Funny Aussie stories...

Well, there were a few very funny stories, “Aussie slang”, etc that I forgot to mention in my first e-mail (I know...the first e-mail was quite a long time ago). I was just sitting here at work and I began laughing at some of the things I have experienced here so far -- so, I wanted to share a few with you…

"Aussie Slang"
Flip flops (U.S.) = Thongs (Australia)
Bathing suit (U.S.) = Togs; Costume or Swimmers (Australia)
BBQ (U.S.) = Barbie (Australia)

"Daily Morning Spider Ritual"
I have a morning ritual that I perform. As most of you probably know, I was talking about the giant spiders for about 1-month before I left Chicago. Oh, and that is about as long as I knew I was moving to Sydney….so basically since the moment I found out I was moving here. I began reading books about the city, to get myself excited about this experience of moving ½ way (ok, only 1/3 way) around the world – and of course, all I kept reading about was how many dangerous and poisonous creatures they have here. I think I was the first person to move to this country who could list every poisonous spider and snake the second I landed in Sydney.

So, back to my morning spider ritual – when I first wake up (which continues to be at exactly 6am every morning!) Well it was for the first few months, this has tapered off a bit now – I first take a look around the room and examine every wall…once that is clear, I then get out of bed and check behind the bedroom door. Once I have cleared the bedroom, I move in to the hallway and living room – I always check everywhere in the bathroom before I turn on the shower because so far, that is where most of the spiders are found…at least from the stories I hear.

I think I mentioned in my first e-mail that we finally found a place to call home for a couple years – we are just a few minutes from the water (Rushcutter’s Bay and Rose Bay)
We are in an area called Darling Point…it is very convenient for me to get to work, shopping and the grocery store – these are all really important considering we don’t have a car and don’t plan to have one while we are here. It is really nice, we can walk down to the bay in a few minutes to pick up a cup of coffee, and I am right across from the train line that I take to get to work.

A few strange things about Sydney – they don’t put screens on anything…not on windows, doors, nothing! So all of the little critters that I have been stressing about for a few weeks before I even arrived – yep – well, you might as well just invite them in to have dinner with you

So far, we have found a few baby spiders (so small even I can fight them off); a lizard (just crawling around in the living room); and a few flying cockroaches. Yep, if the poisonous spiders and snakes aren’t bad enough, they have flying cockroaches to top if off! They actually don’t bother me as much, but sometimes they catch you off guard. We were sitting in the living room watching a movie the other night and in came a flying roach…landed right on our living room wall. I asked Dale to kill him and he was like, oh he is fine there for now, I will get him when the movie is over. I said, no lets take care of him now so I don’t have to worry about him flying all over the place or maybe on me!! They honestly wouldn’t be so bad; except they are ginormous and they fly.

When I say ginormous I really mean it – this one was a few inches long!! The biggest I have seen, except during my short visit to Arizona a few years ago. Definitely the largest I have experienced in my home.

We had a week long house-sitting experience for a co-worker of mine in Watson’s Bay a few weeks ago – Watson’s Bay is at the very tip of one of the bay areas outside of the city. It is absolutely beautiful but a bit far away. So I had a bus ride, to a ferry ride each way in and out of work. It gave me time to catch up on a couple of books that I have been meaning to finish….

So on my bus ride each morning, I would experience sitting next to a few children that were on their way to school. There are very few school buses here; most of the children take public transportation along with everyone else…which I think is rather interesting. So a few days during that week, I would be on the bus with the same two little kids, they were obviously friends and they planned their bus ride together in the mornings. The conversations they would have were just hilarious and a bit shocking!! I have noticed that the children here are so proper. One morning, one little guy said to the other, I feel great this morning - I slept better last night than I have in ages. I was laughing so hard inside, I loved it. They sounded like 2 adults having a conversation over their morning coffee / tea.