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.