Week 1 update

I’m about to drop some knowledge on you all. Geckos look nothing like the Geico Gecko. They aren’t charming or cute in any way. In fact, what they really do is poo on the wall, and that’s disgusting. Moving on…Australia has been amazing so far. It is absolutely stunning. The Sunshine Coast, where I am living, is considered subtropical, so it is lush and gorgeous in a way that makes life feel like a continuous vacation. It is winter here, so it has been raining a fair amount, but coming from the perspective of an Oregon winter, it’s paradise.

This past week has been filled with new experiences, and my host family has been so amazing in making me feel at home and showing me what the coast has to offer. We have been to visit the Big Pineapple, which is literally a big pineapple located on a pineapple plantation. You get to climb to the top of it and enjoy the scenery from a vista point at its spikey crown. Thanks to Elise’s (the mom) persistence, I have now seen wild Kangaroos on two separate occasions. They are odd animals, and look creepily like humans from a distance. We ate hot chips (thick fries) on the beach in Mooloolaba and took in the sights from “the Loo with a View,” which is a platform built on top of a bathroom near the ocean.

Now onto driving: everything is opposite. If it feels right, you can almost guarantee it is wrong. Roundabouts are scary, but two lane roundabouts actually make me want to cry. I keep turning the windshield wipers on instead of the blinker, and I won’t lie, I have driven on the wrong side of the road for a few brief but alarming moments. All in all, I probably will not be winning any awards for safe driving, but luckily my host family has outfitted me with a rather large 4WD, so at least the kids will be protected. As for everyone else on the road…well they’re on their own. One thing that is interesting about many of the cars here (including the one that I drive) is that they have snorkels. They are literally like a giant version of one that you or I would take when touring the Great Barrier Reef. Australians are so hardcore that even their cars can swim.

The kids have been amazingly kind to me and have helped me adjust really well. So far there have been no frogs in my bag or pinecones on my chair at the dinner table. Whether that is because they do not seem to have pinecones here or because they actually like me, I really cannot say. They have introduced me to the world of Australian Rules Football, and I have taken away from it that the players mostly like to tackle each other repeatedly and wear the shortest shorts they can possibly get away with on television.

My perception of Australians so far is that they are really a pretty friendly bunch of people. The culture is a nice blend between English and American—although probably leaning a bit more toward the British side. They shorten every word that they possibly can. Sunglasses become “sunnies,” spaghetti bolognaise becomes “spag bol,” and breakfast becomes “brekkie.” Some of their names for things are entirely unintelligible, but they gladly translate when met with a blank stare. The thing that I love the very most about the accent and culture is that they use words and phrases that would be considered very old fashioned in the US. For example, “poor bugger” and “cheeky.”

I will update more later, and pictures will be coming soon!