Happy 1 Month In Sydney To Me!

It's hard to believe but true: one month in Sydney has come and gone already. Geez, time is breezing on by! It feels like just yesterday that I set foot on this distant but strangely familiar land. Thank you all for joining me on my adventure thus far! In ode of my one month anniversary, I will share with you some of the Aussie "ways" and things I have noticed. 

• Aussie Greeting: "How you going?" For some reason this always throws me off. I always inquire "How are you?" or "How are things?" or "How's it going?" but never before I have I asked or been asked "How you going?" until I arrived to Aussie land. That's the one and only greeting you will hear. Start practicing. Pick it up and use it. 

• How Australians say digits: This too is a small thing, but one I have noticed while taking people's phone numbers for dinner reservations. When two side-by-side numbers are the same, they say double (insert number). So for example, if someone's number is 0451 633 844 (and it quite possibly could be. Call and find out if you like), they say: six double three, eight double four. 

• Australian pool: The game, not the place where you swim. I went with my Irish flatmates to a local pub the other night and they played a game of pool. Well at least it was pool by their standards. Their pool balls are only yellow and red. No strips and solids down under. I thought that was weird. Who wants to hit around a bunch of mustard and ketchup balls? I prefer the colorful array of striped and solid balls we play with in the states. 

• The Australian cookie of choice: Tim Tams. A Tim Tam is composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling (or any flavor imaginable), and coated in a thin layer of textured chocolate (thank you Wikipedia). I would maybe equate them to Oreos in the US, but even that doesn’t do Australian’s obsession with these cookies justice. I mean they are everywhere. Entire rows of supermarkets are dedicated to them, and all the ridiculous amount of flavors they come in, including dark forest (think it has some cherry in it), honeycomb (we've already been over this one), and mint. I tried milk chocolate, white chocolate and caramel. They are just ok. It wasn’t the most incredible cookie I have ever tasted, but regardless, I can attest that they are addicting. You start with one little cookie, and suddenly the entire package is gone. And in that regards they most definitely are like Oreos. I think Aussies need a Tim-Tam addict help line.

Tim Tams Galore

• Aussie slang word of the day: Winger. A winger is some one who whines and complains. The next time someone around you starts moaning about this and that tell them, “Stop being such a winger!” (But don't take my word that is how you properly spell the word, so use caution if you write it).