Day 1 continued AL375

I forgot to write about stuff on Day 1 once we got there!

After taking the train we got on what became our bus. Basically it had 18 seats and there were 16 of us. There was practically no leg room. We got really good at squeezing and finding creative ways to sit so that our legs wouldn't cramp up and alternated sitting in the 'good' spots where there was a little more leg room or at least an isle seat so you could sprawl.

It looked kind of like a trailer park in a desert. I think I have pictures that I'll hopefully be able to post but if not that is a fairly accurate picture of what it looked like. There were several different LARGE trailer type buildings as well as smaller ones that visitors stayed in, as well as a few small houses (where the people who ran the place lived) and a mess hall with kitchen area. The first thing we did was to take our stuff out of the van and girls (10) went to our (for lack of a better word) trailer, and the guys (3) went to theirs.

 There were 6 twin sized beds and everyone who had a single room at the P&O cept Maddie and Sara got one of those.

 Part of our 'kitchen' that we never used because for the most part we cooked at a camp site as will be explained later. We did use the fridge for food storage so we wouldn't attract any extra bugs. Fridge is located to the right of the table. The bed you can see through the doorway is where Brooke and I stayed.

This is Rachel and Tasha's bed with Rachel sprawled on it.  There was also a bathroom attached as well as a 'trailer' with bathrooms but you had to walk outside to those. 

After we had put our stuff down we went for a walk with Peta. We learned how to spot spiders in the dark using our flashlights. Their eyes glow. I couldn't get it to work but pretty much everyone else could. It was actually pretty cool because you (not me though) could see the spiders like 10ft away and say 'it's right here', walk up and there one was. 

For dinner (our only meal cooked for us the whole week) we had kabobs, chicken, sausage, salad, and bread with apple pie and custard for dessert. It was SO good. While we were eating we met some of the Aboriginal people who were hosting us. 

Around the campfire we learned some basic things about the Aboriginal culture.

• Skin groups. These are kind of hard to explain but I'll try. There are 4 skin groups and they have nothing to do with skin. The 'traditional' family of mom, dad, kids, grandparents etc. is present but skin groups are equally important to them. Certain skin groups are supposed to marry, certain are taboo and you can't marry, mother in law skin groups can't even make eye contact. Claire, Kieran, and I would all be part of different skin groups. Each skin group is a 'family'. Every person has multiple roles in the family. Kieran would be the 'father' of Dad-dad because as Dad-dad got older he would need more help and it would be Kieran's job to take care of him - no matter how young Kieran is (tasks within reason at least). Who Kieran is the father of (2 generations above him, not his kids) wouldn't necessarily need to be grandpa, it could be great uncle also. The skin groups are recognized throughout Australia and if someone in your skin group approaches you anywhere and needs help you are obligated to take care of them. This is part of the reason that Aboriginals have trouble adjusting to Western culture. Because they have so many close ties that are severed due to the nature of Western culture that their support system is taken away from them when they leave the Bush. Many Aboriginal people live in a mix of West and Aboriginal culture because it is easier than all West and it is becoming harder to follow their traditions because of encroaching Western culture. 
• Poor reputation and struggle with Western Culture in Australia. One of the biggest health problems that Aboriginal people have when they try to transition to 'modern' culture is depression and suicide. It is common for them to turn to drugs and alcohol (just like for white people) when these things happen. A really negative stereotype has formed around that and there aren't adequate health services to help them. In health psych we talked a lot about how the care and language of the care has to match the culture. What being 'healthy' means to them isn't a direct translation to what it means to us. Making the people in the pictures brown doesn't mean that the methods for psychological health for white westernized people will work for them. 

Hopefully I kind of explained those things well enough. It's hard to do. Especially with the skin groups because it is difficult to explain something I only 75% understand. It was really cool though because their support system when practicing their culture and they aren't separated by hundreds of miles and cities is so strong and makes a lot of sense. Geneticists have done studies also and found that their taboos etc. related to who can marry whom is the simplest way with 4 groups to have the maximum genetic diversity. 

There are more than 200 or 500 I forget which one, I think 200, different Aboriginal languages because each People has their own language/dialect. We stayed with the Woongala people.