Emma, your idea was fantastic, so ah, i um.. copied. :)
These are little things that I have been noticing since I arrived and I thought I would share them with everyone:
*Cars - Everyone here drives either - Mercs, BMW, Hummers (I have seen so many of these, as common as the ute), Porshe, Jaguar and any other top end car. I haven't seen a Toyota, Misubishi, Holden (that's obvious as it's only aussie, but i mean that type of car) or any car that isn't under $65,000 in my time here. It's intimadating when you go to cross the road and you walk infront of a mini moster truck that the bottom of the windscreen is already higher than your head. Awesome. Everything here is about indulgence. EVERYTHING.
*Meals - Australian food is like eating cardboard in comparison. To be honest i much prefer the cardboard. Okay, so.....The bread is sweetend, alot, more than maccas buns. I had pasta the night before last and it tasted like sea water it was that salty. Similar to you emma, the meals are HUGE. ABOSOLUTELY HUGE. And then comes dessert. Doesn't help that my host mum used to own and run a catering company so the food is fantastic, usually, apart from the over salting and sweetning. You know vitamin water? You can't get the same size bottles here, they are about 850ml instead of 600ml. They have this great stuff called mintwater though. It's all natural, water with mint in it. Totally freshens your breath as you drink. There is also chocmint water, but i'm yet to become that adventurous. Also, when you go to fast food chains, our largest drink size is usually there smallest, or medium. There biggest holds something like 2 litres. That's crazy.
*Fast Food - Haha, so if you want a burger in Aus you have 3 choices.... Hungry Jacks, Maccas or KFC and i guess subway aswell. WELL, here there are so many fast food chains i can't even remember all of them. There are at least 10 more. Wendy's here sells burgers, NOT ICECREAM! If you wanna get fat, welcome to your dreamland. For those of you who are wondering, i'm yet to supersize anything. The only fast food i've had here was "jack in the box" YAY! And Starbucks....For some reason it tastes fricking amazing here. Maybe isn't because its just wow. Ah, okay and get this - starbucks in a drive through. oh lordy. And you know how after you receive your coffe you go over to the table with the chocolate and vanilla shakers? here they have a huge jug of cream. Thinner cream than aussie cream, but still, sweet jesus that's amazing.
*Vegetables - Canned peas are never the same as real peas. Ew.
*Bread - Sickly sweet, i'd give anything for some bakers delight.
*Low Fat -HA, keep dreaming.
*Butter - Yellow dipped in salt.
*Sex - Is everywhere. Its so much more obvious in amercan culture than back home. We look subtle and almost conservative in comparison. Turn on the tv, SEX SEX SEX SEX. All the programs are SEX SEX SEX. My host dad has a habit of turning the tv onto the "gay channel" when ever anyone is drifting of to sleep. It's not grafically like r rated gay or anything. But still, it's funny, he just pisses himself laughing the whole time.
*Shopping - WOW. I never want to come home in that reguard. Everything is cheaper. Calvin klein jeans? $55. Victoria's secret bra? $40. Fantastic quality clothes that would cost around $70 - $120 in Australia? I'm talking pure cotton, pure wool, fantastic quality. ahh i dunno, like only $15-$22. THAT'S RIGHT. I went on a major spree yesterday. ahhhh, beautiful. This was only 1 of 25 malls in the area mind you. Ah, it was at least 2 1/2 times the size of marion, and had 3 story's and a huge fountain in the middle....i only had an hour and a half to look around. I got incredibly overwhelmed standing outside Louis V. looking across the way at Gucci, done a little further Victoria's secret, then guess, then chanel, then mac make up and then lacoste. ahhhh sweet jesus. So i ah, went into lacoste and bought myself things for half price. The sales are already crazy. the economic crisis is great in that reguard. Everywhere is having 15% - 75% off sales already. Imagine Janruary. FAR OUT.
*Weather -Today is the first day that its been resonably cool. It's about 15 degrees here. A very welcome change.
*The Language - Funny, my host dad calls me grandma because i said i was a "bit drowsy" at one stage. Apparntly i speak using many "old peoples" terms. haha. I also had to explain to him what the phrase"make allowance for" meant. He was like "isn't that like money?" no dear sir. Yeah, he's more mechanically driven. But ah, yes, accent is very noticable, people always smile. Lot's of "where are you from"?
*Australia - As emma said - Acdc, the wiggles and desert are about the extent of knowledge about australia. Oh and kangaroos. And I will never look at pancakes the same after hearing the term Koala Pancakes substituting roadkill.
I've had about 3 people ask me
"where in Aus are you from?"
"South Australia"
"Oh okay, but ah, what state?"
"Ah, that is the state name."
*ahem*
Stupid lush English, not ones for originality.
*Power Points - Other than the fact that their plugs are different to ours I am still yet to see and on/off switch to a powerpoint.. AGREED. Weird that americans still call it a power switch?
*Humor - Must be obvious for americans to laugh. : ) Keith comments on how british humor is very dry and not funny. Ha, he's never heard of monty python either. He also asked me last night why is it that Australian men always dress up as women. Apparently there was some skitch show on from australia where everyone is trans? And it's not we can be heroes! Also, Summer heights high with j'aime went straight over their heads :) haha.
*Dressing for Winter - In arizona? Seriously?
*Music - We have so much variety. There are no weekend shows like video hits or rage. You know how on the radio there is a decent mix of all genres? Not here, you'd be crazy to hope for much more than t-pain, 50 cent, g unit, timberland and jt. Oh, and maybe some jbros every now and then.
*American Movies - IMAX, i want to go there so bad. Its a movie theatre that is 3 story's high and the screen goes out around you to each side and above your head. :)
*Tip - Whenever you go to a resurant, cafe, get take out, whatever, you have to give a tip of 9-15%. My american phone even has a tip calculator. You're the rudest person in the world if you don't do this. I didn't know how much i was meant to tip at starbucks, so i ah, gave them like $1.40. ahaha. Lucky people. Oh! and money is way confusing, coloured notes are the most beautiful invention you will soon realise. And when all the coins are the same shape, and the 10c is smaller than the 5c but the 10c is the same size as the 1c. Good lord, don't be in a hurry to work out change. And tax also isn't included in any of the prices you see. It's added on at the register.
*The Snow - Not here, but we are going to the snow at some point :)
*Spiders - Haven't seen any yet!
*The Smell -ahhh, la smelt like pure smog. Here is alot more fresh. but i'm beginning to miss eucalyptus
*The Heaters - CENTRAL HEATING : )
*Beer - Haha, we have good beer apparently.
*Christmas - Here christmas is huge. yeah, tree's everywhere, lights in all the palm trees around some of the roads and the malls... wow. But emma i know what you mean about it being more advertised! Everyone has stared saying "Happy holidays!" instead of goodbye. And starbucks cups are covered in green reindeer flying across a red sky. : )
*Mobile Phones - They have unlimited internet on their phones here for like a $30 a/m plan. The phones are fantastic. Everything is so advanced. : )
*Computers - :) Cheaper.
Emma, i'm sorry you had to eat cow tongue.... :( haaha i think we discussed the posibility of that happening though?? and the cheese sounds gross!
Much love,
xx
Tell me who in their right mind goes through 300 minutes on their phone in 4 days?? ME! WOO!
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