Sunday, January 23, 2011
I Gots My Flow Back
After hitting a serious writer's block, I have busted that wall into a million pieces. My novels have been progressing at a snails pace, not because I have no idea what to write about. To the contrary, I have so many ideas. The problem has been my inability to come up with a first chapter that adequately catches the readers attention, introduces Lachlan as the main character, AND satisfies me, the writer. I have successfully completed the first chapter, from here on out everything will flow. What a feeling, what freedom... what a relief! I have found the puzzle piece from which all other pieces will connect. I am happy.
Language Mishaps
So both me and the Australian people speak the same language, right? Yes, that is correct, but it doesn't mean we don't use different words of the same language to describe the same thing. Today's example, tomato sauce. In Australia ketchup, as we call it in North America, is referred to as tomato sauce. Why is this a problem? I will tell you. Anybody who's ever come over to my place knows I cook a mean pizza. I don't settle for store bought frozen pizza, I like to put the ingredients together myself. Such was the case last night. The only problem, I mistook tomato sauce as a suitable base for a pizza, and not a tasty topping for my fries. But don't you fret, dear reader. I am never beaten! By combining the "ketchup" with a spicy red sauce, a little garlic and some chili flakes I created a fantastically tasting sauce. The pizza was not a bust, in fact it tasted grand! This has been a lesson in language, though. We may be speaking the same language, but we're not talking the same thing! PIZZA!!!!!!!!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The Arrival
After a very long break in writing, I've decided it's time to bring back the blog. It has been hard to try and keep it up to date while always on the move, but I have been keeping a written journal in its absence. I'm going to jump ahead of most of the adventure and start right in at Brisbane.
The massive flooding seriously delayed my arrival, only by 2 days, but that's simply because I couldn't sit back and watch the devastation without doing something about it. Under normal circumstances it would have delayed me longer, I'm sure. So I went, with no plan, no idea where to go, and no idea what I would be arriving too.
I got off the Greyhound and went straight to the bottom of the terminal to the local train station. Fortunately the government had made public transportation free for the week to assist with the clean-up of the city. With the aid of two nice attendants, I located a train that would take me within 5 minutes of one of the registration centres. So with all my gear, being my giant pack, I hopped on and headed out. I had no idea what to expect, or what I would be doing. I had no tools to help out with and only hoped that somebody would have an extra broom or shovel to offer me. There were tons of people when I arrived. I would later learn that the expected 6,000 volunteers for that day turned out to be closer to 15,000. In short, more people than the organizers had planned for or could accommodate. What a testament to the spirit of Queenslanders and the city of Brisbane. Despite the mass of crowds, it was relatively quick and easy to register to volunteer. I filled out a form, took it to a nice lady behind a counter, who thanked me over and over for offering my assistance, despite only being a backpacker passing through, and was all ready to go.
I immediately made my way to the bus stands where many people were waiting with brooms, rakes and shovels to ship out. Then there was me with only myself to offer. It was some time waiting for the bus. A coordinator came around to tell us that there were so many volunteers that we may actually be sent away, CRAZY! I made it onto a bus though and was off to some unknown destination. There was a sense of joy once we were on our way. Everybody was excited to do their part. A bag of candy, or lollies as they call them, was passed around to share. Normally I wouldn't have one, but this was different, it was a bond that linked everybody on that bus. So, you're damn right I had one, and then two more as the bag made three rounds of the packed bus before being finished. The mood was very quickly dashed though, as we left the highway and were soon entering the South Bank and West End areas of the city. The bus became silent. It was if we were being delivered into a war zone, only moments from being released onto the beach into a spray of machine gun fire. The streets were brown with mud, garbage was strewn about the streets, soldiers marching the streets with their weapons and muddied clothes. Yes, the mood had changed. We were greeted by our commanding officer, the regional councillor, who with very little direction, told us to simply clean up the public spaces. There was a park nearby, completely covered with muck, what a wreck. I set my bag down and began my search for a tool. It only took 5 minutes, but I found a man willing to relinquish his broom, while he worked elsewhere with his shovel. I began to clean a stretch of walkway. Eventually I teamed up with a mother and her two daughters. Together we managed to clear a considerable portion of the walkway. What pride I felt in the accomplishment. I continued to clean various sections of the park until, after some hours, the soldier returned for his broom. Content with my days work I made my way back to the bus. I had some food, being distributed for free at a sausage sizzle and even a free BEER!!!! That's right, a very generous lady was kind enough to offer us all cold beers. What an end to the day. What a feeling to help such a ruined community, what a memorable moment in my journey.
The next day I was reunited with Nuangi. Together with her, and her local family we journeyed to a Buddhist temple in Goodna, where we aided in the packing up of food and then distributed it throughout the community. The idea was to offer it to the affected locals, but quickly found it was more ideal to simply offer it to the volunteers, as most of them were in fact locals. People were happy to receive the curried rice dishes, especially, I'm sure, since all that was being offered otherwise were sausages. It was another fabulous day with a sense of accomplishment. Goodna was hit particularly hard, in many places completely submerging homes and businesses. After putting in two solid days, I decided it was time to see the city in another light and take advantage of the free transportation being offered. More to come on that.
The massive flooding seriously delayed my arrival, only by 2 days, but that's simply because I couldn't sit back and watch the devastation without doing something about it. Under normal circumstances it would have delayed me longer, I'm sure. So I went, with no plan, no idea where to go, and no idea what I would be arriving too.
I got off the Greyhound and went straight to the bottom of the terminal to the local train station. Fortunately the government had made public transportation free for the week to assist with the clean-up of the city. With the aid of two nice attendants, I located a train that would take me within 5 minutes of one of the registration centres. So with all my gear, being my giant pack, I hopped on and headed out. I had no idea what to expect, or what I would be doing. I had no tools to help out with and only hoped that somebody would have an extra broom or shovel to offer me. There were tons of people when I arrived. I would later learn that the expected 6,000 volunteers for that day turned out to be closer to 15,000. In short, more people than the organizers had planned for or could accommodate. What a testament to the spirit of Queenslanders and the city of Brisbane. Despite the mass of crowds, it was relatively quick and easy to register to volunteer. I filled out a form, took it to a nice lady behind a counter, who thanked me over and over for offering my assistance, despite only being a backpacker passing through, and was all ready to go.
I immediately made my way to the bus stands where many people were waiting with brooms, rakes and shovels to ship out. Then there was me with only myself to offer. It was some time waiting for the bus. A coordinator came around to tell us that there were so many volunteers that we may actually be sent away, CRAZY! I made it onto a bus though and was off to some unknown destination. There was a sense of joy once we were on our way. Everybody was excited to do their part. A bag of candy, or lollies as they call them, was passed around to share. Normally I wouldn't have one, but this was different, it was a bond that linked everybody on that bus. So, you're damn right I had one, and then two more as the bag made three rounds of the packed bus before being finished. The mood was very quickly dashed though, as we left the highway and were soon entering the South Bank and West End areas of the city. The bus became silent. It was if we were being delivered into a war zone, only moments from being released onto the beach into a spray of machine gun fire. The streets were brown with mud, garbage was strewn about the streets, soldiers marching the streets with their weapons and muddied clothes. Yes, the mood had changed. We were greeted by our commanding officer, the regional councillor, who with very little direction, told us to simply clean up the public spaces. There was a park nearby, completely covered with muck, what a wreck. I set my bag down and began my search for a tool. It only took 5 minutes, but I found a man willing to relinquish his broom, while he worked elsewhere with his shovel. I began to clean a stretch of walkway. Eventually I teamed up with a mother and her two daughters. Together we managed to clear a considerable portion of the walkway. What pride I felt in the accomplishment. I continued to clean various sections of the park until, after some hours, the soldier returned for his broom. Content with my days work I made my way back to the bus. I had some food, being distributed for free at a sausage sizzle and even a free BEER!!!! That's right, a very generous lady was kind enough to offer us all cold beers. What an end to the day. What a feeling to help such a ruined community, what a memorable moment in my journey.
The next day I was reunited with Nuangi. Together with her, and her local family we journeyed to a Buddhist temple in Goodna, where we aided in the packing up of food and then distributed it throughout the community. The idea was to offer it to the affected locals, but quickly found it was more ideal to simply offer it to the volunteers, as most of them were in fact locals. People were happy to receive the curried rice dishes, especially, I'm sure, since all that was being offered otherwise were sausages. It was another fabulous day with a sense of accomplishment. Goodna was hit particularly hard, in many places completely submerging homes and businesses. After putting in two solid days, I decided it was time to see the city in another light and take advantage of the free transportation being offered. More to come on that.
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