National Identity Part Two - What I Love about Australia

To make it more fair and balanced, I've created a part two to acknowledge the beautiful things Australia has to offer. Even if they are not Australian by origin

National Identiy Part Two " What I love about Australia

 

So I thought I’d make this a little fair and show my appreciation too for this beautiful country, my home, as my first piece was pretty much Polish nostalgia biased.  What I love about Australia may not even be its ‘Australian’ culture, in fact its all the multiculturalism, which now days for many is actually what is considered ‘Australian’ after all. In fact that is probably what still creates confusion in my mind, as it doesn’t feel like I’m celebrating Australian culture when I enjoy these other cultures and yet it’s that Australian freedom that allows these choices and immersion in other cultures.

Wonderful Cultures

Now for my passion of passions, I love Latin dancing. We are so fortunate in this country to have that variety, to have that choice of choosing virtually any dance from any culture and being able to learn it. Latin dancing includes several genres, salsa, bachata, zouk, kizomba, semba, tango and etc.

More Cultures

Of course in Australia, in many of the bigger cities, we are extremely lucky to be able to go to most supermarkets or food courts, or day or night markets, and access food from almost any nationality. Among those are my favourites, wood fired pizzas, gnocchi, and many other Italian foods.

I have also always loved French baguettes and other French and Italian breads, the many French and Italian desserts. Not to leave out Polish foods here, of course they are always my favourite, we have awesome cakes, doughnuts and gingerbread chocolate covered jam filled biscuits of course. But I think my favourite are always the home cooked (from the restaurant) dinners. I think you are getting the sense here that culture mostly means food and music to me.

These days my diet tends towards the Asian persuasion, the Japanese, Thai or Chinese, as they are on the lighter side.

Over the years I have also seen the rise in tea varieties. The traditional Polish tea has been black tea and a small slice of lemon/lemon juice, while the traditional Australian tea is black tea with milk (and sugar in both instances). Japanese teas have also grown in popularity, as well as fruit and herbal teas in general, so again Australian culture or Australian tea culture has become enmeshed and intertwined with these other lovely cultures.

 

In appreciation of the best parts of Australia

How could we forget the best parts though, the unique Australian geographical gifts, the natural landscape or it's beaches. Growing up I found myself feeling lucky to be living closer to Australian beaches than in Poland. We travelled from the south west of Sydney to Bondi, Cronulla, Manly and several others. Then I found myself even more lucky, and I've been spoiled by the Gold Coast beaches since mid 2007. I still hold a soft spot for Bondi because that is where I spent my teenage years, feeling excited by the many cultures and nationalities that visited most summer days, and no we didn't mind the crowds as teenagers, in fact we thrived on the atmosphere! Parents are not included here in their excitement about Bondi Beach, because driving through that heavy Sydney traffic, through the city parts, going through the mission of finding parking and finally arriving to heavily crowded beaches soon had their patience wearing thin. No, my parents now enjoy the quieter beaches and reduced traffic by heading to the beaches close to Wollongong, about a similar distance from the south west of Sydney. Each to their own I guess. One thing we can agree on though, is that Burleigh Heads beach on the Gold Coast is our favourite Gold Coast beach, with it's beautiful national park curving around the headland and leading you to the tranquil still waters of Tallebudgera Creek. Not to forget of course, the Gold Coast Hinterland and places like the Blue Mountains in Sydney of course.

The best parts of Aussie culture

I'd say the best parts are the relaxed laid back attitude of Australia. Perhaps I've taken it for granted as that's mostly what I've known for the past 25+ years. We say 'How are you?' and 'How's your day been?' to each other, even if we don't know you and we don't really expect an answer. In the smaller parts of Australia like the Gold Coast, and I'm sure even more so in even smaller parts, total strangers say 'Good Morning' to each other. Yes I was in shock in the first few months of living in the quiet suburb named Palm Beach on the southern end of the Gold Coast. In fifteen years of my life in Sydney nobody had ever said that to me in the morning while heading to anywhere.

Overall Australian culture - right under my nose

Writing this has made me realise that I am too close to Australian culture to write about it from a distance the way I can about Polish culture. Perhaps this two part exploration might mean that I am not as Polish as I thought I am, and I am in fact a lot more Australian. As one teacher once said, culture is like the water you are swimming in as a fish in a fish tank, you cannot see it when you are a part of it, or at least not objectively.

Australian culture or the Australian way of life might be the very things that you can take for granted when you cannot remember clearly much of anything else. It is the laid back attitude that I mentioned, the friendliness and honest nature of many Australians. It is the fact that we have a fairly good medical system and medicare as part of it, so most Australians do not worry about seeing a doctor, it's bulk billed, meaning you don't pay for those visits, the government does.

Australian culture is the jokes we make, which I admit, since growing up on it, Fast Forward and Full Frontal in the early days, I am much more accustomed to it. I have felt like the odd ball at the few Polish gatherings I attended, when in fact I didn't understand the Polish jokes at times, for one reason or another. Having grown up on a lot of American TV as well, because we get so many of their shows, I am much more accustomed to American humour as well than Polish for that matter.

In Conclusion

Are we celebrating Australian culture when we celebrate multiculturalism? We are, because to be Australian will mean different things to different people, to the original People of this land, to the Australian who’s family has been here for generations, to the first generation Australian, to the once child migrant such as myself and to the newly or temporarily arrived (hope I haven’t left any group out). Do I need to be into footy, meat pies or beer to be celebrating Australia culture? I guess not. And I am a mixed bag of cultures, taking the best bits from every culture. Perhaps to be the modern Australian is to be a mixed bag of cultures. We watch Australian and US TV shows, we watch international movies, we eat food from any culture that we feel like, and listen to music from anywhere and everywhere. Perhaps with globalisation and the constant flux and fusion of cultures it will all become an intertwined mix of the best of every culture the world has to offer.

 

 

Author's Note

Still a work in progress. Once again, I got impatient and have decided to publish it now so I can share it with friends.