'R'
Australians have a funny relationship with the letter 'R': I'd say it's almost a love/hate relationship. They don't use it when they're supposed to and they use it where it has no business being used. They love using the letter 'R' but hate using it in the correct context.
There are many, many English words that end in the letter 'R' or the 'R' sound:
-Computer
-Chair
-Letter
-There
-Your
Nevermind that almost every descriptive noun in the English language ends with 'R':
-Baker
-Sailor
-Biker
-Robber
What Australians tend to do with these words is to simply not bother to pronounce the 'R' sound at the end of the word and replace it with the 'Ah' sound. For instance:
-"computer" becomes "computah"
-"baker" becomes "bakah"
-"sailor" becomes "sailah"
-"more" becomes "mo-eh"
You get the idea.
It's not terrible and it's not difficult to understand until you get to other words such as:
-"there" becomes "theh-ah"
-"your" becomes "yo-ah"
-"chair" becomes "che-ah"
-"our" becomes something almost unpronounceable but similar to "ah-eh"
Fortunately, you get used to it fairly quickly. What I'm having a harding time adjusting to is the Australian habit of inserting the 'R' sound where it doesn't belong, usually after a vowel at the end of a sentence, and almost always after the hard "O" sound. Exhibit A:
-"no" becomes "no-er"
-"spa" becomes "spa-er"
I didn't realize how often as English speaking people we use words like 'no', 'go', 'know' and 'so' until I heard these simple, innocent, little words butchered mercilessly by these descendants of criminals. It's almost like Australians can't quite coordinate their mouth and tongue to work together in making the "O" sound. The mouth seems to be doing fine in forming the "O" sound when all of a sudden the tongue, rather than just hanging out and letting the mouth do the work, insists on getting involved and mucks up the whole operation. I now understand why removing tongues was considered to be an acceptable form of punishment for certain crimes.
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Ah-eh original laptop is currently in the shop. Apparently the hard drive is corrupted and needs to be replaced. What this means is that we ah-er down to 1 laptop and 1 iPad fo-er two adults that use the computah moderately and 3 teenagahs that use it excessively. Also-er, because we aren't able to get a decent TV package (due to the proximity to the switching station, o-eh something) we often plug the laptop into the TV and watch a show-er of our choice online.
What this means is that ah-eh access to things like email, Facetime & Skype are a little mo-eh limited and if you-eh trying to get a hold of us it may be a touch mo-eh difficult.
The other issue that we face is that the laptop that's being repaired has all of our photo-ers on it. We tried to back it up but due to the corruption we're not shoo-ah it worked. There's a chance we may-er lose ow photo-ers which would suck enormously.
Saturday, 26 May 2012
When Perth Freezes Over
Yesterday the city of Perth recorded its coldest temperature in 98 years! Overnight it dropped to about 1C and in some areas of the city, particularly one that is of a lower elevation, it actually went below freezing. Then, later in the day, the high was about 20C.
When it was very hot here we weren't that uncomfortable. We slept with our windows open and the fans on but it was largely bearable and we were somewhat mentally prepared for the heat. We were not, in any way, shape or form, prepared for the cold.
The vast majority of homes here are largely built with brick. They don't use insulation and the windows are generally single pane. Also, the homes are built to provide shade and air flow for natural cooling during the summer months. The result is that a 40C day in our home in Perth feels like a 25C day in our home in Calgary. Unfortunately, it doesn't work the same way when it gets colder.
The very things that make the homes good in summer make them not-so-good in winter. There is no insulation in the walls or windows; there is little direct sunlight and there is no central heating. Some people with homes that have central air conditioning use it both for cooling and heating, although it's a very dry air that's produced. We don't have central a/c. So when the temperature drops to 5C overnight, our home is not much warmer than that. The result is that in the morning and at night we are cold. It's not like we're suffering from exposure and we're going to die but it's uncomfortable.
The result is that winter in Perth, at least in the morning and night, has been fairly unpleasant thus far. But it's not all about the weather, right? Right!?
When it was very hot here we weren't that uncomfortable. We slept with our windows open and the fans on but it was largely bearable and we were somewhat mentally prepared for the heat. We were not, in any way, shape or form, prepared for the cold.
The vast majority of homes here are largely built with brick. They don't use insulation and the windows are generally single pane. Also, the homes are built to provide shade and air flow for natural cooling during the summer months. The result is that a 40C day in our home in Perth feels like a 25C day in our home in Calgary. Unfortunately, it doesn't work the same way when it gets colder.
The very things that make the homes good in summer make them not-so-good in winter. There is no insulation in the walls or windows; there is little direct sunlight and there is no central heating. Some people with homes that have central air conditioning use it both for cooling and heating, although it's a very dry air that's produced. We don't have central a/c. So when the temperature drops to 5C overnight, our home is not much warmer than that. The result is that in the morning and at night we are cold. It's not like we're suffering from exposure and we're going to die but it's uncomfortable.
The result is that winter in Perth, at least in the morning and night, has been fairly unpleasant thus far. But it's not all about the weather, right? Right!?
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Oh Canada!
Ever since we moved to Perth we've been wanting to connect with other Canadians in the area. We've wanted to do this for several reasons, some of which are entirely selfish. For instance, we want to be able to ask former canucks aboot specific issues about life in Perth. We want to be able to pick their brains aboot neighbourhoods, schools, shopping, holidays, etc. And, of course, we'd like to make some friends while we're here. We don't mind most Australians but people in Perth tend to be a little closed-off to strangers. Nevermind, that half the time we can't understand what they're talking aboot. Personally, I actually get excited whenever I meet someone here with a Canadian accent. You can usually tell that they're not American because most of the Americans here come from Texas and they bring their drawl with them. So, whenever I've met a Canadian out in Perth it's a cause for a little bit of enjoyment. Unfortunatley, upon realizing I've met a Canadian I turn a little clingy and needy and scare them off in short order. C'est la vie...
So, finally, we got around to doing a little searching on the internet and discovered the Canadian Club of Western Australia. This is actually a club for Canadians living in Western Australia, primarily Perth. This is not a group of Western Australian whiskey connoisseurs.
http://canadianclubofwa.com/
"The Canadian Club of Western Australia (CCWA) is a not-for-profit social club that meets regularly to celebrate and socialise with fellow Canadians, their partners, children, and families in Western Australia."
Last night we went to the Canadian Clubs second annual family barbecue. The event entailed a large fire pit, many hot dogs, smores, beer (didn't spot any Molsons though), lawnchairs and conversation. Unfortunately, because the boys had hockey last night we arrived late and couldn't meet as many people as we wanted to, eh. Nonetheless, we did manage to meet some hosers. Most of the people we met were either from Calgary or at one point in their lives had lived and/or worked in Calgary. So, not only were we being asked questions like "where are you from" but also "what neighbourhood did you live in". There were some people in the group that have lived in WA for over 30 years or over half their lives but still consider themselves to be Canadian. Ironically, one of the people that we talked to the longest was actually born and raised in Perth and then went to Canada to visit friends for a while. The boys were very bored because:
a) they're teenagers;
b) there weren't any kids there that were their age;
c) they're teenagers.
Keva was at work so she missed the whole thing. However, when we told her that they had hot dogs and smores she got a little worked up. All in all, it was a good experience. We did stand out a little as just aboot everyone there had some sort of Canadian paraphernalia on them including one hose-head wearing a red t-shirt with while lettering that read "HUNG LIKE A MOOSE". There was also at least one Calgary Flames jersey (and a Leafs jersey).
The next event is a Canada day party at an Irish pub in Northbridge (where we lived for the first month here). It's also the event of the club's AGM. Unfortunately, Canada Day falls on a Sunday this year so the club is actually doing it on Friday, June 29. Seems fitting, eh? Hopefully, we'll be able to meet some good friends at some point along the way. We could use a little companionship at the moment. We could also use a Boston Cream, a double-double, some maple syrup, a Slurpee, NHL playoffs, skiing, the mountains, decent TV shows, Sunday shopping, daylight savings, safety from spiders, central heating, fish that we eat rather than them eating us, proper use of the English language, affordable prices, reasonable housing market...
So, finally, we got around to doing a little searching on the internet and discovered the Canadian Club of Western Australia. This is actually a club for Canadians living in Western Australia, primarily Perth. This is not a group of Western Australian whiskey connoisseurs.
http://canadianclubofwa.com/
"The Canadian Club of Western Australia (CCWA) is a not-for-profit social club that meets regularly to celebrate and socialise with fellow Canadians, their partners, children, and families in Western Australia."
Last night we went to the Canadian Clubs second annual family barbecue. The event entailed a large fire pit, many hot dogs, smores, beer (didn't spot any Molsons though), lawnchairs and conversation. Unfortunately, because the boys had hockey last night we arrived late and couldn't meet as many people as we wanted to, eh. Nonetheless, we did manage to meet some hosers. Most of the people we met were either from Calgary or at one point in their lives had lived and/or worked in Calgary. So, not only were we being asked questions like "where are you from" but also "what neighbourhood did you live in". There were some people in the group that have lived in WA for over 30 years or over half their lives but still consider themselves to be Canadian. Ironically, one of the people that we talked to the longest was actually born and raised in Perth and then went to Canada to visit friends for a while. The boys were very bored because:
a) they're teenagers;
b) there weren't any kids there that were their age;
c) they're teenagers.
Keva was at work so she missed the whole thing. However, when we told her that they had hot dogs and smores she got a little worked up. All in all, it was a good experience. We did stand out a little as just aboot everyone there had some sort of Canadian paraphernalia on them including one hose-head wearing a red t-shirt with while lettering that read "HUNG LIKE A MOOSE". There was also at least one Calgary Flames jersey (and a Leafs jersey).
The next event is a Canada day party at an Irish pub in Northbridge (where we lived for the first month here). It's also the event of the club's AGM. Unfortunately, Canada Day falls on a Sunday this year so the club is actually doing it on Friday, June 29. Seems fitting, eh? Hopefully, we'll be able to meet some good friends at some point along the way. We could use a little companionship at the moment. We could also use a Boston Cream, a double-double, some maple syrup, a Slurpee, NHL playoffs, skiing, the mountains, decent TV shows, Sunday shopping, daylight savings, safety from spiders, central heating, fish that we eat rather than them eating us, proper use of the English language, affordable prices, reasonable housing market...
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (and Ferrys)
Last week I got the opportunity to take a business trip to China. Here's a brief run-down:
Saturday midnight-
Flew out from Perth on Cathay Pacific business class to Hong Kong. Business class is awesome and I am now spoilt to travel any other way. I managed to sleep for about 6 of the 8 hour flight. The other two hours I drank wine and had some decent food, for an airline. Prior to departure I went to the Cathay Pacific Business Class lounge where I had a snack, a beer and read the newspaper. I am officially an entitled traveller now!
Sunday morning-
Arrived in Hong Kong. 1 hour stop-over and then off to Shanghai, again on business class. Domestic business class isn't up to internation BC standards but it still beats hanging out with the peasants in the back.
Later Sunday morning-
Arrived in Shanghai. We were met by a driver who took us to our hotel about an hour away from the airport. We were driven in an Audi town car. My level of entitlement continues to rise. Me and my colleague arrived at the hotel, checked in, unpacked a little, changed and got a taxi for downtown Shanghai to an area called "the Bund". Neither of us knew much about it other than it's a famous place in Shanghai. Almost as soon as we arrived we were greeted by three mid-20's Chinese people that asked me to take their picture in front of a historic building. As I finished we struck up a conversation and they offered to show us around the area. As it turns out they were actually Chinese tourists from Inner Mongolia on vacation, and they had only arrived two days prior but had spent the entire time in the Bund area. They wanted to practice their English on us and as a result they didn't shut up for 7 hours. I didn't mind but it was exhausting. They ended up taking us to old-downtown Shanghai (think traditional Chinatown but really traditional and really big) for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. While there we bought some very nice Jasmine tea that I brought home. After tea we strolled around downtown Shanghai for a couple of hours. Then they took us to a real Chinese "hotpot" restaurant and luckily ordered everything for us. We passed on the chicken feet. They insisted on paying for the dinner. Considering that these people are young, make next to no money, spent almost everything they had to come to Shanghai and we are travelling with other peoples money, it was incredibly generous. Later we got to see downtown Shanghai at night where all of the buildings are lit up like Christmas trees. Very cool. They then got us a taxi, explained to the driver where we were going and said goodbye. They were very nice and at no point did I feel in any sort of danger, even when we were asked by a local girl to pose for a picture with a caucasian couple and the lady told me that they'd been robbed in Shanghai every day they were there.
Monday morning-
Got picked up in the same car and went to work for the day.
Monday night-
Flew from Shanghai to Zhongshou in southern China. Oddly enough, we were picked up by the same car again. If you haven't heard of Zhongshou that's because it's just a small city in China...of 6 freaking million people! That actually counts for 'small' in China. Shanghai is well over 20 million and that's just the people they know about. It took us about an hour and a half of driving through slums and Soviet-style 'projects' architecture that seemed to go on forever. Then we arrived to downtown Zhongshou. Our hotel was along a river in an area that used to be used as a shipyard. Now it's a tourist destination and I can see why. The entire riverfront, including trees, buildings and bridges were covered with different lights. It was an amazing spectacle. Even though it was nighttime it was very hot and very humid. It didn't get any better during the day either. We walked along the river for about an hour, got back to the hotel, had a drink and called it a night.
Tuesday morning-
Picked up by the same car again. This time we were driven in a different direction and we were soon out of the slums and into a pseudo-rural area. It was not wild by any stretch nor was it developed. Mostly it was full of fish and tree nursuries. We drove for about 30 minutes and then arrived at the river where, along with about 10 other cars, we drove onto a ferry that looked like it should only hold about 5 cars in total. The supplier we were visiting is actually located on an enormous island and presently the only way to get there is by ferry. As a result, many of the workers live on the island.
Tuesday evening-
Same car drove us to a ferry terminal in nearby Guangzhou. Guangzhou is another small city in China with a population of about 4 million. The ferry was not a vehicle ferry but rather a passenger ferry. It took 70 minutes to go from the ferry terminal directly to the Hong Kong international terminal. Once in the terminal we had to take the airport subway to our departing terminal. It took a couple of different trains until we arrived. When we did we went to the Cathy Pacific business class lounge, had a drink and bite to eat before boarding the plane at about 11pm. Yet again, Cathy Pacific business class is awesome and, if you have the means, I would highly recommend it.
Wednesday morning-
Arrived in Perth at about 5:30am. Fortunately, despite going to 5 cities in 3 days we never left our time zone so it wasn't too painful. Got a cab home. Had a shower, saw the kids off to school and went to work.
General observations:
-I found the Chinese people, in general, to be very nice.
-I prefer Chinese food made in places outside of China.
-This was certainly the most 'exotic' business trip I've ever been on.
-I can't wait to go back to China and also to other places in Asia. As it turns out most people in the world either speak English fairly well (except in Newfoundland) or they want to learn to speak English (except in East Montreal). It sure gives mono-lingual people like me an advantage in trying to see the world.
-I thought it was hot in Perth. It's nothing compared to south China in the summer. Hot and humid!
-There is so much poverty in the world I almost feel guilty having the lifestyle I do...almost. People in the West, including me, take so much for granted. If nothing else, travelling to places like China does the soul good in that it's grounding, even with all of the luxuries thrown our way on this trip.
-People in Texas like to say that "everything is bigger in Texas". I've been to Texas many times and I can unequivocally state that everything really is bigger in China. Sorry Texas.
-It was kinda neat to be a visible minority for a brief amount of time. There was a lot of people staring at me and asking for a picture with/of me. I could see how it could become irritating in very short order though.
-The world is awesome.
Saturday midnight-
Flew out from Perth on Cathay Pacific business class to Hong Kong. Business class is awesome and I am now spoilt to travel any other way. I managed to sleep for about 6 of the 8 hour flight. The other two hours I drank wine and had some decent food, for an airline. Prior to departure I went to the Cathay Pacific Business Class lounge where I had a snack, a beer and read the newspaper. I am officially an entitled traveller now!
Sunday morning-
Arrived in Hong Kong. 1 hour stop-over and then off to Shanghai, again on business class. Domestic business class isn't up to internation BC standards but it still beats hanging out with the peasants in the back.
Later Sunday morning-
Arrived in Shanghai. We were met by a driver who took us to our hotel about an hour away from the airport. We were driven in an Audi town car. My level of entitlement continues to rise. Me and my colleague arrived at the hotel, checked in, unpacked a little, changed and got a taxi for downtown Shanghai to an area called "the Bund". Neither of us knew much about it other than it's a famous place in Shanghai. Almost as soon as we arrived we were greeted by three mid-20's Chinese people that asked me to take their picture in front of a historic building. As I finished we struck up a conversation and they offered to show us around the area. As it turns out they were actually Chinese tourists from Inner Mongolia on vacation, and they had only arrived two days prior but had spent the entire time in the Bund area. They wanted to practice their English on us and as a result they didn't shut up for 7 hours. I didn't mind but it was exhausting. They ended up taking us to old-downtown Shanghai (think traditional Chinatown but really traditional and really big) for a traditional Chinese tea ceremony. While there we bought some very nice Jasmine tea that I brought home. After tea we strolled around downtown Shanghai for a couple of hours. Then they took us to a real Chinese "hotpot" restaurant and luckily ordered everything for us. We passed on the chicken feet. They insisted on paying for the dinner. Considering that these people are young, make next to no money, spent almost everything they had to come to Shanghai and we are travelling with other peoples money, it was incredibly generous. Later we got to see downtown Shanghai at night where all of the buildings are lit up like Christmas trees. Very cool. They then got us a taxi, explained to the driver where we were going and said goodbye. They were very nice and at no point did I feel in any sort of danger, even when we were asked by a local girl to pose for a picture with a caucasian couple and the lady told me that they'd been robbed in Shanghai every day they were there.
Monday morning-
Got picked up in the same car and went to work for the day.
Monday night-
Flew from Shanghai to Zhongshou in southern China. Oddly enough, we were picked up by the same car again. If you haven't heard of Zhongshou that's because it's just a small city in China...of 6 freaking million people! That actually counts for 'small' in China. Shanghai is well over 20 million and that's just the people they know about. It took us about an hour and a half of driving through slums and Soviet-style 'projects' architecture that seemed to go on forever. Then we arrived to downtown Zhongshou. Our hotel was along a river in an area that used to be used as a shipyard. Now it's a tourist destination and I can see why. The entire riverfront, including trees, buildings and bridges were covered with different lights. It was an amazing spectacle. Even though it was nighttime it was very hot and very humid. It didn't get any better during the day either. We walked along the river for about an hour, got back to the hotel, had a drink and called it a night.
Tuesday morning-
Picked up by the same car again. This time we were driven in a different direction and we were soon out of the slums and into a pseudo-rural area. It was not wild by any stretch nor was it developed. Mostly it was full of fish and tree nursuries. We drove for about 30 minutes and then arrived at the river where, along with about 10 other cars, we drove onto a ferry that looked like it should only hold about 5 cars in total. The supplier we were visiting is actually located on an enormous island and presently the only way to get there is by ferry. As a result, many of the workers live on the island.
Tuesday evening-
Same car drove us to a ferry terminal in nearby Guangzhou. Guangzhou is another small city in China with a population of about 4 million. The ferry was not a vehicle ferry but rather a passenger ferry. It took 70 minutes to go from the ferry terminal directly to the Hong Kong international terminal. Once in the terminal we had to take the airport subway to our departing terminal. It took a couple of different trains until we arrived. When we did we went to the Cathy Pacific business class lounge, had a drink and bite to eat before boarding the plane at about 11pm. Yet again, Cathy Pacific business class is awesome and, if you have the means, I would highly recommend it.
Wednesday morning-
Arrived in Perth at about 5:30am. Fortunately, despite going to 5 cities in 3 days we never left our time zone so it wasn't too painful. Got a cab home. Had a shower, saw the kids off to school and went to work.
General observations:
-I found the Chinese people, in general, to be very nice.
-I prefer Chinese food made in places outside of China.
-This was certainly the most 'exotic' business trip I've ever been on.
-I can't wait to go back to China and also to other places in Asia. As it turns out most people in the world either speak English fairly well (except in Newfoundland) or they want to learn to speak English (except in East Montreal). It sure gives mono-lingual people like me an advantage in trying to see the world.
-I thought it was hot in Perth. It's nothing compared to south China in the summer. Hot and humid!
-There is so much poverty in the world I almost feel guilty having the lifestyle I do...almost. People in the West, including me, take so much for granted. If nothing else, travelling to places like China does the soul good in that it's grounding, even with all of the luxuries thrown our way on this trip.
-People in Texas like to say that "everything is bigger in Texas". I've been to Texas many times and I can unequivocally state that everything really is bigger in China. Sorry Texas.
-It was kinda neat to be a visible minority for a brief amount of time. There was a lot of people staring at me and asking for a picture with/of me. I could see how it could become irritating in very short order though.
-The world is awesome.
Saturday, 5 May 2012
Toothbrush Anniversary- Part II
Some of the most noticeable differences between Calgary and Perth continued...
Living
Most homes in Perth are bungalows, although, there are more and more two storey homes being built including our current residence. None of the homes have basements. As far as I can tell almost all homes are built from brick. That means they don't use studs and dry wall. It also means that if you want to hang something on the wall you have to drill a hole first. It also means that, if you damage the wall, as we did, that the repair process is a little different.
In addition to the homes themselves, the lots are different. In many areas, such as ours, there are two homes per lot: one in the front and one in the back. They usually share a common drive but seperate garages and entrances.
Homes in Perth, particularly on the coast where we are, is built on sand. The bedrock is very deep. So foundations are poured a little differently. Also, beneath the grass, trees, shrubs, etc. is thick, yellow sand rather than dark dirt.
Like in Calgary, the garbage is picked up on a weekly basis from a big container left in the front of the drive. However, unlike Calgary there is no seperate recycling bin. You put it all together and it somehow gets sorted by 'them'. Also, there is no deposit on recyclables and therefore no recycling depots and bottle refunds.
Perth has a by-law that for there has to be a green space for every X amount of people in an area and no green space can be more than X kilometers away from one another. The result is that there are a lot of green spaces for walking, biking or just watching. The reason for this is to prevent loss from the water table underground.
I've never really experienced urban sprawl like that of greater Perth. There is a city about an hour drive south of Perth called Mandurah and a city almost an hour north of Perth called Quinns Rocks. The Perth train system goes to both and many people live there. That would be the equivalent of the Calgary C-train going to Cochrane and Okotoks. The transport system is about the same as Calgary with buses going to train stations and paid parking at the train stations. However, the trains are much larger, more modern, better planned, better tracked and better secured. Also, you pay based on the distance travelled.
School
The schools in Australia are based on the British education system. This means that in addition to children being taught how to kill each other with potions, playing deadly games while flying on sticks, and in a constant state of fear from a maniacle killer they go to school year round, wear uniforms and start their adult education in Year 11. The Year 11's here have to choose their course track for year 11 and 12 and this will impact where they go to school or work after graduation. It's a little more pressure but it also helps to focus them on their future.
Entertainment
People in perth seem to spend all of their disposable income on eating and drinking out. Buying a beer in the CBD is $10 on average. Otherwise, people spend a lot of Friday and Saturday nights (and Sunday afternoons) eating and drinking excessively. What they eat is a very British style cuisine (if you can call it cuisine). Meat pies, sausage rolls and fish and chips are all very common. And here's an important thing to note if you ever come to Australia. Bacon is not bacon here. Here they call a strip of fried ham bacon. A real bacon strip, as we know it in North America, does not exist here. The good news is that if you do go out tipping is not the norm.
I've complained many times on this blog about the difficulty in shopping. Most malls and other shopping areas are open Monday-Wednesday & Friday-Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Thursdays the shopping is open until 9pm. Sunday everything is closed except for some grocery stores and all pubs. A couple positives about shopping here is that GST is included in all prices and their are no pennies, something I understand is now happening in Canada.
Work
Work is about the same as it is everywhere else. The biggest difference is Superannuation or "Super" as it's known. This is where 9% of your salary goes towards a retirement savings fund. This applies to everyone that works full time in the country.
Also, a little different is the benefit scheme. If you're a salaried employee the benefits are about the same as they are in Canada except for the Super. However, here even many part-time employees enjoy benefits. Recently, Keva was upgraded from a 'casual' employee to a 'part-time' employee. This means very little other than she is guaranteed a minimum number of hours per week and she has 1 week of paid leave that she can use for holidays, sick days or whatever she wants.
The other interesting thing about working here is that they take their drugs and alcohol very seriously. Most offices in Perth have random testing. I had my first pee test last week and I passed with flying colours (really one colour if you want to get specific). Also, in many offices including mine, there is a breathalyzer that you can use to ensure that you are fit for work first thing in the morning. Several people have failed both the tests and the breathalyzers with some of the former being sacked on the spot.
Something that affects every part of life but work in particular is the date format. In North America we write September 11, 2001. In Australia, we write 11 September 2001. I believe they do the same thing in Europe.
Sub-culture
Since we've been in Australia I haven't seen a single cowboy hat or cowboy boots. That's not to say that there are no cowboys or country music; they have both (example: Keith Urban). However, instead of the Calgary style of redneck Perth has their own version called Bogans. They are basically trashy, vulgar, loud, abnoxious folks that often sport mullets or rat tails, tattoos of half naked women and only some of their original teeth. There are also issues with drugs, alcohol and violence with Bogans (in addition to the same issues with Aboriginals). It makes for an interesting sub-culture that permeates a violent vibe and spills into the greater culture.
Fauna
The critters in Perth are significantly different than Canada. While we don't have any deer, bear or cougars wandering the streets of Perth we do have poisonous spiders, snakes, lizards, sharks, jellyfish, rats and the occasional kangaroo. However, the bugs and the birds dominate the animal landscape. Cockatoos, crows and magpies are very common. Unfortunately, flies are also common, particularly in summer as are mosquitos at night.
Isolation
Perth is the world's most isolated city. The closest major city is Adelaide which is a 3 hour flight. Sydney is over 4 hours away and is actually further from us than Singapore. But the biggest change for us is our isolation from friends and family. That has been the biggest transition that we've had to face. Hopefully that part gets a little easier over the next 6 months.
Living
Most homes in Perth are bungalows, although, there are more and more two storey homes being built including our current residence. None of the homes have basements. As far as I can tell almost all homes are built from brick. That means they don't use studs and dry wall. It also means that if you want to hang something on the wall you have to drill a hole first. It also means that, if you damage the wall, as we did, that the repair process is a little different.
In addition to the homes themselves, the lots are different. In many areas, such as ours, there are two homes per lot: one in the front and one in the back. They usually share a common drive but seperate garages and entrances.
Homes in Perth, particularly on the coast where we are, is built on sand. The bedrock is very deep. So foundations are poured a little differently. Also, beneath the grass, trees, shrubs, etc. is thick, yellow sand rather than dark dirt.
Like in Calgary, the garbage is picked up on a weekly basis from a big container left in the front of the drive. However, unlike Calgary there is no seperate recycling bin. You put it all together and it somehow gets sorted by 'them'. Also, there is no deposit on recyclables and therefore no recycling depots and bottle refunds.
Perth has a by-law that for there has to be a green space for every X amount of people in an area and no green space can be more than X kilometers away from one another. The result is that there are a lot of green spaces for walking, biking or just watching. The reason for this is to prevent loss from the water table underground.
I've never really experienced urban sprawl like that of greater Perth. There is a city about an hour drive south of Perth called Mandurah and a city almost an hour north of Perth called Quinns Rocks. The Perth train system goes to both and many people live there. That would be the equivalent of the Calgary C-train going to Cochrane and Okotoks. The transport system is about the same as Calgary with buses going to train stations and paid parking at the train stations. However, the trains are much larger, more modern, better planned, better tracked and better secured. Also, you pay based on the distance travelled.
School
The schools in Australia are based on the British education system. This means that in addition to children being taught how to kill each other with potions, playing deadly games while flying on sticks, and in a constant state of fear from a maniacle killer they go to school year round, wear uniforms and start their adult education in Year 11. The Year 11's here have to choose their course track for year 11 and 12 and this will impact where they go to school or work after graduation. It's a little more pressure but it also helps to focus them on their future.
Entertainment
People in perth seem to spend all of their disposable income on eating and drinking out. Buying a beer in the CBD is $10 on average. Otherwise, people spend a lot of Friday and Saturday nights (and Sunday afternoons) eating and drinking excessively. What they eat is a very British style cuisine (if you can call it cuisine). Meat pies, sausage rolls and fish and chips are all very common. And here's an important thing to note if you ever come to Australia. Bacon is not bacon here. Here they call a strip of fried ham bacon. A real bacon strip, as we know it in North America, does not exist here. The good news is that if you do go out tipping is not the norm.
I've complained many times on this blog about the difficulty in shopping. Most malls and other shopping areas are open Monday-Wednesday & Friday-Saturday from 10am to 5pm. Thursdays the shopping is open until 9pm. Sunday everything is closed except for some grocery stores and all pubs. A couple positives about shopping here is that GST is included in all prices and their are no pennies, something I understand is now happening in Canada.
Work
Work is about the same as it is everywhere else. The biggest difference is Superannuation or "Super" as it's known. This is where 9% of your salary goes towards a retirement savings fund. This applies to everyone that works full time in the country.
Also, a little different is the benefit scheme. If you're a salaried employee the benefits are about the same as they are in Canada except for the Super. However, here even many part-time employees enjoy benefits. Recently, Keva was upgraded from a 'casual' employee to a 'part-time' employee. This means very little other than she is guaranteed a minimum number of hours per week and she has 1 week of paid leave that she can use for holidays, sick days or whatever she wants.
The other interesting thing about working here is that they take their drugs and alcohol very seriously. Most offices in Perth have random testing. I had my first pee test last week and I passed with flying colours (really one colour if you want to get specific). Also, in many offices including mine, there is a breathalyzer that you can use to ensure that you are fit for work first thing in the morning. Several people have failed both the tests and the breathalyzers with some of the former being sacked on the spot.
Something that affects every part of life but work in particular is the date format. In North America we write September 11, 2001. In Australia, we write 11 September 2001. I believe they do the same thing in Europe.
Sub-culture
Since we've been in Australia I haven't seen a single cowboy hat or cowboy boots. That's not to say that there are no cowboys or country music; they have both (example: Keith Urban). However, instead of the Calgary style of redneck Perth has their own version called Bogans. They are basically trashy, vulgar, loud, abnoxious folks that often sport mullets or rat tails, tattoos of half naked women and only some of their original teeth. There are also issues with drugs, alcohol and violence with Bogans (in addition to the same issues with Aboriginals). It makes for an interesting sub-culture that permeates a violent vibe and spills into the greater culture.
Fauna
The critters in Perth are significantly different than Canada. While we don't have any deer, bear or cougars wandering the streets of Perth we do have poisonous spiders, snakes, lizards, sharks, jellyfish, rats and the occasional kangaroo. However, the bugs and the birds dominate the animal landscape. Cockatoos, crows and magpies are very common. Unfortunately, flies are also common, particularly in summer as are mosquitos at night.
Isolation
Perth is the world's most isolated city. The closest major city is Adelaide which is a 3 hour flight. Sydney is over 4 hours away and is actually further from us than Singapore. But the biggest change for us is our isolation from friends and family. That has been the biggest transition that we've had to face. Hopefully that part gets a little easier over the next 6 months.
Toothbrush Anniversary- Part 1
Today, 5 May, 2012, is our "Toothbrush Anniversary" of the day we arrived in Australia. In other words, it's been 6 months since we've been 'Down Under'. (I don't know if toothbrush is the correct term but it seems fitting). That means we're 1/8th of the way through our 4 year Visa (not that we're counting). In honour of this event I thought I'd talk about some of the major differences that we've encountered while living in Perth versus living in Calgary. Truth be told there are many more similarities than differences but these are the ones that stand out for me.
Weather
If you don't like the weather, wait 5 months.
Calgary has basically two seasons: summer and winter. Spring and fall are both very short typically. Perth also basically has two seasons: hot, dry summer and cool, wet summer.
We arrived in Perth in November, which in upside-downland is considered end of spring/start of summer. From November to March it probably rained twice and not for very long and not very much. Otherwise, it was hot and sunny. Temperatures went from the mid-twenties to the low-forties. There were a few days and nights that were uncomfortable and I think we slept with our screen door open for the first 4 months of living here. Now we are in the late Fall (or Autumn) season heading into early winter. The daytime average high in winter here is something like 18 degrees. It does rain much more here in the winter but from what I'm told, other than the occasional storm, the rain is fairly tame. Perth has a Mediterranean climate and probably the best climate in Australia. The eastern coast of the country (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane) had very wet, cool summers this year. The North East section of Australia (Port Hedland) was hit by several cyclones (hurricanes south of the equator). Those cyclones actually create a high pressure system in Perth and make it quite lovely.
So, the weather here is fantastic.
What this means is, among other things, the flora and fauna are much different. Most trees don't lose their leaves here in the winter with the exception of a couple. This particular leaf is from a tree that is quite prevalent in the CBD. The leaf looks a little like a maple leaf but I'm fairly confident that the tree is not a maple.
Daylight Savings
The state of Western Australia does not recognize daylight savings. The state government has tried to push it through via a referendum at least twice and it failed both times. I've heard a few excuses for the failure. These include a negative impact on farmers businesses, general confusion about the how and when of changing time, people concerned about excessive use of electricity and concern about resetting alarm clocks. In any case, there are only two Australian states that don't observe daylight savings and WA is one of them. If I recall correctly I think Saskatchewan is the only Canadian Province without daylight savings. That seems fitting. If you took Saskatchewan and plunked it down in the middle of the ocean you'd basically have Western Australia.
Coffee
There are lattes, espressos and capucchinos available everywhere. Most people have an espresso machine in their home. But you can not get just a regular brewed coffee. Worse than that is that it is difficult to find regular coffee beans for home. Most of these are espresso beans. It took us several weeks just to find a brewing coffee maker, so needless to say, the selection and quality (and price) isn't great. I don't think we've had a good, regular cup of coffee since we've been here. If you try to order a regular coffee when you're out it's practically impossible. Everywhere they use espresso beans and a "short black" includes steamed milk. But possible even worse than this is they don't sell coffee cream. They sell regular milk (which is I believe equivalent to 2%), hilo milk (skim) and whipping cream. There is really nothing else. So, in order to get the semblence of coffee cream we tried mixing whipping cream with milk. It was okay but very fattening and not quite right. Who knew we could be brought to our knees by a drink? (slight hyperbole)
Internet
3G is relatively new to Australia. While Calgary has a great deal of 4G coverage Perth only has about 50% 3G coverage. In a lot of places it's 2G. The internet coverage in the city is awful. We live in a very highly populated area of the city about 20 km north of the center of the city. We are too far from the network switch to receive all of the TV channels via internet. So, even if we wanted the most expensive TV package we couldn't. This is something that we took completely for granted in Calgary even though it's relatively new. Also, the PVR's here are terrible.
Telephones
A lot of homes don't use landlines as they are very expensive. It seems that most people use their cell phones as their primary method of communication with the outside world. That's fine except the phone plans here are much different than the Canadian phone plans. In Canada, you get a set number of minutes per month on your cellular plan. Here you get a set dollar amount. So, for instance you may get $100 dollars per month of calling and texting. What does that mean? Well it depends on the carrier and what kind of calling and texting you're doing. Most standard calls (anywhere in Australia mind you) are about $1/minute. Text are much less. International calls/texts are more expensive. So, you need to do a little math when choosing a plan that best suits your needs. However, the internet fees for cellular phones are cheaper here. That may be partly because they haven't invested that much in internet coverage across the country.
Food
Everything is expensive and despite a climate where you can grow almost anything, it seems as though very little is grown here. For example Kiwi's are imported from Italy and Oranges from California. Whatever produce is grown in WA is marketed as such and the prices are even more expensive.
Cars
Clearly the biggest difference with driving a vehicle is that they drife on the left side of the road. That has actually been a fairly simple adjustment to make. The only real difference in driving is that here it is generally illegal to turn left on a red light expect in certain marked intersection. In terms of vehicles on the road, it's about the same as back home with a couple of notable exceptions. Here there are very few pick-up trucks. However, a very popular vehicle in Perth is called a "Ute", or utility vehicle. A Ute is basically a two-seater pick-up truck that is low to the ground and has an engine disproportionally large to the size of the vehicle. They tend to be fairly fast, loud and, despite it's utilitarian-based name, useless. As a result, they tend to be popular with younger men. Motorcyles here are also quite popular and there seems to be a general understanding that if traffic is moving even slightly slower than the posted speed limit, that they are allowed to drive between lanes.
The climate here causes some other differences with vehicles. Of course, there are no block heaters on vehicles here. Also, they use water for windsheild washer fluid and coolant. Frankly it doesn't do as good a job of cleaning the windsheild.
Also, you can not legally drive in Western Australia until you are 17 years of age. You can get a learners permit at 16 and drive with an adult in the vehicle but if you do you must display you're "L" badge. It's a placard with the letter 'L' on it to signify "learner". Once you do turn 17 you are considered a "provisional" driver for one year and you have to display your "P" plate on your vehicle. "P-platers" have different rules: they are allowed fewer demerits and the alcohol limit is 0%, whereas for the adult driver it is .08%.
Finally, pedestrians are fair game here but despite this there is a great deal of jaywalking that takes place. One of the more difficult adjustments has been making sure to look the correct way when crossing the street. It is deeply engrained in us to look left then right. I've had to retrain myself to look right then left. This still does not come naturally. It is still a conscious process even though I do it several times a day.
Language
Obviously, Australians talk funny. They have their accents, their local dialect and words that sound like they were invented as a joke. All of this is fine. What is not fine is their incessant need to give everything nick-names. For instance:
McDonalds- Maccas
Football- Footy
Rottnest- Rotto
Fremantle- Freo
Mosquitos- Mozzies
Woolworths- Woolies
In addition there are some phrases that are so prevalant here, yet different than what we're used to, they are very noticable. For example:
"Mate"- everyone is mate. You don't have to be someone's friend. It's the equivalent of saying pal or buddy to absolutely everyone you speak to on a casual basis. It is very prevalent and noticeable. I knew that "mate" was a big thing here but I thought it was an exagerated stereotype. It's not.
"How ya going?"- People don't say "how are you" or "how you doing" but rather "how ya going". It's no more right or wrong but we're not used to it and it sounds odd everytime.
"Ta"- I think it means thanks. They're both one-syllable words but apparantly that was too much for Aussies and it still needed to be shortened.
Acronyms- Everything has to have an acronym. "POM" stands for prisoner of motherland, i.e. english person. "CBD" is central business district, not downtown.
Part 2 will follow in a few days. I'm going on a business trip to China tonight which should prove interesting.
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