The holiday was Australia Day, commemorating the arrival of the first British to Australia. It's sort of like Independence Day in the US, except for it's not exactly independence being celebrated, I suppose. Similar to how Christopher Columbus Day is controversial in the US, so is Australia Day. To some here, it's a sad day for the Aborigines and nothing to celebrate. Nonetheless, we attended a holiday BBQ down the street so we could spend the day with friends, especially those who were so kind to help us out when we got here. The beach-side parks were crowded with people. The crowd varied from young to old, Australian-born to immigrants. There were lots of Aussie flag outfits, hats, fake flag tattoos, and t-shirts. One thing almost everyone had in common - BBQ. If they weren't BBQing on the public grills, they were BBQing on ones they brought with them. It was super hot outside, but it didn't seem to be slowing anyone down.
Theo had a good time playing around with the boys. For the first time, I even saw him play cricket, although an extremely casual version. I thought he hated that game! I guess he'll play anything after 5 or 6 bowls of kava!
Earlier in the weekend, I got to go to my first surfing competition. It was fun, especially since it was located right on a dog beach. So when I got bored of watching surfing, I could watch the cute dogs. It's been ages since I had a dog, so of course it made my yearning for one even worse!!
An interesting quirk I've been noticing on the Gold Coast is the general lack of some of the social graces I'm used to, like generally making eye contact, smiling, saying "Excuse Me" when you bump into someone, etc. So this weekend, what surprised me was that even though a surfing competition was clearly in progress, the fishermen continued to cast their long lines from a pier right next to the surfers. So the competition announcers politely asked the fishermen not to cast so close, since apparently during a previous competition a surfer actually got hooked! But they continued as if nothing was going on, which to me would be pretty rude, but here, I guess people just do what they want.
To break up the monotony of relaxation, I had my first job interview smack dab in the middle, on Monday. My feelings about it are mixed, so I plan to keep looking. I guess my "long weekend" continues.
