Random Monday

It's random Monday, here at World as Muse.  That means that randomly, I'll talk about random things.

Random Speech Differences Between Australians and Canadians

1. People say "How ya going?" instead of "How are you?" or "How's it going?"
2.  People say "You're alright" instead of "That's OK".
3.  People call babies "bubs" or "bubbas"
4.  I've yet to hear the words "crikey", "throw a shrimp on the barbie" or "g'day", but I do hear people calling their little kids "Mate" instead of "Buddy".
5.  Some Aussies say "Ta" instead of "Thanks".  For the record, so does my dad.  But I thought he was the only one.
6. The "garbage" is called the "bin"
7. "The lot" refers to "everything".  The slogan for the shopping mall here is "Noosa Civic: We've Got the Lot".  I don't know why, but I find that hilarious.
8. People say "Good on Ya" when you're doing something right.


More randomness.  I've got lots of pet peeves.  I kind of love to have them, and when I finally put my finger on one, and finally brand it a pet peeve,  it just feels good. Here are a select few:

These Are a Few of My Least Favourite Things...

1)Being cold
2)Being wet
3)Being cold and wet simultaneously
4)When people wear winter coats with flip flops
5) When people wear winter/Ugg boots with shorts in the summer.  Choose a season.
6) When the bottom of people's butts hang out of their short shorts.  You see that A LOT here
7) When people wheel around their lap dogs in doggy strollers (however, I love it when people dress up their dogs in outfits).
8) That snotty stuff in the corner of dog's eyes
9) Cats. (can't trust them)
10) When people "check in" to places on Facebook
11) When you order a pizza and it's not greasy enough
12) When anything gets mealy.  Especially peaches.
13) Hipsters. Especially apathetic hipsters wearing huge nerd glasses and taking themselves seriously. 
14) Apathetic hipsters wearing huge nerd glasses who are "barristas" or otherwise work in the service industry.  I am so sorry to disturb and inconvenience you.  Am I cool enough to buy a coffee/book/breakfast from you?
15) Crazy tight ankled, skinny jeans on guys. Sorry, but you're essentially wearing leggings with a short top out in public.  And you're a dude.
16)  Banana voice (but I also kind of love it)
17) When you're 5 months pregnant, and people say, "Oh wow!  You're huge!  Are you sure you're not having twins?"
18) Rain
19) Vacuuming
20)Camel toe
21) Eggplant, and people who claim that it's delicious
22)People who claim that health foods (with the exception of veggies) are DELICIOUS.  Veggies really are yummy.  But tofu, tempeh, brown rice, quinoa? They may be healthy for you, sure.  And you can do wonderful things with them, and I do. But delicious?  A McDonald's fry is delicious.  Ice cream is delicious. Chocolate is delicious.  A piece of tofu, no matter how nicely it is marinated, is not.
22) People who FORBID their children any sugar, EVER. And  who think that their child won't be obsessed with having sugar later in their lives. Right.
23) Fruit flies
24) Cumin

That's a nice, robust list.  I invite you to add to it.  If you're a dog, a cat, a hipster, or a dude who wears leggings, I'm truly sorry if I've offended you. 

Happy Monday!

Adventures in Sydney

A little overdue on this post about our trip to Sydney. M. was invited to give a talk at the University of New South Wales, and the rest of us joined him for a week to explore the area. 

We stayed in Coogee Beach, and our hotel was literally 100 metres from the beach.  The views from the room and our massive balcony were gorgeous.  Since the weather was cool, overcast and rainy much of the time, we didn't get in a lot of swimming time.  But we didn't let the weather stop us a whole lot. We still got a chance to see lots of what Sydney has to offer: Manly Beach, Bondi Beach, the Rocks, the Harbour Bridge, and of course, the iconic Opera House. 

Harbour Bridge.  Next visit, maybe I'll scale it (you can pay to do so while harnessed in).

The gorgeous Opera House

Ferry to Manly Beach

Manly Beach

We also managed to squeeze in a full day trip to the Blue Mountains region, where highlights included an almost verticle train ride into the bottom of a canyon and a cable car ride back, beautiful views of the "Three Sisters" (ancient rock formations), and stopping off on the side of the highway on the way home to see wild Emus.  Our tour guide Mouse (whose real name, ironically, is Mick) provided hilarious commentary throughout. 

The "Three Sisters".  This gorge is 400 million years old.



Those are the almost vertical train tracks we rode down.  They were once used to bring coal up and down the mountain.



M. and his friend and colleague, Eddie, on a cruise around Sydney Harbour.

We always have fun in hotel rooms

My babies

Where The Yummy Mummys Are

Noosa's hip young mamas may sip lattes and do yoga like yummy mummys the world over. Only instead of chanting "Ohm Shanti", they're saying,  "Praise Jesus." I found out (quite accidentally) that for many young families in the area, Hillsong Church -- an evangelical, born again Pentecostal congregation-- is the place to be on Sunday mornings. 

The story begins with my meeting a super friendly, gorgeous, stylish mom in Big J's gymnastics class.  She seemed great, so when the class ended, we decided to keep in touch.  She even invited me to join her weekly mom's group. Great.

We decided to have a coffee after she attended church this past Sunday, and she suggested we meet there since we had previously established that it is a block from my house.  Call me naive, but I assumed it was a meeting place, and that we'd continue from there to a cafe.  But upon my arrival, she practically threw a coffee in my hand, and it became clear that I was attending the after service social hour.  In what felt like a whirlwind, she whisked me around and introduced me to a bunch of people, in an almost too friendly way.  Everybody was perfectly lovely, and surprisingly, also young, hip, and gorgeous. Designer handbags and outfits were noted. I even recognized several kids who attend Big J's day care, and their parents.

 When it became obvious that she knew everyone, I said something like, "It seems like you're really involved in the community".  To which she laughed, "Oh, we're the pastors!".  She had never once mentioned this before.  And fine, maybe it never came up specifically.  But I immediately felt taken advantage of, and lied to.  M. feels that I should have put the fact that I am Jewish out there immediately.  But the whole interaction was just so fast and confusing, and there really was no natural entry point at which to do that.

 I have absolutely no problem with religion (heck, I even studied the stuff and got an undergraduate degree out of it). I do, however,  have a problem with a church that operates like a multinational corporation.  Hillsong is a massive machine.  It has tens of thousands of congregants, and megachurches in Cape Town, New York, London, Paris, and Sydney.  There are extension services all over the place (like the one in Noosa), and in multiple languages.  There are CDs and DVDs and clothing and books, all of which the faithful are expected to buy. This is in addition to the10% of their incomes they are expected to give to the church (even as they are preached the "Prosperity Doctrine" - -that God will give it back to them later), while the top preachers make it rich. It's not surprising that scandal often surrounds the church. They have been accused of influencing the Australian Idol competition, and their senior pastor was was forced to resign after he was accused of sexual abuse years after the fact.

The pure frenzy of it all - -the megatrons, the smoke and lights, the speaking in tongues and the saving of souls-- is a bit much for me. But one could argue that ecstatic practice can be found within most of the world's established religions.  Even as I write this, I feel it's wrong to judge what one person does to nourish his or her soul.  And yet, I am so troubled by the feeling that she was dishonest with me.  I did attend her mom's group, but clued into the fact that it was essentially a meeting of the church Sisterhood.  Which again, she never mentioned.  I just can't seem to get rid of that nagging feeling that she should have just been up front about everything from the beginning. 

This all comes on the heels of my having attended a  Mindfulness Meditation session here in Noosa.  I'm interested in Buddhist thought, and looking to find a little spirituality.  Mostly, I'm looking for ways to be more present, more kind, and a better person.  One of the messages of that session was that seeing ourselves as separate from others causes us pain.  If we can understand that we are one, we will inherently want for others what we want for ourselves, and in doing so, stop judging and create peace.  Perfect. 

But how do I reconcile the fact that her faith understands me to be a sinner (until I am baptized and reborn), my friends who are gay to be sinners, and preaches that women do not have a right to an abortion?  No sir, I feel like I  truly cannot "accept" these beliefs, and I suppose, by extension, anyone who believes them.  But I know that makes me close minded and judgemental.  And I know that she is her own entity;  a multifaceted individual who's separate from her church.  But she's a pastor, who preaches all this stuff. 

What would Buddha do? I know that there has to be a peaceful and loving way to think about this, but I am struggling. Nirvana is a long way off for me, it would seem.

What do you think?   

Fair Brisbane

We recently spent a great weekend in Brisbane, capital of Queensland, and the third largest city in Australia. With a population of about 2 million, it's a big city with a laid back vibe.  It was good to see another part of this gorgeous country, and to realize that not everyone is walking around in bikinis at all times.  I even saw feet encased in high heels - - I had sort of forgotten those existed.

Brisbane has the airy feel of a city on a river, with lots of city park land and gardens.  It also boasts pedestrian shopping areas, markets and lots of outdoor restaurants and cafes.  There are great museums and galleries on offer, but travel with the littlies gears us more towards activities that allow them to run (or crawl, as the case may be) and get their boundless energy out.



Swimming in the hotel's cute little rooftop pool




Hotel room fun. Does anybody actually use shower caps for their intended purpose?

We spent most of Saturday at South Bank, a gorgeous riverside development.  (Hey Toronto, take note: classy waterfront development brings citizens together and embues them with a sense of pride in their city! Hey Doug Ford: they even have a ferris wheel! Maybe you were onto something...).  We spent hours splashing in the fountains, and swimming at the man made beach. The area was full of families, exotic birds and massive lizards.  Great times were had by all.

The man made beach. You can see the river beyond, and the city centre on the other side.

Our little off duty lifesaver

Lilypad pond at South Bank river park

Big J not looking very happy (though he was!).  But check out those aerial roots!