Snippets #8: on on multiculturalism (why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends)...

since i came here 3 months ago i've been making friends with people from all over the world. so far some of my best friends here include a Pakistani, a Dutch Canadian, a Korean Australian, a couple of Germans (one of whom was born in Bulgaria), a number of Australians and football team's worth of Brits. when the Randoms group last met up there was a French woman, a Danish lad, a Scot and an Irishman. over the weekend i've hung with all of these, plus a couple of Turkish and American girls. a lot of the conversations we have winds up being "Comparing Notes" - i'm interested in hearing about different parts of the worlds and who better to ask than someone who came from there? sometimes the conversations move on from that and sometimes they don't but somehow no one gives a crap about nationality. i've never seen anyone get narky - prime example: Greece and Turkey have been getting pissed off at each other for centuries. today i was drinking coffee with Adnan (Pakistani) and Marti (Turkish) and mentioned that my grandparents were from Greece. not a blink, not a frown, nothing.

Australia prides itself loudly on how it's an open, multicultural society but it seems that most people who move there keep to their own community groups, and they seem to bring a lot of their rivalries along with them. not that it's perfect here - the fighting in Gaza has caused protests here in London, complete with fights between pro- and anti-Israeli groups. my flatmates are Chinese and Malay and two of them haven't even bothered to learn any English. they have no interest in integration, which personally shits me to tears. for the same reason that i didn't want to move into a house full of Australians. i meet plenty of them around the place without trying and i'm as happy to hang with them as i am with anyone else who's good value.

the greatest joy of being in a different country is getting into the swing of the local culture and colour, even when a lot of that comes from a fuckload of other people who aren't from here. hell - it's one of the unexpected benefits of being here. it's proof, too, that if people see past the logo on the passport and deal with the person in front of them that we can all get along. that person may be a complete saint, a total cunt or anything in between, but you'll never know that if you judge by the accent...