Things that are different!

Canada and Australia are similar in a number of ways, and moving here has certainly eased us into the whole "living abroad/expat" mentality. That being said, there are lots of little differences that we've noticed over the last 6 months, especially since I started working at a hospital again.

Without further ado, I bring you... (drumroll please!)

Things that are different about Australia! 

Sorry for the lacklustre title

 First off, before we even delve into the concrete terminological differences, we should start with the simple linguistics of things. You know, putting the emPHAsis on the wrong sylLABle and pronouncing things completely wrong. I swear that people look at me strangely on a daily basis.

Garage - Gare-age, not ga-rah-ge
Debut - day-boo, not day-bew
Jasper - Jas-pah, not Jas-per
Knife - Knoife, not knife (this one's for Lanair)


Thrilling stuff! Ready for more fun? And away we go!

 Out and About

Capsicum - red bell pepper
Rocket - arugula
Lemonade - fizzy lemon soda
Lemon squash - A more sour version of lemonade as above, but more like the lemonade that we're familiar with
Bottleshop or Bottle-o - Liquor store
Arvo - afternoon
Petrol - Gas
Ta - Thank you
Tea - a drink, but also a meal, as in morning or afternoon tea. This gets confusing when parents ask where they can get tea at the hospital, and I say "I'll grab you a cuppa", (feeling all hip to the aussie slang) and I ask them how they like it, and then I get a weird look and a clarification "I meant my evening tea". Oh. Ok, right.*sigh*
Chemist - Pharmacy
Rice Bubbles - Rice Krispies

Hospital

Paracetamol & Panadol - Acetaminophen and Tylenol (same exact drug, completely different name)
Nurofen (ibuprofen) - Advil 
Amethocaine or Angel cream (topical anaesthetic cream) - Ametop
Wee - Pee
Nappy - Diaper
Bubs - Babies
(Sidebar - Can you imagine the looks I get when I ask about babies, pee and diapers at work? Oh, and for the record, the top of a baby's bottle is a teat, not a nipple. *sigh*)
Cannula or drip - An intravenous, or IV as we would refer to them at home
"The cannula has tissued" - "The IV has gone interstitial" - Or in layman's terms, "the IV is no longer in the vein" 
Bloods - Bloodwork
Ambo - EMT/Paramedic

When you write the date on a chart, it's day, month, year, which makes sense, but then I start to second guess myself, and the order of things and get all confused and wind up sneaking a peek at something else to figure out the right way to write the date.

Around the home

Lift - Elevator
Roller door - Garage door
Spanner - Wrench
Lounge - Sofa
Air Con - air conditioning, not a new airline catering to convicts (bahaha!)
Thongs - Flip Flops, sandals
Toilet - Washroom/Bathroom/Restroom/etc.
Rubbish bin/Wheelie bin - garbage can

Well, that's all for now folks!

Christmas in Oz!

Hello again!

I thought I would share some pictures from our first Australian Christmas. It certainly was a different kind of Christmas this year!

Our Target Christmas tree

Before Christmas, my parents and I participated in the inaugural Inter-Continental Christmas Cinnamon Bun Bake Off. We set up our respective computers in our kitchens, started a FaceTime chat and made cinnamon buns together. It was so much fun, it almost felt like we were in the kitchen together baking. Almost.

The Inaugural Inter-Continental Christmas Cinnamon Bun Bake Off begins!

You know the saying, "it's 5 o'clock somewhere"? Well, I made good use of it on baking day. And it was close to 5pm in Calgary, so I felt justified in my mid morning drinking. (Don't worry, I CAGE'd myself before imbibing.)

I was showing my parents the finished product

We chuckled to ourselves on Christmas eve, because the air con was on full blast and it was warm and humid outside, creating condensation on our patio sliding doors. It was almost like at home, when it gets so cold outside that it causes the condensation on the inside of windows to freeze. Don't worry, our air conditioner wasn't able to create frost, but in a weird way, it felt a little like home, but backwards. But hey, we are "down under" after all!

Santa was doing some pre Christmas jet-skiing on the Brisbane River earlier on Christmas eve day.

On Christmas Day we woke up and did some more mid-morning drinking.
Mimosas, just like at home!
And we had our cinnamon buns, just like at home!
And we sat on the patio, because it was already 28 degrees outside, just like at... Oh no, wait, that's different...

Merry Christmas!

Chrismosas

Cinnamon buns

Patio time

Chilling on the patio

At this point we decided to embrace the lack of cold weather and snow, and we headed to the beach for the afternoon.

Just laying in the water

Playing in the waves

Mudjimba North Shore beach

There was sand everywhere in our car after this...

He's a water dog, through and through

Alan & Jasper

Amanda & Jasper

We headed home, and made our Christmas dinner (just like at home!) and sat on the patio to enjoy it (not just like at home!)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!