My friend Lisa lived in Sydney for six months about a year or so ago. She emailed me with some advice for translating from American to Australian. Here's an excerpt from her email:
Tip of the Week: Everything in Aus ends with an 'o' or a 'y/ie'
Instead of Football, it's Footy
Instead of Service station, it's Servo
Instead of afternoon, it's Arvo
Instead of Fitzgerald, it's Fitzy
She's not kidding. The Aussies have a nickname for everything and everyone. They're still trying to figure out how they can make Pam even shorter.
Some of the others that I've noticed:
Breakfast = Brekky
Truck/SUV that a tradesman drives = Tradie
Mobile phone = Moby
And it's not just in casual conversations, it's in print in advertisements and on commercials! It's so funny to me. It's amazing how even though we speak the same language, we really don't speak the same language. My first few days here I literally had no idea what people were saying. "Umm... I'm sorry, what?" It gets pretty interesting in the office as we have people from all over the world - Ireland, England, Scotland, the Philippines, Indonesia, France, Brazil... and of course, me - the American.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Footy
Our first weekend in Sydney my husband and I found ourselves at an Aussie Rules Football game. Why not go two for two? I managed to score tickets for another finals game for NRL, which is the rugby league. They call Rugby footy as well - it's all footy.
I got the tickets at work, so they just said that my husband would need to wear a collared shirt. Okay, whatever. As we walk up to the stadium, Chris and I take a closer look at the tickets. "Private suites" What?! Approaching the gate, the sign overhead says "Players/Coaches Entrance" to the left and "Private Suites" to the right. Well, Pam you done good.
My company has a box at Sydney Football Stadium and we were able to be there for a finals series game for the Tigers versus the Roosters. It's a pretty big rivalry as the Roosters are the Sydney team and the Tigers are the Balmain team which is just ten minutes over the bridge from Sydney. Even though Sydney was the home team, the crowd was definitely heavy weighted towards the Tigers. The Tigers have this amazing player (the dude is a beast) who is one of the best players in the league, so the crowd was pretty pumped to see him play.
I tell you what, I know we think football is really rough and violent in the states... we've got nothing on rugby. It is literally 70 minutes of beefy dudes with no pads just running into each other. Seriously. Head on. Uhh... can't you see the line? Where's Devin Hester when you need him?
It turned out to be a really great game - even not totally knowing the rules. The Tigers were heavily favored to win and the crowd favorite. At the 68th minute, the Roosters tied up the game and we went into overtime! That's what I'm talkin' about! The Roosters ended up pulling it out in the end and won the game.
I think Chris and I are good luck for all of these Sydney teams.
I got the tickets at work, so they just said that my husband would need to wear a collared shirt. Okay, whatever. As we walk up to the stadium, Chris and I take a closer look at the tickets. "Private suites" What?! Approaching the gate, the sign overhead says "Players/Coaches Entrance" to the left and "Private Suites" to the right. Well, Pam you done good.
My company has a box at Sydney Football Stadium and we were able to be there for a finals series game for the Tigers versus the Roosters. It's a pretty big rivalry as the Roosters are the Sydney team and the Tigers are the Balmain team which is just ten minutes over the bridge from Sydney. Even though Sydney was the home team, the crowd was definitely heavy weighted towards the Tigers. The Tigers have this amazing player (the dude is a beast) who is one of the best players in the league, so the crowd was pretty pumped to see him play.
I tell you what, I know we think football is really rough and violent in the states... we've got nothing on rugby. It is literally 70 minutes of beefy dudes with no pads just running into each other. Seriously. Head on. Uhh... can't you see the line? Where's Devin Hester when you need him?
It turned out to be a really great game - even not totally knowing the rules. The Tigers were heavily favored to win and the crowd favorite. At the 68th minute, the Roosters tied up the game and we went into overtime! That's what I'm talkin' about! The Roosters ended up pulling it out in the end and won the game.
 |
| A Try is like an extra point. Final score Roosters 19, Tigers 16. |
I think Chris and I are good luck for all of these Sydney teams.
Driving...on the left
Although I'm living in downtown Sydney, my office is actually in the western suburbs, about 40 km from CBD. My work provided me with a car - great! Now I just figure out how to drive on the opposite side of the road. Hmmm....
The car company actually delivered the car to my office the week before I started, so I took a taxi out to the office on my first Monday morning. My first day went well and then the end of the day came.... I think I may have been more fearful of driving than I was of living by myself on the opposite side of the world for six months. Okay, here we go.
I go to put my computer bag in the back seat like I always do in my car at home and of course, I walk to the wrong side of the car. Oh boy. This is going to get interesting. I walk over to the 'proper' side of the car, buckle up, and take off for my next Aussie adventure.
I don't know if any of you have ever driven on the left side of the road, but it is so wrong on so many levels. It is literally doing the opposite of what you've learned your entire life. Within the first 5 minutes of being in the car I got honked at for drifting into the left lane. Sorry! I'm new here!
My office is really close to the highway, so after I get honked at and get back into my lane, I head on to the highway. Scariest thing ever. It was like being 15 again and being on the interstate for the first time. I had a death grip on the steering wheel and just tried to stay in my lane. Now might also be a good time to mention that I had no idea how to get home. I mean, I had a general idea (just follow the signs back towards Sydney, right?) but not so much the specifics. Being on the highway wasn't too bad - it's a divided road and everyone is going in the same direction, so it was a little easier to relax a bit and just go with the flow. Unfortunately the highway I take turns into more of a larger city road than a highway, and I'm pretty sure the lanes are not regulation space. Luckily I've been driving in downtown Chicago for seven years and I'm comfortable with city driving. Otherwise, I would have really been up the creek.
So, I'm trucking along (radio off, of course) concentrating more on driving than I have since 1995, and I'm getting closer to the city. About 30 seconds before the lanes fork, I realize I'm on the wrong side of the fork. Awesome. I'm driving on the wrong side of the road and I'm about to be lost. Sydney is a pretty small city and fairly easy to navigate and since my husband and I had explored the city the day before, I at least had a feel for where I was going. I may have accidentally entered a parking garage, but other than that, I knew how to get to the apartment. The problem was being in the city there are a lot more opportunities to make a decision while driving. That is not a good thing when you're driving on the opposite side of the road. It just means more opportunities to turn the wrong way into incoming traffic. I managed to stay behind someone at all times as to be able to just follow what they did (even if they weren't going in the direction I needed to go).
Eventually I made it to the apartment building and pulled into the parking garage. The dreaded parking garage. Parking garages are hard to park in when you're in your own car driving on the side of the road you know how to drive on. Pulling into a parking garage (to the left - weird!) in a rental car and feeling like I'm driving from the passenger side was not fun. Thank goodness there was no one else in the garage that day. There may or may not have been a few curb checks, and I may or may not have taken some extremely wide turns. Finally, I made it into a parking spot. Man, I have never been more happy to get out of a car in my life. Oh wait, I have to do this every day... twice a day! Didn't really think that one through, huh?
It's been about three weeks now, and I'm finally getting a little more comfortable with the driving. It helps that I go exactly the same way every day, so at least I know where I'm going. By the end of the first week I was finally able to turn on the radio while driving.
You don't have to worry about me texting and driving any time soon that's for sure.
The car company actually delivered the car to my office the week before I started, so I took a taxi out to the office on my first Monday morning. My first day went well and then the end of the day came.... I think I may have been more fearful of driving than I was of living by myself on the opposite side of the world for six months. Okay, here we go.
I go to put my computer bag in the back seat like I always do in my car at home and of course, I walk to the wrong side of the car. Oh boy. This is going to get interesting. I walk over to the 'proper' side of the car, buckle up, and take off for my next Aussie adventure.
I don't know if any of you have ever driven on the left side of the road, but it is so wrong on so many levels. It is literally doing the opposite of what you've learned your entire life. Within the first 5 minutes of being in the car I got honked at for drifting into the left lane. Sorry! I'm new here!
My office is really close to the highway, so after I get honked at and get back into my lane, I head on to the highway. Scariest thing ever. It was like being 15 again and being on the interstate for the first time. I had a death grip on the steering wheel and just tried to stay in my lane. Now might also be a good time to mention that I had no idea how to get home. I mean, I had a general idea (just follow the signs back towards Sydney, right?) but not so much the specifics. Being on the highway wasn't too bad - it's a divided road and everyone is going in the same direction, so it was a little easier to relax a bit and just go with the flow. Unfortunately the highway I take turns into more of a larger city road than a highway, and I'm pretty sure the lanes are not regulation space. Luckily I've been driving in downtown Chicago for seven years and I'm comfortable with city driving. Otherwise, I would have really been up the creek.
So, I'm trucking along (radio off, of course) concentrating more on driving than I have since 1995, and I'm getting closer to the city. About 30 seconds before the lanes fork, I realize I'm on the wrong side of the fork. Awesome. I'm driving on the wrong side of the road and I'm about to be lost. Sydney is a pretty small city and fairly easy to navigate and since my husband and I had explored the city the day before, I at least had a feel for where I was going. I may have accidentally entered a parking garage, but other than that, I knew how to get to the apartment. The problem was being in the city there are a lot more opportunities to make a decision while driving. That is not a good thing when you're driving on the opposite side of the road. It just means more opportunities to turn the wrong way into incoming traffic. I managed to stay behind someone at all times as to be able to just follow what they did (even if they weren't going in the direction I needed to go).
Eventually I made it to the apartment building and pulled into the parking garage. The dreaded parking garage. Parking garages are hard to park in when you're in your own car driving on the side of the road you know how to drive on. Pulling into a parking garage (to the left - weird!) in a rental car and feeling like I'm driving from the passenger side was not fun. Thank goodness there was no one else in the garage that day. There may or may not have been a few curb checks, and I may or may not have taken some extremely wide turns. Finally, I made it into a parking spot. Man, I have never been more happy to get out of a car in my life. Oh wait, I have to do this every day... twice a day! Didn't really think that one through, huh?
It's been about three weeks now, and I'm finally getting a little more comfortable with the driving. It helps that I go exactly the same way every day, so at least I know where I'm going. By the end of the first week I was finally able to turn on the radio while driving.
You don't have to worry about me texting and driving any time soon that's for sure.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Operation Fight Jet Lag
We landed in Sydney around 7 am or so Saturday morning. I didn't quite mention in my previous post what a trooper my husband is. While I was galavanting around in business class on Qantas, he was flying economy on United. Sorry honey! But you know him, he made a bunch of new best friends and got the low down on what to do in Sydney.
Even though we were on different airlines, both of our flights arrived at the same time and luckily both in the same international terminal, so we were able to meet up in baggage claim and head to find our car service. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed at first. It was an overcast rainy day, so there wasn't much of a view from the plane and it seemed like our driver was taking the most un-scenic route possible to the apartment. I don't know what I was expecting but I guess I thought the pilot was going to buzz by the Sydney Opera House just for me. I'm just sayin'...
We get to the apartment by around 9 am, get checked in and then the wall of tired hits. Oh boy.
Pam: "We HAVE to stay up as long as possible tonight."
Chris: "Yeah, yeah. Totally"
10 minutes later...
Pam: "Maybe we can take a quick nap this afternoon?!"
Needless to say we were pretty exhausted. After the long flight and all of the excitement around getting here, it finally hit us all at once. To keep us occupied/distracted we went downstairs to the coffee shop and had a bite to eat for breakfast and a shot of caffeine for a pick me up. With a little more energy we were able to relax for a bit and take in the apartment.
My company helps me with housing so I'm in a 'serviced apartment' for about 4 weeks. It seems to be a pretty popular thing here as there are constantly people coming and going.
Welcome to my new home for the next few weeks:
It's a great, cute little one bedroom right in the heart of downtown Sydney. We're walking distance to a train station that can pretty much get us anywhere in Sydney and we're only about a five minute walk to Darling Harbour.
Unfortunately, that is about the extent of the excitement of our first day in Sydney. We did end up taking a nap in the afternoon. I set an alarm otherwise, we would have really been in trouble. And even with the nap we were still asleep by about 8:30 on Saturday. Pretty glamourous!
With all that rest we were bright eyed and bushy tailed Sunday morning. Time to explore Sydney! We got a map of downtown and just headed out the door.
First stop Darling Harbour.
Darling Harbour is one of the many harbor areas in Sydney. It's of course got plenty of boats (which Chris loves) and a shopping and restaurant area. Also in Darling Harbour is the Australia National Maritime museum and the Sydney Aquarium. Chris was able to go to the Maritime Museum later in the week.
We had breakfast.... well, I should say 'brekky' at a delicious pancake place on the water, then walked around and enjoyed the sunshine and the views.
Sydney hosted the Summer Olympics in 2000 so we wanted to go and see the Olympic Park as well. We had looked online and there happened to be an AFL game at the stadium there as well. We weren't sure if we wanted to go to the game (or if tickets would be available) but it was a nice day so we figured it was worth the train ride just to see the Olympic Park.
We hopped on the train, followed the jerseys, and went out to the Olympic Park and ANZ Stadium (which they pronounce "A-N-Zed").
AFL is the league for Aussie Rules Football. Of course, they just call it football, or footy, but they also call Rugby and soccer football, so it can get kind of confusing. Somehow, just walking up to the box office we were able to get tickets. They were in the 'end zone' of sorts, but they were really close to the field so we didn't care. That and the fact that we have no idea what we're actually watching. We tailgated for a bit with the locals and found out that this is the finals series so it was actually a pretty big game.
The game turned out to be a really good one and lucky for us there was a dad explaining the game to his son sitting right behind us so we were able to follow along. It's a really fast pace game with a lot of scoring and tackling and such so it was really fun to watch even not fully understanding the rules. When in doubt, just cheer when the people in red are cheering. Go Swannies!
Operation Fight Jet Lag Day 2 - success.
Even though we were on different airlines, both of our flights arrived at the same time and luckily both in the same international terminal, so we were able to meet up in baggage claim and head to find our car service. I have to admit, I was a little disappointed at first. It was an overcast rainy day, so there wasn't much of a view from the plane and it seemed like our driver was taking the most un-scenic route possible to the apartment. I don't know what I was expecting but I guess I thought the pilot was going to buzz by the Sydney Opera House just for me. I'm just sayin'...
We get to the apartment by around 9 am, get checked in and then the wall of tired hits. Oh boy.
Pam: "We HAVE to stay up as long as possible tonight."
Chris: "Yeah, yeah. Totally"
10 minutes later...
Pam: "Maybe we can take a quick nap this afternoon?!"
Needless to say we were pretty exhausted. After the long flight and all of the excitement around getting here, it finally hit us all at once. To keep us occupied/distracted we went downstairs to the coffee shop and had a bite to eat for breakfast and a shot of caffeine for a pick me up. With a little more energy we were able to relax for a bit and take in the apartment.
My company helps me with housing so I'm in a 'serviced apartment' for about 4 weeks. It seems to be a pretty popular thing here as there are constantly people coming and going.
Welcome to my new home for the next few weeks:
It's a great, cute little one bedroom right in the heart of downtown Sydney. We're walking distance to a train station that can pretty much get us anywhere in Sydney and we're only about a five minute walk to Darling Harbour.
Unfortunately, that is about the extent of the excitement of our first day in Sydney. We did end up taking a nap in the afternoon. I set an alarm otherwise, we would have really been in trouble. And even with the nap we were still asleep by about 8:30 on Saturday. Pretty glamourous!
With all that rest we were bright eyed and bushy tailed Sunday morning. Time to explore Sydney! We got a map of downtown and just headed out the door.
First stop Darling Harbour.
Darling Harbour is one of the many harbor areas in Sydney. It's of course got plenty of boats (which Chris loves) and a shopping and restaurant area. Also in Darling Harbour is the Australia National Maritime museum and the Sydney Aquarium. Chris was able to go to the Maritime Museum later in the week.
We had breakfast.... well, I should say 'brekky' at a delicious pancake place on the water, then walked around and enjoyed the sunshine and the views.
Sydney hosted the Summer Olympics in 2000 so we wanted to go and see the Olympic Park as well. We had looked online and there happened to be an AFL game at the stadium there as well. We weren't sure if we wanted to go to the game (or if tickets would be available) but it was a nice day so we figured it was worth the train ride just to see the Olympic Park.
We hopped on the train, followed the jerseys, and went out to the Olympic Park and ANZ Stadium (which they pronounce "A-N-Zed").
AFL is the league for Aussie Rules Football. Of course, they just call it football, or footy, but they also call Rugby and soccer football, so it can get kind of confusing. Somehow, just walking up to the box office we were able to get tickets. They were in the 'end zone' of sorts, but they were really close to the field so we didn't care. That and the fact that we have no idea what we're actually watching. We tailgated for a bit with the locals and found out that this is the finals series so it was actually a pretty big game.
 |
| Tailgating and enjoying a Bundy & Cola |
 |
| AFL doesn't allow pictures so of course I snuck one |
Operation Fight Jet Lag Day 2 - success.
The Longest Flight Ever
You know how when you fly across the US on the redeye back from Vegas, and you're like "wow, that's a really long flight! I feel like crap"? Well.... let me tell you something my friends. You've never traveled until you've been on a flight to Sydney, Australia. Holy smokes is that far!
I flew from Chicago O'Hare to LAX to Sydney. Whew! We left on a Thursday and arrived on Saturday morning. You literally lose two days flying. It's kind of hard to wrap your head around.
The flight from Chicago to LA wasn't too bad. I tried to stay awake and not read any of my magazines or books since I was saving everything for the 15 hour flight from LA to Sydney. I was lucky enough to be able to fly first class on that leg of the trip, so there was a meal and enough on the tv to keep me entertained for four hours.
Upon arrival in LA I headed straight the the American Airlines Admirals Club. I like to call it a little piece of heaven. It's so nice and quite in there. No screaming babies, no loud obnoxious cell phone talkers, plus free snacks and soda. Glorious. I was joking with my husband over text that maybe I would be sitting next to someone famous on my flight to LA. Hey, there's a chance - I was on a flight from Chicago to LAX with Jeremy Piven once (no, we didn't 'hug it out'). Unfortunately, no dice. However, I had forgotten about the Admirals Club. I'm sitting in a nice cozy corner, near a window, charging all of my electronic devices when in walks.....
Okay, so I didn't exactly know who it was, but I knew they were famous and he had some Ari Gold type agent with him catering to his every need. So, who was it?! Thank god for Google. I knew he was in a movie with Beyonce (of all things, go figure) and from there I figured it out. It was an actor named Idris Elba. He's actually been in quite a few movies. Check out it out on Wikipedia (my source for all solid, verified information): Idris Elba. So not super exciting, but hey - it was something. And we were on the elevator together back down to the main entrance. He's a really nice guy.
There concludes my adventures in the airport and in America for that matter. On to the dreaded 15 hour flight. I was definitely a little worried about being on a plane for that long, especially with 90% of the flight being over water. I mean, even if you sleep for 8 hours, you're only half way there! How do you entertain yourself for that long? I'll tell you how... Qantas business class, baby! I was on the Qantas Airbus A380. Yeah, that's the way to do it.
It's still a fairly new plane and pretty fancy, so all of the flight attendants have to explain how your seat works when you board. I didn't want to be the girl in business class taking pictures, but when other people starting doing it I figured I might as well!
That was my seat/bed for the next day....seriously. It actually turned out to be quite manageable. My flight was delayed about 2 hours so it was after midnight Pacific time by the time we actually boarded. I was pretty tired by then so I skipped dinner and went to sleep right away. The seat actually lays completely flat and they give you noise canceling headphones (I know, my life is really hard) so I actually got about 7 hours of sleep. Woo hoo!
Oh wait. There's still about 8 hours left. Oh snaps. Since I skipped dinner, everyone else was still sleeping. I got up to use the restroom and stretch a bit then headed back to my seat. Except for the fact that it was pitch black and I couldn't remember where my seat was. I literally stepped over into a seat that I thought was mine (I was sitting by the window) and there was a body there. Whoops. I was one row back.
After that debacle, I was pretty much wide awake. I watched two full movies, ate, watched tv, read, tried to look out the window but it was pitch black out (since you leave at night you chase the dark all the way to Sydney), and watched more tv. You have your own tv/entertainment center loaded full of programs so I got caught up on The Office and Modern Family.
Finally, 14.5 glorious hours later, our captain came over the intercom to announce that we were making our initial descent to Sydney.
After all the build up of the past few months and the packing and the flight, I had finally arrived.
I flew from Chicago O'Hare to LAX to Sydney. Whew! We left on a Thursday and arrived on Saturday morning. You literally lose two days flying. It's kind of hard to wrap your head around.
The flight from Chicago to LA wasn't too bad. I tried to stay awake and not read any of my magazines or books since I was saving everything for the 15 hour flight from LA to Sydney. I was lucky enough to be able to fly first class on that leg of the trip, so there was a meal and enough on the tv to keep me entertained for four hours.
Upon arrival in LA I headed straight the the American Airlines Admirals Club. I like to call it a little piece of heaven. It's so nice and quite in there. No screaming babies, no loud obnoxious cell phone talkers, plus free snacks and soda. Glorious. I was joking with my husband over text that maybe I would be sitting next to someone famous on my flight to LA. Hey, there's a chance - I was on a flight from Chicago to LAX with Jeremy Piven once (no, we didn't 'hug it out'). Unfortunately, no dice. However, I had forgotten about the Admirals Club. I'm sitting in a nice cozy corner, near a window, charging all of my electronic devices when in walks.....
Okay, so I didn't exactly know who it was, but I knew they were famous and he had some Ari Gold type agent with him catering to his every need. So, who was it?! Thank god for Google. I knew he was in a movie with Beyonce (of all things, go figure) and from there I figured it out. It was an actor named Idris Elba. He's actually been in quite a few movies. Check out it out on Wikipedia (my source for all solid, verified information): Idris Elba. So not super exciting, but hey - it was something. And we were on the elevator together back down to the main entrance. He's a really nice guy.
There concludes my adventures in the airport and in America for that matter. On to the dreaded 15 hour flight. I was definitely a little worried about being on a plane for that long, especially with 90% of the flight being over water. I mean, even if you sleep for 8 hours, you're only half way there! How do you entertain yourself for that long? I'll tell you how... Qantas business class, baby! I was on the Qantas Airbus A380. Yeah, that's the way to do it.
It's still a fairly new plane and pretty fancy, so all of the flight attendants have to explain how your seat works when you board. I didn't want to be the girl in business class taking pictures, but when other people starting doing it I figured I might as well!
 |
| My seat/bed for 15 hours |
Oh wait. There's still about 8 hours left. Oh snaps. Since I skipped dinner, everyone else was still sleeping. I got up to use the restroom and stretch a bit then headed back to my seat. Except for the fact that it was pitch black and I couldn't remember where my seat was. I literally stepped over into a seat that I thought was mine (I was sitting by the window) and there was a body there. Whoops. I was one row back.
After that debacle, I was pretty much wide awake. I watched two full movies, ate, watched tv, read, tried to look out the window but it was pitch black out (since you leave at night you chase the dark all the way to Sydney), and watched more tv. You have your own tv/entertainment center loaded full of programs so I got caught up on The Office and Modern Family.
Finally, 14.5 glorious hours later, our captain came over the intercom to announce that we were making our initial descent to Sydney.
After all the build up of the past few months and the packing and the flight, I had finally arrived.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Today's The Day!
I should be doing my final packing, but I wanted to make a quick post before my insanely long travel day. Today I say goodbye to Illinois for a few months and G'day to Australia! I'm getting really excited. I somehow managed to fit six months worth of clothes into three big suitcases and one carry on - whew! Packing was not fun at all, but it will be worth it soon.
I checked the weather for Sydney for the weekend and it looks like it will be a nice sunny 68 - 73F all weekend. Perfect. Now all I need to do is get there. In prep for my 19 hours of flight time I've loaded up the Kindle, made the ultimate playlist on my iPod, and charged both of my computers.
See you Sydneyside.
I checked the weather for Sydney for the weekend and it looks like it will be a nice sunny 68 - 73F all weekend. Perfect. Now all I need to do is get there. In prep for my 19 hours of flight time I've loaded up the Kindle, made the ultimate playlist on my iPod, and charged both of my computers.
See you Sydneyside.
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