Let me start by saying that my previews of this post were pure let-downs. Sorry, folks, but I really didn’t go out to celebrate my birthday. And Learn-to-Surf Day didn’t beat me up quite as much as I thought it would. Pictures from that event will come next week, so I’ll save that story for another post. The reason I didn’t celebrate my birthday, however, can be discussed.
I think women need to be on equal ground with men, no doubt. I didn’t do any studies, polls or surveys, but I’m pretty sure more women are getting “in tune” with sports and being “one of the guys.” But women need to pull their weight with drinking, and no, I’m not trying to encourage alcoholism. I just want “Men’s Night” at a bar. You know, discounted drinks for all guys before 10 p.m. No cover charge for men on a certain night of the week. That’d be great.
It’d hold even more value in Australia, where last Thursday, on Ladies’ Night at local pub P.J. O’Brien’s, I spent $7.80 on a beer. The U.S. dollar traded at about 80 cents per Australian dollar, putting that beer at about $6.25 USD… for a beer. It didn’t come in a gold-plated mug or even with a coupon for a dollar off a basket of potato wedges. It was just a pint of beer, 16 ounces.
Even though the pint was pretty good (Toohey’s Extra Dry), I wanted to try and get bang for the buck as well as try something different. I asked about rum and coke because I heard liquor was cheaper than beer in Australia (an odd thought in the States), which it was, at least at this pub - $7. It wasn’t bad either, but at this point, I had spent $14.80 on two drinks. That is the equivalent to a week’s pay at my job – I’ll get to that story soon.
That was the last drink I had that night, one part due to the prices and another part due to the fact that buses only run after midnight on Saturday nights. I don’t mind, though, it’s just nice to have a drink with friends and see what everyone’s up to – overall it was a good (yet expensive) night.
Being with friends is a little harder here, too, mostly due to the fact that the University of South Australia has no residence halls. I don’t have a cell phone here (well, they’re called “mobiles,” but you get the point), making facebook messaging the biggest way of contacting someone. Most of the Australian students in my classes are really great, but it would take a huge planning crew just for everyone to be able to meet up on the weekends at the same place.
For one thing, a lot of the students work and they work all over the place. Secondly, they live all over the place, too. Put those things together and it gets really tough to squeeze in a night of hanging out with a lot of people at the same time. Being at a campus like Ohio University’s is great because everyone is on basically the same class schedule and almost everyone lives within walking distance of everyone else. Even those who have to close down on the night shift are close enough to walk and finish off the night with friends. They’re little things I take for granted.
Since everyone else here has a job and I’m running out of money, I’ve been trying to find a job here basically since I stepped out of the plane and into Adelaide. I’ve been extremely unsuccessful. Recently I found the only call-back to my inquiries – a position delivering a once-weekly newspaper. The terms: $15 per week to deliver 300 papers to residents around where I live. Oh, and I get $6 per insert that goes into the paper. I start next week.
The best part is that I can’t even officially work yet. I’ve been trying to apply for my “Permission to Work” for weeks now and it’s finally coming to a close (hopefully). Just like my student visa debacle, I tried to apply online, but had to settle for the paper application when some number or type of input was incorrect. In fact, I might not even be able to work next week because I won’t technically be allowed to work yet, even though I’ve been trying to get this sorted out for weeks.
Once I finally DO receive the permission, it costs $60, which means I’ll have to work 3-4 weeks just to make up the amount of money that I’m spending simply to have the right to work here. Since we’re taking a two-and-a-half week vacation in September, I’ll be missing two weeks there as well, meaning I will deliver for, at most, 8 total weeks. Here’s hoping the advertisers come out in droves ($6 per insert is terrific, haha).
Even though the buses only run late on Saturday nights, the shops and grocery stores only stay open late on Friday evenings. I still haven’t seen a 24-hour store, except for small convenience stores. I just don’t get why no one would be open for an extended time. I guess Australians don’t really stay up late and just walk around their version of Kroger’s when they’re bored. OK, so most Americans probably don’t do that either – my friends and I are just the special cases.
Restaurants are the same way with an even crazier stance. Most places that aren’t fast food or delis close to the public between lunch and dinner hours. Even if it’s just an hour or two, they’ll close, windows dark until the next meal time comes along. As far as convenience for customers, this move ranks pretty low. When considering overall costs, however, it’s probably a smart move. Two hours of saved wages, utilities and hassles during a time when the customer per hour rate is pretty low.
What really gets me at restaurants is a terrible habit that seems unfathomable to me. Most fast food restaurant patrons take all their trash, put it on their tray and dump it in the wastebasket before leaving the place. Here in Australia, none of the above takes place. We thought it was an isolated instance; just one group of kids who wanted to be jerks to the workers. But over and over we find people finishing their meals and leaving their trash for someone else to pick up – and that usually means the next people who want to sit down.
If not for the consideration of other people who want to sit down and enjoy their meal, why not clean up your spot to help the restaurant workers?? They already work in a fast food place and helped fill your stomach. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like that in the U.S., but maybe I’m just not in the right place at the right time or haven’t noticed. I just like to hope that Americans are better than that. Or maybe the “Obese States of America” are just getting more practice cleaning up after themselves than everyone else.
It’s been a fairly quiet last few weeks, which was welcomed after all the traveling we did in the first month that we were here. There are only a few weeks before the biggest and longest excursion in our time here, so the rest will be needed. And in just one week we hit the midway point of our time here in Australia. When that comes around I’ll bring you a list of “Things I’m Missing” so far. I’m compiling it as I go and I’ll let you know it’s pretty interesting and mostly deals with food.
+Notes: Australians seem to love automatic sliding entry doors. I’ve never been in a place that’s had this many of them. Walking around Rundle Mall is just a long line of automatic doors that are constantly sliding open, then sliding closed. At first I thought it to be completely unnecessary, but I’ve warmed up to it since. That might be because I’ve never had to sit at the front desk in a store and hear the doors slide constantly all day long.
I went from “Men’s Nights” in bars to automatic sliding doors in the matter of just one blog post. If that’s not reason enough to come back for more, then you’ll want to read all about the biggest things I’m missing on this trip, as well as all of the random thoughts from me that I KNOW you’re missing. Plus, I should have the Learn-to-Surf stuff ready to post.
That’s it for now. Love you all in the states, check back for all the goods.
From the other side of the globe, I’m Kevin Hunt.
If you want to see me soon, start digging.
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