A game of risk
I’ve a tendency to post holidays in chronological order and that’s boring as hell, so I’ll just chat here as I remember things worth penning down. Sorry for the lack of pictures but the one thing i forgot to pack is my camera USB cable. This is what I wrote on our holiday:
We are in Coffs Harbour right now and staying at the Pelican Beach Resort with the entire kangaroo clan. This has been a great opportunity for me to understand Aussie culture and why Mr. D can be so odd sometimes (sorry honey, I’m just taking the piss haha).
Like any family, there are alliances and conflicts that have gone on for years. There were tears, snide sniggers and cold-shouldering but I won’t go into that for now. I’ll just highlight a few dimensions of what has been going on. Tonight’s our last day here and everyone will whiz off in different directions for New Year’s Eve.
But before I do that, let me map out the family tree according to age and couples:
Mother
Kirsty and ex-GI Joe hubby Tony, plus two girls under three
Mr. D and me
Charles and Alessia
George and Jo, plus her two year-old daughter
When we drove into the sleepy resort hotel on Boxing Day, I wondered a little anxiously to myself if I had enough to read because I only brought one book with me. I didn’t have to worry about that at all because let’s just say I have been fully entertained by jogging on the beach, diving (I’ll have an entry on that), tennis, dining in different cafes and restaurants, napping, reading by the pool and visiting the Big Banana (it’ll have its own entry).
Most importantly, I was reminded about how political relationships within a family can be. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the kangaroo’s family more, as always. What was even more interesting was Charles and Alessia were around this time. They live in London and the clan hardly ever gets to see them more than once in two years. These newly-weds embarked on a one-year round-the-world honeymoon last June. To earn more money, they stopped by Sydney for three months. After this week-long vacation in Coffs, they’ll be heading north to Brisbane and driving along the Gold Coast and their final destination is Ayer’s Rock. They are urbane, witty and fun people who are a tad more relaxed than the kangaroo’s elder sister and his more traditional younger brother, George, but he’s really chill in his own way, too.
Anyway, I had a lovely first day in Sydney with Alessia on Manly Beach where she let me into the more intimate world of the kangaroos. Charles has always had a thorny relationship with Kirsty who is rather strict and demanding as a result of her babies’ schedules. The pattern was, she would like to spend more time with Charles and Alessia, but it tends to end up in a fight because they are either five minutes late or something and an exchange of heated remarks will ensue. But of course, this is just a superficial observation and people don’t get angry over stupid things for nothing. I get the feeling they just didn’t get along since they were kids.
I kind of expected this run down of what has been going on in Sydney for the past three months. Alessia’s relationship with Jude has improved immensely, especially since the wedding last year and Jude has been learning Italian for almost two years now. I thought it was sweet of her to put in such an effort so she could speak to Alessia’s parents who don’t know English and to understand Italian culture in general because her son is married to an Italian girl.
Then came the topic of the new girl, Jo. Alessia expressed a dislike for this Brisbane addition to the kangaroo clan and I was surprised. She said: “You know, this girl is so loved by Jude and Kirsty but she’s only been in the picture of six months. She’s Australian and from Brisbane [Jude’s from Brisbane] so I guess it’s easier for her. It took them three years to even remember my name!” She went on to say it must also be difficult for me to be accepted, being Chinese and Singaporean and all. Till that moment, I always thought I was cruising okay with the matriarch.
Well, I only met Jo once but I liked her very much. Though we didn’t speak much she gave off a sunny vibe. But I learned quickly over a game of Risk that it’s this particular quality that is “dangerous” to Alessia and me. Perhaps I’ve been reading too much about female power in this Margaret Atwood novel I’m tearing right through now.
Last night, everyone gathered in Charles and Alessia’s room for a few rounds of Risk. I wasn’t looking forward to it particularly because I’m not a big fan of board games and I’ve never played this one either. It turned out to be a fairly simple game of fulfilling your war mission — either obliterate one opponent or conquer 16 to 24 countries — and all this is played on the world map with tiny plastic battalions.
Jo shed any shyness from our first meeting and she was bubbly personified…and so Aussie. She has shiny long blond hair with a golden sun kissed complexion with a slim, voluptuous figure. I don’t think I could imitate much of her speech because it was so…..Aussie. I couldn’t understand half of what she said because of her thick Aussie twang. She was like a cheerleader, too. “Alessia, you and me, baby!” when they had to roll the dice against each other. Alessia didn’t respond with the same enthusiasm at all. She even dryly joked, “I don’t like that blond girl” when Jo made the other teams go against her army. Alessia has dark, curly hair, while my straight dark hair was frizzy and frumpy that night. Jude laughed at Jo’s sunny jokes and I realised how alien I must be to Jude, as what Alessia pointed out.
But you know, it’s only when you are taken out of your country do you feel your own identity the most and I’m relishing a bit of that for now. When Mr. D and I recounted our dive trip, I couldn’t help but add in, “We saw these big fat garoupas and as he was patting it, I was thinking, ‘Mmmm I’d like to have you steamed.’” The kangaroo laughed but Jude was like, “Oh my god!” and clutched her chest in horror. No wonder Alessia was trying to form an alliance with me — I’m hardly any competition.
I never I thought I would do this on a holiday in Australia but I’ve been looking for Asian food to devour — there are only so many burgers, fish and chips and steaks I can consume. Plus, Sydney’s probably more cosmopolitan than Tokyo in terms of authentic cuisine. I hope Mr. D will take me to a Cantonese restaurant in Chinatown next week so I can have a steamed garoupa with soy sauce, ginger and spring onions. I’m just chuckling on the inside thinking of this.
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