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Today is the 26th of January, a day celebrated by all Australians as Australia Day. The Aussies like to celebrate this day with a parade, perhaps followed by a barbeque with families and/or close friends. I woke up late today, and couldn’t make it to the parade, so I went for a movie with my buddy instead.

Choosing a movie to watch was so not easy because there were too many movies that were appealing to me. After doing a little research, I finally chose to see the “Dreamgirls” based on audiences’ ratings on Yahoo Movies. The movie screened at 1.15pm and for the first time, there were so many elderly people watching the movie with me. I had no idea what this movie was about, but as I watched, I found it very entertaining and very quickly became captivated by the musical style presentation. I was attracted by the cast of Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx and Beyonce Knowles after that I fell in love with Jennifer Huston’s voice as she started singing. Her voice is incredible and her performance was really touching. I think everyone would not contend her win as the 2007 Golden Globe Award for best supporting actress. I think it is a film that no one will regret seeing as it is full of melodious tunes and gorgeous fashion just like the old times.

After the movie, I went to an Australian barbeque hosted by one of my buddy’s contacts. It was the first time I attended a social event where everyone else is a true-born Aussie except for my buddy and I. I have to admit that I did not feel at ease and the presence of many strangers was very uncomfortable because I’m not a good talker. I was nervous because I had absolutely no idea what I should talk about with others.

The host of the party, Ben and Jacque, owned a property with 6 acres of land, on which catered the guests. Their property is somewhere between Gold Coast and Brisbane, approximately 30 minutes drive away from Sunnybank. Their place is typical Australian style; a small house with a large backyard! I shouldn’t call it a backyard though, because “farm” would be a more suitable word to describe it. Ben and Jacque have just recently moved into the farm and they are in the process of cleaning up what the previous owner had left them. The host owns two horses, Bob and April, and they also have a chook house with 19 hens and 1 rooster. A busy rooster! They are also planning to build a dam to collect rain water for irrigation on their land. I think it would be nice to live in a big parcel of land where there’s lots of breeze.

I have seen many elder Australians play the game “lawn bowl”, and today I tried another game which is very similar to it but the rule is a little bit different. A wooden ball is thrown out to a location, and players get their chances at throwing a pair of metal balls. The player with the most number of balls closest to the wooden ball wins the game. Unfortunately, I was too busy and having too much fun with the game thatI forgot to ask for the name of this game.

After dinner, I played “spotlight” with young kids and they were great fun! One little girl named Brody got along really well with me. She has long curly brown hairs, big eyes, little earrings and her skin was of fair complexion; a typical OZ style little girl. She is in Grade 4 this year and loves going to school because “school is really fun” for her. I left the party at about 9.30pm because I still needed to attend a revision class tomorrow for my summer study so I must get home early for some sleep. She came and gave me a hug, and I almost wanted to stay there a little bit longer just for her but had to explain my situation and say sorry to her. When I walked to the front door, she suddenly ran and said “I really don’t’ want you to leave!” to me; it was so sweet of her and tears was almost coming out from her eyes. I have never imagined that this little girl act so strongly to my departure! It was really sweet of her and I will never forget that moment. Although I hope I can meet her again soon and it’s almost impossible as she is the child of the hosts’ neighbour. If they invite me to join the family party again and Brody’s family also attend then we might see each other again.

The first experience at a Aussie family party reminded me how much an Australian loves the drink of wine and beer. They dress casually to attend friend’s party and nothing will stop their chattering, not even food.

The menu for today’s barbeque dinner was lamb chops and because I don’t eat lamb, I only got to taste the potato bake and the salad. The potato bake was packed with thick cream, sliced potatoes with bacon and sprinkles of cheese on top then put into the oven, it’s simple but tastes really great. Salad was a mixture of lettuce, capsicum and cucumber; another simple dish with a fresh taste. One fruit salad consists of slices of mango, lychee and passion-fruit core as dressing. This dish was very tropical and has a beautiful taste. The last dish left me with a deep impression - watermelon with onion slices, which was placed into a basket made from watermelon skins. There were a lot of leftovers for this taste, but I think this combination created a magical taste. I had thought it would have a weird taste.

Anyway, it’s Australian Day and the first that I had celebrated with Aussies with barbeque (well, I had saw the Queen in Southbank few years ago but didn’t know that was Australian day). Didn’t celebrate for this special day but all experienced I had today make today remarkable.