Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Australian Things You Should Know

Over the past week, I've noticed a lot of things that are completely different here in Australia. From food, to traffic, to rules and etiquette, things are different here:

-People drive on the other side of the car and the road which makes crossing the street borderline dangerous because every time I look the WRONG way. You look to the right first, not the left!
-People walk on the left side of the sidewalk, not the right. I've run into way too many people so far because I'm on the wrong side.
-Tomato sauce = ketchup, just more watery.
-Subway does not have regular mustard, American cheese = Old English, they don't have oil and vinegar and they don't know what provolone is.
-BBQ sauce is not like American BBQ, it tastes terrible and is watery.
-Chips = fries and crisps = potato chips.
-You can't negotiate with cab drivers to take more than 4 people, and you have to use the meter every time.
-They don't tip here. Not at a restaurant, not at a bar, not for a cab. If you tip them, they get real confused and just put the extra money in the register.
-Things close here EARLY. Pizza places and stores like Target close at 5 or 6 on the weekdays, MAYBE 7 or 8 on Friday and Saturday, and most things are closed on Sundays. The latest a place to eat is open till is 10, and that's like one place (Subway). Bars close really early on the weekdays, like 10 or 11, and on the weekends at around 1 or so. Buses and trains stop running at 10 and 11 on the weekdays, and a little later on the weekends.
-They don't have regular pizza here. You can't get just pepperoni, and if they have that, it's not really pepperoni. It seems that the most popular pizza is Hawaiian, and Aussie's love putting eggs on everything.
-Everything here, from shampoo to food is usually more expensive than in America. The store-brand products are usually pretty cheap actually, but if you get a name-brand item, it's usually really expensive.

Those are just a few things that are different than America. There will definitely be more things to come, and this is just a few of the things I've observed from the Australian culture in the first week.

1 comment:

  1. HI CONNOR


    GLAD TO HEAR YOUR HAVING A FUN TIME
    TOO BAD SCHOOL WILL GET IN THE WAY,BUT I'M SURE YOU'LL MANAGE. LOOKING FORWARD TO MORE BLOGS
    LUV NANA

    ReplyDelete