frequently asked questions

Here are some questions I have been asked recently about living abroad:

1. what is the wall current in Australia?

not sure.

2. what is the DVD region code in Australia?

2

3. what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow in Australia?

i havent really gotten my metric conversions down yet

4. what is the general public feeling toward Australia's participation in the war in Iraq? (no need to ask about the Australian attitude toward Bush).

I'm afraid to ask. I do know i was talking to some people next to the pool and made a joke "...and everyone hates americans!!" they laughed and said "im glad you said that so we didnt have to"

5. How far outside of the city do you have to go to see Kangaroos in the wild?

10kilometers. theres enough around that people EAT them

6. What are the beaches like - by that I mean, are the waves like Galveston or California or Hawaii or in between somewhere? Havent been to Hawaii, but I think it was pretty comparable to california. And cold!

7. TV - what is on TV and from where - that is, American shows? European shows? Any in foreign languages - Chinese? Pilipino? Spanish? Aborigines?

there are 5 channels here. one of them is international and has a variety of crap on it. the other channels show absolute garbage. mostly american garbage. including the singing bee. or australian versions of american garbage. like "australian idol" or "australian dirty jobs". there are some english shows but i dont know what they are. honestly i havent really watched much tv, but the roommates watch a lot.

8. Are all the men there really named Bruce? Or even a disproportionate number of them? Or is it even a common name?

havent come across any people named bruce... yet!

9. General physical description of the people - tall? American size? Generally physically fit or just as overweight as Americans? Blondes Brunettes or Reds in the majority? What are redheads called? Gingers (British) or Redheads?

people here are definitely not american sized. Theyre fit. It's the lifestyle. As soon as I got here, I noticed that my weight went down by a factor of 1/2.2 (hahaha) ...people bike a lot in this city, and i have seen way too many of my coworkers in biker shorts. there are a lot of taller men, and a lot of people are blonde/blue eyed. but there is a bit of everything here. so far i've only seen 2 gingers. I bet theyre called gingers here.

10. How do you get to work and around town? Do you have a car there or do you hitchhike or take the bus? Are there trains?

I only live about a 5 minute walk from work, so i walk. So far I have only walked and taken cabs....But there are bike baths everywhere. buses everywhere and there are also trains, which travel longer distances - out to the suburbs. of course suburbs here are only a 15minute walk from downtown. Brisbane is along a river and another part of the public transit is called the CityCat, which is essentially a ferry that goes up and down the river. tickets are interchangeable with bus tickets, and it is very fast. it's fun.


(thanks, mike for the questions)