Australia Beyond the Windshield

Watch out for kangaroos and wombats!

 Hi Everyone!

Last week was really hectic--and I think it will be worse in the weeks to come. I have gotten used to going home from the lab at 9 or 10 in the evening. And somehow I have gotten used to walking alone in the dark "forest" while the strong wind tickles monster trees to dance. It's a dreadful scene, really. You never know when the trees will collapse.

Lake or creek?

Moving on to our brief feature story today... Last year, when I visited my bf in Australia, we had to do a lot of driving. One was the extremely long drive from Sydney to Melbourne. But I didn't find it exhausting because--well, I wasn't the one driving! :D And the sceneries beyond the windshield were inexplicably breathtaking! I had to tell my bf to stop every now and then so we could take pictures. 

Hills.

The kookaburra.

 In all places in the world, I think Australia has the most number of road signs. You will probably find signs every 10 meters! And some of these signs are very unique too. In the first picture above, you will see that the sign is telling people to watch out for kangaroos and wombats. In the countryside where marsupials outnumber the human race, car accidents rarely occur due to collisions between two vehicles. It's usually between a bullet-fast car and an indifferent marsupial crossing the road! Australians seemingly care about preserving the natural environment that they put all these signs just to warn drivers. I even saw a tiny bridge dangling above the road which was intended for koalas. But of course, instead of using the hanging bridges, some koalas choose to "jaywalk" and run the risk of getting hit by a car.

Sunbathing cow.

All sorts of birds are flying everywhere. My bf would frequently point towards a hawk which flew so fast, my poor astigmatic eyes could not even see. Many times he asked, "Did you see that? Did you see that?" When you have poor eyesight, it's hard to spot a flying bird against the beautiful clouds. I only see birds when they fly as a group and make the V formation.

And of course, I can see huge animals like cows and sheep! This last picture really makes me smile. The cow is peacefully resting after a good feed. Everyone of us deserves a good life. :)

Brugge, Belgium

The whole day I was imprisoned in my room, trying to finish revising the second draft of my thesis introduction. Because it was bright and sunny, I kept glancing outside my window, daydreaming about aimlessly loitering around Leuven. 

A view from the boat.

Horse carriage.

I also daydreamed about travelling to Brugge, one of Belgium's touristic spots. It would be a waste not to share these photos taken by my sister's bestfriend when she visited me last year. We went to Brugge on such a beautiful sunny late autumn morning. Because we envied the people riding on the boat, we took a 20-minute cruise around Brugge. The canal scenery was more like the one in Venice, Italy. The boat drivers in Brugge, on the other hand, were not wearing striped shirts. If I remember it right the boat ride was around 15 euros. We also wanted to ride on the horse carriage; unfortunately, day length was too short as it was approaching winter. By the time we finished walking around and we wanted to ride on the horse carriage, the sky was already bleeding darkness. 

Glancing at people on the boat.

I also enjoyed looking at the swans. So huge yet so graceful. Because they have gotten used to being around people, they were very tamed. While I was feeding them with bread crumbs, they accidentally bit me! It felt like two hammers pounded my finger tips from two sides.

Swans in the middle of the canal.

Feeding the swans.

I would love to go back to Brugge this Spring. Can't wait to see my swan friends again. In the meantime, I need to head back to the lab tomorrow. They told me it's a holiday. But who cares about holidays if you're living alone in a foreign country and the people you love are miles and miles away?  

Bedroom in Arles by Vincent Van Gogh

Bedroom in Arles, 1888

Bedroom in Arles, 1889

If you happen to visit Amsterdam, perhaps you can drive away from the Red Light district for a while and visit the Van Gogh Museum. The museum houses countless paintings of Vincent Van Gogh and some other artists whom he influenced and who influenced him. Ninety-five percent of the paintings and sketches in the museum were all created by such a prolific artist. Some of his other paintings (such as the Starry Night) were not even there.

Other than painting a portrait of himself over and over again, Van Gogh is seemingly fond of recreating his artworks. One example is the Bedroom in Arles which he painted three times (once in 1888 and twice in 1889). The museum, however, only housed two of the three paintings. What is worth-mentioning is that, he originally painted Bedroom in Arles in 1888 when he still was psychology stable. A year later, he unfortunately lost his sanity. Once again he painted his bedroom. The strokes and play of colors in the 1889 painting were messier but more dynamic. It seemed to me that insanity unleashed the genius in Van Gogh.