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Post by MelMac on Jun 20, 2008 8:43:36 GMT -5
First off, because again I'm pretty belated, mixed up, working on too many jewelry and leather tooling projects: Welcome to the boards Dolfyn. [/tt][/b] Feel free to ask me any questions about Australia. Feel the (Aussie) love. dolfyn. OK, have you ever been to the Sydney Opera House? If so, what's it like inside? Also, did you have a chance to go to the Olympics when they hosted them? (Guess those are two that I've always wanted to ask someone from Australia - and if you ever want to, please feel free to ask my any questions about Texas. )
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dolfyn
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Post by dolfyn on Jun 20, 2008 11:31:50 GMT -5
First off, because again I'm pretty belated, mixed up, working on too many jewelry and leather tooling projects: Welcome to the boards Dolfyn. [/tt][/b][/quote] Aw, thanks, Mel. ;D I have felt very welcomed so far. Feel free to ask me any questions about Australia. Feel the (Aussie) love. dolfyn. OK, have you ever been to the Sydney Opera House? If so, what's it like inside? Also, did you have a chance to go to the Olympics when they hosted them? (Guess those are two that I've always wanted to ask someone from Australia - and if you ever want to, please feel free to ask my any questions about Texas. ) Yes, I've been to the Opera House. It's sort of old inside & there's a LOT of brown! It's prettier on the outside, IMHO. No, I didn't go to the Sydney Olympics. In fact, quite a lot of Sydney residents actually left the city while it was on! But, I was indirectly involved behind the scenes. I work for Australia's biggest phone company, & at that time I was working in the section that provides public phones. So we had a big project to install (& then afterwards remove) lots of extra public phones for visitors & special phones for the atheletes & the world media. So that was sort of cool to be a part of. We Aussies are proud of how well the 2000 Olympics went down, too. I especially loved the opening & closing ceremonies. I've been to Sydney quite a number of times, & it's a beautiful place to visit; but personally, I wouldn't want to live there. I'm very happy living in Melbourne. I'm sorry to say that I don't know all that much about Texas, other than the cliches & stereotypes, unfortunately! To an outsider, it seems like everyone wears a hat, drives a pickup, eats lots of red meat, & owns a gun; & everything revolves around the beef & oil industries! But I'm sure that's no more the case than a lot of the cliches & stereotypes that you may have heard about Australia! Funny how that goes, hey? Feel the love. dolfyn.
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Post by MelMac on Jun 20, 2008 11:50:57 GMT -5
Yes, I've been to the Opera House. It's sort of old inside & there's a LOT of brown! It's prettier on the outside, IMHO. No, I didn't go to the Sydney Olympics. In fact, quite a lot of Sydney residents actually left the city while it was on! But, I was indirectly involved behind the scenes. I work for Australia's biggest phone company, & at that time I was working in the section that provides public phones. So we had a big project to install (& then afterwards remove) lots of extra public phones for visitors & special phones for the atheletes & the world media. So that was sort of cool to be a part of. We Aussies are proud of how well the 2000 Olympics went down, too. I especially loved the opening & closing ceremonies. I've been to Sydney quite a number of times, & it's a beautiful place to visit; but personally, I wouldn't want to live there. I'm very happy living in Melbourne. Cool on both accounts, though I think it funny that inside the opera house it's so brown. You'd think that it'd have a style similar to its exterior - bright and open. And I agree, the Sydney Olympics went down very well. I especially loved the torch lighting. It is one of my favorites by far, topping the Barcelona one where the guy shot the lit arrow at the torch. First one I remember was the '84 LA ones where they touched a fuse, it went up through the Olympic Rings (I think - I was 6 at the time) and the torch was lit. Well, I have a cowboy hat, which I got at an Astros (baseball) game as a last game of the season we got to get ride of this stuff giveaway. Can't wear it though - it's too small by about a size and a half. I don't have a pickup, and the only time I've regularly ridden a horse was my horseback riding class in college. That said, I'm a country girl and to say I've rarely seen a horse and much less ridden one before that class was a bit hard to say. No weapon, don't eat lots of red meat, mostly because cost and living in a town like Hereford - a cattle town I lived in some time ago - can keep you off it on a regular basis. (I do enjoy the occasional steak though. ) Depends what part of the state you live in (and I've lived every direction except true west - i.e. El Paso), but some places don't rely on oil or cattle. New Braunfels and San Marcos rely on tourism (San Marcos is home to the third most popular mall in the WORLD), and Amarillo is surprisingly known for oil, but it now relies more on the big name chains and merchants for business. What's sad though is some places, such as Andrews, which aren't as big in the oil industry now were constantly penalized for it with the Robin Hood law, where "rich" school districts were required to give money to poorer districts. I try not to stereotype other countries, simply because I haven't been out of the United States. And, back in college I had four international roommates: two from South Korea and two from Taiwan. I had so many because they were required to only spend one semester on campus, but we all got on along quite well. But, to help out, I don't see everyone in Australia as someone like Steve Irwin or always throwing boomerangs and such. Frankly, I think that's more annoying than someone generalizing Texans (I blame "Dallas" for that one. ) Everyone is different, and I wish there were more people willing to share their stories and culture to educate others. Sometimes I think people are too in your face or see people as the stereotype that they fail to notice the nuances of the individual. Are any of us perfect? - no, but we can try.
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dolfyn
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Posts: 342
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Post by dolfyn on Jun 20, 2008 12:19:36 GMT -5
I'm sorry to say that I don't know all that much about Texas, other than the cliches & stereotypes, unfortunately! To an outsider, it seems like everyone wears a hat, drives a pickup, eats lots of red meat, & owns a gun; & everything revolves around the beef & oil industries! But I'm sure that's no more the case than a lot of the cliches & stereotypes that you may have heard about Australia! Funny how that goes, hey? Feel the love. dolfyn. I try not to stereotype other countries, simply because I haven't been out of the United States. And, back in college I had four international roommates: two from South Korea and two from Taiwan. I had so many because they were required to only spend one semester on campus, but we all got on along quite well. But, to help out, I don't see everyone in Australia as someone like Steve Irwin or always throwing boomerangs and such. Frankly, I think that's more annoying than someone generalizing Texans (I blame "Dallas" for that one. ) Everyone is different, and I wish there were more people willing to share their stories and culture to educate others. Sometimes I think people are too in your face or see people as the stereotype that they fail to notice the nuances of the individual. Are any of us perfect? - no, but we can try. It seems you have the same attitude to people & other cultures as I do. I love meeting people & getting to know them for themselves, but I also love learning about their culture if their background is different to mine. I also enjoy sharing my culture with others. Melbourne is a very multicultural city; we have people from all over the world living here. I've had (& have) friends & work colleagues from all over. I'm very glad that you don't believe we're all like Steve Irwin (as awesome as he was). I was sad when he died, though. I went to his Zoo only a couple of weeks after his death, & there was a tribute to him during the crocodile show. Very moving. I also love exploring different parts of my own country. I've been to every state here, except one, but there are still so many areas I've yet to visit. Australia has such varied terrain & climates, so it offers up many different experiences. I love my country. I've been to Canada 3 times, the US twice (LA & Hawaii) & Thailand once. I love to travel & I wish I could do it much more often. There are still so many places I want to see & experience. Just yesterday I was looking at one of my work-mate's holiday photos of UK, Paris & Italy. Fascinating stuff. I want to go there. Feel the love. dolfyn. ;D
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Post by MelMac on Jun 20, 2008 12:30:48 GMT -5
It's neat you've gotten to travel. I would love to go to Australia, Austria, Great Britain, and either Taiwan, German, or Japan (in that order). But, costs and such make it very difficult for me, so I have learned about cultures from rooming with my roommates. I had many wild and wonderful experiences getting to know each of them, but there were some that are special. One of my favorites was when I was in a play. It was a musical based on the Ludlow Massacre in Colorado, and while fun, was a very intense show. My roommate, who was from South Korea and her friend went to the play and watched it. Afterward, when the cast was doing meet and greet, both came up to me to take photos. What was neat was what my roommate said "My friend and I didn't quite understand all the words that were spoken, but we could understand exactly what was going on and what everyone was feeling." Pretty powerful words, and showed that it theater transcends languages if acted properly. Another favorite memory was a dinner I was invited to by my first roommate and her cousin. I went to their friend's apartment and got to eat many different and neat types of food (and wish I had asked her for their spicy noodle dish). Anyway, because we were eating with chopsticks, I was very cognizant to not stick them in my rice for fear I'd accidentally stick them straight up (means death, and used in the visiting ancestors tradition). Well, problem was one would usually roll off and fall on the ground, so someone would have to wash it. One time, though they forgot to give it back to me and after a couple of minutes when asked why I wasn't eating I said, "Uh, how am I supposed to eat with one chopstick?" causing an eruption of laughter all around. My first roommate always had unusual taste in food though: she had a dutch oven cooker in the dorm one time cooking chicken noodle soup - with whole drumsticks and mushrooms in there. How we weren't written up for having that item in the dorm room I'll never know. Did wish I accepted her offer of some of the soup though (I had eaten) because it smelled good. Her sweet and sour pigs' feet she made for Chinese New Year were good but bony (and I wish I had asked her why she made that out of interest for their culture).
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Post by prometheus74 on Jul 13, 2009 14:28:10 GMT -5
I live in the beautiful city of Vancouver, Canada
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Post by Maxwell - F.B.I. on Aug 18, 2009 14:35:39 GMT -5
Right outside Chicago, IL
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