Interesting Observations
We are keeping a list of interesting observations, new words and things we miss, in no particular order. Just remember what number was there the last time you looked and you can begin reading from that point again. We've stolen this idea from from our friend Keith in Russia who stole it from his friend so we cant take any credit. It seemed like a pretty good idea.
Interesting Observations
1. Aussies love Britney Spears, Pink and Kings of Leon. They are on all the time. Katie fits right in.
2. Half of the Aussie population is obsessed with the 80's...music, clothes, you name it. It is to the point of ridiculousness. We have even seen rat tails and fresh cut and styled mullets.
3. Aussies love costumes. Maybe its because they don't have halloween, I don't know but every party is themed. On any given night, you can see a party of people going out for the night in themed costumed, like super heros or something crazy.
4. So far it seems that the AU only has American tv shows and movies. We get everything here even American football and we haven't seen any hit AU shows yet. The shows always lag here though. So we will get this years new episodes in March that started in September in the states. But it makes sense since it will be our fall.
5. Customer service is not Australia's thing. Restaurants, stores, everything. Maybe it's because minimum wage is so high and they don't work on tips or commissions or maybe it's because they could care less.
6. Yes, they do eat Kangaroo. It's like deer here only its served in a lot of restaurants. They actually cause a ton of car accidents just like deer and they are a very lean meat just like deer.
7. Australian staples – eggs, ham, meat pies, chips, chicken schnitzels. Combine two of these and you have a winner. For example, chicken flavored chips in #13 below.
8. Asian food, especially Thai, and seafood are amazing here.
9. Everyone must drink coffee or tea. They love the coffee and tea breaks. Devonshire tea is a must do, which is tea with scones, although it can be quite expensive. Tea is always served with milk and the coffee is a little different. If you just want a regular cup of coffee with cream, you order a flat white.
10. Milkshakes are more like flavored milk here. You can sometimes get a "thick shake" but even this is hit or miss.
11. Roundabouts are the greatest thing to hit Australia. The only time you will find a normal intersection is in the city where there isn't enough room to put in a roundabout. Saves on stop signs I guess.
12. Gas is around $1.15 per liter which translates to $4.60 per gallon. They have been paying this for years and it doesn’t bother them. No wonder you don’t see so many large suv’s and trucks.
13. Hit chip flavors: Chicken, Ham, Barbeque, Plain, and Sweet Chili. The sweet chili is quite good. I think I will skip the chicken and ham, though.
14. Everyone has a drink at lunch on work days. We were very surprised the first time we sat down to lunch and the person next to us orders a beer.
15. I don't know if it is a Manly beach thing but I still find it disgusting that people wear there bare feet everywhere...down the street, in the shops and cafes, everywhere. I have even seen them getting off the ferry in downtown Sydney.
16. The toilets have two buttons on them (with nothing on them). It took a little bit for us to figure this out since both the buttons flush the toilet. I guess one is a half flush to conserve water (usually this is the left button).
17. It may be a little hard at first getting used to driving on the other side of the road but don't forget you have to look the opposite way when crossing the streets, too. Apparently we are not the only ones that forget and in all the touristy areas there are usually huge signs on the corners telling you which way to look before crossing the street.
18. Picnics and BBQs are the Australian thing to do. The parks, coastline, and beaches are covered with picnics. There are also public bbq’s at all the beaches which the city does a really great job of keeping clean and full of gas (I am sure our taxes are paying for this) but there is always a line.
19. Australians may be the most polite people we have ever met...ever. I think it comes from the fact that everyone is just good natured and so laid-back.
20. Meat pies are great. They are just like a chicken pot pie but with beef stew inside. You are supposed to eat it like a sandwich which can get a little messy but I think we got the hang of it. (we eat them a lot)
21. Fast food sushi....yuck, yuck, yuck! That's all we have to say about that!
New Words
1. Bogan - white trash. Learn this one, it is used often.
2. Brekkie - Breakfast. Aussies shorten everything.
3. How you going? - This means "how are you doing?". Kind of confusing the first time you hear it.
4. Lemonade - Do not get this confused with our lemonade. We learned this the hard way. It is a sparkling water with lemon flavor...kind of like sprite without the lime.
5. Ta - Thank you.
6. Holiday - vacation
7. Wholemeal - wheat bread
8. Macers - McDonald's
9. Good on ya - well done
10. Torch - flashlight
11. Thong - flip flops
12. Biscuit - cookie
Things We Miss
1. Reeses - Peanut butter is not though of as a treat here so no Reeses or chocolate pb anything. They don't even eat pb and jelly sandwiches!
2. Flavored Doritios - They just sell plain or regular cheese...not even nacho cheese. The best are the ranch and buffalo/blue cheese. Maybe its a good thing that we will be eating a little less junk food.
3. Fruity cocktails - Nothing better on the beach than a margarita or a pina colada but Aussies mainly drink wine or beer.
4. American candy bars - They just don't taste the same because Aussie chocolate is different. We heard that it is because they put more wax in the chocolate due to heat but not sure if it is true. At any rate, it makes the candy bars taste stale.
5. American pizza - The pizza is great here but its what we would call gourmet pizza in the states. Thin crust with lots of different flavours including ham, proscuito, seafood, artichokes, feta cheese, etc. Sometimes, we just want a pepperoni pan pizza.
6. Dryer sheets - This may be a weird one but they don't have them here.
7. Fat Heads - There is nothing like it.
8. Catalina French Dressing - We like it on Taco Salad which is about the only thing Katie will make.
Interesting Observations
1. Aussies love Britney Spears, Pink and Kings of Leon. They are on all the time. Katie fits right in.
2. Half of the Aussie population is obsessed with the 80's...music, clothes, you name it. It is to the point of ridiculousness. We have even seen rat tails and fresh cut and styled mullets.
3. Aussies love costumes. Maybe its because they don't have halloween, I don't know but every party is themed. On any given night, you can see a party of people going out for the night in themed costumed, like super heros or something crazy.
4. So far it seems that the AU only has American tv shows and movies. We get everything here even American football and we haven't seen any hit AU shows yet. The shows always lag here though. So we will get this years new episodes in March that started in September in the states. But it makes sense since it will be our fall.
5. Customer service is not Australia's thing. Restaurants, stores, everything. Maybe it's because minimum wage is so high and they don't work on tips or commissions or maybe it's because they could care less.
6. Yes, they do eat Kangaroo. It's like deer here only its served in a lot of restaurants. They actually cause a ton of car accidents just like deer and they are a very lean meat just like deer.
7. Australian staples – eggs, ham, meat pies, chips, chicken schnitzels. Combine two of these and you have a winner. For example, chicken flavored chips in #13 below.
8. Asian food, especially Thai, and seafood are amazing here.
9. Everyone must drink coffee or tea. They love the coffee and tea breaks. Devonshire tea is a must do, which is tea with scones, although it can be quite expensive. Tea is always served with milk and the coffee is a little different. If you just want a regular cup of coffee with cream, you order a flat white.
10. Milkshakes are more like flavored milk here. You can sometimes get a "thick shake" but even this is hit or miss.
11. Roundabouts are the greatest thing to hit Australia. The only time you will find a normal intersection is in the city where there isn't enough room to put in a roundabout. Saves on stop signs I guess.
12. Gas is around $1.15 per liter which translates to $4.60 per gallon. They have been paying this for years and it doesn’t bother them. No wonder you don’t see so many large suv’s and trucks.
13. Hit chip flavors: Chicken, Ham, Barbeque, Plain, and Sweet Chili. The sweet chili is quite good. I think I will skip the chicken and ham, though.
14. Everyone has a drink at lunch on work days. We were very surprised the first time we sat down to lunch and the person next to us orders a beer.
15. I don't know if it is a Manly beach thing but I still find it disgusting that people wear there bare feet everywhere...down the street, in the shops and cafes, everywhere. I have even seen them getting off the ferry in downtown Sydney.
16. The toilets have two buttons on them (with nothing on them). It took a little bit for us to figure this out since both the buttons flush the toilet. I guess one is a half flush to conserve water (usually this is the left button).
17. It may be a little hard at first getting used to driving on the other side of the road but don't forget you have to look the opposite way when crossing the streets, too. Apparently we are not the only ones that forget and in all the touristy areas there are usually huge signs on the corners telling you which way to look before crossing the street.
18. Picnics and BBQs are the Australian thing to do. The parks, coastline, and beaches are covered with picnics. There are also public bbq’s at all the beaches which the city does a really great job of keeping clean and full of gas (I am sure our taxes are paying for this) but there is always a line.
19. Australians may be the most polite people we have ever met...ever. I think it comes from the fact that everyone is just good natured and so laid-back.
20. Meat pies are great. They are just like a chicken pot pie but with beef stew inside. You are supposed to eat it like a sandwich which can get a little messy but I think we got the hang of it. (we eat them a lot)
21. Fast food sushi....yuck, yuck, yuck! That's all we have to say about that!
New Words
1. Bogan - white trash. Learn this one, it is used often.
2. Brekkie - Breakfast. Aussies shorten everything.
3. How you going? - This means "how are you doing?". Kind of confusing the first time you hear it.
4. Lemonade - Do not get this confused with our lemonade. We learned this the hard way. It is a sparkling water with lemon flavor...kind of like sprite without the lime.
5. Ta - Thank you.
6. Holiday - vacation
7. Wholemeal - wheat bread
8. Macers - McDonald's
9. Good on ya - well done
10. Torch - flashlight
11. Thong - flip flops
12. Biscuit - cookie
Things We Miss
1. Reeses - Peanut butter is not though of as a treat here so no Reeses or chocolate pb anything. They don't even eat pb and jelly sandwiches!
2. Flavored Doritios - They just sell plain or regular cheese...not even nacho cheese. The best are the ranch and buffalo/blue cheese. Maybe its a good thing that we will be eating a little less junk food.
3. Fruity cocktails - Nothing better on the beach than a margarita or a pina colada but Aussies mainly drink wine or beer.
4. American candy bars - They just don't taste the same because Aussie chocolate is different. We heard that it is because they put more wax in the chocolate due to heat but not sure if it is true. At any rate, it makes the candy bars taste stale.
5. American pizza - The pizza is great here but its what we would call gourmet pizza in the states. Thin crust with lots of different flavours including ham, proscuito, seafood, artichokes, feta cheese, etc. Sometimes, we just want a pepperoni pan pizza.
6. Dryer sheets - This may be a weird one but they don't have them here.
7. Fat Heads - There is nothing like it.
8. Catalina French Dressing - We like it on Taco Salad which is about the only thing Katie will make.
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