A big success!

As some of you may know, Australia is one of the destinations where refugees and asylum seekers seek refuge. Unbelieveably in the 21 century in a place like Australia, most of asylum seekers and humanitarian entrants are kept at ''detention camps'' located in the middle of nowhere, which seems to be a shame for the country. Last month I attended a meeting with the big guys from DIMA, Red Cross, RACS, UNHCR, Refugee Tribunal etc. where I got a lot of fresh information about what's going on and the same meeting held once a month actually is where people's lives and futures are discussed. It is very sad that parents' situation apply to babies and kids and so there are also small children at detention camps. Another thing is that families aren't considered together and while the father of the family can be released from the camp, his wife and children might have to stay there for another couple of months or even years.

So, some Senators including Howard have come up with a ''brilliant'' solution to cover this shame and the federal government prepared a proposal to see all boat-arriving asylum-seekers ferreted offshore to be processed in Nauru! As sad as this thought to be legislated at the parliament of one of the world's most peaceful countries is, there was a lot of effort put by campaigners, volunteers and refugee agencies including A Just Australia and Refugee Advice and Casework Services which are agencies I'm involved with, a huge success is achieved last monday when the government announced the Prime Minister's decision to withdraw the legislation on Monday morning he did so to prevent the inevitable defeat of the bill in a Senate ostensibly controlled by the Coalition.
I take this opportunity to congratulate all defenders and activists of human rights and invite you all to celebrate with this meaningful song written and sang by ''Refugee All Stars''; a band from Sierra Leone who spent long years at a refugee camp in Guinea: http://action.one.org/dia/organizationsONE/one/signUp.jsp?key=426&t=OneColumn.dwt

''I believe that the basic attribute of mankind is to look after each other.'' Prof.Fred Hollows

A Cock N'Bull Story...

I was walking around Paddington about a month ago and I saw the ''staff wanted'' advert on the window of a Pub (so called Hotel in Sydney, somehow all bars/pubs etc. serving alcoholic beverages are called hotels), went in and asked for info and the bartender asked if I have RSA certificate so I learned that in Australia one needs to hold an RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol) certificate to be able to serve alcohol and I started searching for a course to get it and found out it's a one day course, so the next day I got my certificate and also a job as a barmaid at the legendary Irish pub ''Cock N'Bull'' at 89 Ebley Street, Bondi Junction where I have actually been on a thursday night to have a couple of Bullmers before and loved!
There is a very diverse employee profile; barkeepers, allrounders, DJs and security I met so far are from Canada, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Ginea, Ireland, Chile, Macedonia, Thailand and Australia. The best thing is that there's a very diverse profile of customers as well, for instance I've met a Papuan guy who cleans toilets and an English expat who deals with airplane mechanics, so it's just one peaceful United Nations:-) We are all one baklava, aren't we?:-)))
Eventhough I sometimes serve ''Soda'' to some Aussie customers who ask for a ''Cider'' as it sounds exactly the same with the Oz accent (Irish allways ask for Bullmers so there's no confusion) or I have to ask twice sometimes up to 4 times what they want, no one complains as a smile opens the doors most of the time. Customers and people in general are very kind to the ones serving them, like most of the people thank the driver before leaving the bus and most of my customers allways say ''please'' when ordering a drink and some of them even say things like ''can I have a pint of New when you get the chance please'' and I more feel like the Queen rather than a barmaid:-) But I'm kind to them as well as most of other bartenders prefer to argue unpolitely when a problematic customer comes, I prefer to take what they say and to learn; I learned most of the shots and serving styles for rare beers from customers.
Yeah, well gotta catch my shift now:-)

My ''palace''

Hey, I finally moved in to my own little cute appartment. It's a tiny
one bedroom with a proper kitchen,a bathroom, a study room(which I use as bedroom) and a living room. I even have a roof top window which brings in a lot of day light and is cute!
I always have room for visitors though, I really miss my friends...
Still on jobhunt, don't know many people but joined a Capoeira Angola school, except me it's all Mestre Jeronimo's ex-students, I think he settled back in Brazil but now we have Mestre Roxinho, good person, good teacher right from the heart of Salvador de Bahia!
We'll see what happens next. I'm travelling to Melbourne this sunday, will stay for 5-6 days, I'm really curious about the city so it's exciting.
That's it for now from Oz.

My first trip in Oz: Kurrajong

Players: Janset, Ersin, Amanda&Dave, Mark&Raquel, Amy&Dan, Sue&Owen.
Cultures: Turkey, Australia, Ireland, USA, Spain, England(that makes 10 guys from 6 different countries and among those 10, two of us have been living in Ikoyi,VI,Lagos-Nigeria!).
Venue: Kurrajong, 2 hours drive from Sydney towards north-west.
Dates: 31 June-2 July 2006
I was concerned about bringing my heater with me as i'm not really the camping person but then saw Owen's TV ( he has brought it to watch the world cup England-Portugal macth, sorry for the result...) and relaxed:-) Especially our ''thanksgiving dinner'' on saturday night was unforgattable, just like a big family. Thanks to Amy for organizing the trip and good luck with the pregnancy.

Beginning of a new beginning

So I started the Aussie days. It's winter in Sydney but the sunshine is there sometimes which is good. First two weeks passed quickly, I've been mostly out at nites, sometimes getting drunk and dancing with the crazy chinese, I still can't beleive what i did:-)))
Anyway, so I started volunteering at the Biennale of Sydney at Wharf 2-3 today, it was a good idea thanks to Dave. I'll also volunteer as an interpreter for a refugee agency very soon.
First 2 weeks I felt like a tourist not just because I don't know the city but also because people said ''so you are a tourist'' when I told them I'm from Turkey???!! I find it very strange when people ask where I'm from at the first stage, i find it kind of rood too as Australia is a multiculti country and everyone is originally from somewhere.
Yeah, well I'm looking for a job now, waiting for the phonecalls to be called for interviews and soon I'll be an ordinary person going to work and coming back from work every day. I do have other naughty dreams I'm allready putting in plan but i'll keep them for myself for now.
And that's it so far...

A short summary

I am now very close to take the first steps for my future, have been struggling to take difficult desitions and partying at the same time to relax.

Recommended book of the month for the ones who are looking for the real meaning of freedom: The School of Gods by Stefano Elia D'Anna. Turkcesi: Tanrilar Okulu, yazar: Stefano Elio D'Anna. Tesekkurler Sercu...
''The ones who tell you that the world shown and told to you is as it is told, are actually narrators. Everything you are told you should fear, hesitate, worry are ideas of people who are in clutch of this representation. These are however negative emotions and none of it is a sentiment which existed in ferment of a human being as it came to life. A human being born fearless. Fear is initiated by force.''

Music is life and more with Lhasa

I know it sounds crazy but if I was a man, that's the women I'd fall in love with...Her name is Lhasa de Sela and she has a unique style and voice and incredibly touching lyrics. I met her music in Summer'98 when working at Club Med in Bodrum, when we used to exchange music with GOs and customers from all around the world. It was a mixed old type copy recording and musician names weren't written, I didn't know anything about her untill yesterday when I heard her singing on the radio. Very touching music which I can't categorize with profound and significant lyrics; the most sexy, sophisticated and mystic voice I ever heard... She was in Istanbul Jazz festival in July 2005, I'm sure our roads will cross somewhere, sometime and I'll be able to see her performing live.
Get ''La llorona'' if you can(her album released in 1997).
Anis, she lives in Canada so try your best to see her performance before you leave my friend, I'm sure you know about her or you'll like her music if you don't, go to see her, take pictures and tell houta all about it.