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Cossie – Swimming Suit (short for Swim Costume)
Mobile – Cell phone
Boot – Trunk
Jumper – Sweater
Beggers – Beg your pardon
Chunder – Vomit
Telly – TelevisionMaths - Math or numbers
I hate to admit this, and I know Tiffany is going to give me a hard time, but I’ve started to use the Aussie Lingo here and there. It’s either that or Mark has to do all of the talking… -kel
These are the things that have kept me giggling the last few weeks, through home sickness, and funky food…Australia is a funny place to live: 1. David Hasselfhof was a headliner on the Australian version of the Grammys.2. People really say “Barbie” when talking about a BBQ 3. Knowing that I was from the US, out of the blue a co-worker, slowly explained to me in tons of detail what a BLT sandwich was. It wasn’t lunch time and I didn’t ask. 4. 1 out of every 3 times Mark hits the blinker to turn he hits the windshield wipers instead. 5. K-E-Double L-Y see Aussie Lingo Lesson #2 6. Public toilets have no seat covers, every time I use a public restroom it is a lesson in gymnastics. 7. Everyone swears tons, I am usually totally taken aback and surprised by the onslaught of very bad words used, but then when I repeat to Mark it’s hilarious. Passion and extremely prolific words are used to describe the most simple things.8. Cory and Emily – Mark’s niece and nephew they tease Mark constantly and keep me laughing all the time. (pictured here with Mark)- kel
The song that I stole the blog title from may be about recovering from a big night out but on this Sunday we were up early to help clear up a 50ft tree that had come down in my sisters front yard. Too much competition for the chain saw, so I did my small part and headed out for some exploring with Kelly.
Stop one: Warringah Mall to get the heel on Kelly's shoe fixed. Noteworthy only because we asked a shop lady from a shoe shop were we could find a shoe repairer in the mall - she went off, a 10 minute profanity ladden tirade on why we should not use the repairer in this mall - it was great. Shoe shopping, it's the new construction site - I'm saving up my dirty jokes and begging Kelly to let me go with her next time. Who would have thought!
On to the adventure of the day. We headed across the city and slightly west to a region of Sydney know as the "inner west" and specifically to King St, Newtown. King St. is a like the Freemont Fair 365 days a year, plenty of funky, some bizzarro and some I don't want to know about. In the first ten minutes that we were there we made our way through a throng of elderly women clad in black and men with serious B.O. issues coming out of a Greek Orthodox service, we were seated curbside for brunch next to a tranny and a couple of lesbians and watched five people ride by in full body paint and not much else (and there wasn't even a parade on). The food at brunch was great, the people watching even better. We hit the stores for a couple of hours, but left without buying anything - a successful day of shopping I'd say.
Great weather so one last stop before heading home. We are working out way south on the beach visits, today was the turn of Freshwater Beach (Freshie). It's a short beach so we took a short walk.
Kelly has decided the bacon is better in Australia so she doubled down on bacon meals today - she's becoming more Australian by the minute.
We live in a land down under where woman glow and men plunder! All the best,
- Mark
Mark and I took a walk along Long Reef tonight after work. This is about 5 min. away from home.
As my good friend Andrea said in a recent email to me, “they love their doubles”. When spelling my name (I seem to be doing this all the time with the mass quantities of forms I am having to complete for everything from health coverage to tax forms) I am confusing people by spelling my name as K-E-L-L-Y P-I-T-T, people are like huh? K-E-L what? They use the doubles for phone numbers too; really it’s anything with doubles, instead of saying a number or a letter twice most Aussies seem to say double. It is actually very convenient to use the doubles, I have become a user not only to avoid the whats and huhs, but it makes every spelling quite quick. I am beginning to think I should have moved to Sydney a long time ago, they spell my name like they are yelling a cheer and they have a shopping mall named after me, things could only get better from here…- K-E-double L-Y P-I-double T
We may be an ocean away but through the marvels of the internet we are keeping tabs on the important stuff Stateside - we are eagerly awaiting a conference win by either the mighty Cougs or mangy Huskies so we can poke a bit of fun at each other - the way things are going we will be waiting until Apple Cup to get there!
Kelly had her introduction to serious shopping Sydney style over the weekend, we visited Paddington on Friday arvo (see "Aussie Lingo Lesson #1"), and the city center (CBD) on Saturday. Kelly took the fact that the epi-center of CBD shopping is around PITT Street Mall as a mark of welcoming and respect and vowed to payback the gesture with numerous return visits. I have taken the threat seriously and have both stopped letting Kelly know where we are in the city and started feeding her erroneous directions so that it will take her at least six months to find her way back there.
We also went to our first property auction over the weekend, purely as spectators at this stage. Kelly loved the auction and is already plotting strategies that will allow us to get the psychological advantage over other bidders when we hit ceneter stage ourselves. A funny note from the auction - taking advantage of the good Sydney weather many auctions are held on the front lawn of the proprty being sold, the one we attended was held in this fashion - after a slow start the action is heating up and two bidders are going back and forth exchanging bids, the price is steadily rising and the crowd are intently focussed on who will crack first - just then a couple of young blokes on the way back from a surf are driving past in an old beater and as they pass the auction house one yells out "5 million" and the crowd totally broke out laughing.
We live in a land down under, where women glow and men chunder - cheers, Mark.
With very little effort and best of all no test, I was granted a New South Whales Drivers License. I am now officially licensed to drive on the other side of the road. Mark has been an incredibly patient teacher, and thankfully the Aussie drivers have been cooperative; even if I tend to hit the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal on a regular basis. - kel
After my first week I am starting to understand and decipher the Aussie speak. Since I plan on living here for quite a long time, I thought I should teach all of you what I am learning so that when you do speak with me on the phone or when I visit the States, you know exactly what the heck I am talking about. Here is Aussie Lingo Lesson #1:
Servo – Gas Station
Cuppa – Cup of Tea
Avo – Afternoon
Full on – Intense
Footie – Rugby
We’ll keep it at only a few words for now…but look for more soon… - kel
Today is day 5, and it has been a crazy 5 days. We got my bank account set up, finalized on a wedding site and reception location, looked at cars and houses, practiced driving on the other side, unpacked, un-jet lagged ourselves and enjoyed the lovely spring weather.
Sydney is a beautiful city, we are staying with Mark's parents in a Northern Beach Suburb called Cromer. We are looking at houses in suburbs all along the Northern Beaches, all of the houses are close to the beautiful long beaches. We've seen a few fixer-uppers we like, so look for updates soon on our next big project!
I am slowly getting used to hearing the Aussie speak, everything seems to be shortened into slang words. Pretty soon I am sure I'll be using them myself.
Here is a picture of me on Dee Why beach, enjoying the sun and the surf!
