Oct. 25
We were off to the dock at 9:15 AM on a Saturday morning where we pick up the Rottnest Express to take us to the island. It has been a rainy week so all were hoping that the weather to start clearing up. The weather system was to be moving out but how soon that is the question. It is never a good sign when you are getting rained on while waiting for the boat. Fortunately there was a shed that we could take shelter in until we loaded. As we lined up to board, part of our group suddenly went off to the left headed for a smaller boat. As it turned out, it was the fast trip but the wet one. They wore rain gear from head to toe and needed it. They were going out and the slamming down off the waves. At one point the boat slid sideways down the wave front and caught everyone by surprise but the students loved it. Many of them said that they were going back in that boat again. Now this is told to me second hand since Norma and I took the regular boat as befitting our age. Hmmm - the other might have been more fun.
Once there all of us headed to the bike hire. Student Services, who made the arrangements, set all of this up including with our bikes. Now Norma has not been on a bike since we were last Australia four years ago. I will not recount what happened to her four years ago but let us say that the third was charmed in that no drama happened. At any rate we are on our way taking a short loop up along the north shore. There are ridges on the island so it is not flat as you might imagine. Our bikes are not 10 speeds, which would help handle the hills. In fact they have only two speeds: slow and push. We get to the top of a ridge and over to a lookout that views this beautiful bay with some boats anchored and lovely water. During this time, there had been two brief but wetting showers. Fortunately for us they occurred when we were either under some trees or the edge of a building so we were not damp. Norma decided that she had enough fun and would head back more directly while took a slightly more circuitous path back to bike hire place. It was uneventful but quite lovely.
Most of the students were staying the night with some camping and some in a hostel on the edge of the community area. The weather is finely getting better so the camping might be more fun than the night before would have been. It was very stormy Friday night so those that came out a night early probably got a little wet. They all got back Sunday without mishap and I think they all enjoyed it.
Tuesday, we were invited to St. Thomas Moore College on the University of Western Australia campus. Craig Buchanan has been working there since many of us got to know hims when he was on the UNDA campus. We left the apartment early not knowing how long it would take us to reach the campus. We found the bus 99 stand and found that it did go past the campus. I went looking for the 98 bus stand but the 99 came as I just made the rounds. Now I am beginning to think that we should take the 98 but the 99 is here and Norma is ready to get on it. How long can it take to take the bus in the reverse direction? Close to forever if you need to be a place at a certain time. We were almost two and a half hours making that segment. I called Craig twice to let him know where we were once I knew so he could estimate when to expect us. We finally arrive and I take out his instructions and we head along the road as per. But ... we are not finding the dorms that we expected so something is up!! The directions were for us to arrive coming from the south and therefore on the other side of the street headed in another direction. He came out and braved traffic and retrieved us. When we met on the median I ask him if they were still serving lunch or will we be taking him out for dinner? Such interesting things can happen.
I will post this because I have waited too long to get it out and I am getting busier as things draw to a close.
B.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Politics at a distance
It is quite interesting watching the presidential campaign from the other side of the world. You might think that news would be difficult to come by but such is not the case. We watch the PBS Lehr Hour from 4:30 until 5:30 PM and there are other reports on regular TV news. The print media carries even more news. Even the Western Australian, which is the WA paper, carries quite a number of articles before and as many after the fact. They are intensely interested in the presidential race because what we do effects them regardless of the distance. We have problems in our banking system and they suffer problems though no fault of their own. We can hear and read excerpts of the campaign speeches from McCain, Palin, Obama, and Biden. They liked to examine what is new on the campaign trail. One early morning TV talk show on channel 7, much like the Today Show on NBC, had an email came in from a listener who thought that they were giving too much coverage to the election and the announcer than went on to explain at some length how important and momentous this election was. We are probably as well informed about the candidates here as we would be at home but without all the noise of the campaign. Something that we did not miss.
We know from our experience here four years ago and from our conversations with people in South Africa during the spring 2007, George W. Bush was not popular if not down right reviled in some cases. I can assure you that he has not gotten more popular during these four years! I have yet to meet a McCain supporter here. They are all for Obama. Many cannot understand why McCain would choose a candidate with as little experience as Palin to be the vice president. They see how complex the world is and that no one nation regardless how powerful can go it alone today so to potentially put in someone in with so little experience just confounds them.
After the elections, we received congratulations from all our co-workers here. They see the election as a step away from the type of policies of Bush and his ilk and toward people more open to collaboration. They also see it was a sign that we are finally loosing some of our racism. Maria, the Aboriginal owner along with her husband who take the students to Broome trip, called down especially to congratulate us on Obama's win. We saw that the leaders in Europe were very pleased with the win as reported on in the news. It has been very interesting and may be alarming how negative other people have been toward the U.S. because of our policies over the last eight years. Obama has his work cut out for him but at least he has their good will for now.
It will be a difficult time to deal with all the problems so Obama will need every one's help. I hope that people's patience will last more than a few months because some issues are not going be solved immediately regardless of who will be in office.
B.
We know from our experience here four years ago and from our conversations with people in South Africa during the spring 2007, George W. Bush was not popular if not down right reviled in some cases. I can assure you that he has not gotten more popular during these four years! I have yet to meet a McCain supporter here. They are all for Obama. Many cannot understand why McCain would choose a candidate with as little experience as Palin to be the vice president. They see how complex the world is and that no one nation regardless how powerful can go it alone today so to potentially put in someone in with so little experience just confounds them.
After the elections, we received congratulations from all our co-workers here. They see the election as a step away from the type of policies of Bush and his ilk and toward people more open to collaboration. They also see it was a sign that we are finally loosing some of our racism. Maria, the Aboriginal owner along with her husband who take the students to Broome trip, called down especially to congratulate us on Obama's win. We saw that the leaders in Europe were very pleased with the win as reported on in the news. It has been very interesting and may be alarming how negative other people have been toward the U.S. because of our policies over the last eight years. Obama has his work cut out for him but at least he has their good will for now.
It will be a difficult time to deal with all the problems so Obama will need every one's help. I hope that people's patience will last more than a few months because some issues are not going be solved immediately regardless of who will be in office.
B.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)