Back from Brisbane

Time slips by, doesn't it? I've been in Australia, and not able to keep up with this.

What I love most about Australia, aside from Coopers Sparkling Ale and sausage rolls, is the total lack of ceremony. It’s incredibly refreshing coming from Japan. My second morning I got into a cab to come to work and the guy behind the wheel had no idea where he was. Every two minutes he’d pull over to the curb, haul out a map and say things like, “Aw shit yeah, there’s the bugger. But how the Christ are we meant to get over there?” After four or five of these little stops, he just turned around and said, “Fuck, mate, I reckon we’d be better off getting out and walking. HAHAHAHAHA!!” I finally got to school about twenty minutes after my students had already gone into class.

Once again I stayed in the beautiful Garden City Motor Inn in Upper Mt. Gravatt, just south of Brisbane proper. If you look carefully you should just be able to see the rainbow coming gently to rest on the top of the sign. I go down every two years with a group of 35 to 40 of my high school girls. I’m not absolutely certain why I need to be there, since the girls are living with home-stay families and have two very competent English teachers during their school hours. But who’s complaining? Brisbane is a nice town. And Coopers Sparkling Ale is beautiful.

Last time I was down my little blog died. The girls attend a very nice school, the largest private school in Queensland I’m told, but the computer system blocks access to a lot of sites and getting wireless access outside of the school is a much bigger pain in the ass than it should be. After a month of not being able to write anything, I lost all momentum. I’m hoping to avoid that this time.

This was my motel room. It wasn't the nicest in the world, but it was clean, with a little kitchen and a complete set of phone books, and it was affordable for a month. The couple running the joint are very nice. And one of the maids, understandably, fell deeply in love with me and left extra Anzac biscuits whenever she cleaned the room. Excellent. One look at me and she thought, "Baked goods." Feminine intuition performs another quiet little miracle.

I really do love Australia. It's not an easy place to come back from. The people are friendly, the landscape is stunning, there are English language bookstores and yes, they even have Coopers Sparkling Ale. Anyone want to go start a commune with me?