Fact: Australians are lazy and abbreviate a lot of words. This makes me laugh, naturally (Obvi! Don't be totes ridic!). Below are a few terms I've picked up:
1. Arvo - afternoon (got this one in a text from the Australian Carpenter, not sure if it's used very often cuz when I mention it other Australians they have to think about it a bit)
2. Aggro - Joel, they actually say this in regular conversation!! All I can think is that WoW quote ("Skinning a bear should aggro every bears in a 40 yard radius. It makes sense you are actually skinning their best friend.") My host guy said something like, "Sometimes the people at the games get so aggro!"
3. Sunnies - Sunglasses
4. Digger - Australian soldier
5. "Candy" is not a word in Australian lingo! They call all candy "lollies" -- but this seems to only refer to candy that is not chocolate.
6. Coffee is not really a specific drink, but rather an overall term for any caffeinated, hot beverage. When I tried to order a coffee, the waitress said, "What kind?" I gave her a blank stare and thought to myself, "What kind?! The regular kind!" I now just order the cappuccino.
7. Hot cross buns are in right now and apparently only sold around Easter time. I think they're basically sweet biscuits with fruit in them. I want to try one to make sure, though.
In stereotypical terms, they do say "mate" and "no worries". They also greet people with "How ya going?". And if you've done something good, they say, "Good on ya." Also they are strangely sensitive to someone with "my" accent possibly being from Canada -- when they meet me they ask, "Are you American or Canadian?"
And that's it for today... going to the zoo tomorrow so get ready for a fun koala/kangaroo picture! Haha! Also I think I'm going to do a ghost tour tomorrow night, because we all know my fascination with ghosts. :)
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Really weird quiz
My result seems odd... I don't think it really describes me (I'm not sure I think of myself as "emotionally volatile") but I tried to change some of my answers and got the same thing. Either way, I thought I'd forward this thing along -- only 20 questions!
http://www.hypnoid.com/psytest2.html
You are in a perpetual quest to find the new, the exciting. Emotionally volatile, you are known for sudden changes of opinion, of appreciation, and behavior. Following rules and established methods is difficult for you and the difficulties of higher education are usually quite daunting. Knowledge is best gained through an intimate association with the matter at hand. Usually driven by attitudes and desires of the group, you are talented in an established field of endeavor. Emotions come and go without a strong understanding of their causes. They are unexpected guests in an otherwise placid landscape. You live by your own codes of conduct, which can be noble or terrible depending on the individual. Authority is meaningless to you. You hate to be predictable, at all costs. Rarely verbally effusive, you can at times feel as if your feelings are too deep for words. You are very observant, but rarely express these observations to others.
http://www.hypnoid.com/psytest2.html
You are in a perpetual quest to find the new, the exciting. Emotionally volatile, you are known for sudden changes of opinion, of appreciation, and behavior. Following rules and established methods is difficult for you and the difficulties of higher education are usually quite daunting. Knowledge is best gained through an intimate association with the matter at hand. Usually driven by attitudes and desires of the group, you are talented in an established field of endeavor. Emotions come and go without a strong understanding of their causes. They are unexpected guests in an otherwise placid landscape. You live by your own codes of conduct, which can be noble or terrible depending on the individual. Authority is meaningless to you. You hate to be predictable, at all costs. Rarely verbally effusive, you can at times feel as if your feelings are too deep for words. You are very observant, but rarely express these observations to others.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Day 7 - The Rocks and My Date
I decided to head down to The Rocks, which is in the same area as the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. For those who don't know, I guess The Rocks used to be a real slummy part of town where all of the convicts and stuff went, but it's cleaned up a bit since then. I also think it is probably the more touristy part of downtown Sydney. Along the harbor there are a bunch of street performers. The more popular type seemed to be these Aborigines that would play their music and pose for pictures in exchange for tips. I never did it but I did tape the guy playing his music for your viewing pleasure!
Dang kid in the blue shirt got in the way towards the end! It also proved to be a learning lesson because he went into the didjaredoo and how to play it. There are apparently about four different movements you're trying to do while playing this thing. Also, the Aboriginal name for it is not didjaredoo; that name comes from what it sounded like when the first Englishmen heard it being played (so the English name for it is more like an onomatopoeia). The guy actually played it so it did sound like "didjaredoo" but I wasn't able to record it for you. Too bad.
Disaster struck a second time when my poor camera broke!! I tried to fix it but the lens was permanently disabled so I was forced to buy another Australian camera with its wonky plug. I also managed to get a picture of myself in front of the Sydney Opera House!
Oh yeah, look at that modeling! ;)
Later on was my date with the Aussie guy! Alas, I was not able to think of a reason to take a picture with him in it so I guess you're SOL on that one. Basically he's also 26, a carpenter and a Sydneysider. He's not too tall, though (my height) but that's okay. He's overall cute but he's got a bit of a uni-brow. I should stop being superficial because that's nothing that a little tweezing couldn't fix! Haha! He's also got a really strong Australian accent.* He seems like a nice guy overall. We went to a rooftop bar in The Rocks overlooking the harbor (although we couldn't really see it from where we were sitting) and sort of went over the differences between Australia and America. It was interesting because he was able to tell me more about some of the local cultural things. As an example, we were riding on the train back to Burwood and there was some graffiti that said, "Bring back the beef." I commented on it because I thought it was weird and referring to hamburger, but he told me it was actually about some sort of character (mascot?) in Rugby who is always saying that phrase "Bring back the biff". I think biff refers to the fighting and stuff that used to be allowed in Rugby. I'm guessing beef is some form of biff? Or maybe they just sound alike? Obviously I would have no clue about this on my own, haha! So for that reason he's pretty good to have around. And he actually paid for my taxi back to my place so I wasn't stranded like last night! Score! ;)
*Fun fact - Australian accents are actually less attractive when you're surrounded by them. Weird eh?
Dang kid in the blue shirt got in the way towards the end! It also proved to be a learning lesson because he went into the didjaredoo and how to play it. There are apparently about four different movements you're trying to do while playing this thing. Also, the Aboriginal name for it is not didjaredoo; that name comes from what it sounded like when the first Englishmen heard it being played (so the English name for it is more like an onomatopoeia). The guy actually played it so it did sound like "didjaredoo" but I wasn't able to record it for you. Too bad.
Disaster struck a second time when my poor camera broke!! I tried to fix it but the lens was permanently disabled so I was forced to buy another Australian camera with its wonky plug. I also managed to get a picture of myself in front of the Sydney Opera House!
Oh yeah, look at that modeling! ;)
Later on was my date with the Aussie guy! Alas, I was not able to think of a reason to take a picture with him in it so I guess you're SOL on that one. Basically he's also 26, a carpenter and a Sydneysider. He's not too tall, though (my height) but that's okay. He's overall cute but he's got a bit of a uni-brow. I should stop being superficial because that's nothing that a little tweezing couldn't fix! Haha! He's also got a really strong Australian accent.* He seems like a nice guy overall. We went to a rooftop bar in The Rocks overlooking the harbor (although we couldn't really see it from where we were sitting) and sort of went over the differences between Australia and America. It was interesting because he was able to tell me more about some of the local cultural things. As an example, we were riding on the train back to Burwood and there was some graffiti that said, "Bring back the beef." I commented on it because I thought it was weird and referring to hamburger, but he told me it was actually about some sort of character (mascot?) in Rugby who is always saying that phrase "Bring back the biff". I think biff refers to the fighting and stuff that used to be allowed in Rugby. I'm guessing beef is some form of biff? Or maybe they just sound alike? Obviously I would have no clue about this on my own, haha! So for that reason he's pretty good to have around. And he actually paid for my taxi back to my place so I wasn't stranded like last night! Score! ;)
*Fun fact - Australian accents are actually less attractive when you're surrounded by them. Weird eh?
Day 6 - Bondi Beach/Downtown Sydney
Last night was daylight savings time for Australia -- gained an hour!
On to the more interesting stuff...
I decided to go to Bondi Beach despite the fact that the weather was overcast and windy. Apparently, "Bondi" or "Boondi" means "water breaking over rocks or noise of water breaking over rocks" in Aborigine. Not sure if you can tell from my picture but the waves were pretty giant, especially compared to my standard Pensacola Beach waves!
The beach itself was pretty small, though... maybe three times the size of Casino Beach if you take the area from the pier to Crabs (for my Pensacola readers). I was reading about Bondi Beach on this one website and found an interesting factoid about a day called "Black Sunday":
There's a club called the Bondi Icebergs, the only licensed Winter Swimming Club in the world (whatever that means). It was started by a group of people trying to maintain their fitness during the winter in the 1920s. I read that part of their membership requirement was competing in a few "races" every Sunday, which apparently were more novelty than anything else. My host family said that they would put ice in the pool and have people swim in it!
As you can see, it's a pool right by Bondi Beach (Bondi is actually to the left of where this picture is shown). I wasn't able to get to the actual pool because there was a charge and I didn't feel like paying $3AUD for it. But for the boys, click here to check out the Bondi Beach Babes! Haha!
Later that night, the two German guys, a German girl and their Australian friend and I went out to downtown Sydney to a club called Ivy. Apparently it's pretty "posh", and it cost me $20AUD to get in (we originally thought that if we went in early we could escape the cover... wrong!). There's a few things about Sydney bars that I don't like, namely:
The taxi driver then dropped me off in the middle of nowhere, where there wasn't even another taxi to get me. I started to get nervous because it's 2 in the morning, I'm alone and I have no idea where I am. What kind of guy does that?! I eventually found another taxi who took me home. And it all began because the original guy had me get off at the wrong stop... jerk. Either way, this event has made me unlikely to try the Sydney nightlife again because I just don't like dealing with getting home when I'm the only person going the same way.
On to the more interesting stuff...
I decided to go to Bondi Beach despite the fact that the weather was overcast and windy. Apparently, "Bondi" or "Boondi" means "water breaking over rocks or noise of water breaking over rocks" in Aborigine. Not sure if you can tell from my picture but the waves were pretty giant, especially compared to my standard Pensacola Beach waves!
The beach itself was pretty small, though... maybe three times the size of Casino Beach if you take the area from the pier to Crabs (for my Pensacola readers). I was reading about Bondi Beach on this one website and found an interesting factoid about a day called "Black Sunday":
Some 35,000 people were on the beach and a large group of lifesavers were about to start a surf race when three freak waves hit the beach, sweeping hundreds of people out to sea. Lifesavers rescued 300 people. The largest mass rescue in the history of surf bathing, it confirmed the place of the lifesaver in the national imagination.Pretty crazy, eh? There's a path that starts at Bondi and goes to the other beaches like Tamarama and the like. I went a little bit of the distance with my German friends but we turned around about halfway because we were all hungry. Remember that picture of Hungry Jacks I took? It turns out it IS Burger King... I'm not sure why they don't just call it Burger King instead of Hungry Jacks, though. Either way, here's a picture of me in the middle of the pathway.
There's a club called the Bondi Icebergs, the only licensed Winter Swimming Club in the world (whatever that means). It was started by a group of people trying to maintain their fitness during the winter in the 1920s. I read that part of their membership requirement was competing in a few "races" every Sunday, which apparently were more novelty than anything else. My host family said that they would put ice in the pool and have people swim in it!
As you can see, it's a pool right by Bondi Beach (Bondi is actually to the left of where this picture is shown). I wasn't able to get to the actual pool because there was a charge and I didn't feel like paying $3AUD for it. But for the boys, click here to check out the Bondi Beach Babes! Haha!
Later that night, the two German guys, a German girl and their Australian friend and I went out to downtown Sydney to a club called Ivy. Apparently it's pretty "posh", and it cost me $20AUD to get in (we originally thought that if we went in early we could escape the cover... wrong!). There's a few things about Sydney bars that I don't like, namely:
- Always a minimum charge to use your credit card, and they don't really believe in keeping a tab. The minimum charge for Ivy was $30AUD. Worst part? That only got me four drinks for $36!!! I had to give two of them to my friend for paying my cover. Ugh. They apparently use cash here a lot more than I'm used to.
- The music is TERRIBLE. I don't really know how to describe it. I actually took a video of it with my camera but it broke today so I can't show you what it was like. It was some weird mixture of techno and pop that made no sense to me. And it was the only type of music you could hear in any of the bars I went to. I miss my American hip hop! :(
- The guys here are, to quote Snooki, "gorilla juiceheads". What I mean, for those who don't dare watch Jersey Shore, is that they are all muscled up with faux-hawks. I'm not sure how they missed the memo that faux-hawks aren't in anymore, but they did. Sometimes it looks good on the right guy but with these guys, they just looked like Jersey boys. Also they are really cheap and don't like to buy drinks. Bastards.
The taxi driver then dropped me off in the middle of nowhere, where there wasn't even another taxi to get me. I started to get nervous because it's 2 in the morning, I'm alone and I have no idea where I am. What kind of guy does that?! I eventually found another taxi who took me home. And it all began because the original guy had me get off at the wrong stop... jerk. Either way, this event has made me unlikely to try the Sydney nightlife again because I just don't like dealing with getting home when I'm the only person going the same way.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Update
I've been pretty good about updating every day but today it just has to wait! I'm too tired!
At any rate, the next post will include the following:
1. Bondi Beach
2. Going out in the town
Get excited! I just didn't want anyone to get worried since I was behind on my daily updates or anything... I know how you guys live or die by what I write! ;)
At any rate, the next post will include the following:
1. Bondi Beach
2. Going out in the town
Get excited! I just didn't want anyone to get worried since I was behind on my daily updates or anything... I know how you guys live or die by what I write! ;)
Friday, April 1, 2011
Day 5 - Rugby and Irishmen
As far as clinic went, it was a day with "Prof" which meant it was supposed to be a learning day. Mostly we (Canadian friend named Christine and I) spent our time following either Prof or the registrar around. I did see a few weird skin diseases such as sarcoidosis and stuff like that. I also learned that America uses units that are apparently not used anywhere else in the world for things like cholesterol. Their upper limit of cholesterol is 5.0. I suppose they use mmol/?unit while we use g/dl? I don't know.
The real fun of the day began when Christine (the Canadian) and I went to the rugby game. Apparently in Australia there are two types of rugby -- Union and League. I think the League version is more exciting and physical but the one we went to was Union, I believe. It was the Waratahs versus the Chiefs. Neither Christine or I had any idea of what was going on... I figured it might be somewhat intuitive but it really wasn't. It was almost like American football except when someone was tackled the ball was apparently still in play. Not quite sure on what the deal was with penalties and stuff. If you're REALLY interested, you can read about the game here..
I also tried my very first ever official "meat pie." It was gross. Basically imagine a chicken pot pie but fill it instead with beef and gravy. I took a picture of it:
We also took a picture about three times before someone was able to get it accurately... every time it was some new shenanigan! The guy taking it was very patient though. Props to him! Here's an accidental video so you can ever so briefly hear that ever charming Australian accent... haha.
I guess to further improve my blog, here are the three attempts at a picture:
The real fun of the day began when Christine (the Canadian) and I went to the rugby game. Apparently in Australia there are two types of rugby -- Union and League. I think the League version is more exciting and physical but the one we went to was Union, I believe. It was the Waratahs versus the Chiefs. Neither Christine or I had any idea of what was going on... I figured it might be somewhat intuitive but it really wasn't. It was almost like American football except when someone was tackled the ball was apparently still in play. Not quite sure on what the deal was with penalties and stuff. If you're REALLY interested, you can read about the game here..
I also tried my very first ever official "meat pie." It was gross. Basically imagine a chicken pot pie but fill it instead with beef and gravy. I took a picture of it:
We also took a picture about three times before someone was able to get it accurately... every time it was some new shenanigan! The guy taking it was very patient though. Props to him! Here's an accidental video so you can ever so briefly hear that ever charming Australian accent... haha.
I guess to further improve my blog, here are the three attempts at a picture:
Finally, a good one!
After the game, we went to a bar where we met these three Irish guys. Honestly I could only understand about 70% of what they were saying. Part of that was apparently my name meant I was more Irish than they were, and that any proper Murphy was immediately nicknamed "Spud" (for potato) because of something about potato soup during the famine (that was a part that I couldn't really understand). One of them was about to get Australian citizenship tomorrow and his friend could do a really good Australian accent! The funny thing was that both the Irish guy and the Belgian (from yesterday) both seemed to think that Australians were rather concerned with their appearance. I haven't really met enough of them to comment but it seems to be the going theme with outsider perceptions. At any rate, we attempted to take a picture with the Irish guys and we ended up having a bunch of strangers included in our picture!
The Irishmen were the two next to me and the last one on the top row (wearing the white shirt). Other than the my friend (Asian girl) I don't know the other three people, haha.
After that, I took the train back home. I have to admit that around then I started to feel a little homesick for everyone and felt a little bit lonely. I know, it's kind of ridiculous to feel that way in a really awesome city but it's true! I miss America! I'll be back to normal in no time. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)