Act III: Melbourne Moments

Pt1: Early Excursions

After far too many hours in transit, I arrived in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.  I'd passed through Immigration in Sydney, where an uncharacteristically friendly officer had struck up a conversation with me about the South African rugby team(!)  I'd had nothing to add and that was rather awkward.  Now in the deep south of the continent, I was to be met with an example of what I lamented earlier: I find Western service ethic less and less attractive.  Boarding the Skybus which would take me into the city, the driver told one passenger how to lay her bag and then repeated his instruction.  She got defensive, which I thought was unnecessary.  A different passenger placed her suitcase in a precarious spot, risking it toppling over during the ride.  The driver asked her to move it and added, "Bit silly to put it there in the first place."  This was again unnecessary, and frightfully rude of someone providing a service.  The longer I've spent away from Western culture, the more I've noticed that a certain set of Westerners are fond of setting people straight, pointing out a better way to behave or a better attitude to which to aspire.  It is not that I prefer Chinese culture, as it too is full of pitfalls.  Wouldn't it be a glorious utopia in which we could sift out the admirable qualities of all cultures and discard the aspects that cause discord?

Arriving at Southern Cross Railway Station, Lourens was waiting for me.  We hopped on a tram - Melbourne is the city with the most trams in the world - and headed to Graduate House, our last accommodation of the trip.  This was also university accommodation, like the one in Sydney, and I'd booked it on the same website.  We were once again on the edge of the university, very close to the city centre, and the price was just as low.  Entering, a man with a mild obsessive disorder greeted us.  He told us our apartment had one room.  I immediately countered that that was not what we'd booked.  There was no way that I was going to share a room - I feel awful about subjecting anyone to my nightly noises and expulsions.  In the end, it was a cultural misunderstanding.  I've lived in Taiwan for so long!  There, a description of a house counts each room, so a two-bedroom place would be advertised as three rooms, including the living area.  Here the man was telling us there was one bedroom, while a sleeper couch was available in the living room.  I felt better.  Lourens offered to sleep in the lounge.  I said let's take turns, I'd sleep there for the last three nights, but he insisted.  Thank you, Lourens!

He then led us up to the room, where he told us how to turn on the electricity, what each item in the kitchen was for, what to do when we needed to use the bathroom.  He was very thorough.  This place was much prettier and much better equipped than Mandelbaum in Sydney, and I fell in love immediately.  Most luxurious of all, the room had its own washing machine and dryer - no more trips to the launderette, no more scrubbing and rinsing!  I was smitten.  But the wonder was not over yet, and neither was the wander.  After showing us around the room, our host took us back downstairs, showed us to the library where we were welcome to sit and read or even borrow a book to take to our room.  Then he showed us to the dining room, where we could get breakfast every morning and dinner on week nights.  This was all included in the fee we'd already paid!  Don't bother with hotels when you visit Melbourne!  Stay at Graduate House!

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 After I'd soaked my epidermis, Lourens and I took a stroll to the nearest Coles Supermarket.  Although breakfast was provided, I did want to have some food in the fridge for in between.  As it turned out, I bought too much and had to forego breakfast on one of the days to finish what I'd bought.  We returned to Graduate House and I fell into a much needed dormancy. 

On Sunday, Lourens and I stormed the city.  We scurried about, taking in the sights.  Then we bought some Western treats to bring back to Taiwan.  I was after Marmite, pickled onions and anchovy paste.  This was to add to the duck liver pate I'd already snuck into my bags from Carrefour in French Polynesia.  We took our purchases back to our room and returned to the city, where we'd meet my cousin, Steph, at Flinders Street Station.  

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 Steph led us to an eclectic array of eateries down some narrow alleys beside the station.  My chicken, avocado, rocket and tomato salad was scrumptious.  As we ate, some topic or other came up about expensive pursuits or purchases.  Steph spouted a wonderful phrase I'd never heard before: "Who has a lazy $60,000 laying around?"  After our meal, we got on a tram towards the University of Melbourne.  We were in search of La Mama Courthouse Theatre, where we'd booked to see Intoxication.  Arriving, we were issued tickets for a raffle, which would be drawn before the show started.  One lucky winner would walk away with a prize.  That lucky winner was ... ME!  I received a book, Contemporary Australian Drama by Leonard Radic. 

This performance was inexpensive, and as such the theatre was basic, though nice.  The set, too, was uncomplicated.  The cast consisted of two men and a woman.  The synopsis read like this:  "Intimacy is dead, and we’re partying with its corpse.  Intoxication is a post-dramatic patchwork that explores how the intense fear of being alone rules modern society, and how one person’s loneliness is symptomatic of everyone’s problem." 

The characters spoke about love angst and the pressures put on relationships by social media.  It was interesting, but not arresting.  Near the end, there was a scene where one of the males was in a mental hospital, reciting a series of five letters to "mummy."  In each letter he became progressively more insane.  Finally, the show ended on a sweet, sentimental note, which I found out-of-place and displeasing.  All in all, the first three quarters were humorous, and there was certainly a lot of truth and insight being spouted, but I didn't care for the last two parts.  An interesting technique was this: one character spoke for a while; for the last few words of his / her lines, another actor joined in and exclaimed the same words simultaneously;  then the new character took over, continuing the thought as it pertained to him / her.  Sometimes all three spoke together to mark the transition to a new character.  This I liked very much.

After the show, Lourens, Steph and I strolled back, deciding along the way that it was "beer o'clock", as Steph put it, and also time to eat dinner.  As we looked for a tavern, a tall, aging Italian put his hand out and said, "Sir!  Stop!"  He then explained why we wanted to eat in his establishment, and completed the logic with an offer of a free drink each.  In we went!  I loved my meal; thereafter, Steph took leave of us and Lourens and I went home.

I quite liked the table top.