The downside

It is true, this blog has been a little too enthusiastic so far. Of course, not everything is wonderful here in "the lucky country". I'll name a couple of things as they come to my mind. This is a long posting; I'll put it all in one rant so I can go on in my preferred, more positive, fashion.

It's too hot. Two nights ago I couldn't find any sleep at night because it was just too hot. (I have no air condition in my room, not even a fan. I then tried to sleep in the car, which was a little better.) During the day, the sun makes it hard to do any work, such as working on the campervan to prepare it for the travel. Luckily I live here very near to the coast, which means it doesn't get as hot as in the West of Sydney. Here we had around 33C while further inland it went up to 40C. And luckily New South Wales is not as affected as poor Victoria at the moment, where record temperatures are scorching (versengen) the streets, and devastating bushfires rage (verheerende Buschfeuer toben). This morning the paper said "14 dead", an hour ago the TV announced the figure had climbed to 65 dead. They interviewed people who had lost not only their homes but also family members -- what dreadful sufferings. And the worst thing is that the police believes several of these bushfires had been deliberately lit. By people sick in their minds who get a thrill out of that.

Visas, jobs and rents. It is very difficult to get a working visa for Australia if you're over 30 years old. Which is why I'm now here with no job (and no Arbeitslosengeld either, of course), and finding work is a lot harder if you can't start right away but have to go through the complicated working visa application process. And even if you have found work, the pay is considerably lower than in Germany (maybe 60%), and the rents in Sydney are the highest in the country, about the level of rents in Munich, to give you an idea. The other living expenses, such as food and household items, are cheaper, thank God, and you can get many second-hand things for a good price. In Sydney you can often pick up good things for free from the side of the road (Sperrmüll). And petrol is about half the price.

The traffic in Sydney is bad. In order to cope with the increased volume of cars, they transformed a lot of streets such that you can't make a right turn at crossings, and a U-turn is often impossible for kilometres. So this forces you to often drive complicated detours (Umwege) if you want to go from A to B. The harbour bridge and tunnel used to cost $3, now it's $4 and they removed all of the cash booths in January 2009. So now you must obtain a yearly prepaid electronic tag (E-tag) for your car before you can cross Sydney Harbour. Such are the improvements here.

"A tan is the sign of traumatized skin." "There's nothing healthy about a tan." The TV, roadsigns, magazines and newspapers are full of the topic of skin cancer (Hautkrebs), it's in your eyes everywhere. I seem to remember having learned 20 years ago that a sunburn is bad, but a slowly acquired tan is your body's natural protection against UV light damage, and so a tan, as such, is not a bad thing to have. Well, no longer. The new rule is "white is beautiful".

The country has an alcohol problem. Although beer, wine and spirits are 1,5 to 3 times more expensive here than in Germany, and are not sold in any supermarket but only in specially licensed "bottle shops", it is a fact that the average Australian drinks more than the average European. Those who have the weakest resisting powers are the pitiable descendants (bedauernswerten Nachfahren) of the aborigines, from whom this country was stolen 200 years ago. The anti-alcohol campaigns and laws they come up with here are ridiculous and fail to help the situation.

Speaking of the aborigines, the nation, in my impression and according to what I read, still has not really worked up the topic of the British invasion, their land-seizure (Landnahme) and their genocide of the indigenous people. When they had "discovered" the foreign continent, they did not ask whether they would be allowed to make settlements (Siedlungen) here. They just took the land. And not enough with that, they cruelly killed the people from which they stole it - old men and women, young ones, children, with a presumptuousness (Anmaßung) and deadhearted violence that should not be forgotten. The sad story is very similar to what had happened just a few centuries ago in the Americas. This is our blood-stained European heritage (unser blutbeflecktes europäisches Erbe). A culture, descendant from the Romans, that overrun the planet with vehicles and weapons like one giant horrible bushfire. And after that, founded (gründeten) settlements, cities and entire new nations on that burnt and blood-drenched soil (verbrannten und blutgetränkten Erde). Nations which are today beautiful countries to visit and to live in. Every coin has two sides, and many nice things have a not-so-nice history. We don't have to feel guilty for what our grandfathers did, and we can't make it undone, not by one centimeter. But we should show awareness and regret for the dark side of European, Christian, colonization, just to become a little more humble (bescheiden) and less peacockish (stolz, aufgeblasen).

Dangerous animals. The country is full of them, as everybody knows. You have to be careful in the bush and in the water. Sharks and jellyfish and crocodiles and snakes and spiders. I haven't seen any in the wild so far. We have spiders in the garden and sometimes in the house, but not much worse than in Europe. We also had cockroaches (Kakerlaken), but I put up poison bait (Giftköder) and now that issue is pretty much solved. There are also ants, termites and other small insects, of course, like in any country that hot. I'm used to that from Malaysia.

Television. Imagine watching a movie that is disrupted every 5 to 10 minutes by 3 minutes of commercials (Werbung). Enough said. There is no such thing as a GEZ here, so I can't complain. This is free television. If you want to enjoy a movie, rent the DVD or go to the cinema.