a country gal-- it has a non-city kind of feel. You might compare it to Brooklyn?
Adelaide is of German orgin, I believe. There are many German settlers and towns with Germanic influence. Some of the first vineyards were German, as well. Perhaps that influences the city planning. What it lacks in campy charm it makes up for in efficiency.
Man, those streets really are wide. Unnerving. Like an optical illusion. Like a city of Houston Streets (in NYC).
Okay, we all get it. They're wide. I'll let it go.
I haven't written about Perth at all, and I just spend a week there. I was back-logged with blogs. The experiences were surpassing the documentation; this is a good problem.
My time in Perth focused on the site visit with a second Study Abroad program-- Wanju Broodjah-- "Welcome Country." This will be a separate blog.
I'm feeling pretty dull and uninspired to write. There are days when I have no enthusiasm to write this blog, whatsoever. Then someone will bump into me or spill some coffee, and I'll scream out ten pages.
I'm feeling tapped, running out of steam. Maybe it's the end of the trip.
Ich bin out of here. Love you.
susie
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