Turkey Day

I threw my first Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, with turkey and the works. It's probably a good thing that I did it in Australia since Aussies and my other international student friends don't celebrate it and wouldn't really know if the food is as good as it should be! But it was a pretty good practice run.

Preparing for the dinner (i.e., getting all the ingredients) gave me a sense of what it must have been like to be an immigrant prior to international trade and globalization. There were few turkeys to be found and certainly none as big as those we find at home. I managed to find one about 8lbs at Queen Victoria market's meat section. We fed 12 people.

I had wanted to make an apple and chestnut stuffing, but 'tisn't the season for chestnuts here (since it's heading into summer), which, I just realized, means they can't sing about chestnuts roasting over an open fire--at least not at Christmas... Anyway, I had to just make apple stuffing instead. I had hoped to make pecan and pumpkin pie, too, but I couldn't find pecans that didn't cost me an arm and a leg and they don't sell canned pumpkin here (they don't even know what pumpkin pie is--so sad!). But I managed to acquire both when I went to a Thanksgiving dessert party thrown by a former Rotary scholar from Mississippi, so I was very happy. Apparently, there is a USA food store that has all sorts of American food, but it is very expensive.


Can't wait to eat the leftovers... Hope you all had a good one.

SUMMER VACATION!!!

Woohoo! Had my last exam today! I'm officially on summer vacation, which goes until February 26. My first real summer vacation in ten years. Very exciting.

I will, however, be taking two summer courses for two weeks in January, but this is good because that means I only have to take two in my last semester.

The rest of the time, I plan to work part-time and enjoy myself.

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

November 7 in Melbourne

While people across the United States were voting for their favorite congressmen/women on November 7, people in Melbourne and throughout Australia were betting on their favorite horses. The Spring Racing Carnival began October 5 and goes until November 23, with races and related events throughout the state of Victoria. But the most famous race is the Melbourne Cup, which always falls on the first Tuesday of November, just like Election Day. The race is so important to Victorians that it's actually a state holiday--Melbourne Cup Day.

Well, I always thought it would be fun to go to a horse race after I saw Pretty Woman--just to get dressed up, of course!--so I did. I didn't actually go on Melbourne Cup Day. I went two days later (Nov 9) on Crown Oaks Day. And the races are just as much, if not more, about the fashion. The women enter competitions for the best dressed, where at least 50% of the judgment is probably based on the head-dress.

Here is this year's winner (left):

That's a bird cage on her head. She made it herself, and her dress, too!

Another jaw-dropping pair:


My get-up was considerably more modest...




It is a HUGE event, and there were over 100,000 people there.


With my general admission ticket, this is about all the horse racing I saw:


Here are the other ladies I went with (there were a couple of guys, too, but no good pics with them).

Why I'm proud to be (South) Korean

South Koreans sure do find unique ways of drawing the world's attention. But I have to say I'm glad because my next visit is sure to be more pleasant.

South Korean Leads Restroom Revolution

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 17, 2006

SUWON, South Korea (AP) -- Sim Jae-duck was born in a bathroom, which could explain why he is so interested in keeping them clean.

Now, the South Korean politician with those humble roots is leading a movement to beautify the world's toilets in a restroom revolution he insists should not be the target of jokes, but a serious effort that demands global attention -- touching on weighty issues from water usage to public health.

Sim is chairman of the World Toilet Association, which plans to hold its inaugural general assembly in Seoul in November 2007, seeking to join representatives of at least 50 nations to discuss the state of their public restrooms.

Koreans once believed that giving birth in bathrooms would mean children would enjoy long lives. When it was time for Sim's mother to deliver, she knew right where to go.
Having faced crowds who laugh at his title, Sim acknowledges people dislike speaking publicly about what they do behind closed bathroom doors.

''Many people realize that this is a serious issue, but I think they are hesitant to talk about it,'' the 67-year-old said Friday during a ''toilet tour'' for journalists around his native city of Suwon, which he represents in parliament and also has served as mayor.

Some 2 million people die each year -- including 4,500 children a day -- from diseases related to a lack of access to clean water, a problem faced by 40 percent of the world's population, the WTA said, citing statistics from the World Health Organization.

People spend an average of three years of their lives in bathrooms, according to the WTA, and half of personal water usage daily takes place there.

South Korea has not been previously known as a paradise for public restrooms. A Korean proverb suggests what mothers-in-law and outhouses have in common: the farther away, the better.

But the country was forced to undergo a toilet transformation before hosting the 1988 Olympics and co-hosting the 2002 World Cup with Japan.

''From very stinking, dirty facilities, the restrooms have become very clean, very hygienic -- it's actually become a cultural space,'' said Kim Woo-tae, public relations chief for the WTA.
South Korea is not resting on its success.

A vision of tomorrow's toilets is on show in Suwon, some 30 miles south of Seoul, where Sim's campaign to revamp restrooms earned him the nickname ''Mayor Toilet.''

Next to the city's landmark Hwaseong Fortress, a showcase bathroom boasts classical music activated by a ceiling motion sensor, displays of artificial flowers, sitting areas, solar-powered electronic ''occupied'' indicators on stall doors, and toilets with views of an enclosed garden.

''We want to hear Vivaldi, we want to see Picasso where we're in the restroom,'' Kim said.
Other public bathrooms in the city have similar features, each with a unique architectural design incorporating its surroundings. For example, a restroom at the Suwon World Cup Stadium is shaped like a giant soccer ball.

''I love coming here, this is part of my routine,'' said 72-year-old Paik Myo-sook, stepping out of the stall of one of her city's showpiece bathrooms. In her lifetime, she said she had seen bathroom facilities develop from a couple of boards placed over a hole to today's wonders. Sim said the idea for the worldwide campaign began for him with the country's World Cup bid, but became a passion as he realized that the lowly loo was in need of an international champion.

There is a rival bathroom body -- the World Toilet Organization, or WTO -- but Sim insists it lacks the backing of governments that he is trying to assemble under the WTA. The South Korean government is a strong supporter of WTA, pumping in some $5 million this year alone.

Bringing Halloween down under

Halloween has come and gone with not so much as a quiet boo here in Melbourne. No decorations or stacks of candy for trick-or-treaters in the grocery store, and no trick-or-treaters! Only a mention here and there on TV, including a Halloween episode of the Simpsons. Since Australians don't really make a fuss over Halloween, Kendra (my housemate) and I decided to give them a taste of it, North American style. Last Saturday, we had a Halloween-Housewarming party, with the works--costumes, scary decorations, and candy, of course!

As cultural ambassadors, we decided to be distinctively Canadian and American in our costumes.



















And it hardly cost us a cent to put together! But the Aussies were perplexed because our costumes weren't scary. They all seemed to think that the only appropriate Halloween costumes were ghosts, goblins, witches, the grim reaper, etc.

Finding decorations took some effort. The big orange pumpkins, which are so ubiquitous in North America this time of year, are a bit of a novelty here, and we didn't find any at our local markets. So we made jack-o-lanterns with some butternut squash, which is much less amenable to carving because the entire upper half is not hollow and it's quite hard.


We learned that Aussies have adapted to the lack of jack-o-lantern pumpkins another way--carving oranges. One of our guests brought one for us. I thought that was so cute!


But eventually we acquired a proper pumpkin to carve from one of Kendra's co-workers, so we were finally content.



Here are some of the other characters that showed up...

footy player

nerd

left to right: cat, an Aussie(?), Indiana Jones, Oliver Twist

the gold digger

mardi gras parader and pirate

Now, on to Thanksgiving!