Mind the Bloody Gap

So I’m going to have a couple different entries about Australia so I figured this first one would just be about some of the cultural differences I noticed.

One of the first things I noticed about Australia is it looks so much like home. The city of Perth reminded me of Milwaukee. Buildings were quite similar, and other than it being really hot, you could have mistaken the two cities. As for houses, one thing I found quite interesting is that every house in Perth has a fence around the yard. At first I thought it was quite impersonal and closed you off from your neighbors…but the weather is so beautiful all year round that people spend A TON of time outside. Makes sense that you would want some privacy so everyone’s not staring at everyone else. Second thing I noticed is the roofs. Everyone has either tile or metal roofs on their houses. Not a single shingle to be seen. And I was also surprised at how green everything was already in Australia. At the time we went out there spring was just beginning (the whole opposite seasons thing). Since in america stuff is just growing in at that point it looked like the height of summer there. Well since it gets so darn hot in the summer everything dies and gets brown, so their “green” season is the winter. Weird.

Now malls in Perth look pretty darn similar to malls anywhere but one thing I found quite interesting is that people pushed trollys (carts) around with them everywhere. Like grocery store style. They bring them into every store because there are grocery stores in malls. It is very strange walking in a clothing store and bumping into one. And another thing about malls. It’s clearly getting towards the holiday season so many malls are starting to put up their Christmas decorations. First of all its pretty weird to have Christmas in Australia because its about 100˚F and people go to the beach and have barbeques where they…PUT ANOTHER SHRIMP ON THE BARBIE! But the funny thing is they have all sorts of Christmas decorations with snow on them. I mean snowmen and fake snow to spray on windows. Most of these people have NEVER seen snow before. I think they’re just jealous of Wisconsin and its 6 ft of snow. Who wouldn’t be I ask you?!!?!?!

So interesting things about the way aussies speak. Since many of you are from Wisconsin, you are fully aware of the “up north” accent where people would say “yeah der hey”. Well many Australians end every single sentence by saying “eh” at the end of it. It’s the strangest thing. It’s like Americans adding “like” into every sentence. Second interesting thing is Australians say “reckon” all the freaking time. “Do you reckon we’ll ride the kangaroo to work today? I reckon we will.” Here is the weirdest one. I was having a conversation with Joel’s brother Josh and he was telling me how he had been out for tea 3 times that week. I thought to myself…ohhh. How civilized . It’s like England and they go out for tea all the time. Nope. In Australia. Tea = dinner. Wait….what? Yep. Tea is dinner. I asked around to many different aussies and not a single one could tell me why dinner is called tea. Just plain strange if you ask me. Now, just like the entire country of Spain has a lisp, Australia has this condition where every word must be shortened and an IE or IES is added onto the end. Sunglasses = sunnies. Mosquitoes = mossies. At one point I was shopping with Joel’s mom and she said “Let’s go look at Chrissie decs”. I stood there puzzled beyond belief until we walked by Christmas Decorations. Yep. Chrissie decs = Christmas decorations. Let me tell ya, It took me awhile to translate most things.

Now as for food. Food is pretty similar to America as far as I’m concerned. They do have great asian food though. Just kinda like we have great Mexican, they’re so close to asia they have awesome Chinese/Japanese/thai you name it. There are McDonalds, KFC, Hungry Jack (the Australian name for burger king since the name was already trademarked) and subway as far as the eye can see. I do have some new favorites though. Chicken Salt is my new best friend. Its salt put on chips(fries) that has chicken flavoring. Seriously AMAZING. Next thing. Tim Tams. SOOOOO delicious. They are these chocolate biscuits that are great if you did them in tea. Sooo yummy. Third. Curly Wurly’s. Little chocolate caramel candy bars. Divine. One thing that did disappoint me though is that aussies do not drink fosters. Apparently it’s a different recipe in Oz and its kinda like Schlitz or Milwaukees Beast for them. Still didn’t stop me from trying to make everyone say “Fosters. Australian for Beer” though.

So in this video I’m just showing you a bit about Perth, the beach, and Margaret River which is aussie wine country…a lot like napa valley. So I hope you enjoy!!! :)