Top 15 Weird/Different Stuff in Australia... so far.
1. Let's start with the obvious: they drive on the left side of the road. This in itself is not so surprising but what got to me is that everything else in the country is backwards too. For example, escalators/travellators (inclined moving sidewalks to take your shopping trolley on) are on the opposite sides so you often try to go up the down side and down the up side, keys turn the wrong way, light switches flip down to turn ON the light, people walk on the left...
2. You cannot have a normal cup of coffee here... you must order a long black or flat white or any number of other combinations of distance and colour that all have something to do with espresso... this is very disconcerting when all you want is a coffee, just a coffee.
3. I cannot tell you if toilets flush in the opposite direction because in Aus. all the toilets are water conserving and do not use enough water to create a swirl. And all the toilets have a low water and normal water flush option (your choice depends on the amount of mess you made I guess haha) and you will rarely see paper towel in the bathrooms... everywhere has air dryers.
4. Things have weird names here: the trunk of a car is the boot the hood is the bonnet, ketchup is tomato (toe-mat-oh) sauce, a flashlight is a torch, the parking lot is the car park, bell peppers are capsicum, snapping your fingers is called clicking, something sketchy is dodgy, granola is called muesli flip flops are thongs, the pound key on the telephone is the hash key, a bogan is a moderately derogatory term for a country person - kind of like a hick, a spook is someone who you don't ever see because they are in their rooms studying all the time, and every word longer than one syllable requires an abbreviated form (board shorts are boardies, sunglasses are sunnies, university is uni, people who live in student res are ressies, the salvation army is the Salvo, afternoon is arvo...)
5. The most common greeting is: How ya goin'?, if there is a lot of something there is 'heaps' (something can also be "heaps good" rather than really good), 'I think...' and 'Do you think...' are 'I reckon...' and 'Do ya reckon...'
6. This one is not weird or different from home but still interesting: a group of kangaroos is called a mob and a group of jellyfish is called a smack.
7. If you ask for a lemonade at a restaurant they will bring you a sprite. Lemonade does not exist.
8. Aussies in the cities do not drive trucks, they drive Utes which are more or less the modern day El Camino.
9. If you order a burger 'with the lot' you can expect to receive a burger with pineapple, a fried egg, bacon, beetroot (everything in this country seems to come with beetroot), tomato, lettuce and cheese. It seems really disgusting but is actually quite tasty.
10. There is no orange cheddar cheese in Australia and you will be very hard pressed to find a bagel.
11.Cars all have different names. For example, a Ford Escort is a Laser.
12. Words are spelled with s instead of z like realise and analyse but they do say zed rather than zee so they can be forgiven.
13. Songbirds seem to have abandoned Australia. Instead they have big ugly things that sound like dying babies, or kookaburras that I think sound like howling monkeys not like laughter at all.
14. The dentist's office is called a surgery which can be very disconcerting when you walk down the street and see a sign that says surgery over a dodgy door in some side building.
15. Parking metres are electronic and fire hydrants are found in the sides of buildings, not little yellow things on the sidewalk.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
An Update
Okay okay I know it's been a really long time since I posted anything. But to be totally honest not a whole lot of anything has been going on here. Well it seems that way because I've had my butt pasted to my desk chair for the last couple weeks working on essays and studying hard. But there have been a few fun study break activities and I finished my last paper today and don't have an exam until the 15th so I have time to kill... finally.
First, on May 17 it was Carlos' birthday so a huge group of us went into Civic for some karaoke and then to Uni bar where it was Woodstock and everyone was dressed up like hippies. Karaoke was soooo fun! It was an older crowd and creepy old gay men kept trying to dance with all the guys but we still had a blast! And Mandy, a girl from Saskatoon who I took French with and who is a friend a Jaret's was in town for a few days. It was so cool to see a familiar face.
Next, on May 25 was the Op Shop Ball which is an event put on by the Residential Students Organization where everyone goes to op shops (thrift stores) and buys the most hideous outfit they can find then we all hop in a bus go to a bar have dinner and drinks and dance to 80's music. I have to say I need to bring this idea back to Canada. It was so fun. At first I wasn't going to go because I wanted a quiet weekend to work on some papers but as everyone was getting ready to go I was wishing I was getting ready too and couldn't focus on my schoolwork. So I went down to Maki's room (who also wasn't going) and found all the other Mexican girls there making her go and it didn't take much convincing to get me to go too. I ended up wearing Maki's rainbow striped leggings and her sweater because I didn't have an outfit and left most of my wardrobe at home. After much confusion trying to find the place (we missed the bus) we arrived just in time for supper. It was a blast!
The next day Cindy, Carlos, Gooder and I borrowed Jack's car and went to Telstra Tower which stands on top of Black Mountain (more or less a large hill) in the middle of the city. There is an amazing 360 degree view of Canberra from the tower and we arrived just in time for a beautiful sunset. It was a perfect way to spend the evening.
A few days earlier I had been talking to a guy on my floor who is a huge AFL fan (Aussie Rules Football) and he mentioned there would be a game on the weekend and I told him I wanted to go (understanding AFL was one of my goals in coming to Australia... that and cricket which I have yet to master). As an illustration of how much this guy loves AFL his nickname is Vic which is short for Victoria which is the "homeland" of AFL. He is nuts for AFL. So anyway, I put together a crew of curious international students and Vic took us all to the game. It was the Sydney Swans vs the Western Bulldogs. The Swans destroyed the Bulldogs 100-54 or something like that. I officially love AFL! It is the coolest game and I think it would be sooooo fun to play (it's like rugby and soccer put together). And, I made friends with the most adorable little girl named Claire who was siting next to me in the first half. It was a great afternoon! Thanks Vic!
The whole next week was crazy for me at school. I had two 2500 word essays, a 20 min. presentation, an exam, and a 1000 word paper. I thought I was going to die from lack of sleep or information overload or something. However, I got an extension on one of the papers until today from my awesome literature instructor and the internet went down on Thursday afternoon so I was unable to do the other huge essay. This however, was seriously, seriously bad news and I am furious at the whole situation because my instructor does not live in Canberra and so she has no contact phone number which means that I had no way to contact her and tell her my dilemma. So, when the internet got back up and running again (which was after the paper was already due) I sent her an email asking her what I could do. She replied and told me she could not mark my paper and I would not receive a grade for it. This paper was worth 50% of my grade for that class and I have now failed the class. I am truly furious about this and am trying to contact student advocacy to see what can be done about it but in the meantime I just have to focus on my exams. I really am not a fan of the University of Canberra and would not recommend it to anyone.
So anyway... after my miserable last week of classes a big group of us went to Civic for supper and to check out the nightlife. We had supper at at Thai food place called Lemongrass which is rated as one of the top 10 restaurants in New South Wales by the Lonely Planet! It was pretty cheap and really really good. After supper we went to our favourite karaoke bar, P.J. O'Reily's to sing a few tunes and then to the Canadian inspired bar Mooseheads (there is really nothing Canadian about it besides the name) and finally we went to King O'Malley's Irish pub for a pretty good live band and a nice pint. It was a great way to unwind after such a hectic week.
First, on May 17 it was Carlos' birthday so a huge group of us went into Civic for some karaoke and then to Uni bar where it was Woodstock and everyone was dressed up like hippies. Karaoke was soooo fun! It was an older crowd and creepy old gay men kept trying to dance with all the guys but we still had a blast! And Mandy, a girl from Saskatoon who I took French with and who is a friend a Jaret's was in town for a few days. It was so cool to see a familiar face.
Next, on May 25 was the Op Shop Ball which is an event put on by the Residential Students Organization where everyone goes to op shops (thrift stores) and buys the most hideous outfit they can find then we all hop in a bus go to a bar have dinner and drinks and dance to 80's music. I have to say I need to bring this idea back to Canada. It was so fun. At first I wasn't going to go because I wanted a quiet weekend to work on some papers but as everyone was getting ready to go I was wishing I was getting ready too and couldn't focus on my schoolwork. So I went down to Maki's room (who also wasn't going) and found all the other Mexican girls there making her go and it didn't take much convincing to get me to go too. I ended up wearing Maki's rainbow striped leggings and her sweater because I didn't have an outfit and left most of my wardrobe at home. After much confusion trying to find the place (we missed the bus) we arrived just in time for supper. It was a blast!
The next day Cindy, Carlos, Gooder and I borrowed Jack's car and went to Telstra Tower which stands on top of Black Mountain (more or less a large hill) in the middle of the city. There is an amazing 360 degree view of Canberra from the tower and we arrived just in time for a beautiful sunset. It was a perfect way to spend the evening.
A few days earlier I had been talking to a guy on my floor who is a huge AFL fan (Aussie Rules Football) and he mentioned there would be a game on the weekend and I told him I wanted to go (understanding AFL was one of my goals in coming to Australia... that and cricket which I have yet to master). As an illustration of how much this guy loves AFL his nickname is Vic which is short for Victoria which is the "homeland" of AFL. He is nuts for AFL. So anyway, I put together a crew of curious international students and Vic took us all to the game. It was the Sydney Swans vs the Western Bulldogs. The Swans destroyed the Bulldogs 100-54 or something like that. I officially love AFL! It is the coolest game and I think it would be sooooo fun to play (it's like rugby and soccer put together). And, I made friends with the most adorable little girl named Claire who was siting next to me in the first half. It was a great afternoon! Thanks Vic!
The whole next week was crazy for me at school. I had two 2500 word essays, a 20 min. presentation, an exam, and a 1000 word paper. I thought I was going to die from lack of sleep or information overload or something. However, I got an extension on one of the papers until today from my awesome literature instructor and the internet went down on Thursday afternoon so I was unable to do the other huge essay. This however, was seriously, seriously bad news and I am furious at the whole situation because my instructor does not live in Canberra and so she has no contact phone number which means that I had no way to contact her and tell her my dilemma. So, when the internet got back up and running again (which was after the paper was already due) I sent her an email asking her what I could do. She replied and told me she could not mark my paper and I would not receive a grade for it. This paper was worth 50% of my grade for that class and I have now failed the class. I am truly furious about this and am trying to contact student advocacy to see what can be done about it but in the meantime I just have to focus on my exams. I really am not a fan of the University of Canberra and would not recommend it to anyone.
So anyway... after my miserable last week of classes a big group of us went to Civic for supper and to check out the nightlife. We had supper at at Thai food place called Lemongrass which is rated as one of the top 10 restaurants in New South Wales by the Lonely Planet! It was pretty cheap and really really good. After supper we went to our favourite karaoke bar, P.J. O'Reily's to sing a few tunes and then to the Canadian inspired bar Mooseheads (there is really nothing Canadian about it besides the name) and finally we went to King O'Malley's Irish pub for a pretty good live band and a nice pint. It was a great way to unwind after such a hectic week.
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