With nearly 3 months under our belts in the land down under, I think it's about time we reported back on the culture of these Aussies. Let us be your eyes and ears (and noses!) because as much as this is an anglo-saxon country, we can assure you that things work quite different down here.
For starters, they drive on the left. Pretty routine you might think... but when your intuition is to always start by looking right when crossing the street, trust you me that we were in for a rude awakening. But now we cross with confidence, J-walking as if we were in Canada.
The slang is also quite different as you might imagine. At first, it is cool to hear, but then when you get put into situations where you need to actually interact with Aussies (such as at work), the ubiquitous slang makes it sometimes difficult to get understand what they are asking of you. "How ya going mate? You're alright mate. Could ya pass me that scooner of beer? Ya the one beside that bloke that's trying to pash that bird. What a goose. Good on ya" ... if you can figure that sentence out, you're a better man than I was on my first foray into a pub.
And then there's Vegemite. Concentrated Yeast Extract. Its black like molasses and thick like peanut butter, and you spread it on crackers or toast. Easily the most revolting thing I have ever tasted, this stuff is like black gold to Aussies. I guess they are conditionned into it as kids to love the stuff, but word to the wise: stay away!
And boy they love their sports here! And they gamble on them like crazy. There are "gentlemen's clubs" and "TABS" all over the place where you can go place bets on anything from Cricket Tests to Rugby League to the horses. And wow, the horse races litteraly stop the nation. The so called "Melbourne Cup", the horse race to end all horse races had everyone in a furor for a week before and after. Even in a conservative government office where I (Justin) work, everyone rushed to a huge boardroom to watch the race. It was amazing to see everyone so enthralled with something I knew so little about. We still dont understand Cricket, as much as we try... and some games actually last 5 days!
There is a very strong Asian subculture here, as you might expect due to the proximity of the two continents. It is however very intriguing to hear an asian person speak with an aussie accent... very cool. Very few people of African descent though, which I was surprised to realize. Much to our chagrin though, the aboriginal culture is really looked down upon here. They are the butt end of jokes and blamed for many of societies ills, and its sad and surprising that they would not imbrace them more. There have been steps taken, but they are baby steps, and many australians Ive spoken to agree that much still remains to be done to rectify the damages done to the original australians.
Music is much the same here... Australian Idol was all the rage for a few months, with an amazing final episode staged at the Opera House. To give you an idea of how close we live to it, we could clearly hear the fireworks as they went off when the winner was announced. There is also a lot of indy music, which we absolutely love. The movies are the same, but they open later here than in North America, as do most of the TV shows.
With a fruit stand at every corner and healthy eating restaurants as popular (if not more) than the fast food joints, its clear that Aussies value their health. Its a refreshing idea to see it valued so much, and it certainly has inspired us to eat much more fruits and veggies.
Im sure I could go on, but that is a taste of the cultural elements of Sydney and Australia that we've experienced thus far. And now, we're off to the beach... thinking about you all shoveling :)
