Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: Tootsie Rolls

Everyone once and awhile there will be a moment when you just miss the culture, when you have some fun witty comment to say that due to cultural differences DOES NOT translate well. That happened to me last night. I was at a dinner party with friends and a comment was made about paint drying and other theoretical questions that don’t really have answers. And my first thought was…kind of like the age old question of how many licks does it take to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop. And then I said thought, thought…outloud…and there were crickets and odd looks. LOL! They don’t have tootsie rolls here let alone tootsie pops. Instead the group said it sounded like a dirty word. ha! So there you go. Sometimes its the little things that make all the difference. To my Australian friends…see the commercial below 🙂 Now…how do I get tootsie pops over here so that everyone can enjoy the wonder of a childhood favorite candy. 😉

Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: Ginger Beer

Ginger Beer is my new favorite beverage here in Australia. Root beer is incredibly hard to find and Cream Soda like we know it in the states does not exist. Ginger Beer is kind of like Ginger Ale, but with more bite. I love it. 7-11 (Yes, they have 7-11 here, they have them everywhere) currently has a ginger beer Slurpee and even though it has been raining. It is warm and muggy, and sticky outside. So after my nice little 30min walk to the post yesterday I decided that I deserved a treat for braving the humidity and had my first ever ginger beer Slurpee. It was amazing. So if you are ever in Australia make sure to try ginger beer, and if you want to make it a little more fun…add rum! That is called a dark and stormy. Its great! 🙂

Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: Driving

I love to drive, LOVE it! It is one of my favorite things, and one of the things that I miss the most upon moving here. On the last day of our road trip after much begging, pleading, and just general annoying behavior I convinced Andrew to let me drive for part of the way back. Driving on the other side of the road is nerve racking! I felt like I was 15 all over again learning how to drive with two very nervous passengers. For starters, everything is in the opposite place in the car than what I am used to. I turned on the windshield wipers more than once while looking for the turn signal. Immediately instilling trust with my passengers. I also kept drifting to the left driving very close to the side of the road, which would in turn cause Kelsey to yell out…your drifting! Yes, it took me a bit, but by a good hour and an half in my drifting was down to a minimum and I was enjoying the freedom of being behind the wheel again. This lasted up until we reached a major city again and once more my knuckles gripped tightly to the steering wheel as I kept thinking long right short left. Don’t drive in the wrong lane! It felt so foreign, as if I have never driven before. Not only that but Australia does not do four way stops, instead they have roundabouts. I currently LOATH them. My blood pressure I’m pretty sure rose through the roof each time we approached one, and I kept looking in the wrong direction left to right, not right to left like I am supposed to. Basically I need a ton more practice if I am ever going to drive in this country. Anyone want to teach me? 🙂

Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: Christmas BBQ’s

Christmas Eve with my Australian Family

It is quite timely that my Australian Christmas post falls on Thursday. Since I now live in the southern hemisphere it means all my seasons are backwards. December here is the start of summer not winter, and Christmas for most means and beach and bbq, not snow and turkey. Most Australians go to church on Christmas day here, but we happened to find a 11pm Christmas Eve service at Andrews old church where we sang carols and sweated to death in church without AC. We spent Christmas day at Andrew’s sister Adele’s place for an epic bbq. The food amazing and Adele and her family were an excellent host. To be quite honest it felt more like Labor day, or Memorial day. I am thankful that it didn’t feel like Christmas, I think I would have missed home that much more if it were the case. It was a balmy 27 degrees C or 80 degrees F with just a slight moment of showers. It may have said December 25th on the calendar, but it sure felt like Christmas in July to me. It was so warm in fact that Andrew and I decided to cool off in the kiddie pool in the midst of Christmas bbq lunch.

All the Christmas Fixins

After lunch we hung out and watched Red Dog, which is a great Australian movie, the queen’s address, and ate some more. We all left with quite the food coma and yet another Christmas come and gone. The best part for me was getting to talk to my WHOLE family on the phone and being passed around from one family member to the next. Even though I am thousands of miles away I still felt like part of the family. So here I am Christmas in my upside down world. I can now say not only have I had a white Christmas, but I have also had a warm one as well.

In Other news…Today is my grandmas birthday. Happy Birthday to the best grandma ever! I love you and miss you LOTS!

 

Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: Cockatoos

When I moved to Australia one of the first things that I saw and I was totally creeped out by was the wild cockatoo. First off, in the US, people pay big bucks to have these birds locked up in cages, and here, they just fly around everywhere in packs. Secondly, as I have previously mentioned I have an unnatural fear of birds. I don’t like them near me. I can handle them from a distance, but not in my personal space, especially not large birds. Pigeons, Seagulls and black birds are my least favorite, but these lovely creatures are slowly climbing my bird fear ladder. For starters they are large, and they have a horrible squawk, its painful to listen to them, and lastly they tried to attack me this morning. Its like they can smell my fear. The above pictures were taken on my was into work and I was trying to sneak a few photos two of them flew right at me. I screamed and ducked and I am pretty sure my blood pressure went through the roof. Just another Through the Looking Glass moment. Expensive caged birds, that run free.

Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: Cereal

Look Familiar? One of the first things I discovered upon moving here was the name brands in the grocery store. I had to do a double take the first time I went shopping. They pretty much have many of the cereals that we have in the states, mostly made by Kellogs. Yay, but here Rice Crispies is called Rice Bubbles, Bran Flakes is Sultana Bran, and Coco Puffs is Coco Pops. Yes Another version of something that is similar to the US, but just different enough to make me go huh?! Not really sure why they have to change the branding from country to country, but apparently they do. So there you go one more thing that is just a little upside down. 🙂

Through the Looking Glass Thursday: Spiders, and Snakes and Sharks Oh My!

I have never been afraid of bugs. Not really. As a kid I would go with my brother to catch grasshoppers and snakes to keep as pets, I’m sure to the joy of my mom, who always found some sort of jar for us to keep them in. Well, until they died, or we set them free, more than one escaped on their own from the clutches of two small children who delighted in poking the glass to awaken their sleeping new pet. So I am not the girl who is afraid of bugs, bee’s yes, but they get their own category of evil, they can sting, it hurts. I was warned that when I moved to Australia there would be MANY dangerous and poisonous spiders, snakes and other animals that like to eat humans as an afternoon snack. So far I have been fortunate as to not see any of these lovely creatures, but apparently one made it’s way into our apartment this last week. I wasn’t home, which is probably a good thing as I am pretty sure arachnophobia nightmares would have ensued. Meet the Hunstman Spider.

This little beauty is prevalent all over Australia. It is not poisonous, but as you can see, it is rather large and this was in our apartment hanging out on the wall in Kelsey and Andrew’s bedroom. Needless to say now that I know about these creatures I may or may not check my bed and the walls around before I go to sleep, because if I don’t, and happen to wake up to one staring me in the face, I just might wet the bed. Just another step through the looking glass.

Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: Clothes Shopping

Who doesn’t love to shop and get new clothes? If you are female, most likely one of your favorite pastimes is shopping. Sydney and Australia in general has great shopping. There are a ton of malls, the main brand here is Westfield Malls, which we have in the states too, but they are bigger and better. Just like with money, upon my arrival here I had to learn how to shop for clothes all over again. In the State I know what size I wear whether it be dresses, shirts, shoes, pants, ect. For the most part I can grab my size and go. I know if it will fit based upon what size I grab. I was told that clothes would be more expensive here. I have not really found that to be the case. I can still get a shirt for under $10, however I have yet to buy any new clothes here. For starters, I still need a job that will pay me enough to afford to shop. Also, it was just summer in California and I don’t really need new summer clothes, but since the mall is so close to us and Kelsey does need to go shopping away we go the mall. Imagine my surprise as I pick up an item of clothes to look at the size and the smallest size I can find is an 8, yup…an 8. I stare at it in confusion as it looks like it might be my size, maybe a little big, but not an eight. And that’s when I realize that all the sizes that I am used to wearing do not exist here. They do not start at a size zero here, they start at 8, or maybe a 6 and go up from there. Pants are not measured by waist and length, but by sizes. Yes they do have S, M, L, but for the most part I have seen that. Shoes also, though sometimes measured in state sizes, are also measured in European sizes. So pretty much at this point I have my American size and ask them to translate, or just guess. 🙂 Something yet again, the same…yet different. Just another step through the looking-glass.

Through the Looking Glass Thursdays: What Makes the World Go Round?

According to the musical Cabaret: Money makes the world go round. And it is just as true here in Australia as it is in America. So lets talk money. When I thought about moving my life to a whole other country, money never really crossed my mind. It is a blessing and a curse, I don’t really think much about money other than that I have enough in my account as to not over draw it. I’m American, which means I pay everything on card, not necissarily credit, but debit cards. Who uses paper money anymore? Within my first day here I realized that I needed to be carrying cash on me. Many of the places have a $10-15 minimum for card purchases.  Basically all the bakery and coffee shops will require cash.
I remember being in 1st grade and learning all about money. Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and dollar bills. So its really funny to learn how to count money all over again as an adult. Well, for starters the money is made out of plastic, not paper. It is brightly colored and I love it. I feel like I am playing a game every time I use it, like life or monopoly. The smallest bill is a $5 which means everything under a $5 comes in coins.

You have a $2 coin, a $1 coin, 50, 20, 10, and 5 cent pieces. So there are no pennies, nothing is worth 1 cent. The irony of this is that prices are posted in pennies. So my first purchase here was a set of hangers. The total came to something like $8.97. So I gave the cashier a $10 expecting $1.03 back. To my surprise I was handed a $1 coin. First off l thought I had misread the price cause how come I got a coin back. Second when I figured out that the coin was $1 I was wondering where my 3 cents were. I take my coin utterly confused, but figure its not really worth a fight to regain my 3 cents, when Kelsey and Andrew inform me that pennies do not exist here. So if the price is $8.97 they round up to $9 if it was $8.96 they would round down to $8.95. So my obvious question is why charge by the penny. They had no answer for me. Welcome to the world of Australian money!

Once Upon a Time…I Stepped Through the Looking Glass

Me and all my luggage

Well, I made it! I’m am writing this post from Sydney Australia. 🙂 I’m exhausted and haven’t slept in almost 36 hours.  So, with that said I promise to update you all on the big move later. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me! It means the world to me!