It's about 7 o'clock Monday evening here in Perth. It's 28 degrees and the sun is just about to set. It's been a pretty eventful week so far. Went to the zoo, tried in vein to surf, and I look like a red cow with this blotched tan. It was my 23rd birthday last Sunday, so Matt and I had a couple of brews on the beach and fish n' chips for lunch. Considering I'm about the furthest from home I could ever be I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing day. The beaches here are glorious and vast. You can walk them 'til your feet fall off and they still trail far off beyond the horizon. I love swimming in the ocean and have gained so much more respect for H2O. The waves are so powerful - got tossed like a ragdoll on several occasions!
While the landscapes and oceanviews here verge on the sublime, the same cannot be said for a large portion of Perth's inhabitants - a very large portion whom I believe border on retardation. Sorry if this sounds offensive to some, but every city in the world has this demographic. Perth's demographic just happens to be more bloatedly hypervisible than anywhere I've been to this point. These are the type of people who pick fights on trains, swear at their mothers, eat KFC 4 times a day and suck each other's faces in the middle of the town square. I have been witness to several of these shameful displays of affection and aggression and I simply cannot omit these observations for the sake of upholding the Canadian reputation for courtesy and goodwill. In no way am I trying to cast a dismal shadow over the rest of Australia - Perth is the only Aussie city I've been to so far and there are some very nice people here too, of course - but after being in much poorer parts of Asia, one might expect a little first world behaviour in this brand of paradise. Don't get me wrong, I'm no prude. I loved how interesting Indonesia was with all of its corruption and deception, but the people there had so much dignity when they weren't swindling for their livelihood. In a very general sense, it seems that the populations who cling to survival are much more prioritizing and efficient than the ones lavishing themselves in excess. Anyways, I'm done railing on Perthians. It's not an Aussie thing, it's a human thing.
On a somewhat contradictory note, Wednesday I'm going to Adelaide to visit an old friend of my Mom and Dad's. They're originally from Canada but have live in the land of Oz for more than a decade. These folks are incredibly generous and have invited me to stay there for a couple of days. It'll be a nice change of scenery and I'm very excited! Gotta run for dinner. More to come.
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