Same vs. Different

I have been reflecting on how our lives here are the same and how they are different from how our lives back in Northern Virginia.

Same

Different

When it comes to popular chain stores, there are quite a few big ones that are the same, like Target and Ikea. There are many of the same designer retail brands. Men's fashion, although more men wear tank tops here. We eat pretty similarly to how we ate at home. I will cook pasta and simple dishes, and we have sandwich fixins lying around, most of the same common produce, etc. We live with at least one feline. We play ultimate frisbee (although there are some small differences within the game, like "the cup" is known as "the wall"). We have access to all of our other usual hobbies and then some. We are far from friends. Yes, the bulk of our friends were in the DC area, but we have always had some good friends that were far away, so I was definitely used to not seeing them everyday and communicating via the internet. At least for now, we have access to a lot of shows and movies we watch at home because of our roommate's TV setup. Michael has the same job, just with a different client. The language is obviously the same, with some different slang. Our technology is generally the same. People use all the same gadgets. Rush hour is the same. Lots of people in their fancy business clothes go from one place to the other.

Haggling is more common here. There are more places where it is commonplace like Chinatown, open air markets, gumtree (like craigslist), and even at retail appliance stores. Women's Fashion. Women wear really short shorts and skirts. When they're dressed for work, they still wear pretty tight or fashionable clothes.  There are generally more fit and attractive people out and about. There are more outdoor cafes and independent businesses; this gives some streets a more European ambiance. This is more personal choice than how things are here, but we don't have a car and so we have to walk, bike (we just got used bikes!), and take public transportation (trains, buses, ferries) everywhere. A big difference in biking is that drivers are a lot more aggressive here and less willing to give you right of way, or even a reasonable amount of space, so you need to just always be aware. At some point we will need to rent cars for moving and traveling purposes, but so far we haven't yet. This is lowering our carbon footprint and making us more fit. Hooray! Navigating the real estate system simply for a rental is tougher. I have to grocery shop with a slightly different strategy. While there are mostly the same foods available, in addition to some foods you can't get regularly at home (dragonfruit and lychees are available at normal grocery stores and not just asian grocery stores, you can get kangaroo steak, etc.), different kinds of produce are more or less expensive than they were at home. Apples are really expensive. Grapes are cheaper. Berries cost about the same. So I adjust what I buy to whatever is on sale or cheaper, kind of like I did at home, it's just different stuff. Along the same lines of food, eating out is more expensive. It's more common to find a place where a main course is $30+ than $10-20. This just means we have to seek out the cheap but still well-rated places, and instead of getting main courses maybe we split an appetizer or two and get a salad. Also, the word "entree" on a menu is actually what we think of as an appetizer. So, it looks strange to see "Entrees" and then below them, "Main Courses". We have a shared living situation until we move into our apartment. It's like we temporarily traded one of our cats for a human. Here we find ourselves a part of the "ex-pat" culture. We end up meeting lots of other ex-pats and not as many natives of Australia. We see and talk to our families less but make more of an effort to communicate with them online. The beach and harbor are very accessible. At home we would have to drive a couple of hours to get to a beach. Here we can ride our bikes or take a half hour bus ride and jump in the water. The city wildlife is a little different. No squirrels or chipmunks. I've already shown you guys a picture of an ibis. In addition, there are a lot of flying foxes (GIANT BATS) in the parks. We're not talking tiny little things that flap their wings so fast it's hard to tell if they're a bat or a bird. These are giant bats that glide on their wings and ain't afraid of nobody. Actually, we call the park where we play ultimate the "Bat Super Highway" because right around sunset a swarm of them flies north over the park. The weather is more reliably the same from day to day. The day is warm, the night is cool and breezy. Rarely, it drizzles.

OK, I have written enough.