Seattle "art"
Explanation: This
Australian public art in a park reminded me of Seattle art because Seattle art is often very abstract and
sometimes doesn’t even look like art, but can be quite beautiful…or just plain
weird. At least, that’s my opinion.
If you are
curious as to the status of our lost luggage, Qantas did in fact deliver it. However,
they unwrapped some of the presents in my mom’s suitcase that she was saving
for Christmas day (25th for us and the Shanghai Seatons reading this
blog (Uncle Russell, Aunt Tammy, and girls), but 24th for those in Pacific
time). We know that the packages did not just get unwrapped by themselves with
the jostling because we could tell that my mom’s careful wrapping had been
undone, but sloppily rewrapped with TSA tape, as if to say, “Merry Christmas
from the TSA.” One was even left completely unwrapped without any attempt to
rewrap it. This could not have happened without TSA intervention. The airport
staff were probably looking for presents to see if they’d find anything that
looked good and worth “confiscating.” Most of the candy canes were also broken,
but they’ll still taste the same. Our American Pacific Northwest accent sounds like we’re cowboys or movie stars to Australians (Aussies) as they watch Hollywood movies. Although from New Zealand (Kiwi), Josiah Whyte thinks my dad sounds like Tom Cruise. Whenever we walk through town, there is the same music played here that is played in America. Items from the movie Frozen are everywhere in stores. I see little Aussie girls wearing shirts with Anna and Elsa portrayed on the front. Even when I talked with the Swedish and German families on the overnight boat to the Great Barrier Reef, we were able to talk about the same movies. Hollywood is watched worldwide. It’s pretty amazing.
Mrs. Whyte’s New Zealand accent sounds pretty similar to the Aussie accent, but she mimics their accent like how my family sometimes mimics Southern accents for fun. She seems to feel a bit isolated as a Kiwi surrounded by Aussies. She has a certain pride, however. She told us about how she saw several construction workers by the side of the road doing nothing, but there were a few actually working. She said that those few actually working were probably Kiwis because “Kiwis are the Mexicans of Australia.”
After several rounds of hugs, we said goodbye to the Whytes near Brisbane. They are amazing friends and hosts. We will miss them. Mr. Whyte said he really enjoyed the hugs because when he tries to hug his four sons, they sock him.
We arrived in Sydney to start our journey around New Zealand.
The time zone changes frequently now, so I’m now no longer sure how far ahead in time I am compared to those in Pacific time, but I know I’m still around a day ahead.
I also learned the Merengue with Julia as my partner. The instructor had us guess where the Merengue came from and he hinted that it was somewhere in South America. When no one guessed the correct answer, he said this dance originated in the Dominican Republic. I’m not surprised no one guessed that given his hint! The merengue is all about the hips and the arms. I really enjoyed dancing with Julia to the music. At first, we switched who was the leader and who was the follower, but it turns out that Julia likes to lead more and I like to follow more, so we make great dance partners. She gets dizzy spinning, but I like the spinning. The goal of the dance is to get yourself and your optional partner into a pretzel and then manage to gracefully get out of the pretzel. It’s like solving a puzzle as you move to music! The instructor taught us the basic pretzels, and then we were free to make up our own versions.
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