Meeting with Cousins

I have an aunty in Melbourne and I stayed in their house for 5 days for this time. And what I was most excited at for this visit was meeting with the cousin’s brothers who both converted to Islam and got married. It's very interesting isn't it? The younger cousins were stabilizing their life while I'm literally vagabonding. This state gave me a little doubt about my life but I should stop questioning as they live in a different culture. Anyway, I'll settle down when the time comes.

We got together at the auntie's house and ate Korean BBQ for dinner. Korean BBQ with Muslim people, it was such a rare occasion wasn't it? As I had a prejudice that they are quite ascetic, it was a sort of big surprise that they can eat the BBQ. As a matter of fact, they can't eat only pork which is forbidden by the religious discipline. After eating the dinner we played Monopoly. Though they are all married, we five are in the same age group and naturally we were so excited about the game. Despite the religious difference, I believe we share the fundamental pleasure anyway. Nevertheless, there was an interesting moment when everyone suddenly left me to another room for the prayers although the game had been heating up. Mind you, I don't have any negative feelings about this. Just, it stimulated my thought towards the cultural differences.

Touring around the City

It was only 5 days I stayed in Melbourne and time went by very quickly when I met friends and wrote blog entries. But in spite of the shortage of time, I managed to tour around the city just for one day and realised again how beautiful Melbourne is. I especially like the paved passages with many stylish cafes and the China town with a huge Chinese shrine symbol. I like the mixture of the cultures in Australia. Besides this, I challenged my luck by going to the casino but lost nearly $100. Yeah, I'm not a person who gets rich quick. I'd rather accumulate it slowly.

The Real IMAX

One more notable thing I did in Melbourne was watching the sensational movie AVATAR at the real IMAX theatre. In Japan, we disappointingly don't have the real IMAX though we have some 3D theatres. Therefore, I'd been waiting for a chance to go a real one somewhere around the world and a friend of mine invited me in Melbourne. What's more, the IMAX theatre has got one of the biggest screens in the world and the movie was absolutely thrilling. Although I was tempted to watch it even in Bangkok and Hong Kong, all in all it was worth waiting for.

Claremont

The streets in Claremont evoked a vision of those days as if they had been only a couple of days ago. A park I used for a short cut to the school, a café where I studied ardently after school, a bus stop where I waited for a girl, though there were some new buildings, all the most precious places hadn’t changed at all. I couldn't stop reminiscing about the past although I'd been focusing only on the future ever since I left this town 3 years ago.

Following the same road I used to use on those days, I arrived at the (ex) ECU Claremont Campus. Although the ownership had been transferred to another university due to ECU’s financial issues, the buildings has been preserved intact as it’s a very important national asset of Australia. It used to be very lively as around 200 students including me studied there. Maybe because of the holiday, the campus was filled with silence and during my exploration there I could easily visualise the faces of the friends who were eating lunch on the grass, playing soccer after school and on and on.

Fremantle

Fremantle is my favourite place around Perth. I would never get bored with the sunset over the Indian Ocean observed from the lighthouse on the outskirts of the town. As far as my eyes could see, there are only the ocean and the sky. The big red sun setting over them was absolutely magnificent and somehow a little sentimental. Gazing at the clear gradient between navy blue and deep orange with no clouds, I in fact felt like crying.

Come to think of the past, I'd never suffered the emotion of nostalgia like this time. It was too vivid to avoid confronting although I'd been trying not to immerse myself in unobtainable bygone days. In retrospect, the days in Perth could be my late youthful days. Studying hard, playing with friends, dealing with a love triangle, they were indeed very new for me who had been engaged with the web industry since his high school days and not known an ordinary student life. Although not everything was pleasant, I can embrace all of them as precious memories for now.

Nevertheless, I have no desire to return to those days as this journey has just begun and I have many plans after my return to Japan. Keeping these beautiful memories in my heart, I'll travel to the future again.

No sooner had I arrived at his room accompanied by the other friends than a big surprise hit me. Though I actually anticipated this, the room had absolutely excellent taste. It was a two storey town house and going up from the first floor's kitchen, a spacious living room with a loft bed was there. The Northern European taste furniture went well with bare wood floorings and ceilings. It was like an show room from an interior magazine. Oh, I should have a nice room like this in Tokyo when he comes to Tokyo next time.

Johann's shop is named Pigeonhole and sells various design products imported by him from all over the world. I've never seen this quality of selection in Perth. Maybe the shops can thrive even in Tokyo. Although they are not big stores, you would find something new at every visit as they have many routes to import the products. One shop is located at London Court, a famous traditional shopping mall in Perth. You should visit there when you have a chance.

After Johann's return to Australia, we went out to a new bar in Perth. Drinking and relaxing at a open terrace bar, we chatted about design and business. I appreciate our relationship as we can talk about even some serious themes with ease. And after coming back to the house, we started working again on the couch. I had to write some on this blog and so did he to respond some emails. Taking care of each other but not interfering, two geeks were sitting together and working silently. It would've been a very bizarre scene if someone had seen from the outside.

I guess, our characteristics are very similar. Although it was initially just a coincidence to meet him, I'm very grateful for this serendipity. I' value this nice friendship and hope to keep in touch with him in the future.