Mupooles / Oz » andrea

If you meet an Aussie on the street, say:

andrea — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:49:26 +0000

Ta: Thanks

Heaps: a lot

Car park: parking garage, parking lot

Way out: exit

Motorway: highway

Dinky di: a true thing, telling the truth

Fair dinkum: genuine

Stubby: A small beer

Pig’s ear: a beer (rhyming slang)

Long black: pseudo-American style black coffee; made by pulling a double shot of espresso over hot water

Flat white: microfoam steamed milk poured over a single or double shot of espresso. Unique to Oz/NZ

The bush: forest/outback/natural areas

Bushranger: escaped convicts of old hiding out in the bush

Cockie: a cockatoo

Bogged: car stuck in the mud

Drover: a cattle driver in the outback; almost non-existent these days

Swag: a bedroll

Bikie: biker gang member

Truckie: truck driver

Parking: having sex in a parked car

Dummy: a baby’s pacifier

Winging: British term for complaining. Apparently, Brits are famous for their winging.

Herbs: with the “H”

That’s all I can recall at this point, but between this and the first Aussie English post, you should be good to go for now. Also, we got a great book for Christmas from Frank Conrow: “A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms” by G.A.Wilkes.

Enter as strangers, leave as family…

andrea — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:38:21 +0000

‘Twas Christmas morn, and we dashed to Bondi Junction to catch the train that would whisk us up to Castle Hill for our first Aussie holiday celebration. La Niña had relented for a moment, erasing the previous month’s cold and rain from our memories and filling us with the joy of the warm Aussie sun.

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One transfer and an hour or so later, we disembarked at the station and made our way to the car park to wait for our ride. A white sedan pulled up shortly after, but not anticipating us for another 10 minutes, the driver did not get out or look up. I made my way carefully over towards the car, pretending to look at the nearby brush so as not to startle the man inside who may or may not have been our awaited chauffeur. But the likeness was unmistakable: Frank Conrow looks just like my Uncle Brown.

I’ll back up a bit. My great Uncle Brown (whose full name is Randsome Brown Conrow) is American by birth but an Aussie by up-bringing. His family moved to Australia when he was 9 months old, and he did not return to the States until after his mother’s death, when he was 25. Sometime after his return, he met my Aunt Claire (my maternal grandmother’s younger sister), and they married. Jobs for chemists were scarce in Australia, so Brown and Claire remained in the US but often traveled out here to visit his brothers and their families. Pam Conrow, pictured with me in an earlier post, is the wife of Brown’s older brother, Bob, who passed away 2 years ago. It was Pam and her children (Brown’s niece and nephews)–Jane, Frank, and Neil–who invited us to join them in a real Aussie Christmas.

One of the first things that Pam explained to me upon presenting the invitation was that it was to be a true Aussie Christmas dinner–all cold foods! Pam, who is now in her mid-80′s, elaborated:

“When I was young, I would watch my mother struggling every year to put together a hot Christmas dinner though it was boiling hot outside. I swore that if I ever got married, I would never make a hot Christmas meal. And I never have!”

Merry Christmas!

andrea — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:00:22 +0000

Merry Christmas everyone! Here in Syd, Christmas wouldn’t be complete without light projections, carols in the Domain (actually, we missed that one, but so did the Wiggles), a neon nativity and David Jones puppetry. With some luck, we’ll even have some sun (elusive of late!) for Christmas day. Missing everyone back home and sending you all love and wishes for a beautiful holiday.

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P.S.– While it may seem glamorous, being away from home, especially for the holidays, is actually pretty tough. Love and letters from friends and family at home make it sooo much better. Please send us some!

This place is for the birds…

andrea — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:15:45 +0000

A recent rainy Sunday found us bundling up and training it out to Springwood, a small town in the Blue Mountains, to visit our dear friend Jon Rose. Jon is a violin player of virtuosic proportions, both in the classical sense and in the world of the avant-garde. We met Jon via High Zero 2010 when he came to Baltimore as one of the festival’s special performers. His work spans years and all sorts of projects (including a wildly fantastical one involving Jon and Hollis caravanning through the desertous regions of the outback to bow pieces of fences built to keep dingos, rabbits, toads, humans and all sorts of creatures from places they shouldn’t be), and I highly recommend that you give his website a thorough look-through. Anyway, as we already knew at that time that we’d be making this move, I spent (way too much) time picking his brain about this fair city.

Upon our arrival in Syd, we’ve been able to meet up with Jon and his (American born) wife, Hollis, who is currently doing her post doc work studying the song of the pied butcherbird. Jon and Hollis’ home in the Blue Mountains, as we found out that Sunday, was a virtual library of Australiana, and Jon’s knowledge of the local birds was quite astounding. We passed a few hours on his couch just talking, drinking wine, and watching the local feathers…

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Jon has also granted us permission to share this short video clip he made for one of his daughters with all of you. The file’s too large to post directly to this site, so Mike is hosting it instead. Check it out here. (You may need QuickTime to play it, or may need to try a different internet browser if it doesn’t initially work.)

From Dec 4, 2011. Photos by Mike. Edits by Andrea. Video by Jon Rose.

Views from the South Head

andrea — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:36:11 +0000

On one of the rare (mostly) sunny days we’ve had of late, Mike and I set out to discover the South Head. For those of you not familiar with the geography of the Sydney area, here’s a little map to get you oriented:

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The South and North Heads to the east of the Sydney region are the landmasses that separate Sydney Harbour (aka, Port Jackson) from the Tasman Sea. It’s precisely this separation and natural protection that enticed James Cook and the original ships here with their hoards of so-called convicts (read “The Fatal Shore” by Robert Hughes– the defining treatise on the conditions in 18th century England and the greater world that led to convict transportation and the horrible human rights atrocities that dominated early Australian life. Academic, but relevant and very interesting!). Today, the Heads serve as sanctuaries for native flora and fauna and as tourist destinations, where one can take in the forest, the cliff-faces, the not-so-distant city, its beaches and harbour all at once.

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From Nov 27, 2011. Photos taken by Mike and Andrea.

Photo Essay: Bushwalking Royal National Park

andrea — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 04:36:15 +0000

Bushwalking Royal National Park from Heathcote Railway Station to Karloo Pools and back.

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Nov 19, 2011. Photos by Mike and Andrea.

Big in Japan

andrea — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 03:00:27 +0000

The annual Big in Japan festival graced Sydney again in November this year, bringing with it 2006 High Zero alum, Fuyuki Yamakawa of Tokyo. His heart stopping (literally) performance wowed us back then, so we were thrilled by the chance to see him again. We contacted him and got ourselves on the guest list for the first night of the fest, a technically invite only night for the Ksubi fashion house. Showing up admirably suited in a dress that was “so two years ago” with my husband whose fashion sense hasn’t changed since 8th grade, we made our entrance and took cover in a back corner until the performances began.

The show opened with Sydneysider, Pia Van Gelder, a noise artista and projectionist whose work is well worth a listen. Her kooky style and manner remind me of a number of B’more friends piled into one body and put me immediately at ease.

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Unfortunately, the fashioniistas didn’t seem to share my perspective and talked loudly through her performance. This was a common theme threading through the night and only got worse as they got drunker. (Did I neglect to mention that the event was sponsored by a Japanese beer company that provided free drinks all night?…)

Next up was a Butoh dancer who used an interesting mix of movement and colored plastic grocery bags (at times placed over her head) to challenge the audience as to the limits of the human form. A couple of fashioniistas standing next to me critiqued her loudly throughout her performance, but she gave barely a glance at them and proceeded to wow me with her often spasmodic gesticulations and sharp grunts and shouts.

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Leave a CommentFuyuki took the stage as we were joined by friend and fellow noise artist, Lucas Abela, and his partner, Keg de Souza, both of Sydney. Lucas has performed in Baltimore on more than one occasion with his blood-smeared contact-mic’d-glass screetch fest, and we’ve been super happy to meet up with him and Keg down here on the flip-side (of the world, that is). Once again, Fuyuki blew us away with his art, and once again, the fashioniistas talked right through it (but you don’t detect any bitterness on my part, do you? no…)

So anyway, Fuyuki. Picture this: early 30′s, long straight black hair with a long face and a dramatic pointed nose. His shirt is off, and he’s taped a contact mic to his chest, over his heart. There is also a contact mic on his nose. Nearby is a stand with a number of large light bulbs, all wired up. A snare drum and electric guitar are also near by. He starts off the performance with an example of Tuvan throat singing combined with percussive thwacks to his forehead, which resonate through the PA. The light bulbs begin to flash, whomp, whomp, whomp, in time to his heart beat. Suddenly, he gasps! and tightly holds his breath….. the bulbs dim down into almost darkness and the heart beat fades away before he gasps again and the bulbs and noise of his heart become a deafening/blinding flood of relief. He hasn’t died, this time. As the performance continues, he adds kicks to the drum and feedback from the guitar into what truly is a spectacle of human endurance. In a later conversation with him, I asked him what his doctor thinks of this performance, to which he replied, “he tells me I cannot do it! But for now, I am ok.”

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Leave a CommentBecause the of the general audience’s ignorance towards the performers and our absolute fascination with his work, we convinced him to do a show later in the week at Lucas’ house along with some other local musicians. Lucas played a noise set with a few of his friends (Lucas in green below on contact mic’d cut crystal–no more blood!), Mike played a duo with Pia as “Pia Mater,” and Fuyuki blew everyone away yet again, but with a respectful and even awe-struck audience this time.

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Leave a CommentFrom Nov 15th and 20th, 2011. Photos by Mike, except one of Lucas by Andrea.

Sculpture by the Sea

andrea — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:41:44 +0000

This exhibit is in its 15th year, running from 3-20 Nov. 100+ sculptures, a cliff-side walk, sun and thousands of people. Top it off with some seaside revelry, good swells, and dudes showing off their tricks on the board, and it’s a pretty idyllic day…

For any Aussies or resident ex-pats viewing this post, it’s located between the south end of Bondi Beach and Tamarama.

PSA

andrea — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:37:28 +0000

I’ve added more terms to my “Australian English” post. Check it out. Still deciding whether to continue to do that or start a new post about it when I get enough new terms. Keep an eye out.

And in that vein, you’ll all be horrified/thrilled (depending on your stance on the issue) to know that I pronounced “herbs” with the “H” last week (a very English thing, as so many Aussie terms are). It just popped out. My Aussie friends cheered. My father informed me that I have 3 years, and then it’s back to herbs with the silent “H”. I may not get an accent while I’m here, but you still might not know what I’m saying when we come home!

SYD Summer

andrea — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 02:32:29 +0000

Hello all. Spring is blossoming into summer, and the temperatures have risen into the high 20′s and occasionally 30′s… Celsius that is! (Translation, 80′s towards 90′s.) I know weather is one of those topics that is generally kind of ho-hum, but considering that so much of our activity is driven by what it’s like outdoors, I find it endlessly fascinating. We have a gorgeous view from our windows that allows us to watch the clouds forming and dispersing, the rain coming across the hillside and the haze of the sun rising in the east in the early morning. And because I have no idea what to expect of the weather patterns here, every change feels like something new.

Mike and I take advantage of it as best we can. This past Sunday, we hit up the Sculpture by the Sea exhibit (photos to come soon), a collection of over 100 sculptures installed along the cliff walk between Bondi Beach and Tamarama to the south. Even at 10:30am, the walkway and sculpture lawn were swarming with people. We eventually left the path and climbed down the cliff to the rocks directly north of Tamarama beach, where we sat and watched the surfers tackling the rather large ocean swells. Still amazing to me… it’s November, and we’re on the beach. Love it.