Some may think celebrating Australia Day would be difficult to achieve while residing in China… you know, with the lack of open aired bbq’s, beaches, pools, sun , Australian people and some may argue most importantly the Triple J Hottest 100. So with a lot of the essential ingredients missing for a traditional Australia Day, I had to come up with my own ways to celebrate…
9am – Greeted a bunch of chinese kids with a boisterous “HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY” only to be answered with a tentative ‘uhhh thank you’ or a confused look.
9.15am – Cunningly tattooed children with the Australian Flag as they poked their heads around me as they continued watching a movie.
9.30am – Gave a packet of Milo to the girls so they could make Hot Chocolate for everyone.
10am – Clipped on Koalas to the children as they begged me to leave them alone so they could watch their movie in peace.
10.15am – SUCCESS – Little John a 5year old boy with a missing finger is willing to be covered with Australian flag tattoos and ACTUALLY wants to take photos with me. This keeps me entertained for awhile.
11am –Little John copies a sign I’ve made ‘HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY’.
11.30am – Kids are ‘highly encouraged’ to have a group photo with me as.
12.30pm – Invited to have lunch with a random Australian person at Beef Noodles King.
2pm – Visited the baby home. Forgot to bring tattoos!!! Damit, could have had some fun there!!!
4.30pm – Visited the airport with the ‘Happy Australia Day’ sign and wished people getting off the plane. Encountered a few smiles however as the majority of people arriving were Asian I have a feeling they didn’t quite grasp the meaning.
7pm – Went to have dinner at Little Italy with friends followed by a movie.
9pm – Showed friends how to eat Tim Tams with milk and encouraged them to eat more then they could by saying “come on it’s Australia Day”, which funnily enough worked.
All in all I would say it was a highly entertaining day, just the shear novelty of attempting to get non Australians involved was amusing to me, however, through it all one thing remained true, though I was miles away, my heart still called Australia home.
So while friends and families gathered together to party the day away, I perhaps, for the first time did what we’re meant to do and I took time out to reflect on what it is to be Australian. I pictured my friends and family gathered together and took pride in the fact that we all come from different backgrounds and that its not the colour of our hair or skin that unites us as a nation. I gave thanks that we come from a country that not only allows the practice of different religions but even goes as far as providing education to it’s people on the choices available to them, and despite negative feelings towards our government, I took pride in the fact that despite its failings they have also been able to admit to its faults or at the very least we can ‘bag them out’ without fear of persecution.
Australia Day to me isn’t about boasting how great our country is after all every country is filled with it’s own greatness. Australia Day to me is about being thankful, thankful that we are lucky enough to call somewhere home and to be able to live amongst the people we love the most… our friends and family.
Happy Australia Day People!!!
