Tea?

Ok, I mentioned earlier that the portion sizes are a lot smaller than ours. I'm thinking that it is because Americans have HUGE portions. No wonder they see us as pigs. (Someone asked me at dinner last night why I didn't get more food b/c I was American and was supposed to load my plate up.) Anyway, not only are the portions smaller. It is also really weird not seeing a fast food place every time I turn around. They do not have many fast food places at all! It is crazy (but not a bad thing)! Also, everything is extremely expensive here! Their minimum wage is $15/hour so their prices are also jacked high. Hmm... I might think about a job while I'm here. HA! So, we don't have anything especially big tonight except for the International students dinner. That means we have a lot of free time! I think I am going to go exploring (maybe go for a run).

Ok, so a little funny thing about today. I got to talk to Ellen (through skype) and the Blankenship family (on FB) this morning (this afternoon in SC), and I was so excited to be talking with them that I completely missed breakfast. Normally, not a big deal. However, when you miss breakfast here, you also miss lunch. You have to fix your own sandwich/salad/wrap at breakfast and then put it in the refrigerator for later. So, I missed TWO meals today. Oh well! It was worth it. :) So, since I missed both meals, I went to the vending machine and got a very nutritional bag of chips and a coke zero. Yep. That will really hold me over! HAHA!

Oh! Also, a little fun fact: Australians call dinner "tea". I had no clue what they kept talking about when they said that tea was at 5:30, so I finally looked at someone and said, "What is tea?" So, they kindly explained to me that it was the night meal and did not laugh at me (to my knowledge). HAHA! Anyway, the next few days are packed full with a lot of events and I don't even know when I will be able to go to the "shopping center" to get stuff that I need. Everything closes early here and it is really throwing me off! I guess I will learn to be a lot more laid back and go with the flow as well as get things done early! I need to learn how to avoid procrastination anyway!

One more thing, Australians swear A LOT!!! Every other word is a cuss word. Now, most of you know that I don't cuss and I get really frustrated when people cuss a lot. So, I'm not exactly used to this. However, it seems extremely common over here. I was walking with a group and there was a family (with kids) near us. Everyone was just cussing up a storm and I looked over my shoulder to see the family. I was immediately embarrassed and wanted to shush everyone, but the family didn't care at all. I guess they are used to it. Don't worry everyone! I don't think I will be coming back with a potty mouth!