Melbourne,
Australia
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
So I landed safely in melbourne and thanks in part to my long legs, and in part to my fast walking family upbringing, I was the first to hit customs. Forty minutes later, I was the last to leave customs. Apparently, it's unusual for artist/engineers to travel from the other side of the world to come to Australia for only two weeks and then arrive alone with no plans, hotel address, names of friends, or knowledge of the city. I mentioned I had family that I had never met nor contacted, but that didn't really seem to appease their caution. I don't think my respose,"I heard there where some tall trees somewhere around here, I might see those." helped the cause much either. Fortunatly, the inspectors where polite, and the zipper opening remained a baggage affair. I have to say, it feels kind of nice to have someone take such an active interest in what you say. In most conversations, you could contradict yourself every two minutes and no one would really care, but with customs officials, even the slightest curiosity or duplicity gets confronted. He even took the time to flip through every page of my sketch book (It's probably a good thing I'm not into drawing marijuana leaves or writing things like "I Love Smuggling Cocaine up my ass!"...thats a big probably) He finally seemed to be satisfied by my coherent, albeit convoluted profile, and even offered up advice on places to go and what to see. I think the breaking point was when I mentioned that my mother grew trees for a living. His girlfriend, as it turns out, is a horticulturist, and after a brief converstion about the dutch elm disease situation back home, he was all smiles.
I've just been wandering around the backstreets of the city for the past four hours and I'm not really sure where I am exactly. What I do know is that Melbourne as a whole reminds me of Chicago. Cultural diversity, thousands of restraunts to choose from, and expansive park space are just a few of the common traits I've noticed thus far. The buildings here aren't quite as tall, and the ground isn't quite as flat, but the bustling streets, and mostly pleasant aroma of the dinner crowd coming to life stings my memory and settles my conscience to such a degree that I keep having to remind myself that I really am on the other side of the world (as if it really mattered).
