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Date Posted: 16:55:07 06/22/10 Tue
Author: En Pointe
Subject: Re: Australia, Thailand and Globalism
In reply to: En Pointe 's message, "Australia, Thailand and Globalism" on 06:59:13 06/22/10 Tue

Nice hearing from you Stewart, and getting some advice on places to visit.

My BFF and I had planned on going to Cairns and Ayers Rock, but everything is so touristy, i.e. overpriced and with no other way to see a national heritage site other than to pay for a pricey tour to get there... And I don't mind paying for it, but she's averse to flying, and I'm not wasting days on end in a train just to take ground transport to get somewhere (my own personal gripe ^_^). I mean even at Uluru the only hotels there are owned by a single company, and you still have to hire a tour company just to get to the park, which would be cool, but then again BFF doesn't want to see a rock in the middle of the desert, as she succinctly put it!

I'm not naive enough to expect to find Crocodile Dundee Down Under, but I have to wonder from my anthropological background what the term "culture" really means... Ethnologists are fraught with beating that concept to death, and as a Biological Anthropologist, I haven't worried too much about it in the past, but it's kinda sad to travel and to recognize the similarities amongst humans (beyond just the common shared values of family, friendship...) that are artificially placed upon us by globalization and mass commercialization. It lumps humanity together into this blob where we each fight to try to maintain our distinct identity in the face of what's on tv, in the paper or on the radio. But maybe I'm too philosophical and dwell on these issues too much. Maybe I should think less and just go with the flow while maintaining my own identity... ^_^

Stewart, when hearing your story about KFC coming to Broken Hill, I was reminded of my little hometown of Lewiston in the 1990s. When I was growing up, the only tv channel we had was the local PBS channel...and so I watched my fave British imports and very little else. Then in the mid 1990s, cable came to Lewiston! It's like we were finally "civilized," so to speak. My sister and I thought it was the greatest thing ever, and spent all day and night watching the different cable channels, only to find after a week that we were tired of it, and that we didn't really care for it after all. We went back to books and outdoor activities after that...which is a good thing in my honest opinion. Even now, I only buy cable to satisfy my parents when they visit, because other than that, I'm out at ballet or Scottish folk dancing, or drawing or making jewelery.

So today I'm going shopping and will enjoy it like an American capitalist, then get pampered over the weekend in the Blue Mountains in a spa, then visit more with the furry mammals native to Australia (cuddling more kangaroos and koalas!), head out to the Sunshine Coast for a frolic on the beach, then down to Melbourne and Adelaide, and hopefully sneak in a ballet class or two ^_^

Thanks again for the advice Stewart, and as always glad to hear from you on the board! Gosh, now if only I could find your doppelganger here, then I'd be heaven sent Down Under ^_'

Love on y'all and missing you! (Cathy, got some cool coins for the kids and some cute stuffed furry mammals- still working on fitting some of the live ones in my suitcase).

Joanna- GO BLUE!! (Just another few months before the start of football season!)

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Replies:

[> [> PBS in MI -- We3Kings, 13:21:27 06/23/10 Wed

Whenever we visited my grandmother is Rose City all we could watch was pbs with the electric company and reading rainbow. At night it was vintage Dr. Who.

I hear ya!!

When I took care of my great grandmother in Sebewaing, the high excitement was a McDonalds. Even when I moved there,I would never go there. The mom and pop pizza shop in town was soo much better.

I have been keeping your gift a surprise. They will be sooooo thrilled. When you get home, are you coming from Lewiston or farther south and west?? I will be in Houghton Lake from the 12-19, but will be near Detroit before and after. I just don't want you to have to drive too far.

Can't wait to see you!! Maybe catch a glimpse of BC on the way home through TN. Whatcha think BC?? How far are you from 75 and 85???


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[> [> When does a houseguest overstep her bounds? -- En Pointe, 17:32:18 06/23/10 Wed

Totally getting you there, Cathy! I watched old reruns of Dr. Who and All Creatures Great and Small. My fave was All Creatures. I've always wanted to be a vet, but my Mom told me I would be too soft hearted and would have a collection of animals before too long!

So I've convinced my BFF to head out of Sydney...So we will visit the Blue Mountains this weekend then head up the Gold and Sunshine Coasts and get to see the reef after all. I'm so happy!. And there's more to my happiness then just leaving Sydney.

We've been staying at her cousin and hi fiancee's condo, and while we totally appreciate it, they live like slobs, albeit financially successful snobs. They also have two small dogs, and are totally ignorant about dog training, grooming and care. When we arrived on Friday morning, the place reeked of urine, and we soon came to find that they allowed the dogs to pee inside the house, because as they put it, "the dogs were untrainable and they didn't have the time." After they left for work. my BFF and I immediately got to work cleaning up the place- dust two inches thick everywhere, dirty dishes from what looked like a month piled high in the kitchen, the bathroom moldy and smelly. Mind you, this is a relatively new condo, purchased about 16 months ago. When they returned home in the evening, they said the place looked the cleanest it had since they bought it, but they were unwilling to get rid of the urine stained rug, because they said it protected the floors from the urine! We had also attempted to groom the dogs, but they had no dog grooming supplies whatsoever. We had to make do with human shampoo and a lame brush. Their fur was so tangled in mats, that a week later, we still haven't made any progress removing them because they also lack scissors in the house.

I don't consider myself to be the cleanliness patrol, but i do like to live in a really super clean house (while realizing at the same time that our immune systems need a little dirt to keep it functioning well- but heck, that's why we go outside for walks, do gardening and play with our pets. But for the past week, it's been the first time I've ever had allergies this horrible, to the point where I'm on my last allergy pill that I brought from the US (I brought a whole pharmacy with me to be prepared, as I always do with fieldwork), and the chemists here, as pharmacists are called Down Under), don't have anything remotely related to non-drowsy Benadryl. They've tried pushing Claritin, Allegra and Zyrtec on me, after I've explained that I had been prescribed these in the US for seasonal allergies in the past, but that they had no effect on me, except either to make me hyper or make me drowsy. It's been a few years since I've had allergies, because I opted for the allergy shots instead, but I'm convinced that the issue is with the dirt in this place. When I leave and take the city train to Sydney, I get better, when I come back, I get sick again.

Now it's become this daily grind over and over again where we shampoo the rug and use an enzyme spray to remove the urine from the rug, disinfect the furniture, clean the kitchen and the bathroom, mop the floors. I might add that in the kitchen, there is dirt in the ceramic tiles which just can't be removed even with a lot of elbow grease and Clorox :(

In basically a week we've trained the dogs to pretty tell us when they need to go outside, but then when they come home they just let them pee where they want and then don't bother to clean up after them. Today was the last straw, when one of the dogs had what I would consider to be a classic Freudian anal response by pooping all over the place. Mary and I were disinfecting and cleaning, while they were more concerned about the quality of the faeces. Uggh! The rug wasn't salvageable to begin with, but now it's a lost cause, and I'm afraid that they will want to keep it still. Which means staying in the bedroom while I'm here. At least not as allergenic in here.

Okay, I've vented...

Love y'all, and missing a nice clean house,

Joanna- GO BLUE (Blue Mountains this time...)

Oh, my sister called me about the earthquake felt from Canada through Michigan to New York. Darn it! I'm never there for the cool stuff!


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