Australia versus America

1-Me at Bondi Beach in Sydney, 2-North Stradbroke Island, 3-A random ukelele band, 4-Kingscliff Beach, 5-Koala family portrait at the Australia Zoo (touristy, I know, but AMAZING!), 6-Crocs will kill, 7-Our first Aussie meatpie (made at home when our friends from Melbourne visited)

I’m so grateful that Matt was able to come to Australia with me.  Initially we didn’t know if he would and then we prayed about it and really felt that we should stick together.  We say it to each other all the time (mostly when one of us is trying to stop a fight):

We are a team.

And we are.  Especially here, where we are pretty much the only connection either of us has outside of my work.  It can get a bit intense from time to time.  At home in Philly, we have a nice big house; we both have interests outside of the house; there is space apart.  Here, it’s a really small one-bedroom that gets smaller by the day!  And we don’t have any friends at all!  Sometimes my colleagues invite us out to dinner but mostly it’s just us two.  So when I want to push him off the balcony or he wants to suffocate me in my sleep, we need to take a deep breath and remember this is an adventure that we signed up for, looked forward to and are enjoying.

Sometimes the weight of how different it is here pops up or we’ll think of something we really miss from the US and we long for home, but sometimes we encounter something here that we think: we could get used to this! I thought I’d take this chance to highlight some of the things we find interesting and infuriating about the differences. I have been really amazed at how similar and yet how different Australia and the US are.

Here is my top 5 list:

1) Flying domestically within Australia –Flying domestically is like flying in the US 20 years ago in all the good ways. You can leave your shoes on, you can leave your jacket on, you don’t have to show ID to anyone, you have liquids? No problem, bring ‘em with you! It is truly amazing. You self-drop your checked baggage on a conveyer belt and essentially stroll onto the plane. The person in front of us beeped through the metal detectors and the security person shrugged and motioned them through. I mentioned this to a few Aussies – how amazing this was to an American and they said to me (I’m not making this up): “It’s just domestic within Australia, what is the worst that can happen?”

Hmm, as an American, I will refrain from answering that...

2) Food flavors - This one is frustrating to us.  It's not that the food isn't good here, it's just that things that have the same packaging and ingredients taste completely differently.  When Matt was sick (you know how when you're sick, you want your mama...) we bought Kraft Mac 'n Cheese and we couldn't even finish it!  It felt like treachery!  We've had to learn to find what we love here and not succumb to moments of home-longing-ness and get something we think will be familar.

3) Nicknames - I adore how everyone and everything has a nickname here.  Sometimes I feel like people are speaking a different language but it's a language that if i listen closely to the context, I can often unravel.  The only downside is that no one has nicknamed me yet!

4) The Cost! - Matt and I must sound like broken records when we chat with our families and talk about Australia but we simply cannot get over how expensive everything is here.  I thought after a few months of working here, I would have learned what the key financial situational difference here is - in order to know how ppl can live, shop, survive here, but I'm still at a loss.  The malls are still full of people!

That's why our upcoming trip to Melbourne is so exciting to me - besides seeing our great friends - there is a SAVERS just a few minutes away from our friends!  I have been refraining from shopping and holding off until then.

5) No Tipping - anywhere on anything.  This is what makes us not go crazy because of the cost of food etc.  This is one we could get used to!