Toto, we're not in Wisconsin anymore....

I have been here now just about a month and things are finally starting to fall more into a routine and I'm getting my bearings more about Coogee and Sydney. There are still sometimes where I am taken aback about the differences between Australia and the US, and I have been asked a plethora of questions about these differences. I'll come back to these differences after a quick update on the happenings here!

Kangaroo on the BBQ

Bondi Beach

Over the last week I have mostly been cooped up in the apartment because it has been rainy all week, but on Saturday Andrew and I took a lovely day-long walk to Bondi Beach (pronounced bond-eye), one of the most famous in Australia...In fact before coming here while Andrew was in Wisconsin he showed me a movie called "Two Hands" with Heath Ledger in it and Bondi beach was featured in the movie! Also there is a reality TV show about the lifeguards at Bondi Beach...so its pretty famous! Anyways...its a 12 mile walk there and back to the apartment so we laced up our sneakers and headed out in the morning and enjoyed a lovely stroll along the ocean past some very nice beaches. By the time we arrived in Bondi we were hungry and eager to rest our legs so we grabbed lunch and spent some time down at the beach before we hiked back home...We took our time and made it home just as the rain was hitting and settled in for pizza and a movie. On Sunday we went to this little bay for a swim and then to the mall in pursuit of snorkel gear from Target or Kmart (yes they have both of those stores here and they are similar to ours!). We didn't find any snorkel gear but we did find a cabinet for our bathroom to add some more drawers and space. It was plain white so we bought paint and I began sketching on the drawers and spent a couple days this week painting the drawers...not the outsides but the sides of the drawers, where the pictures will only be seen when the drawers are out. Good practice for the outside of the cabinet! Also this week we ate kangaroo on the BBQ! Definitely tastes like venison, very lean, red meat, but not quite as "game-y"...overall pretty tasty!

My new art project! 

Alright so these little differences?? The accent is still really cool to me and I can understand fine until they start throwing in Aussie slang... For example when we were camping we had to have an eski...any ideas on what that is? A cooler! A chemist is a pharmacy, togs are swimwear, thongs are sandals, knickers are underwear, a fortnight is two weeks, servo is a gas station, petrol is gas, and so on and so forth. I'll think of many more as they come up. I can say that I am adopting certain phrases into my vocabulary though...I say reckon instead of think, and say "it'll be 'right" instead of "alright". But no cool accent for me yet!

Prices are also outrageous here. Sydney is one of the most expensive cities to live in in the WORLD. So it should come as no surprise about how much everything from groceries, to gas, to rent, to going out for a night cost. Just last night we went out for dinner and drinks with some of Vera's (one of the flatmates) friends. We had a great time with them, we shared a few plates of food between 6 of us and 3 bottles of wine. At the end each person had to pay $20 for food (not too bad) and $45 for drinks! YIKES. So a night out for us was $120 plus cab fare plus $10 gelato for two.Some other interesting pricing...

•  Gas here is $1.60 per liter which makes it roughly $6.40 per gallon! 
• When we were in Melbourne and looking for a hotel we found hotels for $700 a night...partly because the F1's were on and partly because its a city!
•  A 10 bus ride pass is $30 in Sydney.
• Beer is $40-45 for a 24 pack (depending on beer) and at a pub a beer $6-8
• A new movie release movie rental costs $7.50 for one night! 
•  An avocado is$3-5 in the grocery store, blue, black, and raspberries are $5 a carton. 
• Gym memberships are about $60-70 a month. 
• Rent for Andrew's room here is $400 a week plus utilities...but I've seen advertisements for apartments for $650 a week! 

I could continue to bore you with the high prices here but basically, the overall theme is that most things are way more expensive!

I guess those are the two biggest differences that I recognize here...Besides that nutrition is upheld at a much higher level, portion sizes are smaller, and juicing is a huge trend as well as gluten-free and vegetarian. And there are still McDonalds, Burger King (called Hungry Jacks is the name here), KFC, Subway, Dominos, and Krispy Kremes, just in case I would be craving a little slice of USA.

Well, my short post has now turned into a ramble and the weekend is just beginning here so I will log off and find something fun to do this weekend! PLEASE send me some questions about things you're curious about here! I'll answer or ask an expert about it (AKA Andrew)!