Aubree's Observations about Australia Part II

Other interesting tidbits, differences, things I've noticed about Australia lately:

1.  When an Australian soldier dies, it's a huge deal compared to in the United States.  I guess it's a numbers thing, because this was only their 24th soldier to die in Afghanistan, but when a "digger" got killed last week, every TV channel was talking about it, a head general guy gave a press conference explaining what happened and describing the guy's life, family, etc., and the Prime Minister even gave a speech.  It just seemed very different from back home where they would barely mention it in passing on the evening news.

2.  Trash cans and public restrooms are not nearly as plentiful here in Australia.  In the States, it feels like there are bathrooms and wastebaskets everywhere, but here, it's sometimes pretty difficult to find a "rubbish bin" or a "loo."  Street signs are also not always there; sometimes it takes awhile to figure out what street you're on!

3.  The racial makeup of this country is different from the United States, at least in the areas we've visited so far.  There are tons of Asians and not very many African Americans or Hispanics.  Basically everyone is Caucasian or Asian.  I saw a couple of Aboriginal people in the mall once, and I saw a school group get off a tram once, but that's it.  Also, there don't seem to be a whole lot of Americans.  I've only actually met a few.  However, we've only really explored the Melbourne area, so this may be an unrepresentative sample.

4.  Italian food is a lot more popular than I expected.  "Parma and a pot" is a normal meal offered on special at a restaurant; this means chicken parmesan and a small glass of beer.  Spaghetti bolognese is a favorite kid's and/or family meal.  Lygon Street, where we had dinner last night, is a lot like Little Italy in New York City with several authentic Italian restaurants.

5.  iTunes songs cost $1.29 here, versus $0.99 in the States.  I'm not complaining about prices; I'm just giving the facts!  They also don't have Hulu or Netflix, although there is some sort of Australian version of it.  Redbox-type movies are actually in a green box, and they cost $2.99 (versus $1) to rent per night.

6.  I can't find regular stick deodorant out here.  I know this seems stupid, but it's all sprays and gels.  Thankfully, my mom is sending us a box of some stuff soon, and she got me a two year's supply of Secret from Sam's Club.  Don't worry-I'm not out yet!  Oh yeah, and they call it a chemist instead of a pharmacy.

7.  Many toilets have two flush buttons-one for when you go #1 and one for when you go #2.  It's supposed to be a water-saving feature.

8.  Adidas is pronounced "AH-dee-das," aluminum is "al-you-MIN-ee-um," and you spell apologise, realise, centre, theatre, labour, etc. like that.  Australians shorten lots of words...breakfast is brekky, afternoon is arvo, and ambos are ambulance drivers.  Gas is called petrol, and trucks are called utes.  

9.  All students wear school uniforms, and they are fancy...sweater vests, jackets with crests on them, ties, skirts, etc.  They look very proper, and with their accents, the kids sound smarter too.

10.  We get several American TV shows over here.  Ellen is on at noon, and The View is on at 1pm.  They are a day later than in the U.S.  Zack is currently watching House as I finish up this blog entry, and we get Glee episodes a week or two later than the States.  They played the final three Oprah shows in the evenings last week, and Australians have their own versions of lots of our reality shows (Amazing Race, The Biggest Loser, Australia's Got Talent, etc.).    

That's all I can think of for now!

Eating Down Under

We're still getting used to the differences in food-related things over here in Australia.  We are on a week-long, self-imposed hiatus from complaining about the higher prices, so I won't talk about that!  Most things are the same as in the United States.  You don't find as many Mexican restaurants, but there are lots of Asian ones, plenty of Italian ones, Greek places, pizza, etc.  But other things are pretty unique.  Lamb is huge here, and seafood is a lot more common than it was in Denver.










Also, you can buy kangaroo meat at the grocery store!  So yes, of course I got some and cooked it up for dinner the other day, because I had to try it.  It was pretty good; it kind of reminded me of venison.



Vegemite is the classic must-try in Australia.  I already knew that I didn't like the salty brown paste because of a previous Australian roommate, but Zack hadn't ever had it.  So I picked some up from the store, and he gave it a whirl.  I guess if you spread it really thinly on toast, it isn't that bad.

                     

Some other interesting facts related to food... a filet is pronounced FILL-it, baking soda is called bicarbonate soda, candy is called lollies, carryout is called takeaway, and taking home your leftovers from a restaurant is not a normal thing.  Dim sims are popular, but we haven't tried them yet.  These are large, Chinese-inspired, fried dumplings that became a hit at the South Melbourne Market and now are the rage all over town.  Restaurants don't always automatically bring you water to drink.  When they do or when you ask for it, it is always room temperature-no ice.  And if you ask for lemonade, you get Sprite!  When you go to a fish and chips place, you have to pay for a little container of tomato sauce (ketchup).  They don't just have the little packets out for free.  Oh yeah, and chips are fries.

I'll leave you with the transcript of a funny interaction that took place with a girl at the counter where we stopped for lunch on our way down to surf this past weekend.  I wasn't that hungry, so I saw a few things listed as kid's meals, including one that said "chicken nuggets, chips, and postmix."

Me:  What is postmix?
Girl:  It's a syrup (said in a very heavy accent).
Me:  A what?
Girl:  A syrup-like at McDonald's (vaguely gesturing to something behind her).
Me:  (not wanting to look stupid by asking more questions) Oh, okay.

So I ordered the kid's meal, still not really knowing what I was going to get.  We were thinking maybe it was some type of dessert or something.  It turns out, postmix is soda!  Like a fountain drink.  So I got a Coke, which by the way is sweeter over here, because they make it with real cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.  

Anyway, we're finding the little differences pretty interesting, so we thought you might too.  Soon I'll devote an entire post to the chocolate over here, because it's good enough to deserve its own day!