Hi!

So far you've enjoyed Annie's opinions on how we're doing here.... Now you get a full on data download on what's been going on for my journey in the southern hemi... Hemi.. Hemisphere - Which brings me to point number 1.

Vocabulary - "Does That Translate?"

Now I knew going into this that I would have to learn some new vocab words, but i was truly unprepared for learning another english language. (I believe Annie mentioned that).

This has especially been true for me, though, because I'm working day-in-and-day-out with native Aussies, communicating some technical bits back and forth. I constantly find myself saying, "Does that translate?" or "I'm sorry WHAT?"

In fact yesterday, i asked a colleague what school it was we were just on the phone with and he said, "Sydney Koreas College"... so i thought... turns out it was "Sydney Careers College" say them both with an Aussie accent, and they're the same - funny huh?

Also, they're totally different with their prepositions and posessives & grammar things.. Someone isn't "in class", they're ON class. They're not in THE hospital, they're just IN HOSPITAL... They don't ask how IT'S going, they ask HOW ARE YOU GOING? I feel like i'm in language immersion.

And they abbreviate EVERYTHING. Breakfast= Brekky, University= Uni, Tasmania= Tazzy - it's funny because they don't know that I associate those types of abbreviations with high school & college age girls who just find it easier to leave those extra sylls off in their vocab.

Food!

Now on to more important things. The food here is pretty great.

Asian:
There's a ton of Asian food, because of Aussie's proximity to Asia, and we're totally into that, but we've been opened up to lots of new cuisines. We've had Laksa - a soup from Malaysia, Thai pork belly- one of my favs, sushi (sushi sunday is our new tradition... and we're pretty proud of that),

Seafood:
Having the ocean right beside us has meant awesome seafood -  really good fish & chips, and also delicious & fresh shrimp, calamari, mussels, scallops, and also, new to our seafood connoisseur-ship Bay Bugs, Baramundi, and some other words for fish & seafood I can't remember.

Chicken Shops:
For lunch at work one day, i was asked if i wanted to go to the chicken shop... had no clue what it meant, but boy was i in for a treat... basically, there are cafe/restaurants all over this country where they specialize in  roasted chicken. They brine, baste, and either bake or rotisserie chickens that you can order by the quarter, half or whole. Pair it up with some chips (fries), and maybe a salad if you're feeling healthy, and BOOM.... One of my favorites so far.

Burgers -
There's a really big culture around beef here - For one thing they have really easy access to wagyu beef, but for another they just love a good burger. The classic, quintessential Aussie burger consists of: Bun, beef patty, salad (aka lettuce), tomato (tuh-MAH-toe)... normal so far, right? But they also put BEETS and an EGG on to finish it off! And it's awesome!.... to me.. Annie's not a fan of the beets, but they add a weird little twist that's pretty cool. Try it.

DRINKS!

A trip to the bar, pub, hotel, or restaurant here for drinks is pretty similar to back home. There are a few slight differences.

As mentioned above, another word for bar here is Hotel. I haven't done my due diligence to figure out just why, but i imagine it being that there either are or were hotel rooms above the bar/cafe. I dunno - i'm not trying to sleep there.. just give me a drink please.... thanks.

Beer here is different than home. I had just assumed that the craft-brewing trend that is all over Nashville right now was global. Bummer dude, it's not. A new friend that's in the booze business says that brewing here is like it was in the 80's in the USA. (of course we made a friend in the booze business...). Don't get me wrong - it's not like i'm having to choke it down. It's just that people here have never heard of pumpkin ales. (Also pumpkin= squash here, so that doesn't translate i guess). And IPA's don't have super hoppy qualities here. Weird, right?

Bundaberg - this is the name of Aussie's most famous spirit. It's a rum, and it's just ok. I had a "Bundy & Coke" and it was crossed off the to do list.

Pricing is pretty crazy. $8 beers are considered normal. $18 cocktails are average.. bummer right?

But WINE is great here - they have a few different wine country areas in Australia. One, Hunter Valley, isn't too far away from Sydney. So there's lots of good, inexpensive wine. Which is great.

That's all for now... more to come later!