Interview with Gareth Morris, teacher of English at Brisbane

Gareth Morris is an English teacher in Brisbane for over five years, but  he has previously been teaching in Japan and Taiwan. He is from Shrewsbury (United Kingdom), the same town where Charles Darwin was born. Probably if Evolutionary Theory explained the capacity to survive of the humankind depending on the rate of happyness Gareth will be adapted to Brisbane. His love is shared among this city, his girlfriend, sports, and open spaces.

Q. Along your experience as a teacher, could you tell me where the students more disciplined are from?

A. Japanese are the most hardworking students. They always do their homework before the following class. If you have a look here (library) you will see most of students' nationalities are from Japan. That´s the best indicative.

Q. What´s the biggest handicap you have found to teach English?

A. Grammar and vocab is always difficult to be taught, above all in the lowest levels of English.

Q. Shrewsbury, Tokyo, Taipei, Brisbane... What’s your favourite city to live?

A. I choose Brisbane, because of its lifestyle, the quality of the weather, the opportunities to do outdoor activities or the simple fact of breathing fresh air.

Q. Tell me, which romantic place or places of Brisbane would you recommend to the newcomers?

A. The Cliffs in Kangarro Point, next to the riverfront, are an ideal place for a picnic with champaigne and smart cheese.

Q. Do you prefer Australian or British gastronomy? (Suggest a Restaurant of Brisbane)

A. Australian cuisine is more modern than British. 
It´s a fussion of Asian and Western style cookery, which I like more. Tukka* is my favourite restaurant. It´s located at West End. In Tukka you can eat Australian and native food, for example, emu, cocodrile, kangaroo, berrish, seeds...

                                                                    *Tukka is a distorsion of “tucker”, which means  food in Australian slang.

Q. Human being tends to associate cities with smells and sounds. What sounds Brisbane to?

A. For me the sound of Brisbane is the sound of the wild animals like the possums and kookaburras.

Q. What´s the most you love about Australia?

A. I love watching sports, and in Australia it’s possible to attend matches almost every weekend because it´s accesible and cheaper than in my country. I like watching football, rugby, criquet, tennis, horse races...

Q. Which 5 adjectives describe better an Australian?

A. Lucky, noisy, agressive, accepting and funny.

Q. Why would you stay in Australia?

A. My girlfriend -she was the main reason to travel to Australia- and the high quality of life are enough reasons to stay here.

Q. Why would you leave Australia?

A. If  any member of my family got sick I would come back home obviously.

Recommendation to newcomer students

Get outside and leave your residence, go to the beach, do barbies, explore new natural places... 

There are many pending places to be known.

Eaten and Drunk in Australia

I didn't plan to write a post tonight but I drank a glass of milk with ‘Akta Vite’ (see can in the center of the picture) and now I feel full of energy to make a good start referring to australian food, or rather, genuine products which are eaten and drunk in Australia.

When I arrived at Brisbane I decided to try kangaroo burgers because I thought they were a very popular meat. I liked it even though the flavour of australian meat is stronger than spanish meat (except chicken) but a bit later I realised kangaroo meat isn't eaten by many australian people. Probably because, similar to koala, is an australian symbolic animal. Nonetheless, every year many of them are sacrificied to control the population and at same time their meat is sold for human consumption. Personally I prefer kangaroo meat to beef but first and foremost chicken takes first place.

‘Akta Vite’ is a nutritional chocolate drink which has been made since 1943. It's recommended for expectant and nursing mothers but I didn't know it before buying it. Anyway it contains 8 essential vitamins and minerals. I bought it because I want to keep strong and healthy in this country. And I love cocoa, maybe it will be the understudy of morning coffee.

On the contrary, I bought Vegemite because it was the first Australian product I heard an Australian name. I hate that flavour and honestly I used this yeast extract as if it was butter. At least it's rich in Vitamin B and folate.

The second week I spent in Brisbane I tasted Ginger Beer Cordial. I realized on the first gulp that I didn't like it. After that I started drinking a glass of ginger everyday and now I love citric flavour. You need to know it's a cordial, that is to say, you should mix one part of it with four parts of soda or water unless your throat is prepared for its sweet and strong flavour.

More popular than Ginger Beer i think it´s Lemon Lime and Bitters Cordial. I haven´t tasted it still but I hope to drink it soon (right side in the picture).