Tram etiquette

This is probably the norm in every big city. But because this is my first time living in a bigger city for an extended period time, it is new to me. So here is what I have noticed with the most common form of transportation around Melbourne, the tram.

No talking on the phone loudly...and if you must, keep the convo to a minimum

Reading a book is good

Listening to your music is good, as long as the people around you are not hearing it too

Give your seat to the elderly

Give your seat to the pregnant women

Make room for strollers

Hold on, people do not like you falling on them
*one time a much older woman fell on Jill and she was so upset with herself, she said sorry so many times and was really worried Jill was hurt! Jill in no way could have been hurt by this 70 lb lady.

Now these few unspoken rules should be common knowledge. But let me just tell you, not everyone "gets it". Here are a few of my first hand examples of tram activity. I'll start with the small things and move on to the more drastic actions.

Lots of people like to stare. I do not mean make quick eye contact...I mean shift their entire body (when they are sitting on the same bench as you) and literally stare straight on at you. This happens to Condon atleast once every 3 days.

It's funny how many people cannot control their music volume. I have heard many types of people's music, from the kids coming home from high school to the man in the suit on his way to work. I would be fine with hearing other people's music if they would just put something good on...

Now I didn't mention in the rules above, because it is obvious to "us", but drinking, alcohol, on the tram is not technically allowed. But it is done, quite frequently. I like to call this tram happy hour. Whenever I go to data entry ( one of my jobs) I ride a tram on chapel street. Let me tell you, if the chapel street trams could talk. Tram happy hour usually starts at 5, right after work. But it could start at anytime because the people who partake in the tram happy hour must be jobless and as yet seem unemployable. They are bums, men and women. But of course around 5, the working citizens who just want to get home have to deal with these animals. The bums drink pre mixed cocktails like Jim beam and coke, Jack and coke, or something similar. One time in particular I happened to stumble on a happy hour after work and got stuck sitting a seat over from the "partyers". They reeked of alcohol and cigarettes and I started counting down tram stops until mine. At one tram stop left a woman gets on and I see she also had a nice pre mixed Jim beam and coke. Of course the two guys I'm sitting near know her so she starts to make her way to sit with them. Well the tram is not a particularly smooth ride, so the minute it takes off she gets jolted toward us, when i say us I mean mostly me. Luckily for me and my clothes she is to drunk to even try to stand so she falls on a side bench, still holding her drink! No party foul
there. Good on ya as they would say.

Um, what is vegemite???

Of course I know what vegemite is...Men at Work taught me all about it. But I played dumb the other day at work, and acted like I had never heard of vegemite.

Back story...One of my various jobs is through a hospitality agency. The agency finds me work each week and lately I have been working during the day at the Derabin Arts and Entertainment Center where I work functions like business meetings and conferences. Examples of such conferences have been with the Italian Teachers Organization, the Australian Fireman Association, music teachers learning about rythem and dance, etc. A typical day for for the conferences go like this:

8:30 - guests arrive, coffee and tea available

10:30 - morning tea and coffee with scones and muffins

12:45/1:00 - lunch (with a variety of hot and cold food like sandwiches, pizza, sushi rolls, sausage rolls, bruschetta, meat pies, veggie dishes, etc.

2:30 - afternoon tea and coffee with cookies, fudge, and pastries

What is amazing is that usually ALL of the food gets eaten...at least all of the best food. I mean, not a penny wasted! But it is problematic for me because I do not get any food to eat all day! Yes, I could pack my lunch, but I usually do not have time in the morning. And it is OUT of the question for me to grab anything off the platters as they sit and stare at me waiting to serve them to everyone. Not to mention, when there is food left over I have to wait for the chef, who has daily mood swings, to look over the left over food...probably to see what to make EVEN less of next time.

So back to me pretending not to know about vegemite. I literally was so hungry that I had no other option but to get the chef and manager on the subject of vegemite. By the way, both of them love chatting so it easy to get them going. In the past I have learned that if you say you have never had vegemite, the Aussies will run and get you some toast with vegemite, and maybe butter, and force feed you. So like I assumed they would, they ran and got me a slice of baguette and some vegemite. No butter, but I take what I can get. And so my plan worked, I finally got some food and they got the satisfaction of "introducing" me to vegemite. Which I actually do like...it is salty, so of course I like it. A few days later we were serving bite size pieces of sausage rolls. To be safe I asked to make sure they were indeed sausage rolls, and the manager replies "oh yes, you might not know, but sausage rolls are a very popular food in Australia. You should try one, quick before the chef Sean comes back..." So getting food is becoming too easy! I just have to act a little curious.

Mom and Dad, this story is about just one day when I was hungry. Usually I am fully sufficed each meal. Do not worry about this exaggerated story revolved around hunger.

A very Aussie weekend

I am a little late on this blog, but last weekend was so fun so better late than never! Now you might think everyday is an Aussie day, but when you live in a share house with people who are from all over the world it can be hard getting a true Aussie experience. But this weekend was very Aussie.

Saturday Jill, Condon, and I were invited to go to an op shop party. It was a "footy do" according to our friend Josh. I met Josh, a Melbourne native, at Miami while he was traveling in America. When I decided to move to Oz he was the first person I looked up! So anyway
Josh plays footy ( Aussie rules football) and his team had an op shop party at their club. Ok i'll slow down, an op shop, or opportunity shop is like a thrift shop or second hand store. And a footy do is an Aussie rules event...I think. I'm still trying to catch on. So we shop around for some good outfits, I happened to buy what the lady I believe said was "an exquisite shirt, with a wonderful label". I've never heard of my shirts "designer", but apparently she can make clothes. The footy do was so fun, lots of great outfits an we got to see the footy field, which according to many of the players is not where they play, but where the win. Yes sir, whatever you say. Such an Aussie night!

Sunday was first of all a national holiday for Australia and New Zealand, called ANZAC day. It is a day to pay respects and remember those of each country who fought in world war 1. Sunday also happened to be the birthday celebration of fellow Miami girl, Allie's boyfriend. So we went to allie's boyfriends for a barbie. The minute we arrived we met his roomates and they offered us a snag and pointed inside. Well we thought they said "do you want a snack", and when I
walked in I did notice food so we said sure and went in to get some of these snacks. As we left I heard some laughs, and I assume it was our accents that was so funny. But it turns out they said "do you want some snags", where a snag is a sausage that was been barbecued. And they realized when they offered we had no clue what a snag was. But we were not the only ones learning, because we taught the Aussies about the popular US game corn hole, which was the birthday boys gift from Allie.

Now because Sunday was a holiday, Monday was a work holiday. Sounds good to me, 3 day weekend! So we met up with Josh again and had brekky, breakfast, and decided to go into the city and walk around Southbank, a very cool area on the Yarra river. We sat by the water and had coffee/tea for a really long time just because it was so nice out and comfy by the water. The best part of Southbank would be the Melbourne Crown Casino. It is huge! Filled with of course the casino, but also restaurants, pubs, movie theaters, clubs, shops, fast food places, a hotel, and probably much much more. We tried our luck and gambled as a team at roulette and won some money, and then played this wheel spinning game where we really won! We ended up being up $135! We quit while we were ahead and decided to take our winnings and buy a nice dinner. We went to lygon st. Which is like little Italy and ate delicious Italian food. Such a good ending to a great day as well as a weekend.

Some more terms:
Mackers = McDonalds
Foot Path = sidewalk
Lemonade = Sprite/7 Up
Jam = jelly
Jelly = jello
Ta = thanks alot
Serviette = napkin
Cutlery = silverware

There are so many others...I will keep you updated on the good ones! Sorry...I will try blogging more often.