For the past 3 days my assignment partner and I have been living in our own lil' world. Facing the Bouverie Resident Unit K's wall isn't exactly what I had in mind, but that was where the both of us ended up. Fighting the cold in our layers and layers of jackets, and relying on coffee and 'power chips' (the two packet of Smith's Jessie left on the table) we managed to pull through 72 hours of work, with a grand total of 11 hours of sleep. For the first time in my entire life, I worked on an essay overnight, 2 days in a row. Dizziness, nausea, and my partner started puking (out of serious lack of sleep). The overdose of caffiene also resulted in more pimples, and of course, adding on to a lethargic face with eyebags as big as my eyes, the result isn't exactly what you'd call acceptable.
To top it all off, when we made a trip to Safeway (to grab a quick dinner and get some "fresh air" at night when the temperature was about 5 degrees celcius) I experienced an encounter that was utmost embarassing to the Australian anglo-saxons. Here goes:
I was in line at the cashiers at Safeway, when my essay partner, Dawn decided that she'd grab something quickly and returned to the line. When it was our turn to pay, she went ahead, while I waited to go next. As soon as she left to one of the three cashiers attending to the single line we were standing in, the guy behind me, one of the baby boomers generation said, "I can't believe it! you stood here just so you could let your friend go first? and you were not together?" and then he begun swearing and using inappropriate words. Basically, the situation wasn't half as bad as he made it to be. If we had been White, this wouldn't have happened at all.
How unfortunate for Australia to claim itself as a multicultural country, when more than half the people are so intolerant to others? Adding to the fact that the "Asians" who make up the majority of international students are contributing so much to their economy each year, they should be thanking us instead of directing discriminatory words towards us.
So perhaps you may be questioning what I did next. Well, What could i do? I ignored him, and so did everyone else around. I figured there wasn't any point reacting to it, especially in the midst of stress and urge to finish my final 65% assignment.
After all, at the end of the day, this is merely a part of life. To make everyone equal and gain the same respect regardless of skin colour would take at least another century, if you ask me. Then again, I've got white friends who wear T-shirts saying "John So is my bro".
To top it all off, when we made a trip to Safeway (to grab a quick dinner and get some "fresh air" at night when the temperature was about 5 degrees celcius) I experienced an encounter that was utmost embarassing to the Australian anglo-saxons. Here goes:
I was in line at the cashiers at Safeway, when my essay partner, Dawn decided that she'd grab something quickly and returned to the line. When it was our turn to pay, she went ahead, while I waited to go next. As soon as she left to one of the three cashiers attending to the single line we were standing in, the guy behind me, one of the baby boomers generation said, "I can't believe it! you stood here just so you could let your friend go first? and you were not together?" and then he begun swearing and using inappropriate words. Basically, the situation wasn't half as bad as he made it to be. If we had been White, this wouldn't have happened at all.
How unfortunate for Australia to claim itself as a multicultural country, when more than half the people are so intolerant to others? Adding to the fact that the "Asians" who make up the majority of international students are contributing so much to their economy each year, they should be thanking us instead of directing discriminatory words towards us.
So perhaps you may be questioning what I did next. Well, What could i do? I ignored him, and so did everyone else around. I figured there wasn't any point reacting to it, especially in the midst of stress and urge to finish my final 65% assignment.
After all, at the end of the day, this is merely a part of life. To make everyone equal and gain the same respect regardless of skin colour would take at least another century, if you ask me. Then again, I've got white friends who wear T-shirts saying "John So is my bro".
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