about the blog
My Neighbourhood in Sydney
I’m an American currently living in Sydney, Australia because I married an Aussie who was homesick.
Then I got homesick.
But I’m feeling much better now. 😉
I’ve been living in Oz since 2004 – working briefly, then studying medicine, and now working as a doctor.
And in living, studying and working overseas, I’m constantly forced to reconsider myself, my country, the world, and of course, human behavior.
The header image is a photo of the flower girls and boys at my sister-in-law’s wedding in rural South Africa. I think it says a lot about humans.
human behavior 
Good to find other Yanks in Sydney. Stumbled upon Jacarandas and now it’s nice to know what those purple trees are. WordPress is such an educational tool. Have you visited the American Club? I joined a few of their monthly mixers. They are every first Firday of each month at the American Club on Macquarie Street.
Oh there are plenty of Yanks in Sydney, but they’re not concentrated anywhere in particular. I haven’t joined any of the American societies and clubs. The longer you live here, the more of us you find coming out of the woodwork. There are two at my job and one in my apartment building, and I’ve just met another through a friend. I’m loosely affiliated with one of the US political parties abroad and so know a few more Americans through that. How are the American Club mixers?
The internet is insane. I’ve actually made new friends back home in the States through various online activities.
One of my hobbies is to guess where a picture was taken, or where a person is from, by looking at him/her or listening to an accent. When my eyes fell on your header image I knew it: South Africa. There is something in the air, I don’t know, or maybe I’m too much empath for my own good! 🙂
I lived in South Africa for 19 years and left exactly ten years ago. This morning I read “once the red earth is in your blood, you are stuck with it for life.” When I first heard this twenty years ago I took it for granted. But now I know what it means. You talk about homesickness so you know… But I can never live there again, it’s just too violent. It’s a tough one to come to terms with…
On my post The Psyche & Mrs Fartbrain there’s a picture of two of the rainbow nation’s children on the beach…
I love this header photo. My husband took the picture, ten years ago now. To me, it looks so obviously South African too. I can’t imagine it being anywhere else.
That is really cool. I love your header picture. My header is a picture of the sunset. I really like your blog, and I have a place for my audience to access your blog! I thinks it’s cool that you live in Australia. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten over there?
Thanks. 🙂 The wierdest thing I’ve ever eaten in Australia? Hm… Well I’ve eaten kangaroo, but it wasn’t too bad. I guess it’s like deer meat. Otherwise, the most common foods here are the same as in Britain and North America. The exotic foods are the ones from Asia that are served in restaurants. I’m not too keen on eel or any animal tongues!
I think the weirdest thing I’ve ever eaten was alligator bites when my family was down in Oklahoma. Eel and animal tongues don’t sound that appetizing to me either. When my family went down to Belize we saw more Chinese and Asian restaurants than you can shake a stick at. I was definetly looking for “Belizian” food, but Australia sounds about the same to Belize. Normal food to an American. What does veggiemite taste like? People here say it taste kind of like our peanut butter, I’ve never had it so I wouldn’t know. Why do you have British and North American culinary foods, when you live in Australia? If you have a sec, could you check out my blog and tell me what you think? I’ve had spam comments saying it looks great, blah, blah, etc. I want real feedback. Thanks and have a nice night. Um…. actually it’s evening here so probably morning over there. Have a good day!
Hi Quiannah,
I just had a look at your blog. It’s a nice, simple, clutter-free design, which I like. If you want my recommendations on improving the design, I would change the header image to something more personal and colourful. Grab a camera and take some photos of things that are meaningful to you or that you find beautiful or that represent what you want to talk about, or where you’re from. For example, various street shots in your town, close-ups of your hobbies, or something. You can also change your header images routinely. I would also get rid of the calendar. I never understood what those are for. Readers don’t really use them because they don’t look for posts by date. Also, several of the comments on your posts look like spam. I have a spam filter turned on for my site – otherwise, there would be tons of spam comments. I also don’t let a comment be published until I’ve reviewed it. Once I’ve approved a commenter, then they can comment freely. That means I get fewer comments, but they are genuine. Other than that, I think you’re doing great with the blog. Just keep writing. I started my blog in 2006, took long breaks, wrote about different things at different times, and it is constantly evolving. I write what I want to write about and don’t go hunting for readers. I write because I enjoy writing. That comes through to readers I think. They can tell when someone is being genuine and when they’re shopping for an audience.
As for Australia, Australia was originally a penal colony for the British, so the first Australians were largely British convicts and jailers. The culture here, like American culture, is derived from British culture. It has been heavily influenced by American culture these days, like other countries, due to the extensive reach of American culture in the world in general (TV, fast food, movies, military, etc.). Because of its geography, it has large Asian and Middle Eastern populations that now enrich the culture (and food) further.
As for vegemite, it is a yeast paste, and tastes nothing like peanut butter. It is used like peanut butter however, and is spread on toast. It is bitter I think, from memory. I tried it once, and it didn’t suit me. 🙂 Australians also eat peanut butter though.
Happy blogging!
humanb
Hello again humanb! I just changed my theme, to something that I think suits my personality better. If you wouldn’t mind taking another look at it, and giving me your feedback, I would Relly appreciate it. I’ve noticed that I haven’t been getting any emails from your blog, I’m a follower of yours. But a break can be beneficial to our blogs know.
Happy Blogging!
Quiannah
Hi Quiannah,
I can’t remember what your previous design looked like, but this one has a great energy about it. You use quite a few colours though: pink, two shades of maroon, white, off white, blue and green. It’s the maroons that seem unnecessary. The other colors have a vibrancy and playfulness together. I wonder what it would look like if the pink were the outer background (like I have dark grey) and you had the inner content box white? Your text could then be black again and would be easier to read. I really like the logo and your use of those same three colors elsewhere. The logo could even be bigger. The title of the blog could be on its own line and bigger as well, with mention of your RSS feed elsewhere. And I still think a picture at some stage would be interesting. Or perhaps a graphic of someone “leaving a mark” so to speak on a piece of paper or something. Just some thoughts, for what they’re worth.
As for my blog, I went on vacation back home to the US for a month and thought about blogging about my travels but didn’t feel motivated. My next post will most likely be a craft project. I’ve got a few in the works…
😉