DUMPLINGS IN HONG KONG

Tomorrow is my last day at work for two weeks. What joy!

Looking forward to having my favourite dumplings on Parkes Road, Jordan, Hong Kong

ITALIAN NATIONAL DAY

Went to the festival in East Sydney today. There were lots more people than last year. I really like the way the Council made it into a small community festival rather than a huge, mainstream fair... although I did notice one Medibank Private stall!

The majority of the stalls were selling Italian food, we ate chorizo, with roast tomato and onion wrapped around a Vietnamese bread roll (go figure) - it was delicous. There were lots of delicious looking breads, which were obviously baked locally, made my mouth water.

But we always go back to the Bertoni pastry stall. We couldn't settle on one pastry so Walter and I each had two; sugar jam doughnuts and mascoponi chese wrapped around pastry (you can see it in the pic). OMG it was good.

Passing on the baton

It’s easy to think of our area as Vietnamese town, in fact one nick name for the area is Vietnamatta. Luckily because it was such a mouthful, the name didn’t stick!

In reality our community was no just following a well worn track, cleared by many other communities before us.

After the end of the second world war, there were migrant camps in Cabramatta and it became the home of many Italians. Italian migrants are still here in great numbers although more dispersed across the local government area; Club Marconi in Bossley Park, being the most obvious marker.

Then in the 60s and especially 70s a large wave of migrants from the former Yugoslavia (now Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) came to the Fairfield local government area. Many a football champion and at least one prominent women’s Tennis champion grew up in our area.

Then there was the Arabic speaking and Assyrian community, which settled mainly in Fairfield and “Parks” area (Bossley Park, Greenfield Park etc).

I can’t say I’m completely up with what and when each community settled in our area, but just looking at the culturally rich landmark in Cabramatta alone gives a few clues. The Polish club, Slovenian Club, German-Australian Club (who organises Octoberfest at the Showground)… I’m sure there are many, many more.

And then came the refugees post the Vietnam War. And contrary to what many think these refugees don’t just speak Vietnamese, there were also many ethnic Chinese who also fled Vietnam. It’s not unusual to hear Chinese dialects spoken in Cabramatta; Cantonese, Fukien, Hokkien and of course Mandarin.

Something occurred to me the other day, just like the Vietnamese have come and, in some people’s words ‘taken over’ Cabramatta, newer migrants are now making a strong impact.

These days, there aren’t many migrants from Vietnam and many locals have moved out of the ‘ghetto’… leaving space for new comers.

Migrants from China are the largest group new settlers, due to an increase in migration from China. Squeezed by higher rent and house prices in Ashfield, Kogarah, they are moving west to Cabramatta. I’m hearing Mandarin spoken much more in Cabramatta and many new shops and restaurants are now owned by these new residents.

I’ve even overheard a few local Vietnamese complaining how Cabramatta has now effectively been taken over by the Chinese!

And there are many new residents from Africa too. You see many families, tall, beautiful walking along the street. Invariably they are carrying a fan or microwave and beaming smiles – all tell tale signs of a new crop of migrants, full of hope, joy and optimism.

It puts a smile on my face too. I know what their future might look like. And it looks good.

Also, I smile because, now, I know what the Italians might have thought when they saw Vietnamese carrying their bags of rice and bottles of fish sauce so many years ago.

I look forward to the next stage of transformation of our community, another rich layer in the complex and beautiful place I call home.

Song of Bernadette: Jennifer Warnes

So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine,
torn by what we've done and can't undo...

Jennifer Warnes

One of my fav songs, First we take Manhattan by Leonard Cohen

LEONARD COHEN: LIVE IN LONDON

I'm no music buff or know it all, but I am a fan of Leonard Cohen. I realise this could sound very tossy, but I got introduced to his beautiful and haunting music via Jennifer Warnes, she of the haunting voice and her album, Famous Blue Rain Coat (1987), of which, as I've just discovered from her website, there is a 20th anniversary edition.

Famous has so many wonderful Cohen songs, like First we take Manhattan, Bird on a Wire, Song of Bernadette... and so, so many others.

I picked up Leonard Cohen: Live in London, which had a few of these songs sung by the man himself. Of course, he's not a polished singer compared to Jennifer, but listen carefully and you do get to hear the song from his perspective... in particular his perverse bordering on demonic perspective on Manhattan.

Buddha's birthday, Darling Harbour

UNITY NOW MEETING - GRACE MERRICK

Went with Walter to a Leap into Solutions workshop in Neutral Bay today. It's run by an sweet, ernest and very positive Unity Minister, Grace Merrick. Unity Church springs from the New Thought movement.

This particular workshop was about leaping into your prosperity.

A really great thought which stayed with me was "Generosity is my natural state. I easily expand and extend into experiences of abundance and prosperity" Richard Levy, Unity Minister.

Bougainvillea

For some reason, my bougainvillea plant doesn't have many leaves, but at least this year, we've got lots of brightly coloured flowers, for which I'm very grateful!

Buddha Shirt

When arriving at the Angel Service, a friend's remark about my shirt taught me so much. On a whim, I decided to wear the Buddha shirt I bought at a mambo store years ago. As you can see it's bright and very reminiscent of Warhol screen print, except it's of a Buddha head rather than Marilyn Monroe or a can of Campbell's soup.

It always gets comments whenever I wear it. But not always positive.

Today, my friend saw it from across the road and instinctively said 'like your shirt'. Of course, I immediately thanked him.

But on reflection, I thought it was a wonderful act of kindness and friendship. He'd obviously registered that the shirt was loud and possibly garish from across the road. And from that distance he would not be able to make out the Buddha design (which usually stops anyone from saying anything negative).

But without knowing any of this, his first reaction as a friend to something loud and shocking is to like it - because I guess, he likes me.

Subconsciously, we all have a choice when confronted with something new or if we're shocked. The two extremes would be like it or hate it. How wonderful would it be if our initial reaction would always be positive, curious, re-affirming, rather than critical and narrow minded?

Today, that (probably) subconscious remark made my day and taught me a profound lesson.