So in my time down here I have made some cultural discoveries that have been quite interesting that I figured I'd pass along for your amusement or just pure enlightenment.
1. Sports are a much more family oriented event here. The typical male bonding 30 packs, tailgating pre- and post-game hardly exist and you can get a ticket to a game for 20 dollars and sit field side showing up 15 min. before game. I do wish someone from the states was here to try and help me change this as bringing beers to seats is nearly non-existent, heckling fellow fans is nonchalant at best and excessive consumption is a mere fantasy.
2. Saying "Cheers" is the equivalent of saying thank you, a social drink, you're welcome, and a few other meanings I haven't even caught on to yet but will get back to you.
3. Pregaming seems to be an undiscovered art. Most people just seem to show up at bars and get going. Although I do suppose they have time to pace themselves since bars are open til 6 am or later. Perhaps I just haven't met the right crowd yet but beers are also ridiculously expensive and 30 racks dont exist most beers are in bottles and a 24 pack costs at least $35. So perhaps this is why but it also increases wine consumption which isn't a bad thing because a decent bottle from local wineries can be bought from anywhere from $8-$17.
4. I'll also mention that although the bars are open until 6 or later I have yet to accomplish the feat of staying out till such a time. I'm a sprinter not a marathon runner I think we all know that.
5. There sports teams are a lot harder to follow especially when you don't know anything about the game. They have 10 "home" teams for the AFL in Melbourne so deciding who to cheer for is pretty tough when the teams that have the coolest uniforms suck. They scarcely know anything about American Sports and right now gametrack is the only thing keeping me in line with the Celts, B's and Sox.
I am trying to learn Aussie Rules Football and had practice for the Rec team I joined yesterday. I was sucking wind about 10 seconds in and didn't stop until the end but we'll see how I do picking up this foolish sport.
6. Australians think that Americans are nicer then fellow Australians. And I thought the other way around not quite sure why that is. Perhaps people just like the accent and try to give off that friendlier vibe to the new ppl rather then a fellow countrymen who knows?
7. Apparently people find my over-excitement at simple things rather humorous. I had this lil apple crisp in a vanilla cake shell that was covered in sugar it was "phenomenal". Or so I thought and now I get made fun in the office as they find it atypical to describe foods with such flagrant adjectives. I've also been made fun of for using fantastic, ridiculous, and amazing. Apparently I use them a little overzealously.
8. A few misunderstandings are potato chips are called crisps. French Fries are chips. A pot is about 7 oz of beer. A pint is standard 16oz. Pitchers have the equivalent of 2.25 beers in them and are called jugs. Sausages = hotdogs. People spread butter on almost all their rolls or breads. Ketchup = tomato sauce (not too bad). Good on ya= good job, probably others too. No Worries= you're welcome. I'm sure I'll pick up more those are just a few.
9. Guys who dress and look like tools get HOT girls here too. I guess thats a cultural similarity.
10. This place overall is like being in the mid to late 90s. They have a bunch of big phone companies that everyone seems to complain about, they have a bunch of diff. internet providers and none of them have merged or offer packaged deals and they all suck and are just discovering Broadband as it took me almost a month and a half to get that. For my first month I was using a Dial-up service to log into internet.
Awesome side effect is music in clubs still will feature hits like I'm Blue...Wannabe...and What is Love?
Well thats all I've got for now. I'm sure I'll have more before too long.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
The Grand Prix and WHO concert
Hey guys,
Sorry its been a little while since I last posted anything up here been a busy week. Anyways let me tell you that even in a different country car racing still doesn't do it for me other then the opportunity to get drunk, see hot girls and cool cars off the track. They go by you too fast to see anything of substance you literally watch about two minutes of race. I counted during the race that the spot we had could see 7 seconds of action now multiply that by 78 to get what I could have watched...I instead wandered around and drank beers and talkde to locals. I've never been one with a long attention span as most of you know so I'm sure that doesn't surprise any of you very much.
I went to the race with my friend from work Dinesh and his two buddies Alan and Neal. We had a great time all day they are more of the racing enthusiasts and stayed and watched the action all day while I was off gallavanting with the locals and indulging in some of the finer spirits and "sights" offered by the state of Victoria.
So with that being said let me bring to light some of the highlights of the day. Within the first 5 minutes of walking in a took a picture that you can see on facebook with a beautful long legged blonde which was quite lovely. I won a chugging contest for some drink called Solo its like a carbonated lemonade....I have learned many Aussies are more here in it for the long haul your Michael Cheruiyot in drinking and I am the Usain Bolt type. I saw after that I probably could have downed 2 as you'll notice the poor form on the sap standing to my right in the photo below. Anyways got a free shirt nice start to the day. I watched about 35 seconds of actual race live. The rest was spent exploring. The night cap offered a concert with the WHO. It was pretty sick I realized the 2 memebers left Roger Daltrey and Peter Townshend are still pretty talented 40 years after the band was forged. Anyways the concert was pretty packed but we had paid to get into closer section so we could just chill out in the grass and relax as we'd been standing all day for the race. Some of the pictures from the day are below with random comments.
Much love,
Davsy
Applying my college education.
After that I quickly applied my new shirt for an opportunity to win furthermore during the day as they said they had people walking around giving out prizes and the shirt was much more "airy"(if thats a word) then the polo i was sporting.
Most of the afternoon was spent walking around they had food carts, a car show some interactive stuff like changing a tire competition and a few other things that kept the kids and less interested in the actual race occupied.
Here I am just taking in some of the action. There were several different races through the day before the main F-1 event took place. Mini Coopers, V8, Funny Cars and a few others like I said my focus was occupied elsewhere.
Sorry its been a little while since I last posted anything up here been a busy week. Anyways let me tell you that even in a different country car racing still doesn't do it for me other then the opportunity to get drunk, see hot girls and cool cars off the track. They go by you too fast to see anything of substance you literally watch about two minutes of race. I counted during the race that the spot we had could see 7 seconds of action now multiply that by 78 to get what I could have watched...I instead wandered around and drank beers and talkde to locals. I've never been one with a long attention span as most of you know so I'm sure that doesn't surprise any of you very much.
I went to the race with my friend from work Dinesh and his two buddies Alan and Neal. We had a great time all day they are more of the racing enthusiasts and stayed and watched the action all day while I was off gallavanting with the locals and indulging in some of the finer spirits and "sights" offered by the state of Victoria.
So with that being said let me bring to light some of the highlights of the day. Within the first 5 minutes of walking in a took a picture that you can see on facebook with a beautful long legged blonde which was quite lovely. I won a chugging contest for some drink called Solo its like a carbonated lemonade....I have learned many Aussies are more here in it for the long haul your Michael Cheruiyot in drinking and I am the Usain Bolt type. I saw after that I probably could have downed 2 as you'll notice the poor form on the sap standing to my right in the photo below. Anyways got a free shirt nice start to the day. I watched about 35 seconds of actual race live. The rest was spent exploring. The night cap offered a concert with the WHO. It was pretty sick I realized the 2 memebers left Roger Daltrey and Peter Townshend are still pretty talented 40 years after the band was forged. Anyways the concert was pretty packed but we had paid to get into closer section so we could just chill out in the grass and relax as we'd been standing all day for the race. Some of the pictures from the day are below with random comments.
Much love,
Davsy
Applying my college education.
After that I quickly applied my new shirt for an opportunity to win furthermore during the day as they said they had people walking around giving out prizes and the shirt was much more "airy"(if thats a word) then the polo i was sporting.
Most of the afternoon was spent walking around they had food carts, a car show some interactive stuff like changing a tire competition and a few other things that kept the kids and less interested in the actual race occupied. 
Here I am just taking in some of the action. There were several different races through the day before the main F-1 event took place. Mini Coopers, V8, Funny Cars and a few others like I said my focus was occupied elsewhere.
Alan one of the guys I was with.
Monday, March 23, 2009
From this past weekend in Albert Park and Belgian Beer Garden
Sunday I took a walk around Albert Park there is a gold course, Yacht Club, Aquatic Center and Race track here. This is the view of the city from the Yacht Club Dock.
Here is another picture of the skyline in Melbourne on the walkway around the pond in Albert Park. 
The walkway over the race track is below. I am going to a race on Sunday the 29th here as well as seeing the Who perform afterwards.
The stalls to get beer at the Belgian Beer Garden. Great outdoor atmosphere to enjoy a frosty ale.
The Main entrance to the Beer Garden Great weekend day drinking hang out.
More Random pics
Parrot.
Nice set Hooters you got there...The birds!
Forget what kind of bird this one is.
Monitor Lizard
Koala.
Zoo last weekend random pics I didn't post before
I thought I was taking a picture and ended up with a pretty cool video.
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