Here’s something I don’t quite understand. They have prices such as $14.99, $19.99, and $127.23, but they don’t have any pennies. Every time you purchase something that’s not a multiple of 5, you lose a few cents. $29.99 really means $30 – that’s just plain false advertising.
The Australian dollar is the strongest it’s been in the past 27 years – it’s practically equal to the U.S. dollar now. Go figure…the semester I choose to study in Australia the exchange rate would be about equal. Oh well.
Lawyers are called solicitors here.
As the temperature continues to increase, the amount of little geckos and giant snails increases as well. Seriously, these are the largest snails I’ve ever seen. They just wander around the sidewalks in the morning. There’s one that I always pass in the exact same spot on my way to school. I like to think it’s the same snail :) Since I’m on the topic of snails…they have a carnivorous species here. That’s probably one type of snail you don’t want crawling on your hand, just saying. Oh, and speaking of carnivores - back in the day Australia used to have giant carnivorous kangaroos.
They have incredibly huge bats here. They’re like oversized guinea pigs with bat wings that come out at dusk. I love it. They’re especially plentiful in Cairns by the Great Barrier Reef – hundreds and hundreds of oversized rodents flying overhead.
Spring has brought with it an array of different blossoms. As I walk to school, I come across a multitude of flowers with just as many pleasant fragrances to match, some of them familiar but most foreign. There’s one particular tree that is in bloom right now – it has the loveliest purple buds. Gorgeous. And I’m sure you’ve all heard of the birds of paradise plants – their flowers are quite unusual, and they’re all over the place here. They’ve been flowering since we got here mid-winter, and it never gets old to see them around (although I still always think they look fake). Speaking of odd flowers, there’s this one type of lily called the gymea lilly that can stand up to 20 FEET tall (I posted a picture of it a bit earlier). It looks like something that’s straight out of Jurassic Park… Actually, a lot of things here look pretty darn prehistoric.
Most Australian yards are packed with flowers, small bushes, and miniature trees, which means there’s hardly any grass to mow (it depresses me a bit actually. I like to mow. I like to mow a lot). However, those that do have lawns big enough to trim usually do so with an electric mower. I’ve never seen anyone mow his/her lawn with a push mower that’s plugged in before, but now I can say I have. It was quite the sight – I did a double take the first time.
Some interesting things about the Australian language: when you read an Australian newspaper (or anything printed in Australia for that matter), you’ll notice that they randomly decide to switch out z’s for s’s…realize is spelt realise, analyze is analyse, criticize is criticise, etc. Here are a couple other odd spellings that always catch me off guard whenever I see them: tires = tyres, pajamas = pyjamas. When Australians speak, they tend to drop off r’s except for when they say the word idea. For whatever reason, they decide to tag on an r to the end of it = idear. I’ve never heard them do this to any other word, just this one. Kind of interesting.
Whenever students dress up the statue of John Wesley on IWU’s campus, those in power shake their heads in disproval. However, if IWU were in Australia, this is an activity that might actually be encouraged. For the past month, Sydney has dressed up its statues/monuments/memorials in ridiculously looking outfits. Why you might ask?...I have no idea. There’s probably somewhat of a “good” reason behind it all, but I like to think they just decided to add a bit of humor to the streets one day.
Since the weather is practically perfect for going to the beach (minus all the rainy days we’ve been getting…), I’ve spent a few afternoons chillin’ near the ocean or walking along the coast. Yesterday (Saturday) a few of us did a 3 km coastal walk between Bondi and Coogee Beach - saw some pretty amazing scenery and happened to spot a couple whales hanging out off the coast as well! That was awesome. One thing that wasn’t so awesome though was seeing all of the budgie smugglers. Let me educate you a bit on the Australian ‘budgie smuggler’…basically it’s a speedo. It seems to be mostly a generational thing, an older generational thing that is. Typically, you’ll see most of the old men sporting the budgie smuggler. Not exactly the most pleasant thing ever. It’s kind of awkward actually. I’m going to stop talking about it now.
The Sydney Opera House seems to be a good topic to switch to. Last weekend they had an “open day” at the Opera House, which meant we got to walk around the place for FREE. Practically nothing is free in Australia, so when something like this comes along, we definitely try to take advantage of it. The "open day" was really awesome though – we got to walk through the different halls/theatres and snoop around backstage a bit. Quite interesting. They even had mini performances in the different halls – a lady singing an opera song in the opera hall, someone playing the organ in the HUGE concert hall, a sound check/voice performance in the drama theatre, an acrobatic show in the studio… I think overall I spent about 3 hours exploring the place. I do want to say one thing though – I think the Opera House is very overrated. In fact, I think it’s kind of ugly. Even though I think it’s odd looking, it doesn’t lessen the fact that I still wanted to see a show there. This past Wednesday night, Bianca (my roomie) and I went to see an evening showing of Our Town. Loved it! Even the fake American accents were good. Our Town is separated into three acts that pretty much follow the stages of life: childhood, marriage, and death. The last act was my favorite – it commented on how humans are troubled beings who go through life never truly seeing (or taking the time to see) what’s right in front of them. A very thought-provoking play indeed.
Since today is Halloween, a few of us decided to do a 28.5 km (almost 18 mile) walk supporting the fight against breast cancer to celebrate the holiday – it was called the Seven Bridges Walk because, like the title says, it took us over seven different bridges in the Sydney/suburbs area. Two of the major bridges were, of course, the Sydney Harbour Bridge (which is about 3/4 mile long in itself) and the ANZAC Bridge (aka “Madonna’s Bra” Bridge – I’ll make sure to post a photo of this bridge so you can see why they refer to it as this). The walk was great – took us through the city, some residential areas, and even had a few kilometers of bushwalking (aka hiking). It only took us 5 ½ hours to complete it – long day but well worth it in the end.
I have exactly two weeks left in Australia. Two weeks. That’s it. I can’t believe it – it’s gone by so fast. Honestly, I’m ready to leave Australia, yet I still have mixed feelings about it. Australia has sort of become my new reality – I’ve been here for so long and have gotten so used to how life is here that I’ve found myself beginning to forget what life was like back home. It almost feels like my home is just a dream world right now – even talking to my friends/family seems somewhat unreal. I’m sure once I return home, Australia will seem like the dream. As far as readjusting to the States goes, I think I’ll have a fairly hard time. For one thing, having my car back and all of the freedom that will bring will be a definite shocker. I’ve become so accustomed to limitations and having to plan (and wait) in order to get anywhere or do anything. Another thing will be trying to process and make sense of everything that’s happened here – all of stuff I’ve learned about cultures, social justice, and myself.
Well, I guess that’s it for now. Happy Halloween everyone!! In case you’re curious, Halloween isn’t that big here. A few people get into the holiday, but most just see it as the end of October. Not much trick-o-treating here!
