smiles

I've decided that Australians smile quite differently than Americans. In fact, because they speak so differently, I think their general "mouth gait" (I don't think this is a real expression) is completely different. Australians seem to have a stiffer upper lip and an air about their face that suggests their dialect, whereas Americans have a usually loose upper lip and a different gait that is sometimes mistaken for smugness.

I'm having a tough time putting down on paper my mouth-gait observations, so I shall spend some time reading about FACS to see if I can't describe the differences.

I tested my hypothesis today while looking at people before I heard them spoke. I made accurate predictions most of the time. You're probably thinking, "you're in Australia, if you guess Aussie all the time then you'll most likely succeed." True, but I'm living in a community of about half and half Americans and Australians. Even though all the Americans are all "minorities" it is the Australians who are most friendly towards me. Many of the Yanks socialize in small, closed groups but the Australians are willing to strike up a conversation with me.

Another thing I have noticed is this country's willingness to give out genuine smiles. In the US, when you smile politely at someone, usually they give a "fake" smile back. One of those smiles that's just a flinch of a facial muscle or two, and no eye smile or dimples. You know the kind. They look weird. I don't see them much from Australians -- though this is one device I've been using to figure if someone is a Yank or Aussie.

phd!

Aaah! Son of a...

Jorge Cham, creator of PhD comics (Piled Higher and Deeper), is visiting IU and of course I happen to be out of the damn country.

walking Wollongong

screwy sculpture
Originally uploaded by sidstamm.

I decided to venture out and explore the downtown area of Wollongong today. I figured there *had* to be more to do there than nearby my cell. I took the bus into town, and even though I have a "bus concession" on my student ID, I still had to pay $1.40 for a five minute ride. I decided I would walk back.

At first I was a bit intimidated by the Crown St Mall (the main attraction downtown aside from the lighthouses and beaches). When I got off the bus there were just SHOPS everywhere, and lots of people to boot. I walked through the mall quickly, looking for a cafe where I could park myself and have a coffee. I didn't find any that looked inviting. Either they were too crowded, had no al fresco seating, or ritzy-looking. I walked on.

As I approached the beach, I came up on the "Entertainment Center" that is showcasing Rob Thomas tomorrow night. Near to it was the City Beach. It's a really nice beach with showers and all, but lots of people. I walked on (north towards the lighthouse) and got an eye on some old "nuns baths" (Link to PDF tourguide) where women and children used to bathe. These were natural pools elevated from the surf; it was really hard to get a good picture without a zoom lens (which I lack).

I turned around and walked back towards the mall, stopping at the tourist center to pick up some postcards, then I passed by the art museum (that's the picture in this entry). I have to visit sometime when its open!

Heading back into the mall, I settled on a cafe, had a coffee, and lifted my courage. Touring the shops, I purchased a beach towel that is nearly the size of my bed covers (HUGE!) and began looking for a fan. My room is hot, I need a small window fan. How hot is it? I slept in my skivvies last night on top of the covers with the window wide open -- and still woke up sticky and hot. It was 95 today (Fahrenheit, of course).

Anyway, I'll summarize the rest of my day:

• My cell phone is network-locked, I can't buy a prepaid SIM card for it. This is no big deal, since prepaid is $0.76/minute.


• Places were sold out of fans


• It is more fun to walk back than to take the bus


• 99% of the people on the beach occupy 1% of its area.


• I should learn to surf

A random Aussie dude (studying nanotech) sat by me at dinner today and suggested I visit Queensland and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. I think that sounds great.

I took more pictures (not many more) today. (Link)

red wine and lunch

This morning around 1:30, I woke up because one of my suite-mates brought friends back from some type of cavorting. One of the spent some time in the bathroom (he had drunk too much red wine) and the others hung out in his room with the door open, listening to music and loudly discussing cricket.

This morning I woke to see the bathroom sink stained with red wine.

On a lighter note, here is a photo of my lunch:



My watch appears in the full size image (click the thumbnail) to give size relationship. The watch face is 1.5". My goal for Monday is to make a bigger sandwich. What should I put on it? this one is salami with cheese, tomato, lettuce, sprouts, and mustard.

my prison cell

room-bed
Originally uploaded by sidstamm.

So this is where I try to sleep on my tiny, hard bed. I'm still getting used to the neighbors that are noisy seemingly at random.

I exist!

I officially exist to the Uni. Finally. Now to get the Internet download quota removed...

oz update

Okay, so I got settled in finally last night, and things aren't so bad. This morning, after a hot shower and some sleep, I started feeling better about my situation. Granted, my place of residence threw a party last night for the residents -- nice and loud -- so sleeping was a bit hard (hard, like my bed).

Internet access is completely different in Australia, and I've taken for granted how we do stuff in the US. For one thing, you buy megabytes not bandwidth. In fact, the university puts a cap on how much downloading you can do per semester. This is enforced by crazy web proxy servers and logging gateways, and other things I don't understand because they're blocked. I've found that a machine with full internet access is like gold. I'm currently lucky, staged in a temp office where the IPs are given out manually, and access is not heavily restricted or authenticated. I've become more self-conscious about my web traffic though, and have installed a traffic monitor to make sure I don't eat bandwidth and draw unwanted attention. Not as much can be said about the network in my sleeping quarters (I will call them that, as that is all they are good for). I need a university network account to even USE the network. I tried tons of ports, and they are blocked by the next hop. There is a small subset of IPs not blocked, and they are all UOW.edu.au. I can't even SSH!

Ok, now with the rant done, I will blather about my trip.

I don't know if there's a beach, but I assume so since the plane spent fourteen hours over some sort of big body of water. I must set out to find it on Friday, or maybe tonight. Rumor says it is five minutes from my room.

The long-ass plane ride wasn't too bad, but due to delays my layovers were cut to zero. Sleeping is hard in econo-chairs, but doable. Noise-canceling headphones are key. I met a geologist on the plane; he monitors coastline beaches in WA. Neat guy.

Got to Sydney airport, waited for my ride, who made me wait another hour and a half for another flight (and another customer). Met a mining-equipment company executive who gave me some sights to see in Wollongong. He was from Pittsburgh.

Got to my new accomodations, and someone else was living there. Left my luggage at the office, walked to campus (35 minutes) and found people. I was in a haze all day, and kind of angry.

This morning things are better, or at least my mood is. I have a place to sleep (although a bit too far to walk to campus -- I have to buy bus tickets), I have food paid for, I have a temporary office, a tolerable financial situation, and the university is working on giving me a network account so I can have Internet in my room.

geekboy down under

I made it to Australia. I'm in rather poor spirits due to some serious mix-ups that happened with my lodging, but hopefully once I have a bed and get sleep I will feel better.

I'll post more later.