Differences

Being in Australia for an extended period of time has made me keenly aware of the differences in culture and people here as compared to home. Sydney is a strange paradox for me because sometimes I forget I am in another country, and sometimes I feel like an alien here. The differences are innumerable and at the same time few. Most are so slight that you wouldn't notice at first, and some are glaring. Most of the differences I can live with, but there are a few which I don't think I will ever get used to. I have compiled two separate short lists of the most entertaining/important.

Differences that make no difference:

1. The slang.

This is difficult to master because they use a great deal of slang, however, I find myself more and more inadvertently using it daily. A few examples are:

-G'day!

-Ooooh, I am keen to see that movie.

-That is brilliant, cheers.

-Hey, hey, how you going?

2. Time.

Americans value time and timeliness, some more than others, but I digress. Australians are a little more lax about time. I used to think this was just a James thing, he would say, "Hey honey, I am at the food shops I will call you back in 10 minutes." Me being an American I would honestly expect 10 minutes.....30 minutes later he would finally call. I used to joke with him, "So, 10 minutes in James time or real people time." I am coming to realize that this is not just a James thing, this is more of a typical Australian thing. A perfect example of this is that they schedule classes back to back. I had a course last night from 5-7 in one building and other course from 7-9 in a completely different building. To me this is stressful as I want to be exactly on time and I liked having classes scheduled with a ten minute break for transition between., that way I would know exactly how much time I had to accomplish things between classes and get there on time. However, there just seems to be an understanding with the Aussies, that 5-7 and 7-9 means that you start about 5ish end about 7ish, repeat for subsequent courses. So times here are close but not exact and not as important as in America.

3. Informality

I have been told that Aussies are traditionally more informal than other cultures. I find this a bit humorous because they have expansive vocabularies and speak in very formal educated forms, (with some slang thrown in.) However, the way they act towards each other is quite informal. All of my professors have earned at least one Ph.D. and have published many books. They are all definitely considered experts in their fields, however, they do not expect or want you to address them formally. I have composed a few emails to them with Dear Dr. _____ and they always respond and sign with their first name (i.e. Hi Lacey -Jeff.)

4. Food

This one is slight, they have very similar dishes to America, James claims it to be more surf and turf, I think that is debatable, but once again, I digress. The differences are small, such as milk has a slightly different aftertaste, or beef tastes different, not bad different or good different, just different.

5.Tipping

Well actually the difference is that tipping does not exist. Waitresses and workers here get paid a substantial salary and tipping is not expected or part of the culture. I can definitely get used to not tipping, the price on the menu is the price I pay.

Things I will never get used to:

6. Coffee

As I have already told many of you, on my first morning here when I was fully jet lagged I asked the waitress at breakfast for a 'normal cup of coffee.' She looked at me and responded curiously, "You mean with froth on it?" Australians are very Italian about their coffee, it is all espressos and cappuccinos. I don't mind the occasional cup of fancy coffee, they are quite nice, but there is no substitute for my morning black coffee. I have successfully rebelled and purchased my very own automatic coffee pot.

6. Short Shorts

I know many females in the U.S. are very guilty of short shorts, but I am not talking females here, I am talking about males. It is almost guaranteed that if I see a male with shorts below his knees that he is American. Their big bad tough rugby players are very guilty of this indeed. If you want a good example you can see an image at: http://www.byronimages.net/storage/albums/NRL%20Photos/2008%20Rd04%20Manly%20v%20Souths/Players/2008_Rd04-6390_sm.jpg

I was kidding James about this the other day and he said something to the effect of, "When you go for a run, you don't want a bunch of heavy material interfering." That is not a direct quote but it was something similar. I am just not sure if I will ever quite become accustomed to short shorts on burly men...

Well it is tomorrow for me and that means that I have class today. I hope you are having a wonderful yesterday.