Sydney At Large

Other than the reality of my personal/emotional life being like a roller coaster these days, the fact remains that I am now in Australia—and generally loving it. In many ways, being here feels much like being in the states may, but, at the same time, it’s completely different. If anything, I am enjoying the subtly inherent in the differences between here and elsewhere.

One of my favorite things so far is the Aussie accent and vocabulary. I have had moments (particularly on the phone) where I felt like myself and the person on the other line were speaking a different language. On the other hand, Kristin and I have had endless laughs about different pronunciations, inflections, and words. One of the most endearing Aussie habit (at least to me) is their tendency to add -ie- to the end of words while shortening them at the same time. For example: Uni, margie, sunnies, boardies, the postie, Vinnies...the list goes on (10 points if you know what those all are in their lengthened versions. I know I am also picking up (unintentionally) a bit of the phrasing used here (eg: "have a chat") and some of the words (eg: massive, heaps, swimmers, keen). I could go on forever about these crazy language things, but I suspect it is much more interesting to actually experience than read about.

One of the most simple, but most disconcerting differences between here and home is that the traffic drives on the left side of the street--therefore all road rules, locations, etc are flipped around. I'm actually nearly used to it after about 3 weeks, but Noah is still quite thrown off and I still look over both shoulders a million times before crossing the street, just to be sure.

Approaching Christmas as summer is arriving has been a joyous experience. Having the Christmas season mean warmer days, beach time, picnics, longer days, and summer school holidays definitely colors the season differently than the environment I've grown up with at home. I have decided that mot people are just as overly busy and slightly stressed out as people at home often are at this time of year, but that it is all hidden better maybe in part because there are simply ore hours of daylight to be productive in, so one has time to go Christmas shopping, attend all those holiday fundraising and socializing functions, work, and still have time to sit on the beach for a bit now and then. Plus, no time is spent bundling up or down every time you come in or out of the house :).

Even so, it doesn't quite feel like Christmas as I know it, but I'm OK with that I think. There are fewer Christmas lights and less Christmas music playing in stores, few Christmas fundraisers, and definitely no horse-drawn sleighs. However, the mall and grocery stores are just as packed as they would be at home, the same Christmas tins are on sale, people still have family Christmas traditions (albeit a beach picnic instead of a cross-country ski), and the beaches/campgrounds/national parks are noticeably busier than when I arrived. I'm looking forward to trying on the tradition of a swim at the beach, a movie in the afternoon, and a BBQ for dinner with relatives, it can't be all that bad.

One last word/observation from my last few weeks here involves the coffee culture. (All my time at Pendl's makes me an interested, if somewhat critical customer). To start with, instant coffee seems to be all the rage here. Yuck. (It is what Kristin's family drinks, although they do have a drip coffee maker that is about 30 years old and french press that was buried in the back of the cupboard until I pulled it out.) I mean, the instant is drinkable, but it's not truly coffee. Beyond that, coffee shops are pretty much everywhere and commonplace, but it is impossible to buy a cup of drip house coffee anywhere. The concept doesn't exist. The closest thing you can get is what is called a long or short black (which is most closely equated with an Americano in my coffee lingo and just as expensive as a latte). Other than that, the options are: Flat White, Cappuccino, or Latte, all of which are often the same size, cost nearly the same, and, more or less, seem to be about the same thing despite the different names (pretty much a latte, by my description). This is a bad thing for my budget approach to going out for coffee, since the only options are the 3-4$ lattes...oh well. I also think I will poke into a Starbucks at some point just to see if they do have house coffee, or if that part of the Starbucks identity is foregone here because the market for it may not exist, hmmm...makes one wonder.

Anyway, there are (quite) a few random thoughts by Martha from Australia. Take from them what you will. Merry Christmas to all!!!