Now I know this one isn't Australian. But it is here. And it is strange in so many ways.
And in honor of the New York Auto Show: Cars!
Showing posts with label Au-ddly Australian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Au-ddly Australian. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Au-ddly Australian - UPDATED
Well, now I am back to the point of last week's post where I can't think of an odd thing. This is a problem. So I will discuss the grocery store. Its probably not really odd, but it is different enough that a stumped mind can think up enough to write about.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Au-ddly Australian
When you first get here they tell you about the psychology of an exchange student. First you have up ad downs before you leave. Then you get there and have your "honeymoon" period. Then you get sad and home sick. Then you level out for a while. And then before you go home, you get the jitters again, then have a home "honeymoon" and then you miss Australia. And then it all levels out again.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Au-ddly Australian
Its a little early yet, but I am procrastinating picking an FEA project. So this weeks Au-ddly Australian is language.
Ah yes, the mystical Australian accent. Some people love it. They find it outdoorsy and adventurous and whatever. Some people, no names, just tell Nana I've been thinking of her, think it is a terrible bit of coarse English, remnants of the proper language from back home in England. Its probably since the Kings and Queens just sent all the scruffy faced scoundrels (can you guess which trilogy just completed its 3 week Saturday night marathon?) down under.
But in actuality, its really more akin to the language of a 6 year old sent over from London. They say 'cheers' and 'ta', 'cheers' being the only one I have started to use. But, they also say brekkie, footy, sunnies, chewie, pettie, Uni, and barbies. Which in order mean: breakfast, football (Australian Rules), sunglasses, chewing gum, gasoline (petrol), University/college, and barbecues. Of course barbies are acceptable. They involve mostly meat and beer. But not shrimp. Those would be prawns, mate. But other than that, the shortening of perfectly reasonable words with the use of 'ie' or 'y' makes its all sound very childish.
Some other fun or otherwise Australian accents: Mate is really pronounced more like Mite. G'day is more like G'd-aye. Disoriented is disorientated. I've seen computator somewhere. But I don't recall whether it was a PC or something slightly different. You don't go back and 'review' all that Prob Stat you were supposed to have learned back whenever. You 'revise' it. 'No worries' is a general thanks/goodbye to someone you may not know. Ask someone something on the street and you are bound to get or give a 'No worries.' Which may leave you thinking, what on earth would I be worrying about following that exchange. Those in the habit of always apologizing may appreciate it. At a bar, you 'shout' a round. And proper etiquette dictates that if you have been 'shouted' you will 'shout' back before leaving the bar. And you will 'shout' a 'jug' not a pitcher. Those who shout excessively or maybe more of what we would call a redneck are called 'blogans.' 'Acka-Dacka' is the much longer semi phonetic pronunciation of AC/DC. But at least they call pizza 'pizza.' No Jersey 'pies' here.
Ah yes, the mystical Australian accent. Some people love it. They find it outdoorsy and adventurous and whatever. Some people, no names, just tell Nana I've been thinking of her, think it is a terrible bit of coarse English, remnants of the proper language from back home in England. Its probably since the Kings and Queens just sent all the scruffy faced scoundrels (can you guess which trilogy just completed its 3 week Saturday night marathon?) down under.
But in actuality, its really more akin to the language of a 6 year old sent over from London. They say 'cheers' and 'ta', 'cheers' being the only one I have started to use. But, they also say brekkie, footy, sunnies, chewie, pettie, Uni, and barbies. Which in order mean: breakfast, football (Australian Rules), sunglasses, chewing gum, gasoline (petrol), University/college, and barbecues. Of course barbies are acceptable. They involve mostly meat and beer. But not shrimp. Those would be prawns, mate. But other than that, the shortening of perfectly reasonable words with the use of 'ie' or 'y' makes its all sound very childish.
Some other fun or otherwise Australian accents: Mate is really pronounced more like Mite. G'day is more like G'd-aye. Disoriented is disorientated. I've seen computator somewhere. But I don't recall whether it was a PC or something slightly different. You don't go back and 'review' all that Prob Stat you were supposed to have learned back whenever. You 'revise' it. 'No worries' is a general thanks/goodbye to someone you may not know. Ask someone something on the street and you are bound to get or give a 'No worries.' Which may leave you thinking, what on earth would I be worrying about following that exchange. Those in the habit of always apologizing may appreciate it. At a bar, you 'shout' a round. And proper etiquette dictates that if you have been 'shouted' you will 'shout' back before leaving the bar. And you will 'shout' a 'jug' not a pitcher. Those who shout excessively or maybe more of what we would call a redneck are called 'blogans.' 'Acka-Dacka' is the much longer semi phonetic pronunciation of AC/DC. But at least they call pizza 'pizza.' No Jersey 'pies' here.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Au-ddly Australian
This weeks post: money. And its uses.
For fans of the new US bills, with all their colors, like green, Aussies have full color, bright bills. Each denomination is a different color, but I still couldn't tell you what each one might be with out looking for the number. Twenties are mostly red, tens mostly blue, fives mostly purple and fifties mostly yellow. I think each bill is also a different size. But I don't have all of them to compare with me right now. Since I'm out in public I guess I won't inspect them too closely. But for now, each is a different color, a different size and all of them have clear plastic windows in them. I suppose this is a security feature. The whole bill feels much more plastic than an American bill. I suppose it could be because its all plastic, I'm not quite sure.
Next on to coins. Oh coins, how I loath you. For haters of the American penny, we don't have any. Any non $.05 amount is rounded appropriately. I hadn't even seen a nickel until today. The nickel is indeed the smallest, which cures some of my grief with the monetary system. Until the mysterious nickel with its Echidna on the back surfaced, the smalled coin I had seen was a $2 piece. Good for bartenders, bad for shorts with holes in the pockets. Change is a pain. Really it rattles around, you have to keep track of it. Might as well just give it back to the bartender as a tip. Which isn't customary down here actually. But now, that change you got back could be worth upwards of $4. And in terrible little coins. And the washing machines don't take them. Even though clearly they should. A load of laundry with 20 minutes of drying time is $4. The laundry takes dollar coins (probably my second to least favorite coin) and fifths. Not quaters. Fifths. It would make a mess of any problem involving so much money in so many coins. One is not a quarter. Well actually none are quarters.
Now how you spend this money. I mentioned laundry. Expensive. This will be a theme. Hungry Jack (a BK company) will sell you a meal at Jersey Turnpike rates, with either a small, regular or large drink. Small actually means dollar menu small sized. Tiny. With tiny dollar menu fries. Which are more like soggy McDonalds fries than crispy BK fries. Or, you could try to buy something that Australians love. Beer. Or most alcohol for that matter. The exception is wine. They give that stuff away. But beer and liquor and pre-mixed cans of liquor and mixer will cost you a pretty penny. Which we don't have. So a pretty fifty dollar note. A 24 pack of the cheapest beer will run you over $30. A 700mL bottle of Bacardi for mojitos (it is summer here) will run you $33. There will be no bringing bottles back home from this trip. Cokes are similarly expensive, $2.80 for a 600mL from the vending machine. Not as bad, but still enough to quell most desires for a coke as refreshment. But sushi, normally moderate to expensive back home, is dirt cheap. Fast food sushi bars will sell you a roll for under $3. Fast food only because they keep a fresh supply on ice to hand you as you order. Its quite the system. I have yet to see if its any good. But it exists nonetheless. So there is the monetary system of the Land Down Under. Maybe I'll get around to more at some point. But now its time to return to Color For Dollars class. Which has more meaning now that the dollars are so colorful.
For fans of the new US bills, with all their colors, like green, Aussies have full color, bright bills. Each denomination is a different color, but I still couldn't tell you what each one might be with out looking for the number. Twenties are mostly red, tens mostly blue, fives mostly purple and fifties mostly yellow. I think each bill is also a different size. But I don't have all of them to compare with me right now. Since I'm out in public I guess I won't inspect them too closely. But for now, each is a different color, a different size and all of them have clear plastic windows in them. I suppose this is a security feature. The whole bill feels much more plastic than an American bill. I suppose it could be because its all plastic, I'm not quite sure.
Next on to coins. Oh coins, how I loath you. For haters of the American penny, we don't have any. Any non $.05 amount is rounded appropriately. I hadn't even seen a nickel until today. The nickel is indeed the smallest, which cures some of my grief with the monetary system. Until the mysterious nickel with its Echidna on the back surfaced, the smalled coin I had seen was a $2 piece. Good for bartenders, bad for shorts with holes in the pockets. Change is a pain. Really it rattles around, you have to keep track of it. Might as well just give it back to the bartender as a tip. Which isn't customary down here actually. But now, that change you got back could be worth upwards of $4. And in terrible little coins. And the washing machines don't take them. Even though clearly they should. A load of laundry with 20 minutes of drying time is $4. The laundry takes dollar coins (probably my second to least favorite coin) and fifths. Not quaters. Fifths. It would make a mess of any problem involving so much money in so many coins. One is not a quarter. Well actually none are quarters.
Now how you spend this money. I mentioned laundry. Expensive. This will be a theme. Hungry Jack (a BK company) will sell you a meal at Jersey Turnpike rates, with either a small, regular or large drink. Small actually means dollar menu small sized. Tiny. With tiny dollar menu fries. Which are more like soggy McDonalds fries than crispy BK fries. Or, you could try to buy something that Australians love. Beer. Or most alcohol for that matter. The exception is wine. They give that stuff away. But beer and liquor and pre-mixed cans of liquor and mixer will cost you a pretty penny. Which we don't have. So a pretty fifty dollar note. A 24 pack of the cheapest beer will run you over $30. A 700mL bottle of Bacardi for mojitos (it is summer here) will run you $33. There will be no bringing bottles back home from this trip. Cokes are similarly expensive, $2.80 for a 600mL from the vending machine. Not as bad, but still enough to quell most desires for a coke as refreshment. But sushi, normally moderate to expensive back home, is dirt cheap. Fast food sushi bars will sell you a roll for under $3. Fast food only because they keep a fresh supply on ice to hand you as you order. Its quite the system. I have yet to see if its any good. But it exists nonetheless. So there is the monetary system of the Land Down Under. Maybe I'll get around to more at some point. But now its time to return to Color For Dollars class. Which has more meaning now that the dollars are so colorful.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Au-ddly Australian
The original Au-ddly Australian. Since its Thursday and all. For a little while down here. For much longer up there.
Imagine Black Friday shopping. Now add haggling and store front employees throwing out prices like auctioneers with their number line backward. Put it all in one building with no meaningful differentiation between stores and that is the Central Market on Saturday afternoon. At the market are an absurd number of stores with mostly fresh produce and meats. Apparently the prices are good during the week, but on Saturday everything must go since the market is fully restocked while closed on Sunday. So mangos are 3 for 5 dollars. Some things are 99 cents a kilo, however much that is. I really need to build a MathCad sheet to tell me how much more or less all these things are than the US. There are some peculiar things at the market too. My favorite: fresh Atlantic salmon labeled as a Product of Australia. And the market has a special door straight into the back of the supermarket, so anything you couldn’t get there you can get at Cole’s. Which means Cole’s looks like everyone trying to shop before the Superbowl. And this is all every Saturday. It is all much too much to handle. I long for Beltsville Costco shoppers. In my initial overwhelmed few minutes I somehow bought a strawberries and cream roll up bread thing. As I walked by at first, it was “The last one, $5!” By the time I had thought enough to look at what this thing was it was “Last one, $3!! You sir, $3. It’s wonderful and will be perfect for you and your lady tonight. Perfect romantic evening.” And then I handed over my money and got a strawberry cream something or other and one of those confounded two dollar coins. So us 5 guys have a perfect dessert for a romantic evening.
Update - The cream cake thing was actually quite good. This week we may see if there are mint plants and limes at the market. But, we will see if I actually make it back there. There should be a dive on Saturday which will have Au-ddly Australian fish.
Imagine Black Friday shopping. Now add haggling and store front employees throwing out prices like auctioneers with their number line backward. Put it all in one building with no meaningful differentiation between stores and that is the Central Market on Saturday afternoon. At the market are an absurd number of stores with mostly fresh produce and meats. Apparently the prices are good during the week, but on Saturday everything must go since the market is fully restocked while closed on Sunday. So mangos are 3 for 5 dollars. Some things are 99 cents a kilo, however much that is. I really need to build a MathCad sheet to tell me how much more or less all these things are than the US. There are some peculiar things at the market too. My favorite: fresh Atlantic salmon labeled as a Product of Australia. And the market has a special door straight into the back of the supermarket, so anything you couldn’t get there you can get at Cole’s. Which means Cole’s looks like everyone trying to shop before the Superbowl. And this is all every Saturday. It is all much too much to handle. I long for Beltsville Costco shoppers. In my initial overwhelmed few minutes I somehow bought a strawberries and cream roll up bread thing. As I walked by at first, it was “The last one, $5!” By the time I had thought enough to look at what this thing was it was “Last one, $3!! You sir, $3. It’s wonderful and will be perfect for you and your lady tonight. Perfect romantic evening.” And then I handed over my money and got a strawberry cream something or other and one of those confounded two dollar coins. So us 5 guys have a perfect dessert for a romantic evening.
Update - The cream cake thing was actually quite good. This week we may see if there are mint plants and limes at the market. But, we will see if I actually make it back there. There should be a dive on Saturday which will have Au-ddly Australian fish.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Au-ddly Australian
I had originally planned a different post for this semi regular topic. There are some strange things here in Australia. And with the nicest camera I have ever owned being on my new phone, I snapped this example.
The second largest art festival in the world or something like that is here in Adelaide. And this is the mascot. Yes those are two giant astronauts, one with a pink tutu. Taken in Victoria Square.
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