Australia is known as one of the most multicultural societies on earth and most Australians (84 %) believe that multiculturalism has been good for the country. And how could it not be?
In 2019 just international education activity alone contributed over $40 billion dollars to the Australian economy!
I've noticed many internationals stick with what they know and many join their own communities, clubs etc..and there is a club for pretty much any culture, they have regular meet-ups, dinner nights with their own traditional food, and doing their own cultural events and traditions. I know there is a Slovenian club, but have to admit, I haven't been yet. I have met only a few Slovenians here pretty much by accident. Our club is probably the smallest out there and most people I talk to, have never heard of Slovenia, some even think I made the country up :D I'm probably one of the rare internationals over here, that doesn't have friends that come from the same country, my friends are all from different countries.
Is that good or bad?
Well, both I think. I like to learn about different cultures and get to know other traditions, languages, accents (fighting over who has worse accent and laugh at each other's weird English words) and no matter what, we can all relate somehow as we all had to work hard to get to where we are now and help each other through loneliness and hard times.
But having my own community would be an added bonus as we can understand each other through having same morals, values and understanding and having some nostalgic moments.
Either way, as mentioned in my previous posts, South Australia is known as the festival state and this time I was invited to a Multicultural Festival by my aussie friend, who seemed surprised I didn't even know about it. Thanks mate, I appreciate it :D
I assumed my friend Helen would appreciate it too, so we invited her as well.
The festival didn't disappoint and it was amazing to see so many cultures blend in just one day! The place was packed and it was full of dance, shows, food and many colours and different costumes.
Did I mention food? :D
Unfortunately there was no Slovenian group there, the closest I could find was Croatian and of course I picked their food, along with "Cevapcici" and "Raznjici" , I had a bottle of "Cedevita" which took me back to when I was a kid ( that was the drink always in our kitchen ).
For desert, we picked "Baklava" and cinnamon pastry.
Unfortunately we were too late to try this tasty looking poppy seed pastry, which was all gone very quickly.
As we finished with out last bites, we spent the next few hours just watching all the performances which showed traditional dances and it really was an experience - as I closed my eyes, it was like I spent 10 minutes in each country.
So where did I go?
As me and Helen looked through the program...
...some of the places we went to were:
Japan..
Mexico..
Cook Islands..
Germany..
Brazil..
Vietnam...
Ireland..
India..
Thailand..
And many more...
Really nice day spent. What would I say was my favourite part?
I really liked that most of the dances were performed by really young kids. It was nice to see the culture being passed on, making sure they don't forget where they came from and staying true to their traditions..
...but also the fact that no matter what, every culture is unique and different, but every culture can be presented in the same form - dancing!
Every culture can be presented in a way of dancing , and each has their own story to tell.
And what was your favourite part?
Thanks for watching, hope you enjoyed it. See you next time hive tribe.
Kat