Biggest Culture Shock?

[anj1976]

Originally Posted by Dolly

On Saturdays, shops shut at 5pm SHARP, some even 4pm.

No decent Chinese or Indian food to be had anywhere

Shops shutting at 5 on a saturday, but isnt that the day when the working people have an off and would want to shop? Here in Delhi (India), the mall are stuffed on saturdays and sundays and weekdays they are normally empty, the weekly closing day is tuesday, no one sits at home on saturdays or sundays since these are the only two days in a week when they can go shopping, enjoy a mel or just pass their time off by window shopping.

And Dolly you need not worry about Indian food, lemme come there, and I have two candidates already, you and tiffany coming over for a meal.. get a taste of home made indian food

[anj1976]

Originally Posted by kaz101

They will say byo if you can take your own beer/wine. For wine they may charge you for opening it for you.

Regards,
Karen

I was checking a website where all restaurants in Australia are listed, most of the restaurants are BYO, and I believe they have to take a license for that too?

But I love the idea of Bring your Own.

[anj1976]

Originally Posted by Tiffani

One thing that IS good about the internet here, is that the price they advertise is the price you pay (at least with iinet who I'm using). I pay $49/month for 2Gb peak and 2Gb off-peak which is more than enough for our basic needs of checking email and Skype-ing.

US internet companies tend to nickle and dime the hell out of you so your $25 internet actually ends up costing you $40 thanks to surcharges, fees that you don't know what they mean, and taxes. I pay $49/month for my internet and that's it. The only other fees I pay are for my telephone.. the line is included with my internet and all local and national calls are free, but the international calls, although cheap, do cost. In generally we pay between $60 and $80/month for internet and telephone, depending on whether or not there are family crises back home

50-60$ for phone as well as the internet is not bad actually. But again, i guess you have a maximum download limit, we pay about 25$ for the internet and the phone, but mind it, no calls are free, not even local so over and above the 25$ the bill depends on whom you call, which again is cheap, I think India is cheapest when it comes to Inbound calling. within India we can call anywhere for as low as 2 rupees a minute, and 40 rupees makes an Australian Dollar.

[Dolly]

Originally Posted by Tiffani

I would disagree with some of this... I have found VERY good Indian food here (not looked for Chinese) but both are so ubiquitous that you have to look carefully and definitely take advice from others.

I guess I'm looking at it from a vegetarian side...on the Chinese theme, my options are vegetables with a curry sauce, vegetables with a curry sauce and yep you've guessed it......vegetables with a curry sauce!

Dolly

[Tiffani]

LOL There's a place in Beaumaris where we go called Zaika that has fabulous veggie offerings, including vegetarian biryani which is what I usually get (not to mention the usual entrees like samosas etc). Come to think of it, the biryani isn't actually advertised as being vegetarian but I just ask if I can have it and they oblige... maybe the trick is to simply ask for a vegetarian option instead of taking the menu at face value. I've found this to be a good trick with Chinese food back home too (haven't eaten it here, like I said).

[FLOYD]

Thanks for the new replies. Seeing some of the internet/phone prices and service, I don't think that would be too much of a shock cmpared to the choices in my area now. Of course, as said, I may view that different if that were my sole means of keeping up with family.

It is good to know that no one spoke of any change that caught them so off gaurd they weren't sure if they'd get used to it.

[Tiffani]

we're highly adaptable more than we give ourselves credit for. Every time I talk to someone who says "Oh, I could never move there" I just think "you would if you had to!" because we always do what we have to do.

there may be things I'm not crazy about in Oz, but there's nothing so bad that I can't take it! And anyway, you're talking about a country that shares a similar history, ideology, and political system as the US (and the UK to a slightly lesser extent). If I had moved to Saudi Arabia and suddenly wasn't able to drive myself around anymore, that may have taken longer to get used to. But I have friends in Saudi who love it, so there you go!

[Joleyn]

Hi Everyone, I haven't been on this forum for some time as I have been overseas England, Europe in general.
I came to Oz nearly 40 years ago, as a 13 year old there was the things like no toilet in the house (I nearly had a heart attack at the time!)That was my biggest culture shock then.

However after one short visit to England during the 70s,I went back to England after 22 years it was for a couple of years but stayed 6 years.

It was then that I noticed the culture shock when I came back. The UK had moved on and in many ways for the better. The Internet as already been mentioned here but there are a few other things.

Internet aside, Australian television is sooooooooo bad. I don't mean all of their programmes, Spicks and Specks, Thank god Your here, in fact most programmes on ABC and SBS is a place to find some reasonable telly. However the info commercials that pop up far more than they should, seelng daft things like battery operated dusters etc and of course Advertisements that shout at you....nightmare. They all get turned down, switched off, or turned over. I think this has got worse over the years if that's possible.

My other shock after my time away from OZ was people nice to you when buying something but not so great when returning the goods, and many of our stores actually break the law when they tell you it is "company policy".
Shopping generally is quite different, doesn't bother me except the supermarket I use hasn't been modernised in about 30 years!
I never noticed this stuff until I left for a while and came back.
Now I know that we don't all spend our time watching the telly but depending where you live in OZ you just might. If your in QLD the biggest culture shock for me was no daylight saving, dark at about 6pm with the mossies to go with it. This for me was the biggest shock after long days of an English summer and yes we all know the weather is not like OZ .If you live in NSW that is a different story and of course from State to State it differs.

However it does have alot of good stuff going for it. Good Luck if your going to try it but it isn't the UK with sun and many things here are a bit backwards many things that they do are very forward.

[sgilli3]

[quote=Joleyn;41127]

My other shock after my time away from OZ was people nice to you when buying something but not so great when returning the goods, and many of our stores actually break the law when they tell you it is "company policy".




Just to let you know...that unless you buy an item that is FAULTY or it is different to what was advertised...stores DO NOT have to take goods back.

If you change your mind, buy wrong size, get a gift you dont like etc, etc, ...the stores have every right not to accept it back.
Those that will exchange items, or refund your money, are doing so out of good customer service.

It should not be expected at all stores...you will find these laws located on consumer affairs website.

Hope this helps a little

[april]

Does reverse-culture shock count?? I'm an Aussie living in Tokyo, but about to return for good, but have been back many times for a visit. These are some of the things that bug me slightly:

- shop assistants who think that delving into small talk and asking personal questions equates to good customer service.
- people who think that making fun of Americans is actually humerous and justified (the Canadians are *much* better at berating Americans!)
- yes I agree --> ****ty internet!!
- unreliable and infrequent public transport
- lack of healthy fast-food choices
- convenience stores that are filled with crappy food
- banks and their fees
- (back in the Howard days) the media playing up terrorism at every chance
- ridiculous idolising of athletes.
- tall poppy syndrome - building up a celeb/athlete/etc, then tearing them to shreds when they make it. (think Ian Thorpe)
- lack of water. Seriously, depending on where you live, this can really affect your quality of life.
- McMansions. Does a family of four really need three bathrooms, 4 bedrooms and a study??

I also got caught out a couple of times with the short shopping hours as I am now used to Tokyo shopping hours, which stay open quite late every night and Sunday is the busiest day. But I quite like it as it keeps the pace of life slower and more relaxed. Here in Tokyo shopping is everybody's hobby, whereas in Australia Sunday is the day for the beach, doing the gardening and having a barbie.

But the list of things I love about Australia is much longer! I even love the good old Aussie bogan - long live Kath and Kim!