In the heart of it all - full on Oxford living...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Beckham Fever - enlightening
My first professional soccer game - it was at the stadium that was created for the Olympics. Very cool night - went with work... Had some enlightening chats about this Beckham fever:
We know this David Beckham as he is married to one of the Spice girls which I assumed is where the majority of his fame came from. I did not know he was a global star because of his soccer skills. He is the Tiger Woods of soccer and almost Madonna status globally...being in the sport for like 20 years. This lead me to really realize the bubble that is what most Americans live in - I was chatting with another co worker who has been here for 5 years....it is interesting discussing the bubble and the little experiences that you learn along the way. Aside from the semantics and other little things that you learn, it is larger worldly view of life and perceptions.
One way to look at this is through scalability and the size of Australia. It is relatively small so this culture is very homogeneous - they are nationalistic and share similarities....not a lot of diversification with regards to larger fundamentals. When they view American most of which is through politics and some TV...reality TV. It is difficult for Aussies to understand the breadth of the US - the amount of difference between east and west, between city and the country, between the culture subsets, between Spokane and Seattle...they is just such a vast amount of variance. I think it is difficult for such a homogeneous community to be able to conceptualize Americans. They tend to make a lot of generalizations about us - I hear it all the time that they perceive us to be one way based on this or that but they have never met a bad American....that they like the ones they met but have always held a certain opinion....we have horrible PR. Even today this came up, the TV in the office had on MTV's Sweet 16 and the receptionist ask me if all Americans have parties like that and act that way... it was funny to think she would assume this and not just know that is a select number of people that have these kinds of parties...which is just a show created and driven by ratings for a reality show...not that I dont think that is molding kids to desire parties like that but it is not what all Americans act like...
Anyway that is some deeper culture insights into my experience...
Good live music afterwards - pretty tame group but I was ready to join in.... always :)
Video'd some of the game - check out the "hawks nest" - they are doing the Braves Tomahawk chant :)
We know this David Beckham as he is married to one of the Spice girls which I assumed is where the majority of his fame came from. I did not know he was a global star because of his soccer skills. He is the Tiger Woods of soccer and almost Madonna status globally...being in the sport for like 20 years. This lead me to really realize the bubble that is what most Americans live in - I was chatting with another co worker who has been here for 5 years....it is interesting discussing the bubble and the little experiences that you learn along the way. Aside from the semantics and other little things that you learn, it is larger worldly view of life and perceptions.
One way to look at this is through scalability and the size of Australia. It is relatively small so this culture is very homogeneous - they are nationalistic and share similarities....not a lot of diversification with regards to larger fundamentals. When they view American most of which is through politics and some TV...reality TV. It is difficult for Aussies to understand the breadth of the US - the amount of difference between east and west, between city and the country, between the culture subsets, between Spokane and Seattle...they is just such a vast amount of variance. I think it is difficult for such a homogeneous community to be able to conceptualize Americans. They tend to make a lot of generalizations about us - I hear it all the time that they perceive us to be one way based on this or that but they have never met a bad American....that they like the ones they met but have always held a certain opinion....we have horrible PR. Even today this came up, the TV in the office had on MTV's Sweet 16 and the receptionist ask me if all Americans have parties like that and act that way... it was funny to think she would assume this and not just know that is a select number of people that have these kinds of parties...which is just a show created and driven by ratings for a reality show...not that I dont think that is molding kids to desire parties like that but it is not what all Americans act like...
Anyway that is some deeper culture insights into my experience...
Good live music afterwards - pretty tame group but I was ready to join in.... always :)
Video'd some of the game - check out the "hawks nest" - they are doing the Braves Tomahawk chant :)
Fireworks Show from my balcony
Australian Idol final was last week and there was my first big firework show over the opera house. I have seen a few but did not realize those were small. Amazing night with a full moon!
Let the holiday parties begin...
My first lawn bowls experience - I knew I'd love this aussie sport! It is basically shuffle board with weighted ball that you bowl in order to get close to the "jack" or white ball down the lawn. It was a white party, so much fun that everyone gets involved in the themes! Our client Christmas party was a blast, it was great to hang out and chat with the clients in a casual environment. Bec is pretty competitive and had some good bowl tips - I won 2 of the games (my ball was the closest to the Jack) :)
Below is Jen - my new co worker, she stated a week after me, coming over from nineMSN.
Oh and this place had noise restrictions, there are apartments near by which I guess are full of tenants that get there lawn bowls in at noon and in bed at 6pm...we got in shhhhh'ed and these workers were jerks....seriously annoying, but comical as well.
Below is Jen - my new co worker, she stated a week after me, coming over from nineMSN.
Oh and this place had noise restrictions, there are apartments near by which I guess are full of tenants that get there lawn bowls in at noon and in bed at 6pm...we got in shhhhh'ed and these workers were jerks....seriously annoying, but comical as well.
Happy Thanksgiving Down Under
Potluck Thanksgiving at Jodes and Kai's place - with other Americans we could round up plus a few Aussies. It was frustrating trying to get all the ingredients as I had to go to 3 different "grocery" stores, there is no customer service in the stores and lots of people that just stand in the isle and forgot that saying "excuse me" is a universal necessary thing....urgh. I cooked my dads famous baked beans, my spinach dip (piecing together ingredients) and Nannie's Bohemian dumplings... we had a full spread and had a great time. Aussie's have not had pumpkin pie but we had a lot of other good desserts. 
Happy Birthday to Kai!!
Off to another big night out! Road sodas on our adventure to Coogie beach party, ventured into the Hotel Bar and ran into a bunch more weird men....there are some creepy ones but that happens anywhere in the world I guess.
Happy Birthday to Kai!!
Off to another big night out! Road sodas on our adventure to Coogie beach party, ventured into the Hotel Bar and ran into a bunch more weird men....there are some creepy ones but that happens anywhere in the world I guess.
In my experience the Vegas of Australia is Kings Cross - signature Coke Sign below. The party goes all night, there are tons of good dance clubs and crazy people dressed to the nine. We dance for hours to good tunes - finally something other than House/Electronic stuff...
Sunday Beach fun turned senior trip
Aussie lunches typically involve a beer, now Sunday lunches always involve a cold drink...the only problem is not regulating these outings...Kristen wanted white wine, I wanted red so why not get 2 bottles.... these first few month I feel it is ok to just run with these kinds of days. Lets just say a little night time swim and I flashed back to my Mexico Senior Trip :) We are learning fast that curfews and certain standards need to be implemented. Social scene is definitely happening here. Loving it!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Beach Beach and More Beach
The beach will never get old! More pics to come after today :)
Below are pics from Tamarama - went there with Kai last weekend for a swim...well I am not ready for the ocean swim just yet, especially with those waves...but we came across this weird stuff on the beach..and those are Blue Bottle Jelly Fish. There was no sign or anything but the sting is supposedly really bad. There were all over the beach and in the water. Our friend ended up getting stung. Yuck.
Below are pics from Tamarama - went there with Kai last weekend for a swim...well I am not ready for the ocean swim just yet, especially with those waves...but we came across this weird stuff on the beach..and those are Blue Bottle Jelly Fish. There was no sign or anything but the sting is supposedly really bad. There were all over the beach and in the water. Our friend ended up getting stung. Yuck.
Industry Night and Sculpture by the Sea
A friend from Seattle randomly moved out here - Kristen relocated to the Google AU office... only a few weeks after me. It is awesome to have her here! We are going to have lots of fun and do all the tourist stuff together.
Friday night we went to a industry award show at the Hilton - good food, good wine and made some good networking contacts. The CEO of Tempest is hookin it up - she is something else, named Momma T for the night, she is helping guide us to the right peeps.. Ha ha. The night progressed to Oxford Street then onto Kings Cross (meet up with all our new dentist/orthodontist friends...random i know) - went to some cool spots (VIP access into the Rabbit - overrated, Hugo is the spot - very vegas), danced a lot however the music is all house/techno - miss good music....so we ended up at my place...way too late...rocked out to fergie on repeat and finally some good music...
Classic afternoon after quote: "glad we didnt fall, well I didnt but you actually did"
Friday night we went to a industry award show at the Hilton - good food, good wine and made some good networking contacts. The CEO of Tempest is hookin it up - she is something else, named Momma T for the night, she is helping guide us to the right peeps.. Ha ha. The night progressed to Oxford Street then onto Kings Cross (meet up with all our new dentist/orthodontist friends...random i know) - went to some cool spots (VIP access into the Rabbit - overrated, Hugo is the spot - very vegas), danced a lot however the music is all house/techno - miss good music....so we ended up at my place...way too late...rocked out to fergie on repeat and finally some good music...
Classic afternoon after quote: "glad we didnt fall, well I didnt but you actually did"
Sculpture by the Sea - did the Bondi to Tamarama Walk - very cool.
Melbourne Cup Day
Merlbourne Cup Day is a huge country-wide festivity! Basically the city shuts down at lunch, everyone gets dressed up, ladies put on "fascinators", and watch the horse races. It was some what anti climatic...it was one quick race and it was over....well the day definitely wasnt over....we continued on throughout the night. The next day was not so good :)
Below in the middle is the Ryan Secrest of Australia - the Australian Idol Host....
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