Field Trips around Sydney!

Two field trips in two days!

Tuesday our wine class went to McMahons Point (North Sydney).  First of all, Gaynor and Kate, our teachers, told us to meet them there, giving us slightly vague directions which included "If you're unsure, go downhill".  Luckily, 15/18 from our class all decided to head over together (Taylor (boy) and Marcela biked and Scott skateboarded with them).  Anyway it's good we all went together, since we got slightly confused and ended up a bit late, but it was most of us so they couldn't just start without us.  Despite leaving at the same time, the personal transportation people beat us who took the train.  After taking a while to just figure out what train tickets we need, and then having all 15 of us buy them, and missing at least 2 trains while in the station, we finally got to North Sydney (the train went across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the view was AMAZING! like every other view in this city, though they never cease to amaze), where we then could not decide which way we were supposed to go.  We started walking downhill, but then realized we weren't at the right street.  We finally got to the correct street and THEN walked downhill and found Kate and Gaynor.

As for the actual field trip, we went to a restaurant with a wine store in front called Delicado foods, A Taste of Spain.  Ben, the owner and sommelier, talked to us about wine tasting and food matching and how he started.  I've realized you don't always need to know EVERYTHING I learn though so I'll keep some of it to myself.  He played a game with us where we have a wine and everyone is standing (although we sat since we were a bit too crowded) he asks a question and gives different choices for the answer, so say the question is "is this red or white" you raise your left hand if it's red and right if it's white, and then if you get it right you stay standing and if you're wrong you're out (though we didn't do that part).  Anyway I think I got one wine completely right so that was fun.  We also got little food plates to see what we liked with different wine, so Taylor (girl), Belinda, and I shared one (we were lucky we just had us 3, most people had to share between 4. Yes, we were hungry)

Wines I liked:
1.  2011 Pinot Grigio from Victoria (an Australian region)
2.  2009 Chardonnay from Hunter Valley (another Aus. region)- particularly when I ate it with the Comte French cheese, which cut the acid

I wasn't as big a fan of the Shiraz Cabernet from Barossa (another Aus. region), although when I had it with apple I liked that combo (better than when I tried it with the cheese too).

More fun descriptions of the smell of wine: led pencil

We didn't stay to eat lunch in the restaurant, but it was very cute, so I may go back sometime.  Afterward, Ben told us that down the hill all the way at the bottom was one of the best views of the harbour, called Blues Point.  He did NOT lie.  Almost our whole class opted to go down and check it out, and we were not disappointed.  I also stuck my feet in the ocean!  Unfortunately, I did not have my camera on me, although other people did so hopefully I'll see pictures soon.  It was also a great time for our class to all get to know each other better, and the weather was perfect so we just hung out on the grass and by the water for a while.
Then a few of us, Alex V (girl), Ridge, George, Melanie, Brendan and I decided to try to find the "secret garden" that Ben also told us about.  I'm not sure we found the exact thing, but we did find a nice park with a beautiful garden on the way down the steps.  We played for a while on the playground (they had a great slide, seesaw, spinny thing, and more) and then found more water and sat there for a little while.  You never remember when you're going downhill, though, that you have to go back up, which we did.  Overall it was a very fun field trip.


Wednesday we started our modules (electives within our culture class).  For the Aboriginal module, our first class was a field trip! We met our new teacher, Jenny, in Hyde Park at the fountain.  She is Wiradjuri, which refers both to her people and her country (it is like a tribe, and their certain land, about 6 hour drive outside of Sydney).  She brought us around Sydney, many spots which we have been to before, and told us about the Aborigine history of those places.  For one thing, we learned that the layout (hills and valleys and ponds) of the land is the same as it has been forever, except for the harbour, where the land has been built up a bit more.  As we walked, she showed us a tree that looks like Eucalyptus but is not, that the leaves, if put on a fire, create a white smoke.  She told us that aborigines tend not to have clear boundaries, and certainly have no fences or anything, so in order to have privacy, since there were no doors to close, they built fires, warning other people that someone was there.  Another plant she showed us has small spikes and she said they can be used to heal warts.

Our tour took us through the Botanic Gardens, which I actually have not yet visited.  Just walking through the gate the smells were amazing.  I'll have to go back sometime (there are free tours).  And through a park where we saw another kookaburra sitting on a soccer goal post.  The park on weekends apparently has all these boxes sitting out and people come and talk about whatever they want.  Sounds fun to go check out sometime.  Anyway, so Jenny told us about how in the first encounter between aboriginals and the white people the aboriginals weren't even sure what gender the people were since they were all covered in clothing, until one of the men had to use the bathroom and it broke the ice and the aborigines started feeling a bit more comfortable.

We also walked by the New South Whales Art Gallery, which took a very long time to get Aboriginal art in it, and even now they sometimes debate whether it counts as art or as artifacts.  Weird.  I'll hopefully get over there too sometime.

So then later on we had class and got to draw! She told us and showed us some dreaming (origin stories of tribes), and told us the organization of groups: there are tribes, each tribe has 2 nations, each nation has 2 totems/skins.  Jenny's totem happens to be a goanna (lizard).  She then went on to tell us about how marriage works.  You cannot marry someone in your own clan (it's like marrying your cousin), but you should marry someone in the other clan in your nation.  After that it's a bit complicated without my beautiful drawings to explain much more so I'm not going to bother.  But there's a cool family dynamic where your closer relationship is with your grandparents, who are the same totem as you, and have to teach you about the background and traditions of your totem, and act as your teachers.  Relationships with parents are more distanced, but respectful.  Anyway, again you don't need to hear everything about my class, but basically I am fascinated and LOVING getting to learn about aboriginals.

Oh quick fun facts:
Aboriginals were called natives until white people born in Australia started calling themselves natives to differentiate themselves from immigrants.  In Latin, "nat"=birth 'ive'=belong by. So native is belonging by birth.  Still in latin, "ab"=from, 'origin'=beginning, so aboriginals are the people who were here from the beginning.  The only problem, is with the word aborigine comes non-aborigine, which gives an "other" type feel.

Sad fact, Aboriginals make up 2% of the Australian population, but 25% of the criminal population.

One more fun fact, 1974 was when the last group of Aboriginals left the desert (that's ridiculously recent!) and there are still people alive who remember what it was like to see white men for the first time.  We watched the beginning of a documentary on it which was so interesting.  There was also a disclaimer at the beginning that there would be the use of names of people who were dead.  Jenny told us it's because they don't like to say the names of dead people so that they can let the spirits be free, and so as not to cause distress to those still alive.