Walking in Melbourne

My first day in Melbourne I spent mostly trying to get settled. However, I did arrive at the hostel around 2 PM and even after an hour nap, it left me some considerable time to kill before I would allow myself to go to sleep for the day. I spent a good part of that time reading "In a Sunburned Country," by Bill Bryson. He is a very hilarious and entertaining travel writer who never fails to disappoint with interesting facts and antidotes of his time in places. This book, as you can guess, was dedicated to his travels around Australia and is forming the basis for a lot of my travel goals while in the country. Mr. Bryson, however, has a propensity to go wandering around exotic cities and locales when he has nothing better to do, and so on my first day in Melbourne I felt inspired to do likewise.

Australia, when experienced for the first time is a country apart from others. Bryson himself describes it as "an American-like society hung on a European frame." What I discovered for myself in my wanderings that day and since is that it is a place filled with both the familiar and the exotic. Melbourne is a city, much like any other. I have come to accustom it to a "less-angry" Philadelphia (and I say that with the utmost fondness to the city of brotherly love). Melbourne has a lot of pride about itself, parking in the center of the street, no major subway system, and many back alley streets that look like even a smart car would not be able to fit through. So in that sense the whole place has a strange familiarity to it. It is an English speaking city, after all, with street signs, road-rage, shopping centers, world class restaurants, and a fervor for sports, but there is an unknown strangeness about it as well. For example, here the populace is in love with cricket, horse racing, and a sport called "Footy," which is unlike soccer, rugby, or American football. (I will explain more about the sport in later posts, once I figure it out myself.) The trees are not elm or pine but gum. The parks have even more exotic plants and trees. The bird calls you hear while you walk around are those of birds with funny sounding names like Kookaburra. They do not make the kind of noises and sounds one would hear walking through any city in North America. The street signs are confusing, cars drive on the wrong side of the road, and a public tram system runs down the center of most major streets. That means that when crossing you not only have to make sure you look out for cars coming from unfamiliar directions, but be aware of trams. It is something I am still learning and more than once I have had to quickly move to avoid an unexpected car or tram, (Watch the tram car please).

Even the cars have to give way to the trams and they do so by making a hook turn. This was explained to me by my favorite Aussie, Loz, as a car, when making a right-hand turn (remember that means the car must cross traffic, like one does when making a left in America), that at first the car must pull as far left as possible, so as not to be on the tram tracks, and then proceed to make the right turn when the way is clear. This of course, Loz further explained to me, is why she refuses to drive in the city, which seems a reasonable argument in my opinion.

I have even learned that people here are accustomed to walking on the left as opposed to the right. It was another small detail that takes some getting used to. When walking down the street and approaching another human being coming at me, my initial tendency is to go right (as I am American). My oncoming friend, however, has the initial tendency to go let, which leaves us in a bit of problem as we are still heading for a collision. So I have had to adjust not just the direction I look when crossing a street, but also my habits when walking in general. This is also compounded by the fact that apparently jay-walking in enforced in the city of Melbourne. People can and have gotten fined for not using cross walks, or going while the little red man on the street-light tells you not to. So in other words, I cannot walk like I am in New York City. I cannot afford it.

Victoria, the Garden State? The More things are the same
the more they are different.

Melbourne is also a very cosmopolitan city. It has a large population of immigrant Australians, mostly Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean. That makes it a decidedly diverse city, and it also means that I have a lot of other accents to contend with when when ordering dinner. (Interestingly enough, a Chinese-Australian accent sounds similar but slightly different than a Chinese-American accent.) As for my own opinions, I have come to accept it as sort of mixed blessing. It is always great to see such diversity in the world, as I have always believed that in such diversity lies the key to humanity's success, but on the same token I did come to a country expecting to be surrounded by English spoken in that almost hypnotic Australian accent. I mean if I had wanted to go to a city to experience cultural variety, I could have stayed in New York. After all, my first official meal in Australia was Chinese food... and to answer the questions, it tasted like regular "American" Chinese food, except I could not find any General Tso's chicken... Apparently I am not the only one who has mixed emotions over the situation as, much like America, there is a lot of talk about the immigrant population. Many signs and announcements are written in several languages to cater to the non-English speaking population. The arguments are almost the same that I have heard for years in the States. "Immigrants should be made to learn English." As an outsider from a nation of immigrants, I find it almost amusing, as this discussion seems both familiar and all new. The complaint seems almost universal. However, unlike in America, the arguments here are more likely made over the speaking of Vietnamese rather than Spanish. The variety does give the place a very worldly feel, and as much as I joke it only lends to the feeling of a place with the intermingled familiar and exotic... Besides, maybe this country still needs a bit more diversity, at least until they get a decent General Tso's chicken.