March 27th, Australia Day 36

This will be, hopefully anyway, the first weekly update I give from the Land Down Under. I plan to give weekly reports on my blog as to my adventures over the previous weeks. I will update my blog every Saturday night and recap the events of the last week and post any photos accordingly. The updates will be interrupted by adventures outside Sydney that I may undertake. For example, for the last 2 weeks of April I will be in New Zealand and I will therefore be unable to give updates until after I return. Also, if something important occurs, I may update my blog early. In any event, normally, the blog will be updated by Saturday morning, Ottawa time.

From the events listed in the last update, not much has happened. I have settled into a routine with school and the work that comes with it. My professors are all interesting people. My Ancient History professor gets very emotional when reciting passages and my Politics professor is from Texas who is also something of an actor; both know their craft very well also. My Honours Thesis is also coming along nicely and my theories, so far, are holding up to scrutiny.

I suppose this is as good a place as any to tell you some of the peculiarities about Australia and Sydney. Firstly, footwear appears to be optional in this land and you can go just about anywhere without it without a fuss but I still always wear shoes. Secondly, Australians use the word "whilst" where appropriate as opposed to simply using "while". Also, people in New South Wales (Sydney's state) seemed to be fascinated with road deaths and there are constant updates as to the toll, especially over holiday weekends. Furthermore, the term for "ketchup" down here is "tomato sauce". Most shops close by 18:00 and during the Easter long weekend, almost everything, including some convenience stores, are completely shut down. Finally, the sport of choice is Rugby League in New South Wales, while in Victoria, Melbourne's state, it is Australian Football that draws the largest crowds (more on that next).

The most exciting thing that has happened to me so far, has been my visit to an AFL game on Easter Sunday. I got tickets to the home opener of the Sydney Swans, the local AFL team. They played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (S.C.G.) and I took great care to record the most important aspects of the game in photos and in video. In Australia, there is a game called Australian Football run by the Australian Football League (AFL). This game is known by many names, such as Aussie Football, Aussie Rules Football, or just plain Footy. Some years ago, The Sports Network (TSN) back in Canada ran highlights of AFL games but then just stopped. I watched the highlights and I was enthralled with the game and so I made a point to see it when I came down to Australia. In this respect, I would probably have felt more at home in Melbourne since Sydney is not as big on AFL as Victoria. I took a train and a shuttle to the S.C.G. on the morning of the match, which began at 13:10. Like most sporting events, it began with the Australian national anthem Advance Australia Fair, not Waltzing Matilda. To make a long story short, the Sydney Swans defeated the Hawthorn Hawks 118-55. I'll explain the rules of the game below.

The game is played on a cricket field which is essentially a circle or an ellipse. You try to kick a ball, similar to a football, through some uprights. If you get it between the middle 2, unmolested then you receive 6 points. If you kick the ball and it goes in through the outer 2 uprights, hits any upright, or is knocked through off someone, then it is 1 point. In pre-season play, if you kick a 6-pointer from beyond the 50 meter line, you get 9 points. One of the objects of the game is to kick it inside the 50 meter zone from outside to one of your players. This is called a "mark" and if your teammate grabs the ball out of mid-air, they get a free kick at the uprights. In many ways it is the primary focus of the game. Also, to pass the ball you either lateral it to the side, pass it forward by "punching" it in the back, or kicking it downfield. The game is divided up into 4 quarters of 20:00 and it was every bit as exciting as I thought it would be.

After the game concluded, fans are allowed onto the field for 15-30 minutes and most kick footy balls through either uprights. I left the S.C.G. having seen an exciting game and I returned home by about 18:00, with my legs killing me. This was a very good day and I hope to repeat the experience very soon.

Photos are now available at: http://australiaday36.blogspot.com/