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So I've been in Syndey now for one week and wow, it sure feels like much longer than that based on all of the things I've seen and done.....But, there is still a lot to learn about Australian culture and so I put together a list of skills that I'll need to master over the next 3 months:
1) Walking
Yes, ok so this one sounds a bit funny I admit, but I assure you that there is a good reason that this is at the top of the list. It took me until day 3 (and taking out at least 2 people on the sidewalk, oops =)) to realise that in a culture where cars drive on the left side of the road, the people tend to follow suit. It took me another day and another run-in to understand that this also applies to staircases and escalators - I'm sure I'll have it all figured out just in time to come home and do the same in T.O.
Lesson #1 - Walk the way you drive.
2) Money
Should be an easy one but again...much more difficult than you would think. I am in
the convenience store to pick up some Diet Coke (of course! thank goodness they have it here) and as the teller rings it up I dig into my wallet to spend some change for the first time. I pull out something that is about the size of a nickel and looks like it says 2 on it, but I think to myself - is this 2 dollars? It can't be....its smaller than the one that says 1 on it and its about a quarter of the size of the one that says 50 cents on it (which by the way is so large it can hardly fit in my change purse!). As I stare at the coins in my hand I look up to realise that the store owner is looking at me like I'm a mental patient, so I abandon the whole idea, flush and hand him a 5 dollar bill.
Lesson #2 - the size of the change or bills has nothing to do with its value.
3) Appliances
Ok so my now you're probably thinking that its pretty sad that I can't walk and don't know how to exchange currency and now I can't
even work my appliances but trust me, I feel fairly confident in saying that I think anyone would struggle with this latest one.
So for some reason, they must have figured that putting words on the appliances for settings would limit the wordwide distribution so someone came up with the bright idea of using pictures for everything. This would work out great if the pictures actually meant something or looked remotely like the item they were meant to describe! After staring at the pictures on our dishwasher for 5 minutes to no avail, Janice (my flatmate) decided that we should call our contact at corporate housing for a dishwasher lesson. Well, I'm glad she made the call since I couldn't stop laughing listening to Janice try to describe "the hat looking thingy over the circle type thing" to the man and ask him what it meant. I mean honestly, one of them looks exactly like the nuclear energy logo....what could that possibly do, I just want to wash my dishes not light up the city!
Now that we got the dishwasher working I worked my up to the washing machine which turned out to be a lot like
home and really easy to operate until soap suds started coming up from the floor drain....strange I only put in the amount of soap specified on the jug.
Lesson #3 - Use half the amount of soap the jug indicates. This is especially important given that laundry soap costs $13 CAD per jug.
4) Groceries
Now for a girl who thinks that Price Chopper and No Frills is ghetto shopping, I was suprised to learn that the one grocery store (yes...that's right, there is ONE grocery store in downtown Sydney) in town is Woolworths...I mean, I think I vaguely remember the name from the 80s in Toronto - and let me tell you, it hasn't progressed since then.
Being in an English speaking nation, I thought that shopping should be easy but shopping is a lengthy process given that the brands are all competely different causing me to analyse box after box of some type of soap to determine if its for the dishwasher or for the washing machine - again the pictures do not help! Trying to find sandwich bags also turned out to be more difficult than anticipated, the man in the Woolworths looked
at me like I had two heads when I asked him where I could find ziplock bags after a 10 minute search. I proceeded to describe to him what I needed "a plastic bag for my sandwich" at which point he led me to where the "Glad Bags" were.
Lesson #4 - Not sure if there is any lesson here, I guess just to appreciate our fancy grocery stores at home.
So with these lessons under my belt I spent the week beginning my new job in Sydney. Turns out that business operates much the same way as it does at home only you get to use words like "Cool" and "No worries" constantly whether in casual conversation or in conference calls and meetings with CFOs...lots of fun. You also get to greet people with "How you going?" which I think is some combination of "How are you doing?" and "How's it going" but for which I'm never too sure how to answer...usually after a short pause I answer "good" which seems to be ok.
I spent the week exploring the city with Janice and we even met a new friend at work, Gayle, who took us
out on Friday night after work. We hit a local pub for beer and fish & chips and I couldn't help but think how rowdy it seemed for a pub especially since it was only 7:00 pm. We soon learned that there are 4 US army aircraft carriers in town for 3 days. This means that there are close to 8,000 sailors in Sydney at the moment. One thing I did learn this weekend was the derivative of the term "Drunken Sailor". Quite funny, they are.
On Saturday, Janice and I got tickets for the big rugby match between Australia and South Africa and headed out on the train to greater Sydney to take in the game. Now, neither of us knew any of the rules but we did learn a few things:
1) I don't think people are really there for the game, but more for the beer. Each person had a container which holds 4 beers at a time - and it really was each person who had one.
2) It is a more brutal sport than I anticipated - I mean any game which has a "blood bin" and a "sin bin" has to
be pretty hard core.
3) Hot Chips are french fries.
We also learned that you have to boo as loud as possible when the other team is about to make a kick. Luckily Australia one the game!
So overall, I've had a pretty great week and learned a lot of important lessons along the way and I'm even up two pairs of shoes.
Cheers! (PS there are more pictures below)
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Krysta
Krysta Banwell-Gutteridge
The new adventurer!!!
Bella! I can't it! Using travelblog, and doing such a great job at it!!! I'm so impressed! (not to mention a little jealous!) It looks like you're going to have the most amazing 3 months in Oz, and I wish I was there exploring it with you! Send me a postcard, it's DEFINITELY your turn! Keep up the blogs hon, and keep HAVING FUN! Love, Krys.