Only a Matter of Time

Monday, November 11, 2013

Holidays

Since they don't celebrate Halloween or Thanksgiving here, nothing is stopping them from putting up Christmas decorations around the mall in early October.  (I'm serious.). It also doesn't stop them from having their Christmas parties at the beginning of November. I'm totally serious. We thought it was a joke when our friend said they were on their way to a Christmas party.

This was picture was taken at the mall in mid October.

Money

• When shopping, an item price tag already has the sales tax included.  So if the tag says $5.95, you will pay $5.95 at the register. 
• They don't have 1 cent coins.  The smallest coin they have is 5 cents.  So, if you owe $5.67, they round up to $5.70.
• The Australian dollar bills are all different colors and sizes.  A 5 dollar bill is the smallest denomination of bill they have. They have $1 and $2 coins.
  
    

My Random Thoughts and Observations...

• They don't measure butter by tablespoons like we do in America. They measure by grams.  This makes it very interesting when I need butter for a recipe.  All my recipes call for tablespoons or cups, a measure of volume. Their measurements are all in weight.  (Aren't you proud, mom?!) There is a website that will convert the butter measurements. So I use the online converter and then break out my handy food scale.  One tablespoon of butter is 14.2 grams. Just in case you wanted to know. Their butter is different than ours. When set out at room temperature, it doesn't get as soft as American butter does.  It's still quite stiff.  Go ahead and ponder that one.
• They don't have drive through ATMs.  Banks don't have drive through lanes.  And there are no drive through pharmacies. (Of course they don't call it a  pharmacy. They call it a chemist.)
• In the U.S. you flip a light switch up to turn on the light. In Australia, you flip a light switch down to turn it on. 
• You know the kids game where someone is "it" and they chase around the other players and the next person that is touched then becomes "it?"  We call that game tag.  Australians call it tips. I heard Charlie asking Chaney the other day if she wanted to play tips.  I had to ask what that was.  They are hearing and using all the local phrases and words.
• More musk flavored candy. A few pellets of perfume tasting candy for a buck.  Don't waste your money.
  
• I've mentioned before that there are a lot of American shows on the TV and I've seen a lot of old shows I haven't seen in a while. Today I saw CHiPs.  It used to be one of my favorite shows! And then I noticed something.  Do you see it?
  
  
  
• I did something I had never done before.  I hung laundry on the line to dry.  Everyone here does it.  One reason is the price of electricity.  Another reason is the incredibly inefficient dryers.  I can't put more then a couple of shirts in the dryer at a time or it won't run.  And it takes forever to dry.  I seriously never thought I would hang clothes on a line.  Never. Ever. Never. I've been hanging my laundry for a week and a bird has not yet crapped on my clothes.  But it's only a matter of time.