Lake Burley and the Zoo

As promised, here are some shots from our early morning walk along Lake Burley Griffin.


This is, if I'm not mistaken, London Circuit. Canberra turns into a semi-ghost town in some areas during the weekends which is a good thing. I'm not too fond of crowds.


Lake Burley Griffin. On the other side of the lake is the National Museum. In the foreground are a couple of feral humans.


Still by the lake.


The view from under the Commonwealth Bridge leading towards the new Parliament House which is slightly visible in the background.


The National Carillon in the background.


Entrance to ANU. Our hour-and-a-half walk ends here.


Here's a shot of us on the bus on our way to the zoo. This one's for my son just in case he's forgotten what his father looks like. Hello Mikey Boy! :-)


Kangaroo! I guess I really am in Australia!

Week 2 Updates

Met with my adviser yesterday and here is the feedback that I got from him:

• You need an introduction to set up the argument you will be making and canvass the evidence that you will use. The first sentence is good as it clearly states your position, just needed a few more sentences;
• Your use of evidence to support your argument is excellent;
• The conclusion works well - you sum the argument and add a nice ending touch.

The feedback refers to an essay we had to write in 30 minutes that responds to the statement "Educational scholarships benefit only individuals, not societies."

Cooking Session!
This Introductory Academic Program (IAP) is fun. Last Thursday, we had our cooking session where the class was divided into groups and each group was given a recipe. Pictures, naturally, follow:


Ajir (Indonesia), demonstrating his culinary skills.


L-R: Atty. Molian (PNG), Joy (Philippines), Oskar (Indonesia), Luqman (Indonesia)


L-R: Reuben (PNG, and next-door neighbor!), I dunno her name, Rei (Indonesia), Ima (Indonesia). The Indonesians are taking over ANU!!!


L-R: Oskar again, Ono (Indonesia), Nepali (Nepal). Ono's wife will be so proud if she sees that her husband is learning how to cook.


L-R: Mutiara (Indonesia), Yui (Thailand), Ina (Philippines)


L-R: Musharaf (Bangladesh), Luqman, Joy, Atty. Molian, Phallin (foreground, Thailand), Oskar


The end product. Even with all the picture taking, we still had time to actually cook!


Lunch under the shade.

We also went walking around Lake Burley Griffin early this morning and my feet are hurting. Pictures will follow. For now, I need to finish working on my second assignment due this Monday.

Pictures

Another shot of Sullivan's Creek from the back of Toad Hall. The building to the left is the ANU Gym where my friends and I plan to play badminton regularly.


This is Toad Hall from the back. It's a great place to relax and maybe catch up on some reading (provided the weather permits it).


Another picture from last week just before leaving for the museum. L-R: Dette, Rowena (with an E), Mark (The younger one), Hiep (Vietnam), yours truly, Glen, Luqman (Foreground, from Indonesia), Jupree (Indonesia), Joy, Luis (East Timor), Afri (Indonesia)


The old gym.


Glen enjoying the tall purple-y flowery things.


L-R: Younger Mark and Older Mark taking a breather in one of Canberra Centre's couches.


The City Circle Park: a hill with a radius of about 100m located right smack in the middle of the city. You get a nice view of the new parliament house from here.


This is Union Court which is still located inside the ANU campus. To the left are some shops, cafes and a bank. The building on the right is where the cafeteria along with a convenience store, a salon, and an electronics shop among others are situated.

So far

Everything is going great. I think I'm falling in love with Canberra. I like the laid back atmosphere of the place. Just yesterday while on a bus on our way to Woden (one of the districts of Canberra), I saw a mother with her two kids biking along a path that runs adjacent to the beautiful man-made Lake Burley Griffin (pictures soon). The image stuck to my mind the rest of the day and I toyed with the idea of Tina, Mikey, and I moving here and doing the same thing one day.

Lunch With a Davaoenya
I had lunch with a fellow Davaoenyo today together with her Australian husband. At the Canberra Centre's food court she recounted her experiences here in Canberra and how much she preferred living here than in Sydney which was a little too fast-paced for her. One of her experiences though was rather surprising: when she returned to Davao City after studying here for two years, she said she went through some sort of a culture shock (a reverse culture shock, perhaps?). Davao City's malls, she recalled, felt so overcrowded compared to Canberra's that she avoided those places for some time.

Friendly check-out clerks
Another thing I like here is that the check out clerks are very friendly. They smile and greet you with "How's it goin?" or "How are you today?" and they do it as if we've known each other for some time. I know there's a possibility that they were trained for that, but still, the end result is that it leaves a smile on your face.

Here's a picture of us at Civic which is some sort of a plaza/park near Canberra Center. I think this was taken last Sunday on our way back to UniLodge from Big W, a large department store in Canberra Centre


A number of stores here in Canberra including Big W allow their shoppers to take their carts anywhere within the city which is a great convenience for us because Big W is probably about 3 or 4 kilometers away from where we're staying.

Uni shirt pimpin'

Trip to the National Museum, UniLodge

We went for a trip to the Australian National Museum this morning and found lots of interesting information about Australia's history. I knew during Australia's early days, convicts were being sent here for the pettiest of crimes. But being convicted for "Impersonating an Egyptian" or "Becoming bankrupt and hiding that fact" seems way too much.


I saw the preserved body of an adult platypus in the museum and was quite surprised to find out it was just a little bigger than an adult's hand. In fact, you could roll it up into a furball, as one of the videos showed, and it can rest snugly on your palm.


Those are old dog boots. Apparently, the bushlands here in Australia tend to get too hot even for dogs. I'm not sure if they still do it these days though.


Here's a picture of the activity area in newly opened Unilodge where the rest of my countrymen (and women!) are staying. The area comes equipped with ping pong, billiards, 9 computers connected to ANU, a flat screen TV (in the background), a kitchen, and a number of vending machines. It's quite a posh place, but a bit expensive. I'm happy with Toad Hall, and anyway it's just a few seconds walk from here.


They do have an Xbox though which is something Toad doesn't have.

Back on-line!

Finally, I'm enrolled and now have access to the Net. I could have used one of those Internet cafes near the campus, but it's too expensive. And why should I spend money on Internet access when I can get it for free in my own hall?

I arrived last Friday here in Canberra and while there were a few hitches here and there, everything else was alright. No worries, as the locals would say. There was a bit of culture shock, in fact there still is right now (and I expect it will continue in manageable doses as the weeks progress) but I think I'm coping very well. This probably has something to do with the fact that I get to share the experience with a number of other Filipinos who arrived with me last week.

I suppose my first encounter with Australian culture happened even before I left for Australia. I was pushing my trolley to the nearest check-in counter at the international airport in Manila when I accidentally hit an Australian. Naturally, I was immediately apologetic. He replied with a "You're o'right, mate". At first, I didn't understand what he meant by it, much less what he said, so I just walked on without taking a second look at him, afraid that I might get what Ozzies call a "knuckle sandwich". It took me a few more seconds to realize he meant everything was OK. I thought the way they say it is, for lack of a better word, nice. I'm not sure if "Thank you" is the expected response to "You're o'right, mate" but I certainly wanted to thank that Australian in the airport for saying it. It sounded very reassuring and made me less worried about going to the unfamiliar land down under.

I am very pleased with my choice of university. The facilities are great and the library is extensive. I love the fact that I can download PDF versions of journal articles for free. That's certainly an improvement by leaps and bounds from the universities in the Philippines. ANU truly has worked hard to make sure the students have access to every resource needed for their learning. While I agree that Canberra can get a bit boring (stores in the malls close at 5pm???), I find the city's atmosphere conducive to studying.

It's getting late now, and I think this post is getting a bit long. I'll post more updates in the next few days. For now, here's a photo of Sullivan's creek which is right behind the hall I'm staying in. The photo's quality sucks because I used my phone. Hopefully, I'll be able to afford a decent digital camera soon.

From Australia