It's so surreal to be typing this sentence in Australia.....on an Australian computer that has an Australian electrical plug. I've been thinking about traveling in Oz since December 2003, when my friend Ashley moved her with her family, so having that trip actually be reality is just weird...and great(o: Since I don't have the mental energy to write a creative entry that encompasses the last 36 hours of my life just yet, I've devised the "Lady's List of Fabulous Happenings."
1. The 5 hour flight from DC to LA felt waaaaaaaaaaaaay longer than the 14 hour flight from LA to Sydney. Why??
a) Qantas Airways (Australian airline) treats even their coach passengers with respect and dignity. We were well-fed, given a goodie-bag of snacks, constantly supplied with fluids, provided a bathroom that you could actually turn around in, had a personal TV with movie channels, TV shows, music & video games, free headsets and seats that actually reclined more than 5 inches. And the wine is free!!! And you get real glass cups. However, on the American Airlines flight, I could purchase snacks for obsurd amounts of money, barely squatted in the bathroom, rent a headset for $2 to watch a poor choice in movie.
2) Aussies drive on the wrong side of the road, the roads are quite narrow and the cars are quite wide. Makes for stimulating car rides.
3) It's winter here and tomorrow is the last day of winter holidays for the students, so down at Manly beach (a short, 3 minute walk from my friend's house) all the kids are playing in the surf and many are out catching waves. In winter. (Winter temps are around 60...)
4) A large coffee here is smaller than the smallest coffee you can get at Starbucks in America.
5) Today is midway through an event called World Youth Day (note: WYD lasts 5 days....) and the Pope arrived today, so many roads were blocked off to allow for his "boatercade" to safely negotiate the harbor....yes, roads were blocked off for his boat ride....I guess if you're the Pope, you get those kinds of priveleges.
6) Aussies are a rather relaxed breed of human beings, especially those on the East Coast. This good-natured sensibility has led to the coining of several phrases that essentially mean "don't worry about it," such as "no dramas" and "no worries."
7) Ta = thank you
breaky = breakfast
arvo = afternoon
Oz = Australia
the bush = any uncultivated land
the outback = beyond the bush, definitely the wilderness
cuppa = cup of_______ (tea, coffee, cadbury chocolate)
Mukka = mocha
Coldy = cold drink, most likely a beer
"Suck down a coldy" = "drink a beer really fast after work"
8) People surf all the time here. It's not uncommon to see any age of person wandering around a shopping area in a wetsuit, carrying their surfboard.
9) Grocery stores really only carry dairy, pastas, produce and juices. Aussies still go to the bakery, the butcher, the pharmacy and beverage stores to complete their grocery shopping.
10) Homes are not heated on anywhere but the ground floor. Even though it gets quite cold here at night in winter. Like at least around 40 degrees.
11) Even the boys wear skinny jeans. And have good taste in shoes.
12) The surfing brand RipCurl was founded here.
13) Most people exercise.
14) Gas is also really expensive.
15) Manly (Sydney suburb) has it's own environmental resource office, where you can find all kinds of info about living environmentally friendly. Aussies have done it for years already.
16) Coffee tastes better...and is stronger(o:
Dinner is almost ready, and my eyeballs are permanently crossed, so I'm signing off now to eat, read about travel options for heading north (to warmer weather) and fall into bed by 8pm.
Kate
p.s. Not only have I crossed into the Eastern Hemisphere, but I have also crossed the Equator. BOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAH!
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