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Published: March 13th 2005
Okay ya’ll, so do to a combination of procrastination, a busy schedule, computer flu, my own flu and just plain laziness it’s been over a month since my last blog so here goes….Let’s start with work and my plans, which have changed quite a bit. I will not make it back to Texas for graduation in May as I had originally intended, there is too much to explore here and too slim a possibility I will ever have this opportunity again. All of the interesting new faces I have seen, the people I have encountered and the stories I have heard have inspired me to see as much as I can, not only of Oz but the world. As I mentioned in my previous blog, my supervisor had casually asked about my interest in future employment at Catherine House, since that time they have asked me to stay at least through May and part of June, as my supervisor the manager of the emergency shelter will be on holiday. I will also be taking on paid weekend shifts while I am still completing my placement hours; my first paid shift was actually yesterday. They have also stated that if I
Starlight Cinema
We went to see "Team America" at the Botanic Gardens. Tanya, Me, Ossian & Amber.decided to stay in Adelaide permanently, I would probably be offered a full time position. This is a very exciting opportunity and quite flattering but as things stand I plan to stay and work until the end of June at the latest and then travel for a few months. This also means finding a new place to live as the others will all be headed home or traveling in May, it may be back to the hostel for a bit but I am not worried, things seem to have a way of working themselves out here.
Work has been going very well, I feel I am contributing to some very necessary and long over due changes to make the program much more efficient and to allow us more one on time with the women. I also feel I am really connecting with the women and gaining some insight into my clinical skills as a social worker. I am working with several clients dealing with serious self-harm issues and have walked into some quite shocking situations but have handled them well. I am going to attend a self-injury workshop next week, hopefully it will be more informative than the
mental health relapse prevention training I went to earlier this month. I also have not had a lot of previous experience with women experiencing very recent domestic violence incidents, it is not easy work, reminds me of my work at the children’s shelter in Lubbock. As weak and hopeless as these women feel when they come in, they often leave empowered and with a new sense of self, they are all so much more courageous than they will ever know, they inspire me everyday.
This last month consisted of many nights out to the local pubs and quite a few birthdays. So I will note only a few of the many highlights. Thanks to all of you for the birthday wishes and Valentine notes, I appreciate hearing from everyone and will get back to each of you individually, eventually😉 Special thanks to a certain someone who brightened my day with some gorgeous flowers and scrumptious truffles (you know who you are!!) Also, if you have not responded to my Bebo request for your contact details you may be missing out on a postcard and I am not going to ask again. As I said, I think I caught
the flu or was “crook” as they say here for probably about the first two weeks of February, so instead of the typical birthday dinner followed by a wild night out we had a nice dinner at an Italian place around the corner, some seafood risotto to die for!! The gang got me one of the best birthday gifts I have ever received, a weekend pass to Womadelaide, a world music festival held here annually!!!
The following week we attended our first “seminar” at Flinders Uni, talk about a disaster. I won’t get into much here because honestly I am so tired of the whole mess. The short and sweet version, we are basically paying double tuition and placement fees. Flinders is not providing 1/10 of the services we thought we would be receiving, this info. has been passed along to our UT representative but I doubt anything will be resolved. Always searching for the positive….one great thing that did come out of the meeting, we were introduced to a group of Norwegian students who are completing a bachelor’s level social work placement, we all headed to a pub after the meeting to de-brief and have been spending
Dinner at Chandan's
Amber,Me, C.C and Katie time with them since. The group consists of Steffan, Vidar, Maria, Tonje, Tonya & Svanhil.
On to more exciting things, we were invited over to our friend Chandan’s flat for a home cooked traditional Indian dinner. “C.C” is here from India studying at University of South Australia, he is getting his master’s in tele-communications. The girls and I met C.C one night after a very long night out, we wandered into the pizza joint down the street on our way home at about 3 am and he waited on us. He is truly one the kindest people I have ever encountered, he shines! We went for dinner and he showed us pictures of his family, going back at least five generations and shared with us his perceptions of Indian culture and the Hindu religion. After a delicious dinner, music was put on and C.C had some moves, some traditional Indian dances with his own modern twist. All together it was a delightful evening!
One Saturday, the date I can’t recall, Tanya and I headed off to the Adelaide Hills to visit Handorff. A small “village” settled by East Germans and Prussians in 1839. It reminded me
a lot of Fredericksburg, only much, much smaller. We attempted to tour the Hans Heysen Historic home, a renowned German born artist, but after the hike up the hills to the site we found we would have to wait an hour for the tour and pay quite a hefty fee so we headed back down after viewing some of his daughter’s work which was on display. On the way down we stopped and I picked up some fresh herbs (they pronounce the “h” here) basil, oregano and thyme at a stand on the side of the road. After a walk through the town we headed to the Berenburg Strawberry Farm, where we picked strawberries to our little heart’s content. We went back to town and stopped at a pub and had a proper German meal before heading home.
Okay, so on to Womadelaide, March 4-6, what an amazing weekend!!! The festival happens annually here and provides a unique experience, well at least very different from any festival I have ever attended. The same artists perform all weekend among six stages which provides the opportunity to actually see each artist along with the option to see a “workshop” where
the artist performs at a smaller more intimate stage with audience participation. The bill was full of traditional artists from around the world as well as some new younger artists. The performance art was also amazing and happening all over the Botanic Gardens throughout the festival, with vendors from all over the world. Here is the list of performers I saw through out the weekend. Keep in mind on Sunday night there was an all star performance, WOW!!
Te Matare i Orehu- New Zealand’s North Island, 25 person group from performing traditional Maori arts, incorporated waiata, haka, dance, poi, weapons, and chants, they were powerful!
Zap Mama-Belgium/Congo, what a powerful and amazing voice this woman has, the stage was full of confident, vibrant women with voices that raised the roof, also very intricate percussion and amazing dance moves.
Alpha Blondy & the Solar System-Cote D’Ivorie, very well-known in Africa, hard hitting reggae, very fun live show!! Again apparently another legend I had not previously heard of!
Ustad Rashid Khan-India, classical Indian singer, the sounds this man could produce with his voice were captivating, I learned this style of singing is called “khayal”. I was informed by
an Indian couple sitting next to me at the first performance that he was a child prodigy and is now one of the most famous artists in India.
Dulsori-South Korea, oh my god!!!! Percussion group, traditional Pungmul drumming, basically transforming the ancient philosophy of Taoism into percussion, originally created by Korea’s rural farmers. This was by far my most favorite performance of the weekend, I managed to see them twice. Dulsori translates to wild beat, very appropriate. I bought the DVD, so for interested persons you gotta see this when I get back.
Jim Moray 4-England, he reworks traditional English folk songs into startling contemporary songs. This kid was amazing, very soft spoken when he came on stage, his voice blew me away, powerful, very melodic, did not miss a note, another favorite.
Patrick Duff & Alex Lee-England, formerly of Stranglove & Suede? Cocky, moody lyrics, sarcastic, great rock show! Probably another of my favorites.
Les Yeux Nois-France, intense strings section from these boys, wide range of styles, intense energy.
Richie Havens-USA, so I felt like a putz, I had honestly never heard of Mr. Havens. Apparently he was a “founding father” of the folk
Cameron(Perth) & Blake(Bristol)
Keeping warm by the fires at Womad, did I mention it was raining all night the first night? scene in Greenwich Village in the 60’s, very powerful, very peaceful, very impressive performance, certainly did not look nor act his age.
Ozomatli-USA, again had never heard of these boys, out of Los Angeles, Latino-dance/hip hop etc… with what seemed like a tribe on stage, also now accompanied by a former member of Jurassic 5. Very fun live show, but I am not running out to grab any albums. The girls and I especially enjoyed the dance moves of one of the horn players😉
Nadia Gloski’s 101 Candle Orkestra-Australia, was very surprised she was an Aussie as the music had a very mid-east feel to it, she was an incredible singer, did not handle herself very well with the sound guy though!
Adel Salameh Trio-Palestine/Algeria, Adel is known as one of the world’s finest oud players, haunting performance.
Mahinarangi Tucker-New Zealand, singer song writer, achingly beautiful voice, she does not need any assistance with harmony!
Café of the Gate of Salvation-Australia, 32 strong a capella choir, obviously inspired by traditional gospel, put a huge smile on my face!
George Rrurrambu-Australia, apparently a hero of two decades of live performance in Oz, funk reggae, much of
The tree of fire at Womad
this pic does not do it justice & still raining it in Aboriginal language, when the performance started I wondered what instrument was playing it was like nothing I had ever heard, that instrument was his voice.
Whew, for those of you not interested in music, I hope you skipped that last section. Last night we went back to the Botanic Gardens and saw the Bangarra Dance group an Aboriginal dance group from Oz. The performance was fantastic and based on Indigenous Dreamtime creation stories of Arnhem land. I am looking forward to seeing one of my favorite bands Gomez play here the 22nd of this month at a small venue on Henley Beach. In April I have tickets to see Ben Folds and R.E.M (8th row, center, floor!!!) this was my birthday present to myself. Stay tuned…I am headed to Melbourne for Easter with some of the group, we will fly there and head back on a tour of the Great Ocean Road. Okay kids that’s it for now! Cheers-Kameron
(If you view this and pictures are not up yet, check back soon, it takes awhile😊
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