More Random Words and Expressions..

I am learning more words and expressions by the day.

Aussie Term------- American Term

Bench:  Counter (We eat breakfast at the bench)

Rubber:  Eraser.  I heard a great story yesterday about a lady asking a guy in America for a rubber.  

Smash : Car Crash

Chemist : Drug Store

Jumper : Sweater

Mince: Ground meat (beef, lamb)

Hundreds and thousands: Sprinkles (you would put on cookies, cupcakes, etc).  

Petrol : Gasoline .  I was kindly told "you are buying PETROL, not GAS" when I went in to pay for my GAS.

Lifesaver: Lifeguard

Post: Mail .  For example, you would post a letter or package.  

Queue: Line .  The queue at Costco is out of control.

Give it a go!  : Give it a try.  I say this all the time to my kids.  Jackson rolls his eyes at me when I do.

Rubbish: Garbage

Runners: Sneakers

Swimmer: Swimsuit

Bikie: Member of a bike gang.

Uni: University

College: K-12

Ute: Pickup truck

Zed : The letter "Z"

Heche: The letter "H"

Sunnies: Sunglasses  (Love this one)

SMS : Text message

Biscuit: Cookie

Costco Madness

Costco opened a store in Sydney about a month ago.  We must have lost our minds to go on a Saturday - twice.

Case in point:

The checkout line went to the BACK of the store.  Are 5 pounds of  Twizzlers, a 36 pack of dinner rolls, and a box (a big box) of Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough really worth standing in this line?   Turns out, they are.  Because we went AGAIN on a Saturday.  I think it was the Otis cookies that really did it, but I must say that the dinner rolls were pretty dang good, too.

On that note, the bakery area was filled with people.  I couldn't figure out the craziness - I just wanted my dinner rolls.  Apparently everyone else loves the rolls too, because as I was looking around for them, someone from the bakery started to put bags of these rolls out and it was like Walmart at 5am on the day after Thanksgiving.  People grabbing and pushing everywhere.  I really wanted those rolls though, so I did the sensible thing - I sent Jeff in for them.

He didn't get any of the first batch they put out, so he waited for the next ones to come, and as they saw them coming out, a small woman started jabbing him in the ribs to try to get past him. He managed to fend off the woman and score two bags.

On a very positive note, I felt a little at home, because people were stressed, fussing at their kids, fussing at other people about their kids....it was very refreshing after seeing people constantly..happy and relaxed.  I know, something is definitely wrong with me.

The Top 10 List

Things I love about Australia:
1.  Spectacular views.  Gorgeous beaches, rocky coastlines, the bridge, Darling Harbour (yep, aussie spelling).  It's a really gorgeous place, and I've only seen a small bit so far.

2.  Everything is outdoor - centric.  Well, virtually everything.  You can sit outside at a cafe whether it is hot or cold (heaters all around).  Parks everywhere.  Houses are built with alfresco areas, where the doors pull back to an open dining area outside.  It's one of my favorite things about our house, and I wish we had this back home.  


3. Cadbury chocolate.  It's my favorite, and it's everywhere!

4.  It's all about the kids.  Kids go everywhere with their parents.  And if you have a toddler, you will appreciate this.  No one stops and stares when your toddler throws a fit and screams at the top of his or her lungs.   I apologize to go all sideways with this, but it reminds me of our flight here when Brynn was seating in front of an Anderson Cooper lookalike.  I love some Anderson Cooper. This guy seriously let me down when he complained about Brynn rocking in her seat.  AC would never do such a thing!  


I have no idea who this is, just found the image on google.  Homegirl is straight up enjoying the trantrum.  I feel disturbed by this, really I do.

5.  Kids get a grade for performance and a grade for effort.  Love this!  If my kid fails a class but has tried really hard, I will only beat them half as much.  Kidding.  But seriously, the effort does make a difference.


6.  Public transportation.  The train here rocks.  Clean, on time, safe.  On the downside (well, I guess this depends on how you view it), there is a lot of making out going on in the trains.  There was a couple sitting behind us, and I couldn't concentrate on what Hollie was saying to me for all the sounds of them kissing and who knows what else.  EW.  EW.  And EW.


7. The Aussie accent.  I am fairly used to it by now, but I still love it.  People here always ask me where I'm from, and a lot of times they say "Canada"? before I answer.  Then , when I say no, America, the response is always the same: "I ask Canada first, because Canadians get offended by people thinking they are American".  Hmmm.  I'm still shocked that everyone doesn't just LOVE us Americans! 


8.  A never ending supply of things to do.  There are so many museums alone (My family cringes at the word).  There's some sort of festival going on almost every weekend.  Great shows and concerts are always on.


9.   Open mindedness.   I have yet to hear any negative comment regarding race, gender, or sexual orientation.  

10.  Bondi Rescue - my favorite reality show, it's really just a bunch of lifeguards saving people on Bondi Beach.  Maybe it is on in the US, and I just never saw it?  (It's on Nat Geo)

Things I don't love yet about Australia:
1.  No paying at the pump.  As luck would have it, I figured this one out on a morning when my hair had not been brushed and I had on lounge pants and flip flops (mid winter).  But you know how they say everything has a silver lining?  I went in to pay, and was blinded by this angelic burst of light surrounding..ahhhhhh...Krispy Kreme donuts.  Ask me if I paid $15 for 8 donuts.  Yes, I did.


2.  No drive thru's close by.  They do have them in Australia - I've seen them before, but there are none close to us.  I know I should say that this is a good thing, and that my kids are far better off without fast food.  And I do think that they are.  But once in a while it would be nice to just hit a drive thru for dinner.  


3.  No drip coffee (I covered this in another post)


4.  Everything is more expensive. Examples =  Mens Levis on sale = $99.  soda from a vending machine = $4.50, pair of sneakers that would cost $60 at Kohls are over $200 here.   Ooh I miss Kohls.  


5.  I have no credit.  I can tell them I'll pay the bill for a cell phone all day long, but that doesn't work!  I have no credit history here.  So, I have a prepaid phone.  Jeff calls it the S-phone (made by samsung), and it's pretty pathetic as far as cell phones go.  I miss my iphone!

6.  Internet service is bad here, at least in my area.  There are hours in the day where no one can connect.  May just be our service, not sure. 


7.  The ocean is cold, even in mid summer,  and the waves are strong.  But, at least we get Bondi Rescue out of it.   

8.  Targets are in the malls.  Sometimes it would be nice to be able to run in and out of Target without having to go to the mall, find a parking place, go down 5 levels..etc.   


9.  Roads seem more narrow, and the big trucks, like 18 wheelers, use the main highways.  There are moments when I feel like I'm going to die of panic when I get stuck beside a big truck on Pacific Highway, going around a curve, with a car on the other side...I am sure I'm going to be crushed! 

10.  The mean girl situation that Hollie is dealing with.  She will conquer it, I'm sure.  But I sure do hate to see her go through it.  

Honey, I'm home..

Today is an irony.  It was a big day for me.  It was completely uneventful.


I got up and took the kids to school.  I came home and talked on the phone to my sister, my mom, and my dad. I got ready for a run, but rain kicked in and I settled on ironing instead.  I cleaned the house.  I got ready and went to pick Hollie up, took her to swim lessons, then picked up Brynn and came home.  FYI - Jax was not forgotten.  He rides the train home.


So why the big day?  Not one time did I think **oh shit, I don't know what I'm doing**.  


And with that, I realize that I am settled.  I can drive on the left side of the road.  I know where things are in the grocery store.  I can finally drive the cart to my car("trolley" it's called here).  I know all of my kids teachers.  We have a doctor, an orthodontist for Jax, and a pharmacist who comes out into the store to greet me when I go (love that!).  I have a favorite music station, a favorite bakery (okay, well any will do, but I really do love the strawberry cake in the Korean one).  I know now that size 8 US is not the same as 8 AUS,  That knowledge came with a slight panic attack as I tried to pull up pants that were not going past my hips, all the while thinking..okay, well I know I did eat that whole strawberry cake from the Korean bakery, but still....


Life is sort of normal.  I think I'm home.  (At least temporarily)

Jax and KFC (Fitness, not chicken)

I think I mentioned before that all boys at Knox are required to play a sport.  Each sport goes for two terms - there are winter sports and summer sports.  During a day, the boys have PE, but also have sport.  They also have sport practice one day after school and on Saturdays.  

Random fact:  Sports events here are called "fixtures".

Jackson started in term 2, which is when the winter sports start.  Rugby is huge here, but he has never played, so he didn't want to go with that.  He will learn that in PE, anyway.  He decided to go with KFC - Knox Fitness Club.  We thought great, he'll get some exercise, learn more about working out, etc. 
I will tell you that we had no idea what he was getting into....


A sport practice lasts for 90 minutes.  In a normal session, Jax will end up running several miles, doing sprints, running up and down the oval stairs ( the fields are called ovals here), passing medicine balls, and push ups.  Lots and lots of push ups.  The past several sessions, the boys have done 160 pushups  160!!  I just cannot wrap my head around that.  They do 80 of one kind, and 80 of another.  AND - if they are done incorrectly, or if anyone cheats (say they did more than they actually did) - they start over.  Their coach tells them that he is interested in building both muscles and character.  (I love that!)  And, then it seems each session, there are new exercises to be done.  


Now with that said, I cannot believe how much Jax has grown since being here.      Not necessarily in a muscular sort of way, although I'm sure that's a lot of it. He's about 6ft now!


When I've mentioned the program to other moms around here, they said ohhh..yes, the fitness club there is like boot camp.  


As an aside, parents are not allowed to coach, yell at, or berate their kids during sporting events.  Love this!  We get a weekly newsletter (19-20 pages long, no kidding), and this is mentioned quite a bit.  It's more about being proud of your boy, encouraging him to do his best, and then congratulating him on his game. 

Milo? Weet Bix?

When we first arrived, I constantly heard people talk about Milo.  I understood it to be some kind of snack.  But oh, it's so much more.  It's apparently gold in Hollie's eyes, who has become totally addicted to the stuff.

Milo can be purchased in multiple forms - powder, premade liquid, pudding, cereal, etc.  It is made from malted barley, is chocolate in flavor, and apparently offers a multitude of vitamins, minerals and protein.  Add warm milk and wah-lahhh - healthy hot cocoa!

And then there is Weet Bix.  It's like the national cereal.   "Aussie Kids are Weet-Bix kids!".  I have tried it and must say, it's pretty good with a half pound of sugar on it.

As for cereals, variations are limited here.  I shop at Coles ,and there are probably 5-10 different kinds of cereal, and are not the sugary variety I would see back home.  Cocoa Krispies is the only one that I see here.
There are no instant grits : (  No frozen pancakes (poor Brynn) and NO BISCUITS!  Of course, I'm sure I could make them if I could figure out how to do it in a way that doesn't involve tearing paper off a can, popping it open with a fork, and laying them out on the pan?  As for eggs, I've only seen brown ones here (which are stored on the shelf, and not refrigerated).   So breakfast is pretty bland so far in our house (toast, bagels, rice krispies), but I feel certain we'll find something that we all love soon!

Coffee

I am a big coffee drinker.  With all the coffee I drink, you might think I'd be diverse in my selection.  Not so.  I like coffee mostly plain.  I do like a little (and by little I mean like 3 packs of Equal) sweetener and a little (quarter cup) of milk.  Hey, I told you my metrics were off here. Prior to our move here, I was also a decaf drinker.  Those days are long gone.


Here's the thing.  You basically can't find drip coffee in Australia.  I have seen it once so far, at McDonalds, out of the city.  I love McDonalds coffee back home, but here it's not even close to the same.  This reminds me of something I just read about Cherry Coke that is produced in the Netherlands - "I think they add a little bit of ass in"....Clearly the McD's coffee here is made in the Netherlands. 


When I am out at a coffee shop, I generally order a Flat White.  And if I can make it to the coffee shop before 7am, I'll get the early bird special price of only $4.   Well, hot damn, I'm running out the door at 6:50am!  No, not really.  I drink instant coffee (gasp here) at home.  I have an electric kettle and can make a decent (Okay, I guess I've just gotten used to it) cup of coffee in under a minute.


Anyway - Flat White...


Here is how a Flat white is defined by Wiki:

A flat white is a coffee beverage from Australia and New Zealand. It is prepared by pouring microfoam (steamed milk from the bottom of a pitcher) over a single shot (30 millilitre) or double shot of espresso. It is similar to the latte and the café au lait and like other espresso based beverages it can be interpreted various ways.

The beverage is typically served in a small, 150–160 millilitre, ceramic cup. Microfoam is used, resulting in a smooth and velvety texture. A flat white may incorporatelatte art.

Australia - By Holliewood

Hey up there fella's, gooday mate, how ya doing?  I am having a fantastic time in Sydney.  This is such a good experience in a lifetime :D for me.

What I like most about it most here is that we have a swimming pool  in our yard.  I like the beach but not the ocean because animals pee in it.  I like my school but I like my school back home too.  Some of my favorite subjects at Abbotsleigh are Christian studies, French and music too because before violin practice we get to play  other instruments too.  In chapel I got to say  a prayer.  It was about being sorry that we dont act the way God would like us to.  I was really nervous. I had stage fright bad.  I like that we have morning tea.  Morning tea is a snack between breakfast and lunch.  I like going to the computer lab during lunch and lunch is half an hour.

I miss my family and friends in Raleigh.  They always call it America here.  I miss my best friends Sierra and Kate.  But I always have friends at school to cheer me up when I feel homesick.   I miss Goldfish.  I miss Cheese Nips.  I miss Bojangles and Chick Fila. 

I love that a bunch of celebrities come here.  Especially country ones and sometimes pop ones.  I saw Justin Bieber.  We were like 20 feet from the stage. 

peace out!

warm regards,

Holliewood

Eating ...and Eating...and Eating...

Any chance I get to eat, I'm in.    I wonder if this lifestyle of eating is going to force me to change my ways, or maybe just my pants?

The days go like this.

7am Brekkie (breakfast, if that wasn't obvious).   My kids have this at home and usually it consists of a bowl of cereal or some sort of bread with butter or jam (toast, bagel, etc)

10am Morning Tea: Coffee for me (also another item on my never-turn-down list), kids have milk or juice and fruit and crackers or something similar.  I've had crumpets a few times as well, and I must say, I really enjoy them. Coffee and crumpets doesn't sound quite proper, does it?

1pm Lunch:  At home, we generally have light lunches.  Sandwich, bowl of leftover dinner, soup, etc. At school there is a variety (I will add a menu from Hollie's school below).

3pm Afternoon Tea: Coffee (duh) for me, Kids have juice/milk and again fruit and crackers, and sometimes a cookie, etc

5pm: Supper / Evening Tea:  At preschool and after school care, "supper" is served at 5 and is a light meal.  These are generally pasta, mixed fruit...sandwiches..soup...etc.

7pm Dinner:  Normal dinner at home (although we're not quite on a normal rotation as far as what we eat here).  We usually have pasta at least one night, pizza one night, and the others are just a range of things. Notice that I say that like I'm an avid chef.  Truth is, if they had Hamburger Helper here, we'd be having that once a week too.

That is a lot of eating for one day.  But I find if I can keep the meals light, I feel pretty good throughout the day and don't get too hungry or too full.  This is also helpful for my kids, as they acclimate to the food differences here at school.  Brynn's teachers have told me that she gets quite cranky (who - Brynn? Really?), when she is hungry (nooo..really??).  But, she doesn't like pumpkin soup, which is wildly popular here, and she doesn't like vegemite, she is not huge on fish...So there are a lot of differences in her meals at school.  She has started to eat watermelon and rockmelon (cantaloupe), and those are quite common with morning tea so this is good progress.  But worst case, if she doesn't like what is being served - it will be time for some form of meal in 2 hours or so, so I think she'll survive.

As for Hollie and Jax, they can buy food at the tuck shop at their school.  Each night, I can go online and order their meals for the next day if I want to.  Of course, Jackson would DIE if he had to go pick up a premade order ("no one does that, Mom"), so he just goes and picks up something.  Hollie is actually having her first go with sushi today, so I'm curious to hear how that goes.

Here is the menu from the tuckshop at Hollie's school

You can click those images to enlarge them, if you can't see them (either because the font is too small or you're blind as a bat, like me).

Where in the world....

We live in Sydney, in the state of New South Wales.

We live in the Upper North Shore region, in the suburb of Lindfield.  Sydney has something like 1000 suburbs!  Who knew?  Here is a visual of where we live. I think you can click on the image to enlarge it.

Some info on Lindfield:

Lindfield Sydney, New South Wales
Strickland Avenue
Population:	7,349
Established:	1815
Postcode:	2070
Area:	5.17 km² (2.0 sq mi)
Location:	13 km (8 mi) north-west ofSydney CBD
LGA:	Ku-ring-gai Council
State District:	Electoral district of Ku-ring-gai
Federal Division:	Division of Bradfield

Now here is something different...

This is one of the biggest changes in Australia

THERE IS NO TIPPING!!

Dinner out.  You get the bill.  You pay the exact amount (even tax is included in prices here - love it) and you leave.  No shame, no guilt...NO TIPPING!

Get your hair done.  Your stylist rings you up.  And you pay the amount, without having to calculate what another 20% will be.  And is 20% enough? is it too little? I really like my hair...I really don't like my hair...Ahhh this whole no tipping thing makes it so much easier!

Gambling at the casino.  You get 3 Jacks in a Three Card Poker game.  You win a lot of money.  The dealer congratulates you  - not for anything he will receive, because he cannot accept a tip.  WHAT!!??  Yes, that's right.  Actually, one dealer told Jeff "We can't accept tips.  But I'll meet you in the car park later..." . She was kidding, and they really don't expect or accept tips.  

All of the people who work in restaurants, hair salons, casinos...they  make a fair wage.  The casino dealer mentioned on Monday that he was making double time for working on a bank holiday, and said $60 an hour was not bad.  So..30 bucks an hour to be a casino dealer.  I'd say they make a pretty good wage.

You may think the flip side would be service that is not as good if tipping is not going on.  Not so.  I've had nothing but good service everywhere we've been.

Love it!