Author Archives: phillipsauve

10 Things I Never Thought I'd Do in Australia

Posted on by
2

Here are ten things I never thought I’d do in Australia along with a few pictures:

  1. Get Locked up in Gaol (pronounced jail) or Come Face-to-Face with Ned Kelly
    At the Old Melbourne Gaol you can come face-to-face with the death mask of Ned Kelly, the infamous Australian bushranger.  After his capture in 1878 Kelly was held and later hung, here at the Melbourne Gaol.  Kelly was a famous bushranger, which is to Australia what Jesse James and the outlaws of the Wild West were to America.  Kelly’s fearless acts in defiance of the police made him an icon and a legend, much like Jesse James, and Kelly has been portrayed in almost every form of media imaginable.  On screen, the part of Ned Kelly has been played by the likes of Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger.

    You can also experience getting locked up in the city watch house, just like all the other drunks and disturbers of the peace who were held there before the place was moved to a new facility in the mid-1990’s.  There are still all the original poems and artwork scratched in the cells of the watch house.

  2. Eat Emu & Saltwater Crocodile Pizza
    Australia has a great deal of animals that aren’t normally found in other parts of the world, many of which can be eaten.  Next to our hostel in The Rocks neighborhood in Sydney, was the Australian Hotel, one of the oldest pubs in the city with a great selection of beers.  It is also home to some fabulous pizzas, including the emu and saltwater crocodile pizzas that I tried.  Emu meat is a red meat that is similar in flavor and texture to beef.  Saltwater crocodile meat is sort of like chicken, but not as heavy.  The pizzas were delicious!
  3. Watch Australian Football (aka footy) While Having a Meat Pie
    When we were grabbing lunch one day in the Gold Coast we caught a few minutes of a footy game on TV–it was fast and physical.  After watching the game I wanted to know more about the sport and to see it live.  Having had no previous exposure to Australian football I was very excited to check out this ‘new’ sport.  Well, the sport has been around for over 150 years Continue reading →

Four Things Everyone Should Know About Australia

Posted on by
Reply

Total Reading Time: 5 Minutes

After two weeks of practicing how to say ‘G’day mate’ in my best Australian accent and listening exclusively to Men at Work’s “Land Down Under”, I felt fully prepared to hug some koalas, wrestle crocodiles, and fight Russell Crowe.

Instead I had to settle for some innovative architecture, kangaroo steaks, a lot of flashy utes (think El Camino), Melbourne’s stellar transit system, Sydney’s beautiful harbor, Australian football (gotta love footy!), and witnessing the march of the world’s smallest penguins.

Here is a short post on a few things about Australia that everyone should know:

  1. Foster’s is Not Australian for Beer
    When you hear the name Foster’s you think of those 25 ounce oil cans and that catchy slogan in a thick Aussie accent (pronunciation tip: Aussie= Ozzie).  Well, it turns out nobody drinks the stuff in Australia.  You’d be hard pressed to find it in a restaurant- it’s just not served.  It’s just as bad in Australia as it is in the United States.  What you have here is an Australian company with a good marketing team, not a good beer.  The Foster’s group is a large company that produces and distributes many different wines, spirits, and beers, including the Foster’s brand we all know.  If you are looking for a good Australian beer, give James Squire a try.
  2. Sydney is Not the Capital
    I think this one would have stumped a lot of people on that show, “Are you smarter than a 5th Grader”.  Many people are surprised that Sydney isn’t the capital of Australia since it’s Australia most famous city (don’t let the Melbournians hear me say this).  The real capital of Australia is Canberra.  It is about four hours southwest of Sydney.  Canberra was chosen as a compromise between Melbourne and Sydney in 1908 (those two never got along).  If Nemo had been swimming to Canberra perhaps it would be more well-known.
  3. Every Australian Does Not Have a Kangaroo For a Pet, and They Don’t Wrestle Crocodiles
    Contrary to popular belief every Australian does not have a kangaroo for a pet.  That’s not to say that no one does, but its not that common.  Actually, Continue reading →

My Trip to Malaysia

Posted on by
5

This past winter vacation was spent in the tropical climate of Malaysia, enjoying the food and sights that the country had to offer.  It was a very nice break from one of the coldest winters in Japan in recent years.  The following includes some brief highlights and impressions from the trip, along with a few pictures.

No slides are available

A Wild Beginning

The trip started off with a real bang!  When my girlfriend and I arrived at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) we grabbed our bags and looked for signs for the terminal carrying AirAsia flights, the airline for our flight to Langkawi, an island in the northwestern part of the country.  Our flight was not listed anywhere though, so we asked around and found out that the LCC (low-cost carrier) terminal that we needed was not only separated from the central terminal (we assumed this much), but that it would take a 30-minute car ride to get there.  It was about 8:15 pm, and we needed to catch a 9:15 flight.  We ran out of the airport to catch the next bus, only to find that the next bus to the terminal wasn’t for a half hour, so we had to take a cab.  To stop cab drivers from making up ridiculous rates to charge, KLIA has a system set up where you purchase a ticket from the airport taxi desk for where you need to go beforehand which you then give to the cab driver.  A very good system, but it does require a little more time, time we didn’t have…

First, we had to go back into the airport and find the taxi desk.  There was a line, of course, and when we finally get our ticket it was nearing 8:25.  We had less than an hour left.  We needed to hustle.  We ran to the taxi area only to find that this well-organized system included a well-organized (and well-developed) queue.  We ran to the front and told one of the workers that we had a flight to catch Continue reading →

Language Study: The Quest for Japanese Fluency

Posted on by
8

I am studying for the highest level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), level N1 (formerly 1-kyu).  The JLPT is a four-hour exam on a Sunday afternoon (three hours of actual testing) consisting of three sections: kanji (Chinese characters) and vocabulary, reading and grammar, and listening.  While any language test that leaves out a speaking section may not be considered an accurate assessment of one’s fluency, this test is the most widely used and recognized test of one’s Japanese ability.  I am determined to pass the test this coming July 4th and here’s why:

I first took the exam back in December 2009 and failed it pretty badly.  I was ill-prepared and lacked the study time I needed.  I have vowed not to let this happen again, because in the words of P.Diddy, “Can’t nobody hold me down.”  How am I doing this?  I am taking Continue reading →

'Katsudon', i.e. 'The Best Japanese Food'

Posted on by
2
katsudon

A delicious bowl of katsudon

What is this ‘katsudon‘ thing that I speak of?  For those of you unfamiliar, katsudon is a fried pork cutlet, covered with egg and put on top of a bowl of rice.  It’s hot, crisp, and juicy- what else could you want?  It is by far one of the best (and lesser known) foods you could eat in Japan (assuming you are of the carnivore variety).  The following is a brief tale of my path in discovering this unique delight.

I must say, the first time I had katsudon I was rather unimpressed.  It was after I first arrived in Japan in August of 2007, in a bento (Japanese lunchbox) purchased from the local grocery store.  It had been made for the lunch crowd as something to pick up on the go.  That was about eight hours before I bought it and reheated it in the microwave.  I wouldn’t say that it was bad, but it wasn’t something that I was trying to buy again tomorrow either.  Needless to say, given the circumstances in which I first had it (cooked almost half a day earlier, sitting out all day, reheated), it left the katsudon without much of a fighting chance to impress anyone’s tastebuds.  Not many foods would under those conditions.

A few weeks later, I had the ‘real’ katsudon- the one which made me love this food.  It was Continue reading →