Some Unexpected Things
I’m an over thinker. There’s no doubt about that. I question everyone and everything until I’m just satisfied enough to fall asleep at night and then start the whole process over again the next day. I’m slowly refining the art, however, of trying to keep an open mind and I think I’m making progress. Naturally, I have good and bad days and, as healthy as I think it was for me to leave the states for a while, I won’t be able to truly gauge how far I’ve come until I settle back into life at home.
I have gained so much by immersing myself in Australian life that it’s hard to describe. By inserting myself into a foreign environment, I’ve stretched, tested, and expanded upon my ability to expect the unexpected. Sitting here at my desk with less than three weeks until I touch down in New Jersey, I believe I’ve become a happier, healthier, and more well-adjusted person. The real test, naturally, will hit sometime between the holidays next month and when I have to move back to Rutgers in January but I’m optimistic that all of the good things I’ve taken from being abroad will be last me until long after I leave Australia.
That being said, I have to start off a short list of things I will miss about this great country. The element of surprise in interacting with Australians is crucial. It’s something that took me a long time to refine and a skill I wish I had mastered sooner. I’m talking about an open mind. Now, I’ve found that Americans generally have a reputation for being loud and outgoing. Friendly certainly falls into this category and definitely applies to a lot of the people I’ve met here but Australians, I believe, take this quality to a whole another level. Being in Australia means getting used to random people striking up conversations with you in unusual and sometimes even uncomfortable circumstances. Now, as someone who loves to talk to people and could probably blog until my fingers fall off, you would think this would have been a welcome change for me from the warmth and loving charm so often characterized of people from the American Northeast. It wasn’t, though.
Having an Australian woman remind me to walk on the left side of the sidewalk the other day wasn’t something I was expecting to happen and it would have been easy for me to construe her advice as rude. Again though, by keeping an open mind I’ve been able to remember that the Australian sense of humor is dryer than ours and she was simply trying to be helpful (that and maybe trying to keep me from barreling into her) in reminding me what country I’m in. Australians undoubtedly have different standards when it comes to personal space and respecting the boundaries of others and it is definitely possible to misinterpret Australian hospitality for something not quite as genuine or wholesome. Today, for example, I was walking in the mall when an older woman pushing a shopping cart (or a trolley, as they are known here) stopped directly in front of me. I tried to mumble an excuse me and maneuver around her when she knelt down to the floor and placed one of her fingers on my left knee. Being too shocked to even begin to ask what she was doing, she turned to her husband and said something along the lines of, “See, this what I want for you!” Before she could answer whether it was the color of my hair or the texture of my skin she was referring to, she looked up at me and said, “I absolutely cannot convince him to buy a pair of shorts like these!” “Oh well,” I responded feeling slightly violated and excited that I had such a funny story about which to blog about today, “they are very comfortable.” The husband told me he didn’t think they were long enough, enjoying shorts that hover somewhere above the ankles. I told the couple maybe they should consider buying a pair of very small pants. You get the idea...
I had another interesting surprise yesterday when my housemates decided to rescue an abandoned Dalmatian they found on campus and bring her back to the apartment. Of course, it would have been easy to freak out, to worry that she might be rabid or violent. Maybe she’ll pee all over the place, destroy the house, or keep me up during the night. Those thoughts occupied my mind for all of half a second, just long enough to see that the dog my housemates named Roxy had been left under a bridge for no apparent reason and just needed a warm place to spend the night. I was disappointed to learn that the ASPCA came this morning to pick up Roxy, since I didn’t get to say goodbye. Looking on the bright side, having a dog here made me miss my own even more and I can’t wait to see him again in a couple of weeks.
All in all, I’ve learned the benefits of thinking like an Aussie. Whether it’s the Aussie tradition of celebrating Christmas on the beach in front of a barbecue or the lack of stress that comes from living on an enormous continent populated by only twenty-five million people, the Aussie lifestyle has taught me a better way to approach the day. I just hope I don’t forget that.
By the way, if you ever come to Australia, don’t expect to find many shrimps grilling on a barbie somewhere. Aussies call shrimps “prawns” and I don’t even think it’s the custom to grill them. I would say go to an Outback restaurant if you’re looking for that but you’ll probably find those along with most bottles of Foster’s beer: in the states.
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