Douglas Goes to the Movies/A Comparison of Australia to the US

As I sit, watching public television, free to watch on the Australian network, one of the most violent and controversial Quentin Tarantino movies of all time, completely unedited for adult content, language, or gore, I reflect on some of the differences between Australia and the United States. 

Source: Django Unchained

It never occurred to me that it would be normal to air Django Unchained on public television. While a fantastic movie, an accurate portrayal of slavery and violence of the times (while not always historically accurate) I never would have expected it on something other than an HBO or similar pay per view channel. Granted, it came on at 9 PM, and while fairly late, I was surprised to see it on he air. I digress. It's a fantastic movie and one of my favorite Tarantino films, I highly recommend you watch it. 

Another big difference I've found in Australia are specialty stores. So, there are grocery stores, but mostly you can only buy house hold items and, you guessed it, groceries. Big department stores aren't common in the city, most grocery stores don't sell much alcohol, and if you find a clothing store that is not in the mall, it's likely a boutique and fairly expensive. But K-Mart and Target exist, which is the best thing ever.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was meeting local Australians and discovering their heritage. I should have realized that Sydney is not known for being a place of many Australians but rather, many people who have moved to Australia from Elsewhere. But I have met a few Australians and many of them have been kind, cordial, and have a very dry sense of humor. 

Good news though, I found a job! I'm working at PricewaterhouseCoopers as a Data Administrator for the Data Quality Team. Which is a fancy way of saying I'm helping clean up a database to prepare for a new database. But, it's good job, it pays well, and it'll cover my rent, living expenses, and help replenish my depleting savings account. Big difference in Sydney to Dallas: the minimum wage is just over $17 an hour, and the minimum wage I can make on my particular working visa is $22/hour. Paying a living wage has its benefits, but there are some fall backs to it. For instance:

• Restaurants are generally more expensive because employees aren't paid tips commonly 
• Even fast food can be quite pricey, because the minimum wage is so high. 
• The cost of living is very high, my apartment's rent is $425 per week (including utilities)
• Also, everything is per week. Utilities, Rent, Etc.
• Also, I found out from my coworker Edison I'm being ripped off, a little late now though. I've already signed my lease for six months. Live an learn. 
• Sydney is the 2nd most expensive place to live in the world, next to London. Should've tried Melbourne first. 

Other minor differences between the United States and Australia: 

• Mayonnaise is more like Miracle Whip in terms of flavor. 
• Burger King is called Hungry Jacks
• The Whopper comes with Miracle Whip mayo on it, and that is just wrong and an abomination of nature and I doubt I'll ever go to Burger King/Hungry Jacks again
•  Seriously? Miracle Whip?? What is wrong with this place

• Instant Coffee: Way Popular. I prefer it because I can make it less bitter and strong than normal brewed coffee.
• Dollar bills aren't minted here. But they do have dollar coins. 
• Most of the coins have animals on them! The dollar coins have kangaroos

• The bills that are minted have plastic in them.
• If a building was built before there was AC, then it will most likely not have central heating and air. The electrical infrastructure of Australia is quite behind, so installing HVAC is quite expensive, and running it costs even more. 
• Wifi is way slow. 
• Some movie theaters have self-serve concessions. Douglas and I went and saw Passengers and Split this week.
• Instead of answering the phone "Hi, how are you?" You ask "Hi, how you goin'?" 
• And you must end the phone call very chipper and say "Cheers!" like getting off the phone is the most exciting part of your day
• That part is very strange to me...

Douglas was quite comfy for the Passenger's movie. He liked it, but thought it lacked a bit of ingenuity. Douglas said it was quite predictable

So far my experience in Oz has been a good one, if not a bit expensive. I've quite enjoyed it and I'm glad to have found a job. And I've finally met one of my housemates and we've become good friends. Her name is Maz and she's very nice I'm going to finish watching Django I think, and then go to bed. 

CHEERS HAVE A GOOD NIGHT, BYYYEEE. :D */click\*

Australia Day and Malls

This past Thursday (January 26th) was Australia Day a national holiday celebrating the heritage, aboriginal cultures,  and founding of the country. I made the mistake of celebrating it with hundreds of different people. As someone who is mostly an introvert, that was a mistake...

I love hanging out with crowds. It's my most favorite thing

Douglas caught a good picture of the Harbour Bridge. We took all the back ways because it wasn't so crowded.

Douglas posing with the soldier at The Rocks

Some prints I was able to buy at the festival, I plan on having them framed when I get home. 

Cute kitty friend that lives a few houses down from me. I tried to pet him again today, but he was busy eating dinner. 

A snail friend I spotted on Broadway near CBD

This week has been a bit of a hectic one. I'm starting my first temporary job as a Data Administrator and my recruiter (Jessica, very nice lady) recommended I buy a blazer for my first day on the job. And that I should assume that every temporary job I take will be a very corporate environment, so I must have very corporate attire. Which makes sense, and in hindsight I shouldn't have unpacked my nice blazer from home in order to save weight in my suitcase, but hindsight is 20/20 and I was obviously not thinking about job interviews while packing. For the past few days I've been going to so many different shopping malls looking at every store that sells business attire.

Let's talk about malls. Malls in Australia aren't dissimilar from malls in the US except that most of them have a grocery store inside them and there aren't really many malls with big department stores (i.e. Dillards, Macy's, JC Penney's, etc.). I went to the mall on World Square, I went to the Pitt Street Mall, Westfield Sydney Mall, and a few other small shops and none of the shops had a blazer/jacket that was less than $200. And most of them were dry clean only. I'm already living on a budget and having to pay $6 to wash and dry my clothes, I'm not going to pay extra to dry clean something I'm going to have wear every day.

Finally, I found the Broadway Mall in a town called Ultimo. The heavens opened up and sang as I walked in and found not only a K-Mart, but.... a Target!! It was like walking back into the United States for the brief hour or so that I was there shopping. I was able to find a blazer, a nice skirt, a pretty blouse, and a new pair of shoes all for less than half of what I was going to have to spend at the four other malls I went to.

The emotion of hysteria and pure joy really comes across well in this photo

So. Professional.

Overall, my experience wasn't a bad one. Just makes me miss Capitalistic America. Australia is a capitalistic society, but how capitalized can you be when your McDonald's doesn't even have McGriddles?

Douglas Goes to the Zoo

Sooooo the Taronga Zoo is just a ferry ride from the Opera House in Sydney.  What makes the zoo interesting is that is built into a hill. I, thinking I was so efficient, decided to go in through the back entrance because it was closer to the ferries, and walk the back way around the zoo. Little did I know, the back entrance is at the bottom of the hill. Meaning, my entire time at the zoo was uphill, in the sun, with a backpack on, and not enough water fountains...

I was so excited (and hot) that I completely forgot to take Douglas out of my bag for pictures. That being said, I still took pictures at the zoo. See below:

Penguins!

A view from the harbor that I thought was the top of the hill

Pelicans!

Chicken! She was out and about, eating bugs for the zoo. There are also guinea hens and some form of turkey buzzard that roam the premises

Sun Bear getting some lunch. There was a lizard that also knew when it was the sun bear's lunch time. I couldn't get a clear picture of him, but he followed the zoo keepers around trying to get a snack.

Heffalumps

Douglas and I went to the petting zoo. Here is a very pregnant guinea pig

guinea pig and a baby guinea pig!

Some fluffy chickens

Fluffy chickens gotta eat too

My favorite Australian marsupial: the Quokka

Nappin' wombat. 

Nappin' koala. Everyone's gotta take their afternoon naps - I was wishing I was napping at this point too.

These green little guys were in the native to Australia section. Very cute and very curious. They tried to eat my map

Giraffe!

Ibex! I was honestly so surprised that I remembered the name of this mammal that I looked it up just in case I was wrong.

Zebra!

The following section is from the herpetology exhibit. Reptiles and amphibian photos just for my friend Tyler. Please note they may give you the creepy-crawlies. 

Resting Komodo dragon. I think it was a little hot for him

Froggos

Reticulated Python

Eyelash viper - I couldn't get close enough to get a picture of his eyelashes, but they're there!

Taipan - He'll mess you up

I don't remember the name of this snake but he was a long'un

I can't remember

Green lizard

Large green lizard aka an iguana

Long neck turtle, aptly named 

Here's a video of some quokkas doing quokka things :)

Overall, this week has started off on the right foot. My job interview with the recruitment agency went well, I didn't get rained on, I've not had to mush any spiders, and I got a library card!

"Having fun isn't hard when you have a library card!" - Arthur

Please feel free to send me your book/movie suggestions in the comments.

Douglas and the Royal Botanical Gardens.

Today Douglas and I took a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens. The plants, trees, and general nature was something to be admired.

Douglas and I needed to have a good lunch before we head to the gardens. Got some sushi from a sushi bar and then a coffee and scone from Gloria's Cafe. Didn't eat too much of the scone, but we snacked a bit.

These birds are everywhere there are pigeons. They're called Australian White Ibis. My friend Linn thought they were a little creepy

Douglas with his favorite new street performer. Check out the video of his awesome performance on my Instagram @skburky (Not Douglas's performance. Douglas hung out in my backpack)

The "Hugantis Gluteus Maximus Arbor" aka Big Ass Tree. I forgot to look at the name plate. But it's so big, if I put Douglas on him, you'd never find poor Douglas. EDIT: I looked up the tree, it's called a Moreton Bay Fig Tree

That's the ocean!

This is a slit-drum from the island of Ambrym in Vanuatu. The people of Ambrym call this drum "atingting". I tried to drum it, but Douglas wasn't impressed, I'll leave it to the people of Ambrym. 

Another Moreton Bay Fig tree. Douglas liked this one because he could climb it. 

A castle! JK it's the Government House. You can read all about it on Wikipedia here.

Pretty picture of the skyline

Flowers! If you look towards the middle you can see artichokes getting ready to bloom. They're related to the thistle.

Douglas dreams of artichokes for dinner.

Another shot of a blooming artichoke. 

It looked like a tomato! But I don't think it was, I didn't walk to the other side of the bed to look for the plaque

The elusive scrunchy seed. Very rare.

I didn't have the heart to tell Douglas he wouldn't be able to read the sundial while it was cloudy. He tried mightily.

Some pretty wildflowers for the bees

Wild flowers and a duck!

I liked these wild flowers quite a bit.

The duck and I are close friends. I tried to get Douglas to pose with him, but the duck was not having any of it. You can see him giving me the side eye here.

Douglas camouflaged into the Chinese Weeping Cypress well.  I made this picture extra big so you could find Douglas

More pictures of the wild flowers

A fuzzy flower that reminded me of a sea urchin

Douglas enjoying a tiny rose bush

He enjoys the pink flowers.

Douglas and I learned a lot today. We learned to always double check your bag for your OPAL card so you can ride the train. Take a little cash with you to tip entertainers. Wear appropriate walking shoes to the botanical gardens. Don't steal the plants. Really, don't steal plants, it's not nice. The bus won't tell you if you've passed your stop, you have to tell it to stop, so know the area. And if you give your local spider a pet name, you won't be as scared of it. Meet Chuck Norris:

Chuck Norris is a small huntsman spider. He eats bugs, is good for the environment, and looks exceptionally scary. He enjoys hanging out on my door frame to hunt bugs at night attracted by my indoor lights, but does not particularly enjoy my handyman for installing a door handle and lock to the door disrupting his daily sleep ritual. He also enjoys hanging down from the ceiling of the patio to scare housemates. He is about the size of the palm of my hand (with legs), and still growing!