2. understand the country's and city's culture/ customs
I hope to understand more about Australian's culture, for example, how are the streets like, how do the people dress, what is the weather, what are their personalities, and how do they behave.
I find that there are many street performers/entertainers in both Sydney and Melbourne. The street performances varies in nature; singing is the most seen, playing various types of musical instruments, street painting and balloon twisting.
Through out all the places, I observed that Circular Quay and Westfield Shopping Centre are the places with most street performers. On day 3 in Sydney after we visited Taronga Zoo, we had the chance to walk around in Circular Quay, an Italian artist impressed me the most. He used chalk pastels on canvas to draw a large painting. The photo was really detailed and on day 5, when I returned there again, he was still there, painting with passion under the big sun. The family playing guitar was seen in both days too, so I guess they might be performing for living.
I find that there are many street performers/entertainers in both Sydney and Melbourne. The street performances varies in nature; singing is the most seen, playing various types of musical instruments, street painting and balloon twisting.
Through out all the places, I observed that Circular Quay and Westfield Shopping Centre are the places with most street performers. On day 3 in Sydney after we visited Taronga Zoo, we had the chance to walk around in Circular Quay, an Italian artist impressed me the most. He used chalk pastels on canvas to draw a large painting. The photo was really detailed and on day 5, when I returned there again, he was still there, painting with passion under the big sun. The family playing guitar was seen in both days too, so I guess they might be performing for living.
Photos taken in Circular Quay
Street performers in Circular Quay
Another hot spot full of street performers is at the main street outside the Westfield Shopping Centre in Melbourne, we went there on day 9, in our free time. A big crowd of people gathered to watch their performance and I asked one of the singing performer, who I recognized, Tom Ward, he was from the Australian's got talents show of why is it so popular for people to perform on the street. I learnt from him that, Australians are encourage to perform in public places to demonstrate their talents and they could make money out of that, and they are not fear of what they are doing, they feel honored instead.
Photos taken in Westfield Shopping Centre (left- Tom Ward)
Australians tend to be outgoing. When our group was taking a group photo on the train, we were amazed that some young locals put forth their head and joined into our photo. We grabbed the chance and chat with them from the fish market station to Central station. I took this precious train ride and talked with them about their daily lives. When we are in the restaurants, in the shops and asking for directions, the cashiers asked us where we come from.
In both cities, I noticed that there are a huge difference between us (as tourists) and the local people there in terms of dressing. Our outfit look more stylish, more layers; in contrast, they were more casual, men mostly wear polo shirts, shorts and sneakers while women wears tee/ tops, shorts, and thongs. I talked to Yan and Andrew about this and they told me they know about fashion too but they prefer dressing in comfort which suits the weather.
Photo taken in Sydney
Shows the casual wear of Australians |
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Sunbathe
When we walked around the parks or just on the streets, I could see people lying down for sunbathe. I looked at how relaxed they are and how delighted they feel to be under the big shinning sun. This shows that Australians are casual and would do whatever they want as to be comfortable, they do not mind lying down on the street to absorb sun light. |
Keep order
Throughout the trip, I observed that Australians keep order all the time. They would line up when they are waiting to be served, or waiting for entering a theater, restaurants, zoo. When our group was heading to the ferry leaving the Taronga Zoo, we had to cross a bridge while it was the same path to the entrance of the zoo. The Australians there stopped us from going through, we explained we were just heading to the pier, not the zoo, they did not believe us and stopped us, so we were stuck in the line. Also, when queuing in the line of the train or waiting to be served, no one cuts into the line. This would never happen in Hong Kong if there is a line more than ten people or a small group of people in the street. rom this experience, we knew Australians deem keep order seriously and do not like people cutting in line. |
Greetings
In the book, Australian: Langauge & Culture by Paul Smitz, Barry Blake 2007. They claimed in Australian culture, it is generally not polite to ask people their name to start a conversation. But I found that not true when I met Yan and Andrew. Both of them asked my name at the very beginning. Therefore, just by reading books about Australian culture, it is not one hundred percent reliable and they might only be referring to formal social settings. |
Diverse ethnicity
In Sydney and Melbourne, I guess around 20 percent of the residents are not Australian in ethnicity, some are Mandarin, Vietnamese, Korean, Cantonese, Italian and Indian. I did not observed nor experienced any discrimination, moreover, different ethnicity of people are working in the same shop/ restaurant. This shows that both cities are very open to other ethnicity and they are used to live in this cross cultural lives. |
In Sydney, we experienced spring, summer, fall, winter in one day, the temperature difference was really large. In the morning it was really cold and at noon, it turns really cold, then the temperature drops gradually till midnight. In general, Sydney's weather is warm and temperate. On the other hand, Melbourne was hotter, the average degree in that week was around 30, and there was one noon which was 39 degree.
After much observations in both cities, I have achieved the goals to understand their culture deeper. I understood that street performers are common, Australians tend to be outgoing, dress in comfort, likes sunbathing, keep in order, call people in their first names, lives in a diverse cultural society without discriminating, and Australia's weather is warm.