Having lived in Australia for over 6 months now everything about the culture seems like second nature to me. I may notice a few dissimilarities when I really think about how things are back in the states, but with being so well acclimated to Australian culture I no longer find things odd, so I figured that while my parents were down here I would see what they noticed about Australia throughout their short time in Brisbane.
I remember writing in one of my first blogs that driving on the left side of the road isn’t really that big of a deal so long as there are other cars on the road. It’s the little things about driving that are completely screwed up, like using your indicator, checking your blind spot over your right shoulder, and getting in the proper door when you are going to drive, my father noticed the exact same things. Other than consistently turning on his wipers when he was trying to indicate a turn my father did quite well. The only scary moments were when we drove up into the mountains on a single lane road, his first impulse was always to swerve to the right when a car suddenly appeared around a blind corner, which would have resulted in 3 or 4 accidents if he hadn’t then corrected his mistake.
In Brisbane, the streets aren’t laid out in any recognizable pattern, with roads that routinely change names 2 or 3 times within the course of a few blocks. I was frequently giving my dad directions like “Stay rightish at this next intersection” when I was trying to navigate him to the right spot. Ultimately, the only way to navigate around Brisbane is to follow the traffic, there are “main” roads that meander towards some unknown destination and you really have no choice but to follow these routes even if it isn’t the most direct route to your destination.
Frequently, during my parents visit, they observed that Australia has more of a European feel than American. Retail stores and shopping centers close at around 5:30, the only exception to this being grocery stores which stay open until the late hour of 8 pm. Almost everyone that you encounter is genuinely nice and courteous. The pace of life here is much more relaxed than life in the U.S. On the roads, walking around, and when just hanging around Australians are rarely in a hurry. I really enjoy this part of life, until I need to get somewhere in a hurry, it then becomes difficult to walk around people when everyone is going the same pace or pass cars on the motorway when every single person is driving 100 km.
On the soccer front, we lost our first game of consequence this past week to Rochedale. We fell 3-1 in the semi-final of the Canale Cup. It stinks because we can no longer win a treble (League, Cup, and Playoffs) but it isn’t a huge loss. Hopefully, all the loss will do is make us hungrier as we play Rochedale in a bigger game next Wednesday in the first round of the playoffs. We played in our penultimate game of the league yesterday, winning 5-2. The fourth goal of the game helped us eclipse the century mark for the season, the first team in the history of the league to do so. The win also helped us accumulate the most points in league history, 67, surpassing Rochedale’s 65 from last year. We’ll receive the trophy this weekend after our game against Rochedale, although most players for both teams will be rested in anticipation for the playoffs matchup next Wednesday. Only 3 games to go in the season so its time to buckle down and grind out results to win the championship.
Hope all is well back home!
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