Dziadziu and Babcia

They worked on a farm. The sheep were their only friends, and their enemies were the dingos. It was Australia during the 60’s and “they” were my dziadziu and my babcia

Dziadziu and babcia migrated to the “land girt by sea” in 1945, during the off set of the Nazi regime. Of course at that time they were anyobody’s dziadziu and babcia, they were Jack and Josephine. Josephine’s sister, Lydia, had been killed two weeks before they were set to board ship, and every day she talked about her.

“Caroline, she was so smart, so beautiful. More beautiful than all of the girls who think they are beautiful in this country. The girls here are skinny and no colour in their cheeks. Lydee was tall, with skin the colour of olive and hair like chocolate!”

When dziadziu and babcia came to this country they had nothing but 20 Polish zloty. The Germans took their home, all their belongings and whatever money they had left was spent on escaping. They did not care where they went, as long as they were gone! And despite all of this, dziadziu felt sorry for “the black people with flat noses”. He would tell me how loud girlish screams often woke him in the middle of the night.

“…But of course Caroline, everybody minded their business because everybody had a shot gun.”

He would sit on his favourite rocking chair on the porch, cigarette in one hand and a glass of Jack in the other.

“…and I would watch, every night, the same man walk out of the house where the lady she would scream from, his hat covering his eyes. I think this is so that people do not look into them. Very bad man, Caroline, very bad.”

Dziadziu always ordered babcia to stay inside at nights. But everybody knew that the “very bad man” was only after “women with flat noses.”

Babcia felt really ill. It was a warm winter day. She spotted a gypsy walking by selling tarots and other mystical accessories. In the old country this was common, but here, in the heat of the Australian outback it was a novelty.

“Please, please gypsy, please come to me. Look at me. Why do my stomach pain, and my head spin and my skin sweat? What is happening to me? Please gypsy, tell me.”

The gypsy looked at her.

“My darling, you are a carrying a child and she is a girl.”

“No ! Pregnant I cannot be"

“Yes. She will be a girl with blue eyes and porcelain skin. She will look like a doll”

“No.”

“Yes, and if I am right, and a girl with blue eyes and white skin is born to you in 9 months you will name her my name, Maja.”

Aunt Maja was born 9 months later.

She attended the local Christian missionary school, and would arrive home every day with a new story about an Aboriginal student being abused or bashed by their teacher.

“Mamma, today Shelley was beaten by the teacher because she sneezed loudly. Mamma he punched her and kicked her but she did not cry. When she got up she had blood on her face, and the black skin around her eyes had turned blue! "

Babcia hated the schooling system here. She always told me that they taught “rubbish”, that the children there could never become more than farmers and barmen, even if they wanted to. But more so because of the violence and abuse that the kids were exposed to.

“If we wanted violence, we would have stayed in Polska!”

One-day aunt Maja came home crying. Babcia was pregnant with mum, so it would have been around 1964.

“What is the matter, Maja?”

“Mumma mumma today Felicity called out in class. Mr Woodcroft grabbed her by the ears, threw her to the door. He broke her nose. And then he made us cane her for one hour. One hour, mumma! We all had to take turns. “Teach the black peoples to stay quiet”, he was saying. She was crying mumma. I was saying “sorry Felicity, sorry” while I was hurting her. She is my friend.”

Babcia began to cry. She always told me that when her children were sad so did she because they were a part of her. This time though, I think it was because she was thinking of “Polska”, and the abuse that she and her sister endured.

“Bloody hell! When we were in the old country the Germans dragged us out. They killed us, they tortured us, and they took away our homes. Now, we are in this desert, and the white people do the same to the blacks! Why did we come here? Here, where the same thing happens?”

Dziadziu was yelling at babcia about what Maja had endured. He suggested returning to Polska, now that the war was over, perhaps start a new life in Warsaw, but babcia would not be able to travel such a long distance while pregnant.

After dinner Dziadziu walked away from the wooden table that he had built, washed his hands, filled his glass and went to sit on the front porch. As he exhaled his first breath he heard the screams again. He ignored them, filling himself a second round. The screams became louder. This time there were two women. After a long time of staring at the millions of stars in the sky, the flimsy screen door opening interrupted him. A girl ran out, crying. He just watched. About 5 seconds later the man swung the flimsy screen door open, running after the girl, breaking it as it crashed behind him. The girl was out of sight, and so he turned around and started walked

He was not wearing his hat tonight.

He noticed dziadziu on the front porch. Dziadziu recognised him straight away.

That night Dziadziu couldn’t sleep. He got up, put on his robe and crept down the stairs. He placed his palm on the doorknob, ready to turn it. He stopped, realising that bad things would happen if he twisted it open and stepped outside. He did it anyway.

He opened the neighbour’s door. Babcia told me that nobody locked their homes in the Australian outback in the 60’s, because they all owned a shotgun or a rifle, and would place it at the head of their bed while they slept.

Dziadziu crept up the stairs. He saw the thin, almost lifeless body of a “flat nosed person” lying on the landing. He crept over her and opened the door of the master bedroom. There was Mr Woodcroft, his gun leaning on the post of his bed. Dziadziu told me that he slept in that shape of a star, with his legs and arms spread really wide. He flinched just as dziadziu approached him, but then continued sleeping.

Babcia recalls hearing a loud sound, which caused the pigs to screech and the cows to grunt. The “flat nosed person” ran to Mr Woodcroft’s side, and began to clean the blood splattered across the walls and the wooden floorboards with her white apron. Dziadziu walked away slowly.

When he opened the front door, Aunt Maja was downstairs with babcia, who had their suitcases waiting. They all scurried into the ute, slamming the doors loudly.

Nobody uttered a word while dziadziu drove. His only stop was at a hospital when babcia fell into labour.

Until hearing this story I always wandered why mum was born was born in Goondiwindi.

One Night in Beyonce (well not really)

You see as I was going home last night a limousine pulled up beside me and the "lady" inside and asked if I needed a lift. I accepted the offer.

As I entered I saw long black legs and heard the devils music... R and or B.


She smiled and offered me drugs. I declined, but accepted the whiskey.

After a while I realised that she looked very familiar and asked her name.
She asked me to call her Miss.Knowles or however its spelt.

ANYWAY, after alot of flirting (FROM HER)she opened her legs and stated "you know Manoug, its the surprises and mysteries in life that keep the spice in my life and my penis leaning to the left..."


Awe struck and I stared at her member for quite some time. It wasnt a particularly impressive member, but it was between the legs of Miss. Knowles.

She leaped upon me, humped my arm and attempted to cock slap me, but I threw her off and jumped out of the moving vehicle and hung out with the Ermington Aborigines for protection.


By Manoug Mouradjallian

Jasmine Tara Hook

What is your occupation right now?
right now, im a bit unsure...

What colour are your socks right now?
white

What are you listening to right now?
mos def

What was the last thing that you ate?
a really bad vending machine cookie

Can you drive a stick shift?
I SURE CAN!!

Last person you spoke to on the phone?
my buddy Pat


Do you like the person who sent this to you?
i love them!

How old are you today?
18

What is your favourite sport to watch on TV
NRL

What is your favourite drink
frangelico and milk

Have you ever dyed your hair
yes

Favourite food?
at the moment, lebanese bread

What is the last movie you watched?
State of Play

Favourite day of the year?
the first day you feel summer coming

How do you vent anger?
swear alot and go running...usually not at the same time

What was your favourite toy as a child?
nintendo 64 and an elephant hehe (im not laughing, the elephants name was hehe)

What is your favourite season?
summer

Cherries or Blueberries
cherries

Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?

Who is the most likely to respond ~

Who is least likely to respond? ~

Living arrangements?
i live with my nene and my uncle

When was the last time you cried?
yesterday

What is on the floor of your closet?
clothes that have fallen off the hangers...its always the same tops...

Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?
Kim is my longest friend, but im not sending this to her

What did you do last night?
i went to the gym and read a book

What are you most afraid of
people dying

Plain cheese or spicy hamburger
spicy

Favourite dog breed?
bulldog

Favourite day of the week
sunday

How many countries have you lived in?
only australia

Diamonds or pearls?
pearls

What is your favourite flower?
as lame as it sounds, jasmine. my parents planted one in our backyard when i was born so it was always around when i was growing up :)
j

Leigh Bianca Garbellini

1. What is your occupation right now?
Credit Control Representative

2. What colour are your socks right now?
Black, white and grey

3. What are you listening to right now?
Caroline

4. What was the last thing that you ate?
Chocolate

5. Can you drive a stick shift?
Not well!

6. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
A customer

7. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yes! My Hannah!

8. How old are you today?
23

9. What is your favourite sport to watch on TV
Footy, Netball and Gymnastics

10. What is your favourite drink
Water and Chocolate milk

11. Have you ever dyed your hair
Of course

12. Favourite food?
Pasta and burgers

13. What is the last movie you watched?
Last week I watched "In the Name of the King - A Dungeon Siege Tale" with James. It was a boy movie.

14.. Favourite day of the year?
My Birthday (of course!) and Christmas

15. How do you vent anger?
Road Rage.... haha, nah I usually just have a massive whinge to a friend and feel better

16. What was your favourite toy as a child?
My barbies and also my green stuffed monkey which my Daddy gave me when I was born. Oh and Lego!

17. What is your favourite season?
Summer

18. Cherries or Blueberries
Cherries

19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back?
Yes please

20. Who is the most likely to respond ~

21. Who is least likely to respond? ~

22. Living arrangements?
I live with a friend :)

23. When was the last time you cried?
A few weeks ago

24. What is on the floor of your closet?
Shoes

25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to?
Hannah :)

26. What did you do last night?
Went to the mall, hello where else would I be on a Thursday night?

27. What are you most afraid of
Germsssss! Im a germophobe!

28. Plain cheese or spicy hamburger
Plain cheese

29. Favourite dog breed?
Border Collie

30. Favourite day of the week
Saturday

31. How many countries have you lived in?
Just this one

32. Diamonds or pearls?
Diamonds

33. What is your favourite flower?
My favourites are Daffodils, Birds of Paradise, Frangipanis and Sunflowers :)

From a Pearl, a Pirate and a Beach Yupi to a Beautiful Mermaid

Anita, Anita what can we say
September 9, 1988 what a special day

You were born with chubby cheeks and curly hair
You were so cute it was simply unfair

We became great friends from such a young age,
Even then you had attitude and rage

With your stretchy skin and great, dark tan
Soon every man became a fan
____________________________

From boyfriends to tears to smiles and laughter,
We were always there for each other

Unless of course she started the trouble,
She seemed so friendly and oh so humble

Little did you know she caused the mess,
But unfortunately she would never confess

You would never expect it from the girl so quiet
Something so small to cause such a riot

Like our mums she always cared for us,
Tweezers and needles, sewing our stockings in class.

Always there with great advice,
So straight forward and so precise

If you ever cant find her you know where she’ll be
Cox’s Road, at Michel’s patisserie

With her take away coffee, even when she’s staying
Decaf, large, foam cup, a drop of hazelnut, “sorry Im so annoying”

Her ability to sing has shocked us all,
She thinks she’s good but she’s awful

It took until 20 to get her L’s,
But that doesn’t stop her screeching and her yells

Go left, go right, she was always wrong,
Making our trip ever so long

But in the end we always got there,
Even if it was just going to her house to smoke argileh

___________________________________________

One last story to end this all
Reminiscing about one of Anita’s famous calls

We all know that Anno’s star sign is a Virgo
But she we was little she didn’t understand that so,

She skipped up to her mum as happy as a can be
And said “mummy mummy I’m a virgin look at me!”

Happy 21st Anno, we love you so much

Sport Shoes Are Such a Waste of Money

Sport Shoes Are Such a Waste of Money
By: Caroline Geroyan

If you have just purchased a new pair of sport shoes I highly recommend that you stop reading now! I mean, I don’t know how Usain Bolt started his running career, but I am quite confident he was not splurging on $250 Nike Max Airs. As a matter of fact, I am certain that he was running around on the dry Jamaican land bare foot, and it doesn’t seem to have done him any harm, in fact it has had the opposite effect.

When you walk (or run) into North Sydney Indoor Sports Centre you can always hear the screeching sounds of rubber sliding against the polished wooden floors. On one particular visit, this sound was interrupted by a loud “AAARGH”. A member of the senior men’s team was lying on the ground as he had twisted his ankle. Funnily enough he was wearing what looked to be an expensive pair of Nike basketball shoes. “Take off his sneakers,” yelled the first aid guy as he came to the rescue, “tool box” and all. Once he had reached the injured player he threw aside his shoes, as though blaming them for the casualty.

Ah yes, the smell of brand new sport shoes comes like a cool whiff of air when the box is opened for the first time, especially when you have paid hundreds of dollars for them. But why would someone do that when so much research has been done, proving that they don’t do us any favours? Gassia Hovagimian, a representative basketball player for the North Sydney Bears explained to me (whilst wearing flashy AND 1 basketball shoes I might add) that sneakers “[don’t] make that much of a difference on your physical performance but more on the psyche.” What she means by this is that wearing a prestigious pair of $200 sneakers heightens an athlete’s confidence so that they “feel” as though they are playing better. Just think of that scene in the 2002 basketball flick Like Mike, when Lil Bow Wow looks down at his sneakers before his basketball game, and whispers “make me like Mike.”

The first modern running shoe was created by Nike in the 1970’s, so its only logical to think that they would have been revolutionised to the point of perfection by now. After all, Adidas has $300 shoes on the market with microchips in them and Asics has spent about $3 million and eight years (three more years than it took to create the first atomic bomb) to invent the Kinsei, a shoe that boasts 'multi-angled forefoot gel pods', and a 'midfoot thrust enhancer'. Each season brings an expensive new purchase for the average runner.

So I guess manufacturers and marketers are onto something here, as despite sport shoes having no physical benefits it has become a $20 billion industry. Just recently my friend Anita decided to buy running shoes, so I thought I would accompany her whilst she looked for a pair. Our first stop was Footlocker. Rachel the sales rep bombarded us with 5 different shoes, each one with a longer, more “sophisticated” name than the last. The price tag on one of them screamed out to me; $279.95, a price I would consider selling my soul for. I nudged Anita, pointing to the tag. Her eyes too popped out of their sockets.

“Why are these ones so expensive?”

“Ahh these are the Asics Gek Kayanos. They’re top of the range, brand new.”

Rachel had nothing else to say. Anita and I stood there, obviously wanting to hear more about this supposed marvel.

“Let me call my supervisor, he can talk to you more about it.”

“They provide extra support and comfort,” he reassured as he paced towards us. Anita looked baffled.

“Uhh okay but don’t all shoes do that?”

“Well these are new and they fit the exact contours of your feet, do you want to try them on?” She didn’t, and walked out of the store very confused.

Two sales representatives from Nike went to watch a cross-country training session at Stamford University. Their job was to determine what type of sole the runners preferred, but to their surprise they found that they preferred…well…nothing.

When they questioned this, industry renounced coach Vin Lannana answered, “…I believe that when my runners train barefoot they run faster and suffer fewer injuries.”

So, the very best runners are given the “very best” shoes, but they choose not to wear them. Even Gassia, who is made to wear “top of the range” sneakers by her coaches, told me that “during every training session or game atleast one player twists their ankles or hurts their knees.” As a matter of fact, every year between 60 and 85% of runners suffer an injury as a result of wearing “top of the range” shoes.

Dr Craig Richards, who has spent a lot of time studying the pros and cons of running shoes, thinks that it is the way companies differentiate their products through clever marketing that makes their “features” attractive.

“They’ve been very careful. No major shoe company has ever said these shoes will decrease your risk of injury. It’s all based on perception…”

This is rather interesting considering what Ashleigh Walden, a fit technician from the Athlete’s Foot, a specialist shoe retailer, has to say. When I asked her what she thinks about all the reports stating that sport shoes don’t provide any paediatric benefit, her initial response was “that’s rubbish!” She told me how “comfort and longevity” are factors in the pricing of a shoe, as well as performance.

“Differences between a cheap shoe and expensive would be amounts the cushioning material, whether it has some kind of traction control system, support…”

But that does not make much sense to me because all shoes claim to have that type of support. Also, paediatricians claim that it is shoes in general that are causing our feet damage, not only sport shoes, so whatever we wear, no matter how many high tech missiles, microchips and memory cards are jammed into them, they are of no benefit to us!

So whats the best type of shoe to run with, if any at all? If they arent doing us any favours, and sporting organisations do not let you run bare foot what do you do? Dr Richard’s answer to this is “ Shoes that let your foot function like you're barefoot - they're the shoes for me.'” Luckily for him (and anyone else who feels the same way) Vibram, an Italian peadiatric company has created the FiveFingers, a shoe that is more like a cross between a glove and a sock. Yeah okay, it sounds like kind of an ugly shoe, but Dr Richards, who recently ran in a cross country marathon, noticed that 3 people other than him were wearing them, so it is approaching the mainstream.

And guess what?

Theyre only $100!

A Letter To a Friend Written on a Cold, Lonely Night

>From: Caroline Geroyan (carolinegeroyan454@hotmail.com)
Sent: Monday, 14 September 2009 11:06:09 PM
To: Jasmine Hook (jasmine_hook@engin.com.au)


Heyy Hasmig,
(thats what Im going to call you from now on so you had better GET USED TO IT )


Well like I fully cant sleep and I was thinking about your sweet ass so I thought ide write to you to entertain you while you are at work tomorrow (well technically its today coz thats when our reading it and shit).

Anywayyyyy... So like we are fully going to the Land of Thai!!! Aaargh!!! Yayyyy!!! Massages, food, massages, food, massages (man thats all im going to do there)...oh yeah and of course beach!!! OMG..!!! Cant wait!!!

Oh yeah, my work PC username is caroline.geroyan and my password is password123 (Please dont send emails from my email...I will not go to Land of Thai if u do that) JKS JKS LOL!!

Im soo tired but I cant sleep...whats wrong with me...???

AAAARGH!! I tipped tea on myself and my chin is now burning!!!

BRB

...


Okay so Im like fully back!! I had to go and get a towel...

Where was I? Oh yeah, so log in and look at some accommodation and I will too... and then we will email each other with what we find!! OMG YAAY

Dont u reckon Kanye West is a shit for what he did to Taylor Swift??? Im going to beat him down with my baseball bat....hey, just quietly, do u reckon Kanye WEST is relos with Andrew WEST??? They could have some mad historical connection you know...Do me a favor though, and DONT ask him. Many Thanks.


So0o0o0o0o whats new with you??? Whats the 411? (you know in Mean Girls...when the mums sais that...ooohhhh I fully love that movie) Fully sick and shit...

I think Im kinda tired now..so im going to try and sleep...

Yalla G'night!!

Yalla byeee
<3

ps.. my font is great


pps...im going to add emoticons to this email...i hope u can see them on the work email..