Always Travelling

I'm going to make the most of the week free from class by working on my assignments and coursework. Most of my assessments this semester are due around the start of October, so I'm not particularly stressed by deadlines, but I am determined to give myself a reprieve from the usual stress of rushing assignments and racing the deadline.

I'm a little sick, just a head cold so it's nothing too serious. Waking up with a blocked head is not much fun though. Sorry if I'm not calling you up to go out, I'm probably not going out this week!

Is Pascaline's second last week in Perth before heading back to Mauritius, and the last week of her English teaching course. She's away 8.00am-5.30pm weekdays so yet another reason for me to knuckle down, as I'm sure to be distracted (happily of course) next week.

I'll have more information on which to plan my movements next year. More on that next time.

There is a sensationalist article in the Aussie news today about how the Prime Minister met with representatives of the Exclusive Brethren (actually, he met with one subsect, the more extreme Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren, so named after the line of leadership). Of course I had no idea who they were so I looked them up, and they look like a bunch of looneys (I'm obviously not putting on my politically sensitive hat here!). But of course, that makes them very interesting! Some choice bits from the wikipedia piece:

The Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren believe that God's principle of unity is achieved by separating from and excluding that which is evil. As a result, open conduits of communication such as television, radio, mobile phones and the internet are banned.

The Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren reserve all social activities for those with whom they celebrate the Lord's Supper. Such activities include eating, drinking and entertainment, as well as club and professional memberships, directorships, shares and health insurance. Eating in restaurants and staying at hotels are also avoided.

In the case where someone chooses to leave the Raven-Taylor-Hales Brethren or is excommunicated by the fellowship, their parents, siblings, spouse and even children 'withdraw' or disassociate themselves from them. This process allows for no social, domestic or church contact from church members, something which may not always be voluntary, especially in the case of children.

It looks like the 'Exclusive Brethren' split from the 'Open Brethren' after a clash of personalities and the Exclusive Brethren as a group have been led further away from normality by a succession of leaders. I have a distinct memory of a primary school friend talking about how her Aunt was a member of a Christian group that didn't allow television, and I thought it was really extreme at the time (I was about 10 years old). I am always surprised when I hear about another religious group, these niche sects/networks seem to pop up out of the woodwork - with a different take on things, and different set of requirements on members, and a different tale of leaders and things that have happened in the past.

Anyone ever had a coin massage? In one of my cross-cultural psych lectures this semester the topic was briefly brought up by the lecturer as an example of a practice that is initially quite shocking to the Western observer. Pictures are seemingly quite difficult to find on the web at the moment, and I won't show them on my blog to spare all those innocent eyes, but a good example of the bruising that results from a coin massage can be found here. Bruising from 'cupping', practiced with similar underlying beliefs, can be see here. (Both photos look to be of Western tourists to Indonesia).

Coining, or cao gio (pronounced phonetically gow yaw), is an alternative form of medicine most commonly practiced in Southeast Asia.  The practice of coining involves rubbing heated oil on the skin, most commonly the chest, back, or shoulders, and then vigorously rubbing a coin over the area in a linear fashion until a red mark is seen.

Coining is believed to allow a path by which a "bad wind" can be released from the body.  This "wind" is believed to be the cause of the patient's illness.  Advocates use this method to treat a variety of minor ailments including fever, chills, headache, colds, and cough. Reference

There is also a wikipedia article on Gua Sha, which covers a similar practice that probably has similar origins. The various bruising techniques probably changed and adjusted as the "releasing of wind" belief was exported out of China through the Chinese diaspora in South-East Asia. Or something like that.

I have had a coin massage, and loved it; it was not painful at all, and I did end up with red stripes like the veins of a leaf all over my back, just as in the linked pic above. It was a few years ago and from an Indonesian ex-girlfriend. I had a flu at the time and was very muscle sore, and although I can't conclusively say it helped me recover quicker than I would have anyway, I didn't suffer badly either - although the bruising would have shocked anyone who saw it. In fact, my doctor did see it, a couple of days later. I'd gone in to get a medical certificate for an assignment extension... he was surprised but being an old bloke who had been practising for decades and presumably seen a lot of weird things, was pretty accepting and business-like. The bruising faded and after four or five days wasn't visible. 

Just because Google Maps now allows you to embed maps with lots of functionality, I'm posting up a map of Mauritius. Pascaline lives in Rose-Hill, which is near Beau-Bassin; you can zoom in and play around with the map below. Google needs to get some better quality satelite images for this area, too many clouds. Perhaps one day in the not too distant future I will be relaxing in a little shared house or hostel, reading a book, without a worry in the world. Then I'll be meeting up with some new friends and climbing the mountains and walking the beaches, before heading out for a beer or two. Life is good!

For those travelling, I'd expect that this maps functionality could be pretty handy - you can geotag in photos, mark in the route of a trip, and place markers on important places - and then embed that custom map into a webpage.  

View Larger Map

Great tips in here about what is a really important life skill - dealing with email quickly and effectively (I have been a slave to email in the past!).

I attended an assessment centre on Friday for a graduate program at a well known West Australian company. Quite a good experience as the assessment procedure was quite rigorous and comprehensive. After rocking up we split into groups of a half a dozen, with 3 assessors observing each group. First up we tackled a case as a group and has to come up with a group decision; the assessors were looking at how we individually performed, leadership and commuication styles etc. Then we were individually given topics and given ten minutes to create a 3 minute presentation to present to the group. Afterwards we completed 3 mental ability test batteries and a personality inventory, which took a good hour and a half. I didn't feel out of my depth and the position would be excellent as it would be very generalist and broad in the range of activities I'd be performing and skills I'd develop. Attending the assessment centre was also a great experience just in itself, and really gets me thinking about jobs and the future. It has provided me another spur of motivation to study hard and finish off uni with flying colours.

Here's a pic of Pascaline and I tonight at dinner, my grandparents are visiting for a while as they drive around Australia with a caravan.

I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago but forgot and left it in my drafts folder. My posts are becoming more of a ramble amongst all the photos, but whatever. I'm really enjoying life at the moment!
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It's amazing the treasures you turn up when you throw your old crap out. I sound like a teenager, but today I went about cleaning up my room. It's been a work in progress for a while now, and today I got rid of another 2 big black plastic bags full of stuff. I've also prepared 3 boxes of books to take down to the second hand bookstore and hopefully get some cash for. This whole clean up is because I have someone very special arriving in the country in around 73 hours...

Anyway back to what motivated me to post. In sorting out the junk from the gems, I came to the realisation that I have a whole collection of religious texts, collected over the last few years. I have:

• three copies of the Koran, one of which is a beautiful leather bound copy with each page divided into 2 rows, with the Arabic up top and then in the bottom row two columns in which one the English translation is provided and the other provides addition material in order to explain or enlighten.
• a whole host of booklets aiming to clear up typical Western misconceptions about Islam.
  
• a few copies of the Bible.
• a pocket size book of psalms and proverbs from The Gideons (must have got this in Primary School as it is red).
  
• other pamphlets and whatnot on Baha'i and Buddhism.
  

I recently had a wonderful idea that just seems to get better every time I think about it: why not work for the first 6 months of 2008 after I graduate, save up ten grand, and then go live in paradise (Mauritius) for the second half of the year? Pascaline confirms that $10,000 would be plenty. This is more of a laugh than anything else, and if we can get over to Japan or the UK, then we will, but it's not all that bad a fall back, a worst case scenario.

And it would give me ample time to read some of this stuff I always put aside for a period when I'm not as busy.... and try to get my head around what I actually think. Six months in paradise sounds pretty good to me. 

Will it blend? That is the question.

Some more photos - these ones from a family breakfast this morning down at a cafe on the Swan River, South Perth.

It's been almost 2 weeks since my last post, so quite a lot has happened. I like taking a few minutes every now and then and looking over my calendar to reflect on every jam packed day. Monday to Friday last week I felt like I was in a time warp - I was waiting for Pascaline to arrive and pretty much that was always what my mind came back to in any idle moment. She arrived around 1am Saturday morning and we've spent the last 7 days together, and it's been wonderful. She's here for the next 5 weeks.

This week I have attended the first week of classes for semester 2. I've got a full load this semester, and my classes include org psych, human factors, cross-cultural psych and industrial relations in the Asia Pacific. Should be quite an interesting semester, as all of those classes parallels a definite area of interest for me.

Also got a call from a place I interned at in January and did a full day's work for them on Wednesday this week. A day on the phone does wonders for phone technique and general confidence!

I organised a dinner at Annalakshmi (yes, again!) on Tuesday night. A big turnup and good food ensured a good night for all! Probably will look at another dinner event at a different restaurant next week.

Lastly, my brother Damien has been back in Perth on his week off and we went out for Daniel and Damien's (they're twins) birthday. Pics below.