I never thought I would be a person with Australian habits. In Australia I spend so much time with people from other countries and love doing cross cultural activities that I thought I was ready for teaching abroad. However, daily I have to reteach myself and break some of my “Aussie” habits.
Aussie Habit One – Crossing the road
All that --Stop, look listen. Then look left then right the left again and cross the road -- just goes out the window here. First it is right and the left, but really it is look in every direction, precede crossing while cars, motos and tuktuks zoom around you. I would compare crossing the road to Peter walking on water or the old Atari game Frogger.
Aussie Habit Two – Climbing the stairs.
I regularly have to correct myself as I quickly climb up the stairs on the left hand side. It’s right side here peoples….just like they drive on the road (apparently). In my early morning state I often have to slide over and correct myself as people bound down the stairs.
Aussie Habit Three – Saying “that’s good” or “it’s good”
Us Aussies love to schwa or blend our words together. It’s not about clarity but how fast you can get the words out of your month with the smallest amount of lip movement. I have been told by many Australians that I don’t have an Aussie accent, but apparently I do. This becomes a problem in Cambodia when I say things like “That’s good” or “it’s good”. These two words get into a tangled mess and end up sounding like /shkood/, the Khmer word for crazy. So instead of being a positive comment it becomes a funny mistake by the crazy foreigner. This habit is so hard to break.
Aussie Habit Four – Wearing my thongs.
Because we have so many people from America and Canada here thongs are no longer the footwear we know and love but rather underwear. No longer can I say “I’ll just grab my thongs” I need to use the term /flip flops/. What’s the fun in that?
Aussie Habit Five – Saying Aussie phrases or colloquialisms.
Aussie phrases and colloquialisms just don’t translate to anyone who is not an Aussie and I quickly discovered that I use quite a few of them. So I’ve got to watch what I say, slow down and think about choosing my words for my cross cultural audience whether they are a native of second language English speaker.
Aussie Habit Six – Mum and dropped U’s
Should it be /mum/ or /mom/? The Aussie in my cringes with having to teach the spelling of mum with an /o/. You read texts with a mixture of British and American spelling and I just want to go through it and change it to the British standard. I teach both ways of spelling the word as correct but do tell my students to choose one way of spelling, otherwise their writing will become a bi-English mess.
I’ll still staying Aussie at heart. There is no plans to completely lose my Aussie identity and these quirky habits make us unique as a people. It’s just another shift that needs to be made in the adjustment of working in a place which is new and different.
So…
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie
oi, oi, oi.
