Life Learnings: Part 2

As the days turn into weeks, and the weeks into months, you would figure I have gotten this whole ‘living in Australia’ thing mastered.  If you have kept track of how long I have been here, you may have realized that Australia and I have our three-month anniversary coming up in about a week.   Time surely has flown by since I have gotten here…

Anyways, as I was saying, you would think that I would have everything figured out now that I am settled and living my new Aussie lifestyle, but there are some things that I still run into that are worth noting – mainly observations about food.  Every now and then, I miss American food (A.K.A Chipotle’s glorious burritos), but it has also been fun to learn about a proper Aussie diet – and to NOT rely on just pasta, tuna and eggs for survival. Thus, this brings me to my second piece of Aussie Life Learnings – Food Edition.

A rare find at Coles... in the U.K. section

• 'Silverware' is lingo from the mid-18^th century.  When asking for silverware at a restaurant in the city, the waitress looked at me like I was talking in a different language (which, actually, is very common for Sydney). When I corrected myself using ‘fork’ and ‘knife’ – while also charade-ing the motion of cutting steak – she laughed and brought me 'cutlery'.
• 'Serviettes' is lingo of the modern era.  Instead of 'napkin', which I find to be a very universal and common term, the Aussies use 'serviettes'.  Why they make fun of me for saying 'silverware' is beyond me... 
• Dr. Pepper fans are limited.  There are basically only four soda choices in Australia: Coke, Diet Coke, Fanta (A.K.A. Orange Soda) and Lemonade (A.K.A. Sprite – don’t ask, because I don’t know why either…). No Dr. Pepper. You see, I’m not a huge soda drinker, but sometimes I have a serious craving, and that craving is for Dr. Pepper (or Root Beer, but if Dr. P is not an option, fat chance you will find an A&W in Oz…).  Most all Aussies have heard of, and tasted, Dr. Pepper before, but their usual response when I speak of this wonderfully crafted beverage is “ick”, “ugh”, or “blegth” while also contorting their face as if you asked them if they wanted a taste of a sewage flavored cupcake.
• The importance of the avocado.  It should be a known fact that almost every meal is incomplete without the option of adding avocado for good measure.  We have a ‘rotating avocado’ system in my flat – that is, there is an avocado in the fridge at all times. 
• Mangos are a luxuriously delicious fruit.  When it’s $4 per fruit, you know it has to be damn good.
• Milk and cookies at bedtime is an ‘American thing’. I am my father’s daughter, that’s for sure.  Some nights before heading off to bed, I wouldn’t mind having a cold glass of milk accompanied with a sweet treat.  When I sat down at the table before going to bed one night, my flatmate commented on my oh-so-American bedtime tradition – a tradition that should be universal, if you ask me.
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