Alone for the holidays... maybe not!

This is the first time I’ve ever been away from home for the holidays. Love ‘em or hate ‘em you do want to be around your family during the holidays. My trip began as Christmas season was in full swing which made it very weird saying goodbye. Most of my family gave me my gifts before I left and threw many goodbye dinners. It really was weird saying goodbye, but I did. Reminders were everywhere!

Christmas tree at Seoul City Hall

Funny enough reminders of Christmas were everywhere in Seoul. There were plenty of Christmas trees, some of which were quite spectacular. As well there were the traditional Christmas tunes playing in the shopping malls. The one that I really found cute was the k-pop version of Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, made me chuckle but a little sad at the same time as it reminded me that I’m on my own. I was also in town for Santacon, which is a global gathering of people dressed up as santa. As I was coming home, Hongik University station was overrun with people dressed up as santa singing carols. What was great was that it was all foreigners and they invaded the bar area. It was quite the night lol! I managed to survive the holiday season in Seoul, but that was just the beginning, as they hadn’t even happened yet.

SataCon @ Hongik Univ. Station - Seoul                                 

One day surfing on facebook I somehow glanced at the people you may know... portion of the newsfeed and saw a name that I knew well many years ago. Funny enough... he was living in Sydney. Got in touch and found out he was going to be on his own for the holidays as well, so what better way to spend the holidays than together? Rob was nice enough to let me crash on his couch for both Christmas and NYE and every day in between, and a bit after. I got to have my first ever Filipino meal when a coworker of his graciously invited us both to spend Christmas Eve with their family. Christmas day I spent visiting the Opera House which gave me an amazing photo op as nobody was around, as well as stuffed my face with yakiniku, the Japanese BBQ. It was a lot of fun and definitely helped relieve some of those holiday blues being on the other side of the world. It was really odd Skyping with the family as I’m pretty much a day ahead, and the Christmas moment was done and it was Boxing day by the time we spoke.

Christmas with my mates in Sydney.

It’s definitely weird being surrounded by beaches and palm trees when you’re so used to snow and pine trees. I was a little shocked as well as the Christmas decorations weren’t as prevalent as they were in Seoul. In the end it just didn’t feel the same... but don’t get me wrong, it was still great to be on a beach on Boxing Day rather than freezing my butt off! I was very fortunate to be taken in by Rob and his friends at Christmas time. I had originally resigned myself to spending the day on Skype and watching Die Hard movies (truly a guy oriented Christmas movie series!) Sounds like fun doesn’t it... thankfully it didn’t come to that...

50 Things I’ve Learned In Australia

1. Melbourne is pronounced Melburn and not Mel-boorne. You WILL be corrected on that!

2. Bogan is slang for white trash/hillbillies.

3. There are heaps of Irish here!

4. On that note there are a lot of French as well.

5. Tomato sauce is ketchup, so it’s ok if someone offers to put some on your fries.

6. Rice Krispies are referred to as Rice Bubbles here.

7. They have drive through bottle shops (liquor stores) here which kicks ass.

8. Thongs go on your feet and not on your privates.

The Australian breakfast of champions!

9. Vegemite is meant to be spread on toast, not eaten by itself.

10. Goon refers to a 4L box of wine you can purchase for $10 here in Australia. It tastes like ass and will give you a nasty hangover!

11. NOBODY drinks fosters here... The commercials we saw in North America were lies!

12. The national colours are green and gold.

13. JB HI-FI is the equivalent of Future Shop/Best Buy.

14. Nobody here eats kangaroo, but it’s a nice lean meat and pretty tasty. It can be a little tough so make sure you cook it right!

15. The sun here is STRONG! Always wear sunscreen and try to wear a hat.

16. Green peppers are referred to as capsicum here. So when you order your pizza or pasta and you’re expecting something new and exotic, don’t get your hopes up!

17. If you’re a guy and you like short-shorts, you’ll LOVE Australia!

18. Women here actually like to dress up to go out (and by dress up I mean an actual dress and heels). Sadly it’s getting quite rare to see this back home.

19. I’ve spoken French every day here in Melbourne due to the number of Frenchmen here. On that note they HATE our accent and some seem to have trouble understanding it.

20. Don’t use Greyhounds here in Oz, find out why in The Australian Toilet Experience.

21. Coolers (the ones we stick beer and food in) are referred to as eskis here.

22. Dick Smith Electronics is the equivalent of Radio Shack/The Source.

23. Tomato sauce does NOT go on pasta... PASTA sauce goes on pasta.

24. Rock melons are cantaloupe.

25. Pints in this country are overpriced sitting around the $10 range. Schooners (473mL) are your best bet.

26. On that same note there’s no standardized beer size names so a schooner can mean a different thing in a different state.

27. ALDI is a lifesaver if you’re on a shoestring budget, cheap groceries and beer!

28. Bars here are referred to as hotels. So you’ll see a LOT of hotels when walking about the city, but not all of them necessarily have accommodation.

29. Brothels are LEGAL in Australia. There’s actually one up for sale down the road where I live with a BIG sign “BROTHEL FOR SALE.”

30. Never ask for a “bathroom,” ask for a “toilet.” Restaurants and bars might tell you they don’t have a “bathroom” as they’ll think you’re looking to take a bath/shower.

31. There’s no such thing as a double-double here in Australia.

32. The meat pies here are amazing!

33. For some reason it seems that the smaller the coin here in Australia the more it’s worth. The $2 coin is the smallest whereas the 50c coin is massive!

34. Just like traffic drives on the left, everyone walks on the left, stands on the escalator to the left etc. After being here a while you will be able to point out the tourists.

35. VB is bogan beer, don’t be caught drinking it!

36. The flies here are annoying as hell, they go straight for your mouth, eyes, or nostrils. You will at some point slap yourself if you’re staying out in the bush.

37. Australia has some really weird TV shows. For example: Please Marry My Boy where mums go on national TV to try and find their beta sons a wife.

38. Holden cars = GM cars

39. Porterhouse steaks here are striploin steaks in North America. Regardless you can find some $12 porterhouse steak specials at certain bars which is still a great deal.

40. You will barely meet any Australians if you’re doing the hostelling thing down here.

41. Almost every industry here is regulated to death, and if not has some government agency sticking it’s nose into it. I would probably never open a business here.

42. You will sign A LOT of waivers here. I had to sign one to go on a pub crawl with a hostel here once.

43. The Axe line of men’s products is called Lynx here.

44. Melbourne loves its footy while Sydney tends to prefer rugby.

45. They do have a basketball league here in Oz (The NBL) and it’s still pretty big.

46. A lot of downtown restaurants and cafes won’t have a toilet in them, be warned!

47. People here refer to downtown as the CBD (Central Business District).

48. They don’t do 12-packs of beer here in Australia.

49. Subway here offers guacamole and pineapple as toppings!

Happy Australia Day mates!

50. Happy Australia Day, January 26!

Australia - Quirky Things

So I’ve been here in the land of Oz for just over a month now, and so far my stay here’s been great. I have however managed to have plenty of “foreigner moments” (one of which was my coffee experience) where something as simple as a different word or way of doing things causes loads of confusion. At the time I usually get frustrated but usually a few hours later I look back on it and laugh. Here are a few of the funny things I’ve noticed here in Australia as well as a few of my “foreigner moments”.

Does this look like spaghetti to you?

Not what I was expecting...

I had an interesting time one afternoon in Sydney where me and my friend Rob ordered some fish and chips at a restaurant by the beach. My food came out and as I started to eat, the waiter comes by and asks me if I would like tomato sauce with my meal. The question made no sense so I just give the waiter a weird look and ask him to repeat himself. “Would you like some tomato sauce with your meal?” Still didn’t compute, even though I understood what he said. At the tip of my tongue I was gonna ask him “Does this look like spaghetti to you?” but thankfully Rob butted in. “Yes he’ll take some” and low and behold a bottle of ketchup shows up at our table. After arriving back in Melbourne I met a girl from Perth who was staying in my dorm. After telling her this story I couldn’t help but ask... “What do you put on your pasta then?” “Pasta sauce silly!” Wow...

Where do I look?

Can't miss it!

Us foreigners arriving from North America are definitely not used to traffic that drives on the left. Thankfully places like Sydney expect that and have painted signs at each crosswalk telling us where to look so that we don’t get killed. Trust me, they are doing us a favor as looking RIGHT first just seems completely wrong and takes weeks to fully get used to. In Sydney I got a sort of vacation where I would just follow the sign’s directions. Here in Melbourne on the other hand, instead of signs on the road there’s a much more high tech system in place to help pedestrians like me adjust to my new surroundings. As I go to cross the street, should I happen to look the wrong way, a progressively loud honking noise will alert me that I looked the wrong way. Thanks to this system (and a few close calls!), my brain is now well trained to look RIGHT first.

Huh? Why’s it called that?

Well...at least I still got a whopper!

Some stuff that we have all around the world, unfortunately due to copyright and naming issues goes under different names here in Australia. I remembered researching fast food chains to see if there was maybe anything original here in Oz. Ta-da! Hungry Jack’s came up. I was excited to try this exciting new Australian fast food experience. Well... I got a little confused when I got to Hungry Jack’s as the logo looked kinda familiar...but no...couldn’t be! I was still optimistic as maybe somebody had just got to it first. Well I went inside and they were serving whoppers so nope...same ol’ BK! (Do they refer to it as HJ here? *giggity*) You’ll notice that as well when you go to the supermarket and walk down the grocery aisle. To my shock and dismay, Snap Crackle and Pop were NOT on a box of Rice Krispies but on a box of “Rice Bubbles.” *Sigh*

As you can see I’ve had some interesting moments as an outsider here in Australia. A sense of humour is key in these situations as it can be quite frustrating. Thankfully I can look back on these moments and laugh as otherwise I’d be very angry and bitter. The old motto “It’s not wrong, just different” applies when you’re immersing yourself in a new culture. As similar as both our countries are, there are still some differences, and it’s the subtle differences that are the hardest to adapt to.

The Australian Toilet Experience

Everyone has seen the Simpsons episode where Bart visits Australia regarding the whole toilets flushing counter clockwise. I hate to say this but despite the massive amount of requests that I’ve received to film and post on Youtube a toilet flushing counter clockwise, it just won’t happen... But on that note, let’s talk about Australian toilets as they sure have been an experience for me since arriving here a month ago.

Your average plain Jane toilet here in Oz.

This my friends is your normal Aussie toilet. You’ll notice the two flush buttons on the top. Here in the land of Oz there’s a huge water conservation movement going on as this is the driest continent on the planet. One button is a half flush and the other is a full flush. The one thing about the toilets here is that they do not swirl. It’s basically as if somebody is dumping a bucket of water in the toilet to flush whatever it is you left in there down the drain. So when you do get here, don’t be expecting like the Simpsons and get a counterclockwise swirl.

Urinals here in Oz, it's just one big tub!

All right men, let’s talk urinals! Now I went through a lot of trouble to get this photo, as if anyone would have walked in I would have been on my way to the local hospital. This is actually a sort of luxury urinal as you’re not standing over a grill watching your urine go down the drain. You’ll also notice that unlike in North America, privacy is NOT guaranteed here. Back home we have individual urinals as the norm, in some cases we even place walls in between them, here they’re only in the fancy places. Those who have trouble going with others around might need to reconsider a trip here!

Flies everywhere!!!

Now let’s start talking about unconventional toilets here in Oz. Above we have a picture of my first outhouse toilet here in Australia which I had the pleasure of experiencing on my first weekend camping along the great ocean road. I really had to go the first time I visited this toilet, but as soon as I raised the lid I had an unpleasant surprise! All of a sudden all I heard was buzz buzz buzz which I thought was bees. I got laughed at when I asked about all the buzzing as I was terrified of getting stung. Turns out it was flies all along! The flies here are something else, but that’s a whole other blog post.

Ugh this was disgusting!

This my friends is the worst of the worst toilets I’ve ever been exposed to in my life. I had the pleasure of visiting this gem while on the greyhound bus from Melbourne to Sydney, which is a 12hr bus ride. This has to be the closest thing to a 3rd world toilet I’ve ever experienced. There is NO water to flush. The flush mechanism is basically a flap at the bottom that opens up. There was also no toilet paper for people to wipe themselves. I had a mixture of anger and pity for the girl who had explosive diarrhea 1 hr into the 12hr trip. While I was angry that she stank up the bus so early into the journey, she also couldn’t wipe herself till either Sydney or Canberra. This is by far the worst toilet I’ve ever visited...EVER!

As you can see, I’ve had some interesting experiences with the toilets down here in Oz. While my experience is nothing compared to the adventure in the Simpsons episode, it’s still pretty interesting. It can be a little bit of an adjustment from the luxurious North American toilets we’re almost all accustomed to, but easy enough it’s not that much work. Just be sure to remember that in the bush, that buzzing sound is probably flies, and avoid the greyhound toilet at all costs!

Seoul - Reminders of War

Seoul was absolutely amazing, probably the best city I've ever visited so far. Crime is very low, public transit is dirt cheap and impeccable, everything tourism related is in 4 languages (Korean, English, Japanese and Mandarin), great food, and the nightlife kicks ass. I also mentioned in a post some of the weird quirky things that I had noticed while travelling. There was however one thing I noticed in particular, even more so after visiting the DMZ, that the city is ready for any attack!

I'm not gonna give you a full historical background on the Korean War as that's what textbooks and teachers are for, but to quickly sum it up, the two sides are technically at war. The North and South never actually signed a peace agreement, only an armistice. The DMZ border area is probably one of the most armed areas in the world. Interestingly enough, the long time North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il died which has sent the peninsula into a sort of red-alert status. I was quite privileged to have visited the DMZ when I did as for now visits are probably heavily restricted if not cancelled due to the heightened tensions.

Had the guide not said anything I'd never have noticed...

On the way to the DMZ was my first point of realization of how "ready" the city is. Our tour bus coming along the freeway was passing under this massive underpass which had a huge billboard on it. The underpass was under this massive block of cement (say 30ft high, 30 feet deep, and long enough to cover 4 freeway lanes). Our tour guide explained that this was no ordinary billboard/underpass but a tank trap to help delay the North's army from reaching Seoul. Our guide went on to explain (in a surprisingly non-chalant way) that there were 10 of these traps and that each trap would slow the North down by 9 minutes, giving them a 90min head start to evacuate the city. 

Sign pointing to shelter.

Another interesting reminder of Seoul's readiness for an attack lies in its subways and underground networks which also double as bomb shelters. The symbol above denotes that whatever building/station you're entering is an actual bomb shelter. There are quite a few of these as the city is still within range of a Northern mortar attack. Eight months out of the year, on the 15th of the month they hold drills where the air raid sirens go off and everyone needs to go to the nearest shelter. Thankfully a) I knew this before going and b) this didn't happen while I was there as I would have crapped myself!

Gas mask anyone?

Finally, the last and personally most disturbing reminder of the state of affairs on the peninsula, is the fact that there are boxes like the above in all subway stations. It’s a little disturbing looking over and seeing a gas mask dispenser while waiting for the subway. These are there in case of a similar attack as in the nerve gas attack in Tokyo, or a fire. These could be perpetrated by Northern infiltrators/spies. Even worse is you have videos while on the subway instructing you on how to wear the gas mask and escape. Not the sort of thing I want to think about while on my way sightseeing!

Seoul is an amazing place, fantastically fun, but sadly next to the most schizophrenic nation on the planet. You can’t help but sympathize with them for going to such lengths to ensure the security of their people. As an outsider looking in I can’t help but be made a little uneasy when seeng all this, but for the Koreans, this is everyday life. Seriously folks, don’t let this put you off, this city is an absolute treasure with so much to offer. I’d maybe just wait a bit until things cool off before going back!

A Regular Coffee - Is It That Complicated?

So I’ve made it here in Australia which is fantastic. It is nice being in a country where I understand everything around me. While in Korea for example I needed moisturizer BADLY for my hands (no gloves and winter cold dried them up to a nice red cracked color) I was scared away from going into the pharmacy as all the products were in Korean. That’s one of the wonders of being here in an English speaking country. But don’t be fooled, everything is not like it is back home! Simple things such as crossing the street were a struggle for me after arriving as cars here drive on the left. It took so much work just to make sure I look right first THEN left. It’s some of the small things like these that kind of get to you at first. You get frustrated when simple things such as crossing the road feel like university level calculus to get used to. I’m sure when I get behind the wheel it’ll probably be as bad as rocket science.

The biggest gripe I have right now here in Melbs is coffee. Honestly I just want a regular cup of joe like back home served double-double, is that too hard to ask? Ordering coffee here is a pain in the ass as whenever I get up to the counter and ask for a coffee it seems like we have to go through this complex mathematical equation just to get something remotely good.

My first experience here in Melbs was last Thursday. I was at my orientation meeting for my working holiday program which was fantastic, also got to do it in French as it was a Frenchman giving it to me and I was the only one (Francophonie en Australie? Moi je dit oui!). At break time I went downstairs to get myself a coffee as I was dying for one. I get down there and it’s a mildly fancy coffee shop. I go up to the counter and ask for a small coffee. “What kind of coffee?” Ok fine Americano. “You sure about that?” Yeah. “Milk or Cream?” I can’t do that myself? “We do it for you” 2 sugars too? (gives me a dirty look). “Takeaway or for here” Takeaway. 5min later I finally get my coffee, which to be honest wasn’t that great and for $4 this is ridiculous.

Fast forward to yesterday, I step into McD’s for breakfast and all I want with my hotcakes is a damn coffee double-double. My order was going fine up until coffee was mentionned... I want a Medium coffee with that. “Will that be a cappucino?” No just a regular coffee “A black coffee sir?” Yeah sure but could I get 2 creams and 2 sugars with that? “Sorry sir we don’t have cream here” Fine milk will do. My coffee comes back all full of froth on top, sigh...

My Medium flat white, which cost me AUD$3.70

I’ve made it over to another McD’s (Macca’s here - pronounced Mackers) and I’m having a cappucino as I didn’t feel like struggling again. People look at me like a mad man when I order my coffee. Honestly forget about regular North American coffee over here, even 7-Eleven has a F@!#ing barista in it. No joke there. My Canadian friends here have recommended that I go for a flat white, saying that it's as close as I'll get to what was back home. It's ok but there's still milk froth on the top which I hate! Hopefully at some point I’ll be able to get a regular cup of coffee, in the mean time I guess I’ll put up with all this pretentious coffee...

Seoul - Quirky Things

Seoul is an amazing city with plenty to offer. Also, being my first time here in Asia there is a little bit of culture shock/weird things to get used to. For the most part these are little things, nothing like stray dogs. But here’s a few things that caught my eye while here:

Hear hear for beer!

People here (men for the most part) love to get rip roarin’ smashed, any night of the week! It’s quite normal on the subway to see a guy in a suit passed out. But what really got me was when I had the pleasure of taking the last train of the night. It was completely stainless steel inside, no upholstery and with good reason! The stench of booze was incredibly strong... Thankfully nobody got sick on the train, but there were a few puddles on the steps coming out of the subway, gross!

Also when it comes to nightlife, there are some really good deals to get YOU rip-roarin’ smashed. One of my nights I went clubbing, walking around I was bombarded by touts trying to get me into their club. The one who was successful was advertising 15,000won cover, admission to 3 clubs, free drinks from 11-12am. It was a fun night :)

This can't be good...

Foreigners tend to stick together

One of the interesting things I’ve experienced here while in Seoul is that it seems when walking down the street and seeing another white guy, there will almost always be a smile/nod/wave. While I’d say the culture shock rating for this country is pretty low, the one thing you’ll realize shortly after getting off your flight is that you’re the minority. If you feel homesick, you can always head over to Itaewon which is the foreigner district. While on the subway approaching Itaewon, you’ll notice more and more foreigners boarding the train. The best way to sum up the feeling of walking around the main street of Itaewon (the side streets are scuzzy, notably hooker hill and its gay counterpart) is that you’ll feel like you’re in a Chinatown in North America. You’re still outnumbered, but not as much as before.

Bad...bad...drivers

Yeah I said it... But to be perfectly honest it’s true. While here I’ve seem many close calls, luckily none of them involved me. It seems as though there are no rules against using your mobile device while driving and I’ve seen countless drivers yaking on their phone. The best example is while in Myeong-dong, a very busy shopping district, you have a street which is pretty much a pedestrian walkway as there are thousands of people walking on the street and there are drivers making their way through them...while talking on their damn phone! No wonder this country has a ridiculous traffic mortality rate... Always remember to look both ways before you cross the road! For some of the bigger roads in busy areas, look for underpasses as there are plenty of them as the main big roads have gates separating traffic.

A busy street in Myeong-dong.

Subway Merchants

One of the weirdest things that I noticed is that there seems to be no rules here in Seoul regarding soliciting passengers on the trains. At any point some guy might come on the train and start yelling about his products. He’ll then start walking around and showing off his trinkets to other passengers. I’ve never seen anything like this and am sure that they’d be kicked off if we were in North America.

A subway merchant doing his thing.

As I said earlier, the culture shock rating for this country is low. Everyone speaks a basic form of English, and most info is available to you in English as well. Most stuff that we have in the west is available here. There’s gonna be plenty of things you’ll notice that are different, but for the most part nothing major. Have you been here? I’d love to hear your observations.