We No Speak Americano

For those who don't know, Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP has a song called "We No Speak Americano" and it is the number one song played over here in bars and clubs. No, I'm not telling you all this so you can add it to your next playlist or put it on a mix CD, it's relevant because over here I constantly find myself in situations where the people, country, and culture "No Speak Americano".

For the past week and a bit Patty and I have been figuring out pretty fast what the similarities and differences are between Melbourne and the States. Here is a small list of pretty important differences : the pizza, prices, size of soup bowls, accents, slang, drinks, dancing, coffee, and the complete and utter lack of personal space. The pizzas are basically toast with three inches of whatever toppings you ordered, the prices are sky high, soup bowls are the size of small swimming pools, accents are just outrageous and hard to understand - same with the slang (ex. want to go for a feed?), drinks consist of bitter beer and "goon", dancing is amazing and incorporates fist pumping and fast swaying, coffee is tall or short or black or white, and apparently there isn't a point where talking one inch away from the other person is uncomfortable. It's a lot to get used to.

We've done pretty major things in the past week... got a place to stay, got a bank account, found some new friends and connected with old ones :) The next step is finding a j-o-b. This is extremely necessary due to the amount we are spending on food, rent, and drinks. We don't want to be living in a frat house or surviving off of PB&Js for much longer. This life if luxury is a little different than we wished but it definitely makes for fun stories! We also have a Teddy Bear dog named Tobey who roams around the house... he is definitely the light of our lives right now.

I'd like to note that although we've complained a bit to our families and friends about all of the above, this city is definitely one that we can fall in love with. It is gorgeous with a beautiful harbor and a river running through it. Saturday night we went to a rooftop bar with some of our new friends and the sight was stunning. The beaches are perfect, although a tad cold, and the suburb we live in is always bustling with things to do. Life could be worse and this adventure of ours is finally starting to take shape.

Love and miss you all and for those back home... enjoy the crisp fall season with bonfires, football games, sweatshirts, and warm food. We'll be coming into Spring any moment now :) I hope...