Friday Night

Friday Night, August 2, 2013

It's Friday night and and the kids are in bed.  Erich and I are both on our computers.  He is looking at cars to buy so we can take back our hire (rental car).  I am looking at restaurants.  Tomorrow we will be celebrating our 16th anniversary!  We would like to go out to a restaurant (with the kids--not leaving them with a sitter yet!) and we are having trouble finding something.  There are a lot of restaurants in Canberra.  Most require bookings (reservations).  At a lot of the restaurants you order at the bar and then the food is brought out to you when its ready.  We have heard a lot about how Australia lacks in customer service and a lot of the reviews online reflect that.  We are having trouble finding a place that is open for dinner, that has menu items a 6 year old would eat, and that takes a booking for four people, and has decent customer service so we aren't there for 3 hours.  (3 hours would be fine if we didn't have two little ones with us!) 

Tipping here is not routinely done.  So, a waiter doesn't care if they have 4 tables in 6 hours or 20 tables in 6 hours.  Their pay will be the same since they are paid by the hour.  No tip and so no reason so take care of you.

Vegemite

So we bought our first jar of vegemite.  We are determined to try all the local stuff without judging it first.  I haven't tried it yet, but Erich did!

 

We bought the smallest jar.

Erich preparing it the "correct" way.  On toast with butter and a thin spread of the vegemite.
 

Erich tried one bite and decided to add more vegemite.  Charlie tried it and liked it.  So did Erich!

Random thoughts and observations...

• I'm disappointed that Australian Rules Football isn't like American football at all.  They don't wear pads and I think it looks more like a rugby game then a football game.  :(
• The sky appears bluer here.  I don't know if its my imagination or if I'm going crazy or what.  But the sky is beautiful. 
• Grocery stores are in malls.  I haven't yet found a grocery store that isn't in a mall.  (I hate malls.)
• Food here spoils more quickly then in the U.S.  They use less preservatives.  (That means more trips to the mall.)
• I drove by myself to pick up the kids from school.  I did so without killing anyone or any animal.  Success.  I then drove everyone back to the apartment.  Another success.
• I spent $8 on a bag of grapes the other day and $5 on a can of Pringles.  I still can't get over the prices!  Because of the prices, I do think twice before buying something and I try not to waste any food.  So I guess that's the bright side!
• I've had a lot of the other kindergarten moms come up and introduce themselves.  I like that they are so kind.  Charlie got an invitation in his backpack for a birthday party.  The mom included a note that said her son invited all the boys in the class but Chaney was more then welcome to join.  I thought that was incredibly sweet.