Comments

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  Selçuk January 30, 2014 20:12

  Hi Fred,

  How are you?

  I feel good and happy to see your response. Thank you very much for take time off reply .. After I had read your statements, I though that, you were a history teacher .. Were you? :)

  As I mentioned before, Australia is my dream .. My english education is continuing in Turkey and I want to complete it in Australia .. The most effectual thing; that I want to go there, is specious, livestyle and distance :)

  Probably next winter I will be preparing to go there for 6 months, so I am collecting some informations about your country. Until now, I could see beauties of your country from tv and some documentaries, and I believe that adventure of Australia will be very exciting and different for me.

  To meet new people, to learn diffirent cultures, to participate some celebrations as well as english education are excited me. Perhaps I can find a job there to earn money for livelihood, until turn back to my country.

  we will see that what will tomorrow bring to us :) I hope all of my wishes are come true. Maybe one day we can meet there, and I can order a cup of coffee for your helping :P

  Nice to met yo Fred. Having much fun in China, and take care...     
• 

  Fred Jansohn January 28, 2014 22:07

  Hello Selcuk,

  How are you?

  You asked me to tell you about Australia. That's a 'tall order', as there is so much to tell so I would not know where to begin. Let's just say it's a big country--in fact often referred to colloquially as a "Big Country"---with about 23-24,000,000 people, ressource rich, very spacious, very sunny, with a generally relaxed livestyle, but sometimes very racist too!

  I live in Sydney, the largest city with about 4,000,000 people and probably the oldest (modern) history of all the cities. By comparison with your part of the world (in which my mother spent a part of her childhood, believe it or not!) Australia is a "baby". Having said that it is the oldest continent on Earth, and also has one of the oldest indigenous (native) inhabitants, the Australian Aborigines, who have lived on the continent for about 40-50,000 years!

  Australia is an immigrant country. Beginning with the English settlement, wave-after-wave of foreign peoples have migrated here in the last 200-250 years: Irish/English/Scottish, Northern European, Eastern European, Greeks, Italians, Lebanese, Turks; then in the 1970s during the Vietnamese War many Asian people came here as refugees.

  Recently we have also seen waves of Middle Eastern, and African refugees coming here.

  All these people have contributed to the wide, colourful, cultural mix that Australia has become, and enriched it as a nation.

  So influential have some countries become that we also celebrate their Festive days. For example Sydney will soon celebrate the Chinese New Year with parades and a food fair. As in many countrioes Sydney has its own Chinatown!

  That's all for now.

  I go on annual leave next week; and am soon leaving for China again for a short holiday there. It's my favourite part of the world; but I am actually of German heritage!

  Cheers and best wishes,

  Fred