Ebb Tide

It’s been a slow and fairly uneventful week. I visited the used book store on Monday. I spent more than I had planned, although I feel happy about my choices. After looking through the entire store attempting to locate the travel or history section, I almost gave up when an older woman asked me if I needed any help. I told her I was looking for something on early Australian history. She took me to a tiny section of the store where there was one row of books. She inquired if there was something specific I was interested in learning about and I told her, no. This is not entirely true. Though my search was semi-vague, I was also hoping to find something on Aboriginal histories. I thought perhaps a book of their legends might start me on the right path. It’s a very sensitive subject here so when she showed me where to look I assumed I would peruse alone. It was not the case. The woman stayed with me looking through books and making specific suggestions on what I might find of most benefit to my learning.
After she had piled a load of authors into my hands she left me to go look downstairs for more. I scanned the backs of the books and picked the one I most wanted to read. It’s called “Australia a Biography of a Nation” by Phillip Knightley. The name didn’t occur to me until the following morning. It is much similar to perhaps the wealthiest sports loving man in Eugene, Oregon.
I then noticed a few shelves up were some Aboriginal history books, an even smaller selection. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the woman speaking with a man and gesturing toward me. I pretended not to notice and a few minutes later the older gentleman was standing next to me. “Hello. I hear you’re looking for books on Australia; how wonderful.” I told him that I was and that I just finished reading a travel book by Bill Bryson and wanted to learn even more. I then entrusted him with my interest in learning about Aboriginal history. We looked at the two shelves together and he put even more books into my arms. He suggested about four books that I definitely should read, none of which they had. We kept laughing because he would say, “Ah ha! I have it; I know exactly what would be good for you.” Followed by this exclamation he would search the handful of books and mumble, “Of course we don’t have it right now.” He agreed that a book of native legends would be a wonderful place to start. At that point the woman had joined us again, with more books from downstairs, and solemnly informed us that someone had recently come in and bought up all the legend books. They both apologized to me.
In the end I chose a second book by an Aboriginal woman called Ruby Langford. I was drawn to the art on the front cover, and also to the fact that she is a woman. Her book is entitled, “Don’t Take Your Love to Town”. I have recently discovered that the cover art depicts Mimi spirits. They are dream spirits who lure people to their caves. If the person succumbs to their temptations, they will themselves become a Mimi spirit and no longer be allowed to return to their human life. Thankfully I was in a bookstore, not a cave, so I am still a human.
I was almost never alone in the store. The man stayed with me talking and walked to the check out with me as well. He asked me where I was from (they always do) and when I told him I was Oregon and he said, “Oh! I had a great aunt who lives in Corvallis!” She used to teach at Oregon State University. What a small world. I told him I have a grandmother who lives in Corvallis.
As money was about to be exchanged the older woman appeared once again at my side. She handed me a third book and said, “You might find this of some interest.” I decided to take a peek. The author’s birth name was Colin Johnson. His mother was aboriginal and his father was white. As a young adult he began writing and connecting to his roots. He then changed his pen name to Mudrooroo. He is the first ever published Aboriginal author. This was his first book, called; “Wild Cat Falling” and I took that home with me as well. Having promised to return to let them know how I liked the books I set off excited to get back into the cooler air of our flat and begin learning more of this huge and crazy land we are now calling home.
Of course I started all three books that afternoon. As it turns out, Mudrooroo’s book was hardest to put down, so I didn’t. I finished it that early evening, and now I’m steadily making my way through the two others.
Tuesday we walked to Daniel’s school to get his photo i.d. and a free QUT t-shirt. He registered for classes that morning and wanted to explore the campus a little more. We were mildly attacked by a gigantic butterfly. I expect that the mass of his body is hard to navigate and he was as equally unhappy to be bobbing around our faces trying to stay afloat in the air. In my opinion, butterflies are not lovely creatures. I get that they have neat wings, but if you remove those wings, they are in fact still an ugly insect. I would still dislike spiders even if they had beautifully coloured wings.
The rest of this week has been quite mellow. Since Daniel can now log onto the computers at University he has been spending a lot of time there with the fast internet connection. He’s been getting a lot of work done which is making him happy. It’s also been raining here a bit so I’ve been able to keep up on my correspondence, reading, listening to music and keeping our flat relatively clean. We had an ant army endeavour to take over our dining room table; a feat our diligence rendered unsuccessful. That same afternoon I had to deal with two cockroaches. Rain and bugs? Come on, Universe, let’s be fair here.
One evening we tried our local pizza joint called, “Vespa Pizza”. They deliver their pizzas from the backs of vespa bikes, hence the name. It was a large price for a small pizza. Meaning, I got enough to eat and Daniel did not. We also explored our local thrift store hoping to find a used area rug for meditation and stretching on the floor. We also looked for some lamps because the lights in our flat are not desirable. The bulbs make everything look blue. We didn’t have a lot of luck there; alas we’re surviving without everything we want.
I hope this rain clears up by Sunday. We still plan to walk downtown to meet our new chanting friends, and perhaps a new critter in the park.