| Koalas, koalas everywhere |
| Written by Julian Gonzalez | |
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I don't have any kids. As such, I'm usually oblivious to the child-related world around me, such as whether there is a ramp for strollers or a kids' menu. It's not that I deliberately ignore the kiddie-mundo; I just filter out things that don't pertain to me. For example, I was meandering around Austin's annual Thai Festival at Fiesta Gardens in April. While there, I had to see a man about a horse. Having negotiated a good deal, I washed up, and then noticed this pull-down board thingy on the far end of the men's room wall. What caught my eye was a diaper-clad baby koala with arms raised, not that it was a baby-changing table. I stood there pleasantly stunned for a few seconds because I had noticed a koala in Austin! Let me give you a bit of context. While living in Australia from September 2003 to April 2004, I noticed that koalas permeate popular culture there. There are heaps of koala-themed clothes, tea towels, pencils, notebooks, snacks, children's shows, hair accessories, games, soft toys and playground bouncy rides. I even saw a smiling koala firefighter reminding me to "Install a Smoke Alarm" as part of a sign on a Brisbane fire station.  Julian Gonzalez riding the wild koala in Australia. So it was not surprising that I was amused to find an Australian koala slapped up on an American-made baby changing table from a Colorado company inside a men's room located on the grounds of an Austin park with a Spanish name, all during a Thai festival. Then my smile faded because I realized I had seen those baby-changing tables in Austin men's rooms for several years prior to my stint in Oz. I just hadn't paid attention to them. Why do I travel so far away from Austin only to come back and notice what was always around me? Julian Gonzalez is an avid hunter of stories, photos and beer. |