Sydney

Last day in Australia! We flew in to Sydney yesterday and walked down to Chinatown for dinner in hopes of finding some yummy Thai food. It was pouring and we were drenched after about a block, so 4 blocks in, we quickly gave up and instead chose a Korean BBQ. We were the only white people in the entire place and the waiters had to explain to us what each dish was and how we did it, but it was a cool experience, very similar to fondue places. They had the grill on each table, and you throw the meat on with vegetables, make a lettuce wrap and put some sauces on it for flavor. I don't have much idea of what I ate besides the basic meats and a bunch of seaweed (very good), but it was fun.

Today we went to the Aquarium and Wildlife experience, which included all of the dozens of deadly creatures Australia is home to, as well as the kangaroos, koalas, wallabees, and other animals that I've been waiting to see. We then went to Paddy's Markets, a large area with lots of different shops and kiosks set up, very similar to the marketplaces of Thailand. We're now enjoying afternoon tea at the hotel while my dad checks email, and then we're off to look at some Australian Black opals and search for Tim Tams.

I have to say, Australia/NZ really are not that different from the US; surprisingly so in fact. They listen to all of our music, watch our movies and tv shows, and after reading their newspapers for the past two weeks, they seem to have the exact same issues as we do regarding education, politics, and healthcare. Since it's my last post down under though, I'd like to note some of the differences between Australia and the US:

-Obviously, the accents. Which are in truth very similar to British accents, and were sometimes hard to distinguish between on the ship. Apparently the Aussies still consider Britain their homeland, and they trade people back and forth frequently. They still have their unique words down here though. And cheers is used in place of thank you, goodbye, hello, you're welcome, I hate you, etc...

-Electrical outlets. Pain in the butt... they luckily had U.S. outlets on the ship; however, no such luck in any Aussie hotel rooms. This is especially upsetting when you realize your camera has run out of battery and you have no way whatsoever to recharge it. Darn.

-They drive on the wrong side of the road. Which you would think would mean they pass on the left side while walking, but that seems to be misunderstood also, so they instead just walk right at you until you dive out of the way to keep from becoming Aussie pie. Also, they're obsessed with their meat pies. I had one, and it was just a shepherd's pie with no vegetables at all...mmm so healthy. And although their toilets may not flush in the opposite direction of ours in the northern hemisphere, they did walk counterclockwise on the running track on the ship. Still haven't figured out why that was different...

Tomorrow, while the U.S. watches the Superbowl (still don't even know who is in it this year), I will be boarding the plane back to the homeland. And hopefully quickly switching my body's timeclock back to Eastern time... 9am here is 5pm there, completely backwards. Oh joy!

Goodbye Australia....

Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy!