Hello All! Greetings from fair Australia (well, very hot one day and freezing cold the next…springtime here is quite unpredictable) As I’m sitting here on the computer at the “Artists Shed” (which is a small hub of food, drinks and computers for participating festival artists to use a home base and cheap food) there is a large reception in the room and I cant quite tell who for. It seems as though there’s always some sort of gathering at this “hub” which makes for random and generally fun social opportunities at most monets of the day and evening.
Anyway, as the title of this email says…on to the Report:
Today, which is Monday October 16th, is the fourth day the Mostlandian Embassy has been open (the Embassy is located in the Town Hall of Melbourne). Last Thursday was the opening which included some nice fan fare and awesome welcome from the Lord Mayor Jon So who confirmed and celebrated Mostlandia’s standing as one of Melbourn’s Sister Cities.
During the course of a typical day the the Embassy, there are 4 “service windows” ( like in a bank?) each containing a variety of departments and commissions and each window being staffed by one of the 4 members of the MOST(pictures in next report!). One of the departments I generally run and enjoy : The What To Say Program- which offers visitors to the Embassy the service of providing assistence if they are in a situation where they’re not quite sure what to say. The visitor is asked to fill out a small form explaining the situation and the Embassador provides a possible solution on same form…in this case the visitor keeps the final form although in other departments we are the keepers of the filled in forms (such as applications for visas and such). Also, on Saturday, two visitors to the Embassy elected to become Deeply Committed through the Department of Records and we “officiated” the first “wedding” ever at the Embassy. It was really sweet as the pair had been mar ried for 25 years.
Today, many people stayed at the Embassy for and hour or more designing their own department and forms as this is an option at the Your Bureau Here Department. It’s suprising how some people get so interested and excited by this prospect. I think there is something interesting and compelling (for me anyway) about the desire to make a place for ourselves in the world and to be exploring the idea of home and to have some sort of quick feedback or aknowledgement of the desire to do that.
Anyway, this was the first report and i really hope it makes sence and provides some sort of picture into what this experience is like here. If there are any questions or feedback please write me at j_rhoads@comcast.net
AND more reports acomming!!!
best, Jen Rhoads
