but what do you mean??

hello. are you having a nice sunday? i am. i've somehow managed to shake off all the stress and unhappiness from work and reach a point of calm laziness. this was, of course, helped along by having friday off, and therefore enjoying a 3 day weekend!

i had actually had something in mind to write about this week, but it would seem that all the relaxing has lead me to forget.

i could talk about houses, and how even the word house has different connotations for people. you know last week when i was ranting about things i couldn't get used to? well in part it has to do with language, and how two people, both from countries that speak the same language, can have no idea what the other person is talking about.

for example, a bungalow (according to jeff) is a house that has only one level. it isn't a house unless it has two levels. hence my husband describing australian houses as being mostly bungalows. to me a bungalow is more like a cottage, although it could have more than one level and still be a cottage. but the defining factor is that it's small. most australian houses aren't small, so i would describe them as a house.

a flat is different to an apartment, although the only explanation i've been able to figure out for this is that an apartment is a posh flat. i've always used those words interchangeably, and unit as well, as in "it's a nice 2 bed flat/apartment/unit." so when a colleague of mine at work was complaining about a property she had seen advertised, i was confused when she said "i hate when they advertise a flat as an apartment, when it's quite clearly a flat!"

language, i think, is as much about the picture in your head, as the word that you use. which i guess explains why most people look confused when i say i chose to live here rather than australia, because this is all they see...


ps happy australia day for last wednesday!

things i can't get used to:

shops that open at 10am on a sunday, but don't open the till until 10.30.
the indicator in my car being on the left side of the steering column.
pants are underpants, not trousers.
lollies are called sweeties (which, incidentally, makes me feel like a creepy old man every time i say it).
there is no milo here.
cordial is called squash, and most juice is made from concentrate.
journalists are overly aggressive.

there are more, only i can't think of them first thing sunday morning before i've had a cup of tea!

ok, i'll freely admit that this is a bit of a rant, but i guess i'm surprised at how i expected this place to be more like australia. generally speaking it is, but there are more little differences than i thought there would be.

of course, it's not all irritation and annoyance.

things that i love:

beautiful, green countryside.
jacket potatoes with baked beans and cheese.
cider.
people calling me flower.
that the geordie accent now sounds normal.
that i work near the seaside.

see? if you look hard enough you can always find something nice.

i've spent the last week glued to the internet looking at photos of the flooding in queensland. what's been surprising for me is the amount of media coverage the floods have gotten over here. although i guess it's not so surprising given the number of people that have told me about relatives/friends they have over there.

all the flooding does help to put ones own weather into perspective, and it has made me somewhat reluctant to complain about the rainy weather here. not completely mind! i am finding myself becoming somewhat acclimatised. jeff almost laughed himself silly the other week when i commented on how warm it was at 4 degrees! before you know it i'll be like one of the local geordie lass's, heading out for a night of binge drinking and misbehaviour, dressed only in my shortest dress and my tallest high heels!

goerdie lass's are something of a phenomenon in england, known far and wide for their tolerance of the cold. i kid you not, i have seen girls at the bus stop waiting to head into town in mini dresses and no coat when it was minus 3 or 4 outside!

here's a random pic from the net that'll give you some idea of what i'm talking about.

yes, i know one girl is wearing a coat, but i'd like to draw your attention to the snow on the ground. and the length of the blond girls skirt!

the newcastle centre for life, which is an organisation that researches life and how it works (their words, not mine) have apparently undertaken a study in the past to see why geordie girls are more tolerant of the cold than their southern counterparts! they think it might have something to do with how thick skinned they are!

and they amount of fat they eat too. I mean, after all, anywhere that classifies a baked potato with beans and cheese as a healthy lunch is probably going to be chucking down the starchy, fatty treats with wild abandon!

i've mentioned communication before, i know, but i had an interesting experience at work this week, whereby something that i said was completely misunderstood with the impact that i've been shifted from one floor to another. since then i've been thinking about whether or not it is just a cultural communication breakdown, or my inability to correctly use the english language. it has been pointed out to me, with some glee, that english is a second language, given that i learnt australian!

and i did have a strange moment when driving to work one morning listening to the radio. the bbc was interviewing some people in queensland about the floods, and i thought to myself "eeee, listen to that accent!". I hadn't realised before that the geordie accent now sounded normal to me. i never really had that moment in japan, what with my united colours of beneton group of friends.

so with the locals sounding normal, and with me approaching my six month mark, you think that i would be better at getting my point across, right? apparently not.

but it's an interesting challenge, teaching these lot how to understand me. i'm thinking of making up some flashcards. no point in letting three years of language education go to waste!