On the edge
unsure of consequence.
Bottom invisible
smothered in mist.
Time to make the jump.
Toss caution like a dry bone
to the furious taunting gusts.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Friday, December 2, 2016
Observations from Oz
Well, I told myself I'd write a new blog post today, and one of my friends suggested a while back that I write about my experience so far in the great southern land. So, I think I'll do just that. Since writing in paragraphs would probably lead to many yawn-inducing digressions, I'll stick to bullet points for your sake, dear reader.
- Australia loves sports with a passion. I found this out pretty fast :)
- At first, I thought gum trees were pretty ugly and scraggly looking. But they're actually quite beautiful. Instead of losing leaves, they lose bark. Their leaves are a really nice colour, especially in the spring.
- I've seen a surprisingly small amount of dangerous wildlife. Unless you're looking for trouble, you probably won't find it. That being said, the relatively harmless huntsman spiders on the ceiling are still a bit unnerving.
- You get used to the accents pretty quickly, to the point where you may not even notice them after a while. Some people have stronger accents than others, which can make conversation a bit awkward occasionally. Asking someone to repeat themselves for the third time starts to make you feel bad, so sometimes you might just nod and pretend to understand.
- Australia might be a more outgoing country than Canada. People will still sometimes talk to each other or the bus driver on the bus, and making new friends doesn't seem to be much of a problem, especially when you have something like sports in common.
- Most things are a lot more informal. It's normal to call pretty much everyone by their first names - even nicknames. Took a bit of getting used to, since I still wanted to call them "Mr. ___" and "Mrs. ___ " or "Professor ___" in my mind. Even now it still feels a bit weird and borderline disrespectful sometimes, because of my cultural background.
- The Australian parliament is a lot more rowdy and entertaining than the Canadian one. Creative insults can be quite amusing to listen to on the radio, although it may take longer for legislation to get passed as a result.
- Swear words of any nature are generally considered more acceptable. North American television, for example, is still more filtered than in Australia when it comes to language.
- There are many more cafés than in Canada. On the main road near my house, I'm pretty sure there's three or four on a short stretch. The coffee is almost always high quality, though you pay a little more than Tim Horton's. I get the impression donuts aren't as popular, but there's plenty of other baked goods to make up for it.
- There are far fewer giant companies in Tasmania than Ontario. Hundreds of little shops selling specialty products. Instead of Chapter's, you have little cozy book shops like Birchall's.
- Meat pies are amazing, and I don't know why they haven't caught on elsewhere in the world. It is what it sounds like: meat in a small pie crust. Goes well with tomato sauce (ketchup...)
- Winter is very mild in comparison to inland Canada. It just gets a bit darker and wetter for a month or two. Snow usually only falls in the highlands, where there's a couple skiing places.
- The weather can be extreme at times, with large floods some months, and crippling drought.
- Networking is a lot more important here. If you know people, you'll have a much easier time.
- Shops close earlier here. Places in Canada might be open until I don't know, 9? 10? Many places here close sometimes around 5, which is nice for the workers, but a bit stressful if you need to grab something last-minute.
- Very few large "pick-ups." Instead, they have utes. It's hard to describe since utes can look pretty different from each other at times. But imagine pick-ups from the 80s or 90s, except tougher looking and maybe longer.
- Manual transmission is still alive and well in Australia. Most people I know either drive manual or would know how to if they had to. In Canada, automatic is generally the norm now from what I remember. Manual vehicles were usually older, sports cars, or large trucks.
- Roads in Tasmania are a lot narrower. It's occasionally a bit scary. I'm always a little bit nervous that I'll hit something on my left side like a guard rail or post box. Even the largest highways usually only have two lanes in each direction.
- Speed limits here sometimes seem more like challenges than actual maximum speeds. What I mean is, the speed limit might be 100 on a winding road through a forest, while going 100 on that road would probably be very unsafe.
- That being said, the police are apparently a lot more strict about obeying the speed limit overall. In Ontario at least, almost everyone went 10 (sometimes 15) over the limit without getting into any trouble, especially on the freeways.
- Australia has a vibrant underground music scene that gets very little exposure overseas from what I can tell. Partially because of this, people don't care about foreign artists as much as in Canada.
- Everything is a lot more socialized overall. It sometimes seems you can get government benefits for almost anything, if you're willing to put in the effort to apply.
- University education is a lot easier financially for Australian citizens. There's a system in place where you don't have to pay tuition until after university when you have a fairly high paying job. Then it comes off of your income. There's more to it, but I'm simplifying. As you can imagine, this takes away quite a bit of stress on students, compared to the US and Canada.
- The stars are incredible on clear nights, especially in Tasmania. I think this can be partially attributed to the low amount of light pollution, since the street lights are generally less bright and less dense than in Canada.
- Islamic terrorism hasn't hit hard here thankfully, even in the biggest cities. Launceston feels like a very safe place to live overall - though land slippage could be a concern if we got a crazy amount of rain.
- Lots of Australians seem to love British Columbia- especially the mountains. If you're ever at Whistler (or some other big ski resorts) and listening closely, I reckon you'd probably hear some Australians.
- I think Australia is probably more anti-American than Canada. They're the subject of a lot more jokes and mockery here. As a Canadian, I feel a bit caught in the cross-fire at times.
- In Tasmania at least, a two hour drive is considered a long drive. In Canada, our family did more than a few 8 hour driving days on vacation. In Western Canada, I've been on 12 hour road trips driving through the night before, taking shifts. Getting coffee at a drive-thru at 2AM is hard to forget.
- Australia seems a lot more connected to China than Canada, which makes sense given the geography. From what I've read online, there's a bit of fear concerning China's economic expansion.
- Way less sugar in the food. I don't notice it anymore, but if I go back sometime it might be a bit of a shock.
All that being said, Australia's a great place to live and I'm really looking forward to getting to know the place better over the coming years. Every move is a new opportunity to meet new people from different backgrounds and learn about another culture (or sub-culture).
- Australia loves sports with a passion. I found this out pretty fast :)
- At first, I thought gum trees were pretty ugly and scraggly looking. But they're actually quite beautiful. Instead of losing leaves, they lose bark. Their leaves are a really nice colour, especially in the spring.
- I've seen a surprisingly small amount of dangerous wildlife. Unless you're looking for trouble, you probably won't find it. That being said, the relatively harmless huntsman spiders on the ceiling are still a bit unnerving.
- You get used to the accents pretty quickly, to the point where you may not even notice them after a while. Some people have stronger accents than others, which can make conversation a bit awkward occasionally. Asking someone to repeat themselves for the third time starts to make you feel bad, so sometimes you might just nod and pretend to understand.
- Australia might be a more outgoing country than Canada. People will still sometimes talk to each other or the bus driver on the bus, and making new friends doesn't seem to be much of a problem, especially when you have something like sports in common.
- Most things are a lot more informal. It's normal to call pretty much everyone by their first names - even nicknames. Took a bit of getting used to, since I still wanted to call them "Mr. ___" and "Mrs. ___ " or "Professor ___" in my mind. Even now it still feels a bit weird and borderline disrespectful sometimes, because of my cultural background.
- The Australian parliament is a lot more rowdy and entertaining than the Canadian one. Creative insults can be quite amusing to listen to on the radio, although it may take longer for legislation to get passed as a result.
- Swear words of any nature are generally considered more acceptable. North American television, for example, is still more filtered than in Australia when it comes to language.
- There are many more cafés than in Canada. On the main road near my house, I'm pretty sure there's three or four on a short stretch. The coffee is almost always high quality, though you pay a little more than Tim Horton's. I get the impression donuts aren't as popular, but there's plenty of other baked goods to make up for it.
- There are far fewer giant companies in Tasmania than Ontario. Hundreds of little shops selling specialty products. Instead of Chapter's, you have little cozy book shops like Birchall's.
- Meat pies are amazing, and I don't know why they haven't caught on elsewhere in the world. It is what it sounds like: meat in a small pie crust. Goes well with tomato sauce (ketchup...)
- Winter is very mild in comparison to inland Canada. It just gets a bit darker and wetter for a month or two. Snow usually only falls in the highlands, where there's a couple skiing places.
- The weather can be extreme at times, with large floods some months, and crippling drought.
- Networking is a lot more important here. If you know people, you'll have a much easier time.
- Shops close earlier here. Places in Canada might be open until I don't know, 9? 10? Many places here close sometimes around 5, which is nice for the workers, but a bit stressful if you need to grab something last-minute.
- Very few large "pick-ups." Instead, they have utes. It's hard to describe since utes can look pretty different from each other at times. But imagine pick-ups from the 80s or 90s, except tougher looking and maybe longer.
- Manual transmission is still alive and well in Australia. Most people I know either drive manual or would know how to if they had to. In Canada, automatic is generally the norm now from what I remember. Manual vehicles were usually older, sports cars, or large trucks.
- Roads in Tasmania are a lot narrower. It's occasionally a bit scary. I'm always a little bit nervous that I'll hit something on my left side like a guard rail or post box. Even the largest highways usually only have two lanes in each direction.
- Speed limits here sometimes seem more like challenges than actual maximum speeds. What I mean is, the speed limit might be 100 on a winding road through a forest, while going 100 on that road would probably be very unsafe.
- That being said, the police are apparently a lot more strict about obeying the speed limit overall. In Ontario at least, almost everyone went 10 (sometimes 15) over the limit without getting into any trouble, especially on the freeways.
- Australia has a vibrant underground music scene that gets very little exposure overseas from what I can tell. Partially because of this, people don't care about foreign artists as much as in Canada.
- Everything is a lot more socialized overall. It sometimes seems you can get government benefits for almost anything, if you're willing to put in the effort to apply.
- University education is a lot easier financially for Australian citizens. There's a system in place where you don't have to pay tuition until after university when you have a fairly high paying job. Then it comes off of your income. There's more to it, but I'm simplifying. As you can imagine, this takes away quite a bit of stress on students, compared to the US and Canada.
- The stars are incredible on clear nights, especially in Tasmania. I think this can be partially attributed to the low amount of light pollution, since the street lights are generally less bright and less dense than in Canada.
- Islamic terrorism hasn't hit hard here thankfully, even in the biggest cities. Launceston feels like a very safe place to live overall - though land slippage could be a concern if we got a crazy amount of rain.
- Lots of Australians seem to love British Columbia- especially the mountains. If you're ever at Whistler (or some other big ski resorts) and listening closely, I reckon you'd probably hear some Australians.
- I think Australia is probably more anti-American than Canada. They're the subject of a lot more jokes and mockery here. As a Canadian, I feel a bit caught in the cross-fire at times.
- In Tasmania at least, a two hour drive is considered a long drive. In Canada, our family did more than a few 8 hour driving days on vacation. In Western Canada, I've been on 12 hour road trips driving through the night before, taking shifts. Getting coffee at a drive-thru at 2AM is hard to forget.
- Australia seems a lot more connected to China than Canada, which makes sense given the geography. From what I've read online, there's a bit of fear concerning China's economic expansion.
- Way less sugar in the food. I don't notice it anymore, but if I go back sometime it might be a bit of a shock.
All that being said, Australia's a great place to live and I'm really looking forward to getting to know the place better over the coming years. Every move is a new opportunity to meet new people from different backgrounds and learn about another culture (or sub-culture).
Friday, October 21, 2016
Some of My Bookmarks
Hey everyone, thought I'd do something a little bit different today and share 10 of the many websites that I've bookmarked over the years. I'll also give a short explanation as to why I bookmarked them.
This is a great website if you want to make travel plans. It shows how to get from where you are to almost anywhere in the world. Probably not the best place to book plane tickets from or anything, but it's super cool for checking out possible routes and ways of getting places. It'll give you a list of transport options (eg. plane, car, train, etc.) as well as their estimated prices.
This may be a bit geeky, but I really enjoy checking the weather so I know what to expect when making plans. Weatherzone is generally fairly reliable as far as I can tell and has some cool features like wind maps and temperature records from previous years.
Another slightly geeky bookmark. I love Google Maps for finding directions to places, but it's also got that really cool feature known as Street View. You can check out 3D pictures from roads all over the world. In one day you can explore locations as diverse as Siberia, Indonesia, Ireland, South Africa, Brazil, and New Zealand. Not the same as actually traveling, but still pretty awesome.
This is a good place to go if you're not sure whether you should go watch a movie or not. The people at pluggedin write movie and music reviews from a Christian perspective, looking at things like sexual content, violent content, blasphemy, etc. I don't always agree with them, but I do appreciate their discerning spirit. My only caution is their reviews of Christian stuff- I think they're sometimes a bit too nice when it comes to bad acting and theological problems... :P
This is a Christian comic website. I think the comics are generally done quite well. Usually the focus is on making the reader think about a theological issue from a Reformed perspective. Because of the serious subject matter, most of the comics can't really be called "funny" but I like them because they make me think. My only big issue with the author is that he sometimes has depictions of Jesus, breaking the second commandment.
With this website you can watch airplanes that are flying in your area, or anywhere else in the world. I sometimes use it to see where a flight over my house came from and where it's going. Most of the time I use it to see where my parents are flying over when they're traveling.
I use this website to keep up to date on some of the major international issues facing the world. Usually their articles are quite interesting. The only thing I don't like is you can only read one or two articles a day, and there's always a pop-up window to subscribe when you first get on.
This is another geeky bookmark. This website shows snow and ice coverage for the Northern Hemisphere. I use it to see whether it has snowed back in Canada, and how far south the snow is reaching during the depths of the northern winter.
Yes, another slightly geeky bookmark. Kind of a common theme here. This website is super cool because it shows when the sun is going to rise and set on any given day. For example, Launceston will have 13 hours and 29 minutes of daylight today, with a sunrise at 6:12 AM and a sunset at 7:41 PM. Maybe not extremely useful information, but could come in handy if you felt like watching the sunrise or sunset.
One of the best websites defending young-earth creationism. Lots of neat articles that show how evolutionists and creationists can look at some of the same facts and draw different conclusions because of their underlying beliefs. All kinds of interesting trivia.
Well, those are 10 of my bookmarks! What kind of websites do you like to revisit?
Friday, October 7, 2016
The Awestruck Astronaut
Out there in space they
watch the ball spin round and round.
Silence.
And Beauty.
The tiny blue marble
with all its tiny people.
And He gives us breath.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Exposure
Secrets like winter jackets
you give them away,
yourself exposed.
Is it worth it?
Worth it...?
It could be,
it might be.
Refreshing air and
open spaces.
Trust can bring you
adventures,
deeper friendship,
loyal faces.
Throw off fear and brave the winds.
Friday, July 8, 2016
Grey Sky Country
Clouds shuffle in,
obeying the roll call,
each one a stranger from distant seas.
Waves lap the shores,
gentle heralds of the rising storm.
The men humbly bring the boats in,
as the rain begins to spill.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
The Airport
The smell of the carpet.
Those windows of glass.
The smell of coffee brewing in the café.
The high ceilings and light colours.
The rush of the take off.
That final touchdown.
The mingling of people
from all corners
of the globe.
The airport.
The gateway
to home,
whether old or new.
Friday, January 22, 2016
Assorted Poems From High School Hallways (2)
Crescent moon in blue cloud sky
like silent loon without a sigh.
Carpet floors across from carpet floors,
metal door next to metal door,
book upon book upon book,
and students in the hall.
Walking through the halls of time
spotting friends to make a rhyme.
Rain drops drip
from clouds that tip
towards the west
of Maine.
Green leaves fall
upon the forest floor
from oak trees tall
of ancient lore.
Outside the window
lies green field,
students running
after dreams.
Once upon a time,
a small green lime
bought with nickel and a dime,
a dime and nickel, yes, a dime,
the price for a lime,
back in the time.
Three bars across the ceiling
shed light upon the room.
They are not wide, but they are long,
each school day witness to a song.
Voices out the window,
my teacher with his paper.
All these things I notice
as the summer wavers.
Do mountains soar for no reason,
are butterflies in vain?
No, no I say to you,
the mountains soar for God,
the butterflies His glory.
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