March 19, 2006

Hello,

It has been another week in Sydney. This one was not as exciting or adventurous as the last few, so this update will be shorter than the previous ones.

I went to all my classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This week was the first week of tutorials; they are the same thing as discussion session [in the US] and are intended to be ‘student run’ classes. All my classes are going well and they all look they will work out well for me. I am trying to keep ahead in all my classes now, so that I do not fall far behind later on in the semester when I am traveling more. One school related thing that I have had problems with so far is the library. I took me two days and three tries to final find the Special Reserves section of the library. As well, the way they number books and some other systems they have are confusing. I have pretty much worked most of it out, but it seems like every time I go to the library a difference problem arises. And the way that the classes are structured here, I need to spend a lot of time in the library; either finding books or articles, or reading books. This is because instead of having one textbook, or many a few different books and some articles that are easily accessible online or handed out in class, like at GWU, the Professors here might put together a reading packet, if you are lucky, and then the rest of the readings are to be found in numerous books that are located in the Special Reserve section. It stands to be very time consuming and expensive (copying).

I was able to do some other activities this week aside from going to class and the library. On Monday night the program I came here with had arranged for us all to go see a play at the Sydney Opera House. I had not been in the Opera House at all, and still have not been in the main section. The play was performed in one of the smaller theatres that are accessed from the bottom side of the Opera House. The play we saw was called Doubt. I believe it is a play from America, and it was about child molestation in the Catholic Church in Boston in the late 1960s. Everyone in my program loved the play; I however found it very dull, thin and dry. The storyline was quite evident from the beginning, the acting was overwhelming and any humor they put in was unoriginal (not to sound like a pompous critic). Even so, it was still a great experience to see play in the Opera House and as well I was able to see some Americans that I had not seen in a few weeks.

On Wednesday night, after our Formal Dinner, we had one of our visiting Fellows speak to who ever was interested about his experiences growing up in The Deep South (of the US) during 50s, 60s and 70s. The man’s name is Bruce and he has been in Australia for the last 35 years, working as a Professor until he retired about 10 years ago. He is only staying with us at St. John’s until the end of March and is a very friendly and interesting guy. Despite growing up in the deep country of Alabama he grew up helping with integration and often times teaching in African-American Colleges and Institutes. He had a lot of interesting stories to tell and in addition to learning a little more about the period, it nice to hear about the U.S. again and U.S. history again.

Friday night was my Grandfather’s Yahrzeit (the anniversary of his passing) and so I discovered the local Synagogue, which happens to be a fairly Conservative one, however it is only a five minute walk from St. John’s. The Synagogue itself is the second oldest Synagogue in Sydney, but the Congregation is very small and relatively relaxed for a Conservative one. The Rabbi is from Los Angeles and only moved here eight months ago. He is young, friendly and very energetic. He was very understanding of my lack of knowledge in the area of prayer and tradition, and he made me feel very welcome. It was a very nice experience and I met some very nice people. A friend who lives in St. John’s also was there and because of the positive experience I might end up attending Synagogue a little more often than I usually do.

And of course, Friday was also Saint Patrick’s Day. I was very surprised that most Australian’s did not get more into it than they did. I guess since their social lives are centered around heavy drinking all the time that this day would not stick out, but whatever the reason nobody but Americans were drinking from the morning on (not me, the other Americans). The seniors here did mow a shamrock and the words “PADDY 06” into the front lawn. At night the Australians got a little more into St. Patrick’s Day and we all had a great time at St. John’s and then when we went out.

On Saturday I visited a large flea market that is in Chinatown. I did not buy anything on this trip, but more scoped out the vendors and got an idea of what they had. I also got the idea to get a plant for my room, to give a little life to the walls. Later in the day I discovered that I could buy highlights of the NCAA Tournament games and the full semi-final and final games from I-tunes online (though I only had to pay $20 for all the videos, I ended up paying way, way more because of the way the internet is here. If you remember, they charge me by the download and videos are big downloads. I am currently working on a way to get around this so I can watch my Huskies win!)

That is really all the news for the week. I thought I would just briefly describe where I live (and there should be some pictures below to go along with the description). Firstly, if I have not mentioned it already, I live in a ‘Harry Potter’ like Castle. The first section of the building was built in 1857, with the last section being finished in the 1970s (it was not continuous building). In the picture below (marked St. John’s from the Oval) you can see the back side of the building. On the left is the Menzie’s Wing (the last section, which was completed in the 1970s and is a slightly different shade than the rest of the building). The middle of the building is an original section and houses what is now called ‘fresher corridor’ and Brenner Hall. Finally on the right is the Chapel and behind that on the same side is the dinning hall. The whole building is shaped like a giant letter “I,” and the wing that I live on is not in this photo, but is basically an extension of the Menzie’s Wing beyond the “fresher corridor” wing. Some other photos below are of Brenner Hall or the reading room adjacent to it. Also there is the hallway and staircase area that is located between the Chapel and the Dinning Hall. There is also a photo of the Chapel, as well as some photos of the stairway and hallway outside my room. As for my room, I am in a little inlet. My door is set about four feet from the hallway itself and on either side of the inlet are closets used by the housekeeping staff. There is a stairwell right outside my inlet, and since the wings of the building are not even with the main corridor, I am sort of on a ‘half’ level to the main section of the building. Therefore there is a short staircase up to the third floor of the main corridor, where a bathroom and laundry room are found. Also, down a slightly longer staircase is the second floor of the main corridor, which has a bathroom and a drying room. I am fairly well situated in the building in terms of bathrooms, laundry rooms, the Dinning Hall and other rooms. As for my room itself, I have single. It is fairly well sized and has a sink. You will see the other furniture and the set up in the pictures below (I apologize for the mess; I did not tidy up before I took the pictures). Otherwise there is not much else to the room but the view. Many rooms in the building have great views over our Oval (field) and continuing with the Sydney skyline, while others have a nice view of our interior lawn. However, I am one of the few who are lucky enough to have a fantastic view of the parking lot directly outside my window, as well as the fairly well traveled road only 200 feet from my window. Oh and I forgot to mention the major Hospital that is only 600 or so feet from the building, which is home to one of Sydney’s fine Medical Helicopters. Needless to say the noise is considerable, especially since I have to keep my windows open toe keep the room somewhere below 70 degrees at night. Despite all this noise, I do sleep perfectly fine. It must be from the two and half years of sleeping next to a Hospital in the middle of Washington, DC.

Well that is all I have for this week. I realize this was almost as long as my other updates, but I figured most people would skip over the description of where I live and only look at the pictures. So therefore it is much shorter than the other updates.

As always I hope that everything is going well with all of you and that you are all healthy. Also the open invitation to e-mail or write is still there, as always. I hope you all had a great week and I will hopefully have some more exciting adventures to post next Sunday.

Love,

Jon

This is the back of St. John's College. I am standing on our Oval, taking the picture. The 'Lemon Grove' is the grass area between the two wings that stick out (right where that one, none lemon tree is). The Menzie's wing is on the left (notice the different shade) and the Chapel is the wing sticking out on the right.

The Corridor that I am part of. My room is the direct left of the camera, out of the shot. All the rooms on this corridor are singles and everyone is at least a second year student. At the end is a 'small' bathroom and a small kitchen area.

This is the stairwell directly outside my room. My room is directly to the right of the camera, out of the picture. The stairs going up lead to the main third floor and the main bathroom is on the left at the top and the laundry room is on the right at the top. The down stairs lead to the main second floor and another large bathroom is directly at the bottom of the stairs.

This is Brenner Hall. It is the center of the Main Wing on the second floor. This view is looking towards the Chapel and Dinning Hall wings. To the left is the interior lawn (two pictures down) and to the right is St. John's Oval, the Campus and Downtown (picture below).

This is a view from a window in Brenner Hall. The field in the foreground is the "Lemon Grove" and then there is a slope down (can't see it in the picture) and the St. John's Oval starts (basically two huge rugby fields). Past the tree line is the beginning of the University of Sydney campus. And the skyline above the trees is downtown Sydney.

This is a view from Brenner Hall of the interior lawn. Obviously this was taken on St. Patrick's Day, after the seniors had mowed the shamrock into the lawn.

This is the oval side of the reading room, which is between Brenner Hall and the stairwell in front of the Chapel and Dinning Hall.

This the interior lawn side of the reading room.

This is the stairwell that leads outside the reading room. It leads to the main entrance and the main office. Through the opening in the middle of the photograph are the Dinning Hall (to the left) and the Chapel (to the right).

Same thing as the picture above, just from the other side of the staircase.

This is a view from the atrium between the Dinning Hall and the Chapel (the doorway in the center of the picture above). Through the door way straight ahead you are looking through the reading room, Brenner Hall and down the remainder of the second floor of the Main Corridor.

This is the entrance to the Chapel (a dark version).

This is the entrance to the Chapel (lighter version).

This is the Chapel itself. It is quite small, however it is very nice and welcoming.

This is a photo from the front/side of St Johns. So the Dinning Hall is straight ahead (it is where the massive wooden door is half open, to the right of the brick post). [Also, don't mind the two weird looking guys in the photograph. That is Jack and Michael, they are real Freshers and therefore had their heads recently shaved at the mercy of the seniors; notice the 'friarest' hair style on Jack, the left one.]

This is my room, as seen from the door way. Notice my one window and three chairs.

This is my room from just inside the doorway. My bed obviously. (the window is just out of the frame on the right)

This is my desk and my window as seen from the sink corner of my room.

This is my window, my desk and my sink/mirror (on the right). As seen from my bed.

This is my one closet and my bed. As seen from my desk. (the window would be directly to the camera's right and the door is directly to the camera's left)

This is the view from my window (not a great picture of it), but you might be able to see the parking attendent's booth (to the left of the cement center; just a white box) and the Hospital, fully equiped with rooftop helipad is the lights in the background.