many americans think Australia is pretty much like the good ole US of A with an accent, but let me tell you it ain't so. wow there are so many differences, we come across something every day. it is probably not such exotic differences as rena is finding in thailand (i haven't seen anyone sorting through a bowl of maggots or eating bugs), but non the less it is nice to be in a new culture that shakes your beliefs in what is "right". even something as simple as passing someone on a set of stairs, we tend to go right and they tend to go left, which ends up being the same side of the stairs when you are going different directions.this will be a continuing theme on this blog.
aussies still have ice cream trucks that come around, you can hear the bell as they come down the street. the almight dollar does not seem as powerful over here that people do not have time to recreate, or be somewhat casual about making a living. in talking to the ice cream man there are 90 of these trucks that go around city streets selling ice cream to folks. i mean lets face it how much can you make selling ice cream on the street?
everyone dresses like a surfer over here, shorts t-shirt, flip flops, sunbleached hair. greg says the per capita of surfers based on the population is much higher over here. i saw 3 moms with their kids that were all going surfing this morning, you never see that in SB. you see alot of families doing stuff together, whether it is surfing or playing in the park. the two families that were in namotu seemed very close and the dad's were very devoted.
another thing that threw me for a loop the first few days i was here was the fact that when you plug something in you have to turn the plug on. i couldn't figure out why thing weren't charging!!
that's all for now folks....more later...lots of love to you all.....
3 comments:
that is really impressive Mom I really enjoyed reading about all the stuff that you have done. Be careful I don't know about going out and swimming by yourself in the ocean. It sounds pretty scary to me but I guess I kind of like the land.
love Aaron
Good observations Kate; and Aaron is right. They have something called a Ringed Octopus that, if spotted, will completely close a beach in a minute and take thousands out of the water in fright. Not to mention many other Southern Hemisphere marine nasties you've never heard of.
When I worked there for GE, I had access to payroll records. And what I found is that jobs pay very little, by US standards. A graduate engineer for instance, can only expect to be paid 20-40% as much as US engineers.
And too, taxes are much more onerous that in the US. Let's face it, Australia was developed on the British socialized system...altho you'd have a hard time getting an Australian to admit today they have any resemblance to the "Pommies."
I think those are the main reasons that Australia is SOoooo different from the US. The ice cream man, for instance: if engineers can only expect $15 000/yr salary, the $6000/yr that he makes ($500/mo) probably seems like very good money. But here in the US, NO ONE would work for $500/mo...so, no ice cream trucks.
I think you'll continue to see many menial jobs being performed there, because Australians are not spoiled by our big American salaries. But as a result, they take better care of their country than we do. And they'll take better care of everything they personally own too, and demand higher quality goods..houses, clothes, etc. The Australian GE refrigerators, etc that we made over there were several degrees higher quality than the products we sold in the US.
But since Australians are not paid as highly, they won't work as hard either. What's the point?
You should investigate getting some clothes made for you. They have very high tailoring standards and good wools. I had some beautiful suits made for me, fit like a glove, that I wore for many years.
And another thing: turning on the plugs.
Remember you're dealing with 220v over there...that's enough to KILL. Be very careful when you operate electronic devices...don't be anywhere near water.
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