Multicultural Australia

Melbourne is a cultural mashup. At alternating times it felt like the US, Europe, or Asia. Maybe I should realize that it was Australia with its own distinctive culture. Like some other cities, there were people of varying appearance, lots of ethnic cuisine, a variety of languages being spoken and religions being practiced. There was a Chinatown as well, but it looked similar to other instances throughout the world. I often wonder if this familiar "safe" appearance is deliberate. One of the reasons I enjoy Big Trouble in Little China is its playful, campy premise that there's something lurking below the facade of Chinatown.

Looking below the obvious surface revealed a great deal about multiculturalism in Melbourne. There was a Scottish Christian church, which might not seem that unusual, but the church sign mentioned a guest sermon from an Indonesian pastor. A movie theater showcased the latest Hollywood hits, but also featured a list of Bollywood movies. One of my cousins who grew up in Bangladesh attended graduate school in Australia. It seemed like an unusual choice to me, but he pointed out that Australia's a lot closer to Bangladesh than the US. Australia feels remote because it's a 14 hour flight from the west coast of the US (or 20 hours of flying from Baltimore). But recent events have started to demonstrate that maybe the US isn't the "center" of the world anymore.

When I visited Melbourne in September, the US stock market meltdown had started. Through a combination of BBC, CNN International, Asian and Australian news sources, I managed to learn about worldwide perspectives regarding the US economic meltdown. The interconnectedness of our world became very evident as finance ministers from several countries started assessing their exposure to the US financial crisis. I also learned some very interesting facts about the influence of China's holdings in Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

In a rather interesting juxtaposition of events, Australian news also covered China's first space walk mission. While Chinese news agencies showed images of the Chinese applauding the "tigernauts" (astronauts) as national heroes, US news agencies showed people wondering about who to blame. Folks in China were looking to the stars above while folks in the US were staring at the bottom line. Australia may seem remote, but by being equidistant from so many places in a flat world, at times it felt like a crossroads of the world.