Pumping Petrol

One of the things that still baffles me about Australia is the process of putting "petrol" into a car. Fortunately we rarely drive our car, so we only have to fill our tank about once every 4 to 6 weeks. However, when that time rolls around, I am quickly reminded of the differences between here and the States.

Signage at our local servo

"Petrol" is what goes in the tank. This is the same stuff that is called gasoline in America. However, "gas" in Australia is propane, or what you would use for your grill (barbie). Some cars here actually run on "gas" (also called LPG), which you can also get at the "petrol" station. Are you confused yet?! Therefore, because people are generally not putting "gas" in cars, the place is not called the "gas station", it is called the "service station". Of course Australians love to shorten words, so it is actually called the "servo".

A gas tank in Australia

The things I've described so far are just formalities, so while it may get a bit confusing, those differences in terminology do not actually affect the process of filling up the tank. The next two oddities, however, can be annoying.

Most servos are not equipped for us to pay at the pump. Therefore, we have to pump the petrol, wait for it to finish, then walk inside to pay. I cannot remember the last time I had to walk into a gas station in America to pay! Also, while pumping, there is no latch to lock the handle while the tank is being filled, so people actually have to stand at the pump and hold the handle the entire time. I really miss the handle lock in winter when it's cold, rainy, and windy outside!

Look mom, no hands!!

I haven't even mentioned the fact that petrol is in litres here due to the use of the metric system, so we have to do a complex conversion to try to figure out miles per gallon if we want to look at the mileage like we are used to in the States. On the bright side, our local servo has free air for our tyres (yes, tires are spelled differently in Australian English!), which almost makes up for all of those other crazy differences.

3 Years in Oz

On Friday, August 15th, we celebrated our 3 year anniversary of living in Australia. We reminisced about arriving at the airport and walking outside to colder and cloudier weather than we expected. We also thought back to our taxi ride to the house where we would live for our first month in Melbourne, where the driver actually got lost and could not find the house. Sometimes that day seems much longer than 3 years ago, given how settled we have become in this country. It also seems like ages ago that I wrote about our 2 year anniversary of living Down Under, where I revealed how we ended up in Melbourne in the first place.

I read a blog post last week from another American expat who listed some things that she thought of when she arrived in Australia, and it inspired me to come up with my own list. Here some things I thought to myself (or out loud!) during our first few months of living abroad:

1. That is NOT bacon, it's ham!

We have since discovered "streaky bacon", which is more like American bacon.

2. A hotel doesn't actually have rooms?

You will only find a bar/restaurant inside this "hotel"!

3. How can it possibly be so cold in the house?
4. An entree is just an appetizer...and it costs how much?!

"Mains" (or "entrees" in America) would be listed next on the menu

5. There is a Target! (Followed by disappointment that Target is NOT nearly the same as the US Target)
6. What is a milk bar?

A milk bar

7. What is the difference between a pot, a schooner, and a pint?

Note that a "pitcher" is called a jug!

8. Why is there barbeque sauce on my pizza?
9. An eraser is called a "rubber"?!
10. The mall closes at 5:30pm?

These are typical shopping centre hours. A lot of times they open at 9am or later and some are open till 9pm on Friday in addition to being open late on Thursday.

11. The grocery store closes at 8pm?
12. What is rocket and why it is on my sandwich?

Commonly known as arugula in America

13. I have to walk into the gas station (servo) to pay for my "petrol"?!
14. Tea = dinner. Tea = a mid morning break for snacks. Which one is it?
15. I can't just order a "coffee"?

It was so, so confusing in the beginning. Now I have learned to embrace the coffee choices!

16. What is beetroot and why is it on everything?
17. What is a serviette?
18. Why is there a lemon in that Corona?
19. Which button do I push on the toilet to make it flush?

A fabulous idea that more Americans should adopt!

20. Sultanas are raisins, rockmelon is cantaloupe, capsicum are peppers, coriander is cilantro, biscuits are cookies, scones are biscuits, lollies are candies, crisps are potato chips, and chips are french fries?!
21. Pies have meat in them, and they are not eaten for dessert?

It actually tastes better than it looks!

22. What is a sausage roll?
23. A baby (bub) sleeps in a cot, rides in a pram, and wears nappies while sucking on a dummy?!
24. I have to put money in the cart (trolley) at the grocery store in order to use it?

Better make sure you have a $1 or $2 coin for grocery shopping.

25. Why does my beer cost $10?

Note the diagram above that shows the size of the $10 beer, which is equal to about 12 oz. On a more positive note, there is no paying tax or tip on top of this price.

Ballarat

Last weekend we celebrated the 30th birthday of one of my co-workers, and the party was held near the town of Ballarat. Quite a few of my co-workers are either from Ballarat or went to university there, so Erik and I had been talking about visiting Ballarat, the 3rd largest city in Victoria, for a while. Fortunately, the party hosts were kind enough to let us crash at their place on Saturday night so that we could spend the next day exploring "the 'Rat". As a bonus, we took a morning stroll around their neighborhood for some kangaroo viewing, which never gets old for us non-Australians!

Ballarat is about a 90 minute drive from Melbourne, and its significance as a "boom town" during the gold rush in the 1800's is what made the town famous. Today, many school groups flock to Sovereign Hill, the site of gold discovery. We decided not to enter Sovereign Hill, as it is quite expensive, but we did head to the Sovereign Hill overlook, where you can see the area where gold was first discovered. I did learn that as teacher I can apply for free entry to Sovereign Hill, so it might be worth a trip back just for that!

The town itself is very picturesque, with tree-lined streets and gorgeous older houses dotting the roads. There is also a lake, which happens to be where the rowing events were held during the 1956 Olympic Games.

Lake Wendouree

Lydiard Street is home to historic buildings, including a cinema and an art gallery. The art gallery is free and quite extensive, definitely worth a visit!

Ballarat as it was during the gold rush of the 1850's

Aboriginal artwork. The paintings are done on tree bark!

For lunch we made a stop at The Burger Company. I think burgers are a food that America tends to do well and Australian burgers are sometimes a let-down, but this place was outstanding! In addition to good burgers, they served crinkle cut fries (known as "chips" here), which I don't think I've ever seen in Australia. The owner loved that we were American (and wondered what a few Americans were doing in Ballarat!) and wanted to make sure that we thought the food was up to par. We also split a Tim Tam milkshake that was quite tasty, though Australian milkshakes are just not what we are used to in the States (in Oz they seem to be thin and milky, rather than thick and creamy).

Along Sturt Street, a major road running through Ballarat, we found St Patrick's College, one of Victoria's most prestigious private Catholic schools. Our school competes against them annually in Australian Rules Football.

Love the old school post box!

We also stopped by the Avenue of Honour and the Arch of Victory, both serving as memorials to soldiers (commonly known as "diggers") who served in WWI and WWII.

The is the arch and the "avenue" is the tree-lined street just beyond the arch.

This was just after ANZAC Day, where "diggers" are honored, hence the fresh flower arrangements.

We sort of felt like we could have been in one of our hometowns, either Westminster, MD or Buffalo, MN. The historic buildings, tree-lined streets, and general laid-back feel of a smaller city made us smile, and we felt it was a Sunday well-spent in Ballarat.

What's in a Name?

When I was writing the post about our 2 year anniversary Down Under, I realized I have never really explained how this blog got it's name. Erik and I met in graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, home of the Tar Heels, often referred to as the 'Heels. Carolina's fight song states "I'm a Tar Heel born, I'm a Tar Heel Bred. And when I die, I'm a Tar Heel Dead," and though we were not born in North Carolina, we were "bred" as Tar Heels during our time at UNC. One of the long-time professors in the Exercise and Sport Science Department told a story on the first day of graduate school about how the Carolina blue gravel will "get stuck in your shoes," and once there it will never really go away. Erik and I still have a very special place in our hearts for Chapel Hill, though we have not lived there since 2006.

October 18th, 2003. The day before my 24th birthday. Our first date was 3 days after this (ironically at Outback Steakhouse, an "Australian-themed" restaurant). We were married 3 years and 8 months later!

My other blog also got it's title from UNC roots, as it is a line from Charles Kuralt's speech given in 1993.

"What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls. Or the crisp October nights or the memory of dogwoods blooming. Our loyalty is not only to William Richardson Davie, though we are proud of what he did 200 years ago today. Nor even to Dean Smith, though we are proud of what he did last March. No, our love for this place is based on the fact that it is, as it was meant to be, the University of the people."

The bridesmaids wore Carolina blue at our wedding. Our first dance was to "Carolina in my Mind." You get the point! Anyway, I could not leave our "roots" out of the title of this blog, as we are truly two "Heels" living far, far away from Franklin Street.

Tar Heels win the 2005 National Championship in Basketball!!

As far as "Oz" goes as an abbreviation for Australia, most Aussies do not use this word. They do, however, shorten the name of their country to "Aus," which to the American ear sounds exactly like "Oz." The first time I heard the "Aus" or "Oz" term was while traveling in Europe in 2004 with a bunch of Aussies (when I say Aussie, to them it sounds like I am saying Ozzie!), and the shortened version just stuck. Besides, "Two Heels in Oz" sounds more exciting than "Two Heels in Aus," don't you think?!

Contiki in Florence 2004. 75% Aussie!

Australians do love to shorten the names of things and sometimes I have to ask my coworkers to repeat what they have said because I have no idea what they are talking about. Most of the terms I am quite familiar with now, but occasionally someone will say a word I've never heard. For example, a few weeks ago one of the coaches at school kept using the saying "fair dinkum" over and over again in a conversation. Now I've decided that the closest American equivalent to "fair dinkum" is probably "for real"; i.e. "is he for real?" or "is he fair dinkum?". Learning new expressions/words is always fun, and it is one of the highlights of living abroad. I'll leave you with a few of my favorite Aussie slang words!

Cuppa = a cup of tea/coffee
Hoon = a person who is driving wildly or street racing
Bikie = someone who rides a motorcycle
Rellies = relatives
Cos = romaine lettuce
Ta = thank you
Bub = baby
Arvo = afternoon (I actually used this in a text yesterday without thinking twice about it!)
Unco = uncoordinated
Bickie = biscuit (a cookie, not the type you get for breakfast at McDonald's, aka Macca's)
Chook = chicken
Rug up = put on lots of warm clothes
Snag = sausage/hot dog

Tradies

I'm not really sure if we have a word for "tradies" in America. Typically we'd just use the specific name of the tradesman we were looking to hire, like plumber, electrician or carpenter. Sometimes we might refer to people in those professions as blue-collar workers, people who perform some type of manual labor. This would be the opposite of "white-collar" employees, who tend to spend most of their workday at a desk.

In Australia, the term "tradie" is used to refer to an Australian tradesman. It gets better than that though, as many of the tradies have a nickname. A carpenter is known as a "chippy", an electrician is a "sparky", and someone who does mason work is a "bricky". If you drive a truck, you will likely be referred to as a "truckie". Not really in the tradesman category but professions still deserving of nicknames are that of a firefighter (firey) and a paramedic (ambo). Quite a few boys on the footy team that I work for and that Erik plays for are tradies, so when asked their profession, they obviously respond with the slang terminology. Needless to say the first time that one of the boys told me he was a "chippy", I was a bit confused.

Another interesting tidbit about these professions is that the workers always wear high visibility (known as "hi-vis", of course) clothing. In the States we might see these on road crews along the highway or in a few other chosen jobs, but here they seem to be everywhere. Everyone from police officers to postal workers (see the picture in my post from last week!), from garbos (garbage/rubbish collectors) to parking inspectors are wearing hi-vis clothes. The one that is most surprising to me is the truck drivers. All truck drivers (not just the guys that drive the big semi trucks), even those that drive small delivery trucks that are probably more like minivans, are wearing hi-vis vests while driving. Not sure if those high visibility clothes are worn to avoid accidents or if they are meant to make the drivers visible when they get out of their trucks to make deliveries.

Sorry for the blurriness of the photo, but I quickly snapped this picture in food court of the mall (referred to as a shopping centre here...I get made fun of when I call it the "mall"). Nearly every single person down there is wearing either yellow or orange hi-vis clothing!

There is so much more Australian lingo that I hope to share with you at some point. The scary part is that I am now commonly using these Aussie words on a regular basis! :)

Casual Relief Teaching

At the moment, I'm still working several different jobs and I'm enjoying the variety that they have to offer. Presently, I am available for casual relief teaching (Aussie-speak for substitute teaching) 3 days a week. I have made myself available for primary (basically kindergarten through 6th grade) and secondary (7th through 12 grade) schools, and I'm more likely to work as a CRT (the common abbreviation for casual relief teachers) in Physical Education, because that is the subject area for my teaching degree.

One thing about CRT work that is hard to get used to is that it's incredibly unpredictable. One week I might get called all 3 days and the next week just 1 day. The way substitutes are organized here is very different from when I have worked as a substitute in the States. I started subbing over my first winter break of college, so December of 1997, for Carroll County Public Schools. Over the course of college I spent many days as a sub in CCPS and also in Wicomico County Public Schools. Their systems for finding subs were telephone-based, so a teacher would call out and then the system would start calling potential relief teachers until someone accepted the job. These calls might occur the night before or early in the morning (probably by 7am at the latest) on the day of absence. I would imagine that in 2012 they have probably gone to an internet-based system but I cannot confirm that for sure. Here in Oz, there is NO telephone system and NO internet system...it's just done by people in an office who get calls from the daily managers at schools around 7am and then start calling substitutes for the day. So usually I do not get calls about working until 7:30am and sometimes as late as 7:45, when the school needs you to be there at 8:15 or 8:30. The point is, that I have to get up and "get ready" to go to work, when I might not even get called to go to work!! I did explain these telephone systems to 2 different CRT agencies (the school systems don't find substitutes...they hire agencies to do so), and they seemed amazed that such a system could exist (which I find amusing because the telephone system was operating in the 1990's!). The agencies did mention that they like their system because it helps them build relationships with the schools and the CRT teachers by communicating via the phone, but usually when I get a call they talk to me for 2 minutes and then call the next CRT teacher.

Physical education teachers might be the only ones that understand the next quirky thing about Aussie schools, but perhaps elementary school teachers reading this might decide to come to teach here because of it! When teaching PE in elementary school in the States, the grade level teachers walk their class to PE and then pick them up at the end of class. Here, the PE teacher does both! In addition, the PE teacher might be required to take morning attendance in the classroom or to take the students back to the classroom at the end of the day to help them pack up their things. I had to do that with kindergartners last week and it was nearly impossible to get twenty-some 5 year old kids packed up with ALL of their belongings in the 15 minutes of time that I had allotted for "end of the day" activities!

Last week was my first experience with kindergartners (technically they are called "grade prep" here..."kinder" is like pre-K and is not associated with schools), and I had 3 separate classes for an hour each in PE. I think an hour is a really long time to have that age group in PE, so I tried to mix it up and played many different games with them. It was a fun change from my typical subbing of high school students, because it's always nice when you tell kids to go run and touch a wall and they get excited like it's the best thing they've done all day. :) After running around for a while, these 5 year olds are yelling "I'm puffed" and "I'm gassed", as apparently those are Aussie words used to describe "out of breath" or "exhausted", ha! I also had a student take a tissue out of his pocket to tell me that he "bless you'ed" and his mum (they don't use "mom" here) had given him a tissue for when he bless you'ed, so I promptly told him to put it in the "rubbish bin" (saying "trash can" might have confused the kid!).

In the high school setting the students are generally very curious about where I'm from and why I'm here. Most don't really make an effort to learn my name and they just call me "Miss", but I have noticed that some of the students call their regular teachers "Miss" as well, so I think that might be a common occurrence here. At the high school level I'm often getting stuck with year 9 maths (not sure why they add an "s" to math, but they do!), which is often quite challenging. I have been lucky to get a few groups of 12th graders and I have really enjoyed working with the older students.

Two other random observations from both schools are that: Lachlan is a ridiculously common Aussie name, and I kind of like it. Some of the boys abbreviate it to "Lachy" or "Lachie" though and I'm not a fan of those names. Also, teacher's mailboxes are called "pigeon holes". I have absolutely no idea why we just don't call them mailboxes. The only thing I can think of is that mail here is called "post", so maybe postboxes would be weird?! I just know that the first time another teacher told me to leave notes for the teacher I was covering in their "pigeon hole", I was a bit confused. :)

Sunrise from our bedroom "balcony" one morning last week