Here is some fascinating travel observation during a trip to Australia where I met Will. 😊
The Australian culture:
The biggest language in Australia is English – this is the official language in this country. The second-biggest language in Australia is Chinese (Mandarin).
The official National Day of Australia is 26th January (AKA Australia Day) which marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British ships. However, this public holiday is very controversial – many indigenous and non-indigenous people point out that this is actually “Invasion Day”, because that was exactly when Australia was invaded by the United Kingdom & that’s why the Indigenous culture is lost in Australia. Will’s heroes are Chris Hemsworth (movie star) and Turia Pitt (bushfire survivor).
The iconic Australian food is Vegemite which was on The Ellen Show in the United States. Australians eat Vegemite with bread in the morning as breakfast. As to burial practices, Australians wear black or dark navy/grey & send flowers to the family’s home, the funeral itself or the funeral home. In terms of religious background, Australia has many different religions: 30.1% of Australians have no religion; 22.6% of Australians belong to Catholic Church; 13.3% of Australians believe in Anglicanism; 16.3% of Australians are other Christian; 2.6% of Australians believe in Islam; 2.4% of Australians believe in Buddhism; 1.9% of Australians believe in Hinduism; 1.7% of Australians choose other religions; 9.1% of Australians are unclear in this regard.
Will doesn’t have a religion. Will says although he isn’t religious, he is spiritual because he believes in astrology. He also says religious/spiritual people are less stressed, because these people know there are things that are out of their control in life – they can make peace with these things. That’s why religious/spiritual people live longer. Very interesting travel observation.
Slang that might be used by young people in Australia:
“That’s sick!” means that’s cool or awesome. “K” means okay. “Yaaaass” is used to express enthusiastic support. “Maccas” means McDonald’s.
Will’s hopes, dreams and fears: Will would like to become a writer in the future because he loves literature. However, his biggest fear is he might become a starving artist, because he doesn’t know anyone who can make a living by writing – most people that can write make a living by teaching students how to write (they can’t make a living by writing). Will’s school experience: Because Will goes to a public Reception – Year 12 school, many of his friends at school are White poor kids and first-generation immigrants’ kids. It ia small school with only 400 students. Last year, only 14 students from his school went to university. Will wants to go to university, and he does well academically at school.
“The travel observation has broadened my horizon.”
