Blogging once more..........

Well, lets see how THIS goes, shall we? I am planning on a weekly blog (because, lets face it, who wants to hear my rubbish on a daily basis??) - but we're all in the Lord's hands.........


Australia is a wonderful, and yet - still - incredibly provincial place. Out here, you still feel as if you are indeed living at the ends of the earth; and that the rest of humanity is merely a theoretical construct.

The earthiness of North America?? Derided!

The cultural brilliance of Europe? Meh.

The passion of South America? Huh?

I am delighted to be married to a wonderful man who I love and adore; and yet, it hasn't quite sunk in that he is actually married to anyone but a "recent Australian". He has no concept of where I come from, or what it is to be Canadian, or even that "Canada" is anything more than a vague idea. He has no interest in any place other than Australia, and cultures outside of Australia are "nice", but not quite.......... real. He hasn't the slightest interest in Canada, or Canadian culture (except that his son really likes maple candy); and my identity as a Canadian is a matter of supreme indifference here in Oz.

I may as well come from the moon.

But that's fairly typical of Australians, as I have found (or perhaps it is typical of "Queenslanders" alone?).

I am not sure what to make of it.

I know that Australians like to think of themselves as "more Canadian than American"; but that's rubbish. Australians are incredibly American, in that (Like Americans) anything not "Australian" (read: American) doesn't count.

You're welcome as long as you don't rock the boat. You're welcome as long as you leave whoever you were "back in the old country" behind. Nothing you do overseas will count in Australia. It truly is "Terra Nullius" (Nobody's Land).

But they are a warm and happy people. They have a strong sense of self - and if you're not Australian, well....... you'd better be.

Fast.

If you're a Frenchman that's just won the Nobel Prize in Physics and decided to settle in Brisbane - well, nobody cares. You'd better learn to speak English, and if you want to teach Physics at Griffiths University - you'd better tender a good resume. Your Nobel Prize will be seen as some foreign thingie; and you'll have to PROVE yourself as Australian.

Its exciting, and depressing all at the same time: if you are a failure, you will get a clean start in Australia - which is wonderful. But if you were successful elsewhere, you won't get any credit for it here. You will be starting (yet again) from ground zero.

Again - I am not sure what to make of that.