Climbing

I spent most of today right here at this computer pounding away at the keys in hopes to get all these journal entries updated and not miss a single detail. Bringing my computer along with me has proven to be quite helpful in getting all these writing projects off the ground. I have so few distractions here that I can commit a good few hours each day to writing and making some of this stuff come to life. I took a break earlier today to go rent some movies from Planet Video. So far we’ve found a few shows on Australian TV that are fun to watch and quite a number that frankly aren’t. Police Action/Drama is a popular genre as well as plain old Drama. Its funny to watch some of their cop shows because most constables here wear a blue and white checked baseball cap when they’re on patrol. It sort of puts a Benny Hill spin on everything. The dramatic shows are all soap opera bred but without the tense music and awkward close-ups. I’d rather watch a Spanish soap opera where the men are all wearing ridiculous moustaches and constantly crying for their gorgeous wives who are constantly cheating on them. Now that’s art! I picked a few videos and signed up for a temporary membership. Walking back to the train I thought about how nice it was to not drive and park and worry with gas or tolls just to go uptown for a dvd. Just then a Subaru sped through a puddle and splashed its contents all over my shorts. Thanks Karma.

Karma

I spent most of today right here at this computer pounding away at the keys in hopes to get all these journal entries updated and not miss a single detail. Bringing my computer along with me has proven to be quite helpful in getting all these writing projects off the ground. I have so few distractions here that I can commit a good few hours each day to writing and making some of this stuff come to life. I took a break earlier today to go rent some movies from Planet Video. So far we’ve found a few shows on Australian TV that are fun to watch and quite a number that frankly aren’t. Police Action/Drama is a popular genre as well as plain old Drama. Its funny to watch some of their cop shows because most constables here wear a blue and white checked baseball cap when they’re on patrol. It sort of puts a Benny Hill spin on everything. The dramatic shows are all soap opera bred but without the tense music and awkward close-ups. I’d rather watch a Spanish soap opera where the men are all wearing ridiculous moustaches and constantly crying for their gorgeous wives who are constantly cheating on them. Now that’s art! I picked a few videos and signed up for a temporary membership. Walking back to the train I thought about how nice it was to not drive and park and worry with gas or tolls just to go uptown for a dvd. Just then a Subaru sped through a puddle and splashed its contents all over my shorts. Thanks Karma.

What is Brangelina up to?

From just watching TV it is quite apparent that this country is just as obsessed with entertainment and celebrities as the US is. The ironic part is that they are obsessed with our shows and celebrities. There are very few Australian shows and even fewer Australian celebrities. Their American “Hollywood” reporters are portrayed as loud, brash, and very over the top with their personalities compared to the Aussie hosts on their “Today” show. People here are very low key and their speech very controlled and straightforward. Judging from the programs on the 5 channels our TV receives this country is thoroughly insane about their sports. Rugby, Cricket, and Footy (Australian Rules Football or AFL) are covered in every conceivable way. I suppose the absence of ESPN makes non-sports programming here more difficult to schedule. Of course, as is the way over here, in order to to cable you have to sign up for a year contract.

Drive Thrus

Back in early January we hosted a couple from Germany named Jenny and Michael who really opened our eyes to how the rest of the world (Europe specifically) lives. The biggest difference and the topic of most of our talks was the level of convenience. They could hardly believe that a drive through pharmacy existed. We couldn’t believe that something as simple as a fast food restaurant in Germany wouldn’t have a drive through. Seeing as how America invented and capitalized on drive through technology you’d think that even its own fast food joints would have these conveniences overseas. That being said, I’ve only seen one drive-thru fast food restaurant since we’ve been here. That restaurant is “Hungry Jacks” which is the Aussie equivalent of Burger King. Ask Heather about their sweet and sour sauce. Ha-ha

The weekend is here. We had talked about some plans for the weekend ranging from seeing a movie to going out to Fremantle and hanging by the coast. The movie sounded more our pace for today. We found an IMAX theater nearby that was showing Transformers 2 and the plan all fell into place. We booked our tickets online and noticed that here movie theater seats are assigned as though you were going to the opera. A graph of the theater is shown and your exact seats are represented in a single color. No waiting in line to get the best seats outside the theater door. Brilliant. The train took us east to the suburb where we could find the mall and its theater. We entered through the food court entrance and once inside we were bombarded with smells and sights we’ve never experienced in a mall. One side was all Asian food that looked more authentic than anything I’ve ever eaten. The other side was a mix of carver sandwiches fresh from the beast and some American standards. All the prices were consistent with our experience so far: a few dollars more than what you’d see in the States. Oh, and don’t even bother buying a drink anywhere. A bottle of Coke will run you at least $3. Heather asked me what I wanted and in no time we were chowing down on the most amazing Chinese food I’ve had since my trip to San Francisco. We poked around the mall for the next few hours checking in on some End of Financial Year Sales here and there. I would regale you with all the details but in the end it’s a mall and we could have been anywhere in the world in that mall. Funnily enough the nicest department store in the mall was Kmart. I think if my calculations are correct in Aus. Kmart is Target and Target is (almost) JCPenny. I only say that because you can’t buy laundry detergent in Target. Why is that?!?! Our chief question in going to the movies here is how much concession stand food would cost. We knew that tickets would be a few dollars more so that wasn’t a big surprise. However with food prices here being what they are we couldn’t imagine what a bag of popcorn could cost us. Heather picked up our tickets (which included exact seat numbers) and we walked to the “Candy Bar.” Too funny. Other than seeing unknown candies displayed the biggest shock was the utter lack of prices on anything advertised. Two huge lighted boards showing soda cups, candy and popcorn showed no prices at all. Genius. What better way to swindle people out of $10 for a soda than to not let them in on the game? Being the seasoned moviegoers we are popcorn is a must. No weekend movie goes without snacks! We purchase a combo and realize that the prices aren’t that bad…aren’t that bad for Australia that is. Our assigned seats were easy to find with the labeled rows and little labels on the seats. Couple that with comfy seats and a good time was had by all. After the movie I look at my watch: 6:30. “Well, what do we do now?” Heather asked, already knowing the answer. Even on Friday night the mall shuts down at 5:30. Yeah the big ass mall full of teenagers and consumers shuts down completely on Friday night at 5:30. Happily the theater continues to operate until about 11 depending on the last show time. Back on the train we agree that dinner and movies should always happen after 5. What else are you gonna do? In the apartment Heather plays her Nintendo DS while I shuffle through the 5 tv channels and try to find something worth watching. Like I said before, its all an adventure….even if you’re bored.

This morning I turned on the TV only to be caught in the mix of some huge news story the hosts were trying to relay to the viewers. The king of pop was dead. Being a child of the 80’s I grew up listening to his music and even to this day Thriller is my favorite of his catalogue. The normal 2 hour news show was extended to 5 hours in order to keep up with the developing story. All I can say is that no other news made its way through the program during those 5 hours. Weather? No. Traffic? No. Farrah Fawcett? No. I felt kinda bad for the show because the only connection they had to the story was through websites the staff were watching for updates. This whole news show and its biggest story of the day was hinging on some guy watching TMZ.com and telling the hosts what to say. I honestly don’t know how they held the show together with so little (and so wrong) information. I can’t imagine what the news shows in the US were like covering this story. Michael Jackson is probably the last great true artist/entertainer. “Musicians” in the pop world today are nothing but a Photoshopped image wrapped in scandal and given attention solely because of their celebrity. For crying out loud Britney is selling albums and tickets not because people genuinely enjoy her work but to get a glimpse of the woman on all the magazine covers who screwed up and shaved her head. The “Disney Factory” that has been pouring out these kids for years now has the system down pat. I mean look at the Jonas Brother and Hannah Montana. Who honestly thinks their music is good? MJ on the other hand had real talent and no matter the controversy surrounding him it was the music and the dancing that made him an icon. He was the last true innovator. I’m glad to know that Thriller is the #1 selling album of all time. For an 80’s kid knowing that makes me feel proud. Today all around the world music stores shelves are empty of Michael Jackson music. In an age of iTunes and illegal downloading and file sharing no one “buys” an album anymore. His fans will ensure that Thriller stays on top and I don’t believe that the likes of Hannah Montana will ever topple the King of Pop.

Caramelo Koala

Carmelo Koala
Originally uploaded by Loaded Chilidog

Cadbury regings superme in the chocolate world down under making candy that is both cute and yummy.

Success!

Success. After days of rain the skies opened up and presented to me a sunny and cool weather day to venture to Planet Video. Now I don’t want to give the impression that I flew all the way to Australia just to sit in an apartment and watch DVDs all day. Film is such a part of my life that its tough for me to travel to a modern international city and not seek out its film culture. If we traveled to a place where television and films were hard to come by then I would at least respect the culture and its people. Everywhere you look Australia is sucking as much as it can from American media. The media culture here is frustrating to me because I am so interested in the country’s own films which seem to have been pushed by the wayside to make way for contemporary American film media. I make it all the way to Planet Video in the Perth suburb of Mt. Lawley by bus and then by foot. The store itself resembles a Hot Topic that mated with a Suncoast Video. Gothic clothing beside signed posters of Back To The Future. Their store is split into sales and rental departments. I was happily able to find a number of titles in the sales Cult section that can’t be found in the states. I found some crazy British horror titles along with aussie titles that I recalled from the documentary “Not Quite Hollywood.” There wasn’t much else in the sales department that wasn’t either already on my shelves at home or waiting in my netflix queue. I moved on to the rental department seeking more exciting things. The new release wall was quite small in relation to the rest of the store, but provided an excellent example of what rents in this town. Out of the 6 bays I saw maybe 2-3 titles that were Aussie releases. There were a great deal of international titles, but ones that I’ve been reading about, hearing about on podcasts, or have heard about within the last few weeks. Heather asked her coworker Joshua about the media in this country and its US obsession. He claims it’s cheaper for them to import tv shows and films than produce their own. I suppose that makes sense, but I would think it kinda robs that country of an identity that is lost otherwise to Crocodile Dundee reruns on Showtime. Not that those films are bad, but just as my family said on the day we left, “I guess it’s a good thing you’re going because nobody really knows anything about Australia here.” Well there you have it. The catalog of the store (minus games) was very impressive. Their independent section was labeled “Festival” and was massive. Around 5 bays were spined top to bottom with titles from every part of the world. I glanced through a few shelves knowing it was impossible to examine every title with the store closing in 7 hours. I moved on to the next few sections after skipping Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi, and TV. The Cult, Horror, and International sections were full of gems. Moments later I held in my hand the one film that inspired Tarantino: Rolling Thunder. Above it the classic Mondo Caine was sitting in its torn plastic VHS case. I didn’t notice it until then but the bottom row of shelves in each section contains a few VHS titles. The cult sections were mostly all VHS. I took note of everything I saw and made certain to return soon. On the way out I picked up a few free pamphlets and booklets by the door. Shuffling through them I found a program guide to the Perth International Film Festival. Eureka! Starting in a week the festival will show 100 films in 10 days. I’m so there. Hopefully Heather will see a few films listed in the guide that will entice her as well. The skies cleared up and I started my walk back to the city. I passed a lovely little park with the greenest grass I’ve seen in about 10 years. Perth has quite a few of these little open parks scattered around the suburbs. With the level of commitment to sports that the citizens possess its no wonder that soccer/rugby/footy fields aren’t on every block. Back at home I made pasta with alfredo sauce for dinner. So far this week we’ve been good about cutting costs with making sensible meals and thankfully she gets home early enough that we have plenty of time to enjoy the evening. Seeing as how the town shuts down at 5pm finding things to do is our next challenge. Doesn’t anybody just hang out somewhere?

Another adventure. Another disappointment.

Walked to literally the next city over to find a video store to alleviate the boredom I get from watching free local tv. Much to my horror the store was barren and hadn’t been used for what looks like a year or two. With umbrella in hand and sweaty wet t-shirt on my back I criss-crossed the streets hoping to find the store had relocated. I walked up and down quaint little streets hoping to see something that would resemble a video store and eventually hoping to see something with a bathroom. I found Hay Street and took it all the way back into Perth stopping for some takeaway Chinese before getting back to the apartment. I dried my clothes and enjoyed my small $10 box of garlic chicken and curry rice. My second goal of the day was to gather more information on jobs and get some maps from the bus and train station. Having now walked two cities in the rain I felt that a more relaxed approach to this trip would be needed. I left the backpack at home and wore only my fleece jacket. Far too often I over dress for the weather and underestimate my ability to sweat constantly. The station was full of school kids heading home. The uniform with golden crests and knee length socks was something I’d never seen outside of the movies. Whatever stereotype you can conjure about school uniforms was present today. The tough guy trying real hard to look cool by rolling up his sleeves or smoking a cigarette and playing with his unbuttoned collar. The fat kid who barely fits into his uniform yet wears it proudly. The large groups of girls pecking away at their cell phone’s text pad and giggling all the while. The young man with a uniform so dirty he gives Linus a run for his money. All these kids with very decidedly British looking school uniforms felt to me very out of place here in Perth. Through my reading I’m beginning to understand more and more the history of this island nation and its English heritage. The uniforms against the backdrop of this city and its people are an excellent visual example of the awkward relationship Australia has with its mother country. I stop into a few backpacker businesses and inquire about work and grab a few maps on my way out to the bus stop. I miss the bus again after letting a girl go in front of me at the bus stop. I waited for her to board but she changed her mind at the last second and the bus driver closed the door thinking there were no more passengers boarding. I walked home. The rain let up a bit here and there making the trip not as bad as my previous ones. Seeing as how my video store adventure was a fail this morning I wanted so badly to redeem by day before it ended. The Harbour Town Mall is right next to our apartment building and with its many outlet type stores is a small movie and music shop that may be able to help. The staff were very helpful in pointing out a great place to rent videos that wasn’t too far away from downtown. Incidentally, it’s the store on my list I chose not to pursue because of its distance from me. Anyway, we talked about DVDs and how the US doesn’t import those great Aussie films from the 70s and 80s. The clerk was shocked to hear that those films aren’t found in the states. They were very glad to see an American taking some interest in their country’s films and I assured them I would return to buy something soon.
Our plan for the evening was to venture to the Northbridge section of Perth and meet up with the Perth Couchsurfers at The Brass Monkey pub. On the second floor of a very nice pub were seated about 6 or 7 of the people we saw listed to arrive. We each grabbed a pint and had a great time getting to know some locals and enjoying a cheap steak dinner as well. (Wednesday night special!) A few of them had even been to the States! They were all very nice people and made sure to invite us to further CS events. If possible we’re going to try and couchsurf a good bit during our weekend trips as well as the last few weeks before we head back to the States.

Update on the notebooks!

Yesterday was quite an adventurous day for me as well as a breaking point in my adapting to life not only in a city but also in OZ. My goals were to hit up an ATM, buy phones, check out some more movie stores in hopes of finding a blockbuster (or something), buy some groceries, and meander home. It was chilly and raining when Heather left for work at 8am. Knowing that much doesn’t happen around Perth until about 11am, I had some time to myself and time to wait out the rain. When the time came to head out I was in a tizzy. Preparing to go out into the world took me about 40 minutes. Not since my days in Morgantown had I spent so much time deciding what to wear and take with me on my journey. Back then it was across town on the PRT to the downtown campus for a day of classes and rehearsal. Who knew what kind of weather that city would hurl at you when you’re crossing the Mountainlair hoping to get home before the blizzard. Here in Perth I was fighting a worse dilemma. I had no car, no friendly place to duck into for a spell, and no friends to call if I needed a ride or help. With my coat and backpack ready I headed out with umbrella in hand. I headed up to Murray St. where I knew an ATM would be found. That section of the city is so quaint it reminds me of Salem or Williamsburg in a way: cobblestone streets, small out of the way stores, wide sidewalks filled with interesting people. After getting my turn at the bank machine I ducked into a newsstand to avoid a heavy shower and peruse the inventory. On a back wall near the children’s section was a shelf of basic notebooks and writing utensils. It was there I spotted Heather’s yellow covered notebook. Along with it placed in order of size were the other notebooks in the series: the small one for a pocket, the medium one for general list making, the steno-type one for more secretarial note taking (this one had a thicker cardboard backing and heartier spiral), the standard notebook sized one Heather received, and finally the large one that was purely a sketchpad type notebook seeing as how it was unlined. Placed alongside this group of notebooks were the usual fare of appointment books and composition books. I stepped back to have a good look at the entire lot and came to the same conclusion that I did yesterday about these things and their regulation for workers and school kids. The newsstand was filling up with patrons and I decided to not be the sore thumb sticking out with its awful American way of speaking. So far when addressing people in public to “excuse me” or something of the like I’ve been trying hard to adapt to their low quiet talk and say something like “Pardon” in a small voice and avoid my usual boisterous arm flailing motions and loud stupid laugh talk. You know, when I smile like a big goon and talk while laughing to elevate the mood of the experience. (And in some fashion draw attention to myself I think) I got out of the store and headed downtown in the pouring rain. I’ll spare the details of the experience because it wasn’t that exciting to begin with. I successfully navigated my way to the Dick Smith electronics store in hopes that the Brit who helped us the other day was working and would totally remember me and not take advantage of the stupid American like the other employees would do. Alas, he was busy and only after standing in front of the phone cabinet for 15 minutes did an employee notice me staring at him and motioning for him to help me. I like not being bothered in a store but not this time. Please bother me. Answer my questions. Take pity on me for not understanding the “top up” or the “credits” or all that other crap you’ve put in your phone plans to confuse everyone into spending too much money. The clerk was very nice (yeah I don’t remember his name) and I was able to get the phones with questions answered and my anxieties calmed. The rain continued to pour down heavily. My mood at this point was dropping because the worst part of the day was over and all there was to worry about was not getting soaking wet. I stopped into Woolworths and picked up a few items for dinner. Exiting the store I fought the idea of getting some quick food for lunch. The average lunch combo is about $10-$12. I still had some money to pay GT for rent and I didn’t want to dip into that for a pesky chicken wrap. I would tough it out and make lunch at home. Rounding the corner to the bus stop I watched as the bus I needed close its doors and accelerate uptown towards the apartment. Being the hardheaded person I am (thanks Pop) I clenched my shopping bag and turned to walk home. The rain continued to fall. I opened the apartment door and slowly peeled off the layers. Jeans and shirt went directly into the dryer. Shoes were opened up to air dry. The shopping bag sat in the sink to let the water run out. I hadn’t done everything I’d set out to do, but Heather would see that I did get the phones and would have food for dinner after she got home. I cleaned up and sat down with my Bill Bryson book to calm down. We got the phones working and talked about her coworker’s ability to put up with her questioning. One question she had was concerning the cost of Internet use here in OZ. Why the cap on data use? Her coworker Joshua says there is a monopoly on the internet here. One person owns the main data pipeline coming into the country. He can charge whatever he wants. Now that explains everything. I’m still comfortable using Heather’s connection at night and on weekends to keep our cost of living down and keep me from becoming a turd in the apartment parked in front of my laptop. We’re both tired by this time and bed sounds like a wonderful enterprise. I think I’ll take it easy tomorrow.

Life without a car, phone, internet or cable. Does it exist?

Living without a car and blocks from necessities makes me feel selfish and ungrateful for what I have at home. How do New Yorkers survive? I got more exercise today walking around the city than I have since I stopped marching. PLUS, with the city shutting down each evening there is an added incentive to getting up early. Well, it seems that being without convenience now extends to internet access. Heather’s office provides her with a laptop that has wireless broadband access. They said she could use the internet for personal use but we would have to pay for “usage” over the amount allotted for the card. Considering the cost of a separate USB modem with service each month we both agree that using her connection during the evenings and weekends will be enough to satisfy our internet desires. I was saddened for a second because I had really hoped to have a constant connection here at the apartment. Updating blogs, sending email, and general searching would have been the better part of my non-working day. However, I would also spend a great deal of time reading my usual blogs and wasting time that could be better spent reading, writing, and enjoying my new home away from home. This trip at its core is all about gaining new experiences and putting ourselves out there in the world. In just a few days we’ve learned how to deal with losing conveniences and how to live in a bustling, between the hours of 9 and 5, international city. What better way to begin a new life here than to strip away the wasteful things and live a more satisfying day.

Work without E-Mail? Is it possible?

After Heather got home from work we spent a good deal of time talking about her new role here in Perth as well as the big differences in working here than in the states. It seems as though the laid back quite culture here also extends into the business world. The Perth office seems to put more workload on the managers than on the senior staff members (Heather). So in turn Heather spent more time yesterday learning what she doesn’t have to do rather than what she has to do. So far she will be working not only with Aussies, but also a South African, a Russian, and a Zimbabwean. Very cool. This makes Orlando look like Mayberry. Her biggest shock of the day was how much the business world here in Perth is like the cultural world: always catching up in a backward fashion. E-mail isn’t widely used within the office except to announce a co-workers illness or inter-office events. Phone calls are recommended to keep managers updated on your day rather than a quick message from Outlook. It seems to me from our discussion that e-mail is looked upon as possibly being very impersonal and maybe inefficient? Along with her new work laptop she also brought home with her a bevy of notebooks and tablets. Each tablet was adorned with the Grant Thornton logo, pre-punched binder holes, and was laid out in a “fill in the labeled sections with the appropriate data” feel. They were similar to those phone message pads secretaries would fill out. My first reaction was that these tablets were used to show the higher-ups that Heather could perform certain tasks in a fill-in-the-blank sort of way before she could use Excel sheets and the like, possibly a necessary evil in the secondment route. I was corrected. These tablets are necessary for actual day-to-day work. Audits are done on paper. Most of their work from all angles is done on paper. Also in her stack of tablets was a yellow covered spiral notebook with normal lined pages. It looked very out of place. At first glance it had the appearance of a middle school notebook that had to be signed by your parents to affirm to the teacher that you did your homework. Evidently I wasn’t far off. Things like notebooks are also regulated here. Just going down to the Staples and buying a pack doesn’t happen. (I’ve seen ads for an office store so I will know more after that adventure.) How this works for school kids I’m not sure either, but when it comes to notebooks or paper in general for an office it seems policed. What does all this mean? I’m seeing a consistent trend of old ways bucked by the new. I’m not indicating that the US is the new, but rather technology is the new. Its growing and making everything it touches faster and quicker and easier to adapt to your life. We are so far away from everything here that its no wonder a phone call is preferred over an email. Hell, I’m the guy touting postcards and the written word over email everyday in Orlando! I’m interested to see if my tune will change after living here for 5 months.

The Aussie Vibe

Other than the accents and didgeridoo music from the town square, this place feels no more Australian than say Chicago or San Francisco. Sure the cars are European and the street signs are written differently, but all in all Perth feels like a suburb of a west coast city with a splice of 1950’s Southern values, British charm and Modern American culture. The US influence here is so saturated that Heather and I fit in extremely well until we open our mouths and speak. The brand names are everywhere and it seems just by looking at the youth that the appetite for these brands is huge. Obviously Adidas is popular due to its soccer, but FUBU, No Fear, DC Shoes, Mossimo, Fossil and Levi’s are all centered around an American demographic that in some way defines themselves by the brands. FUBU especially. I saw a white Aussie girl on the bus today wearing a Baby Phat hoodie. Good grief.

An evening in OZ

Perth is stuck somewhere in the 1950s in regards to its town’s hours of operation. When H learned that her working hours end at 5.00pm (that’s how they write time) she was thrilled. Getting home at a decent hour and having time to boot sounded great. Well, there is a reason for that hour of closing. The town shuts down at 5pm everyday, literally. You could film a post-apocalyptic film here without having to ask a single person to stay inside. The streets are empty. The silence is somewhere between Morgantown on a Sunday morning and eerie zombie movie. Few pubs, theaters, and restaurants stay open after 5pm. The weekends are extended to about 7 in some places. For some reason on Thursdays banks are closed and the town shuts down even earlier around 4-4.30. Where do these people go? What are they doing? Surely not everyone is at home gathered around the dinner table eagerly awaiting Dad to come home and regale the family with stories from work. After watching a few nights of TV here I can surely say that no one is running home to catch a great tv show. Have we not yet explored the late night section of the city? University students somewhere after 5 are drinking and partying, right?? I hear loud music downstairs sometimes in the evenings….is that them??!!

Most shocking experience so far?

Walking around downtown looking for cell phone stores we stopped into a Vodaphone shop to see the rates. Behind the podium influenced counter was a mid-20s asian woman wearing her company’s polo and typing into a laptop. I must continue to describe her so as to further help the experience. This woman in no way looks different from any other asian woman: black hair, light skin, feminine features, medium height, and thin build. We ask her almost simultaneously about the phone rates. She replies back with the heaviest Aussie accent I’ve ever heard. This woman makes Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee look like amateurs. I was floored.

Tally

1 Crazy Bushman who yells incoherently (I think) at kids.
0 Anti-American Aussies
1 Crazy homeless man talking to himself

Things we take for granted

Regulation of the Internet and cell phone use is tremendous. Coverage is everywhere and easily attainable for both internet and cell phones here in Perth. Our biggest shock was learning that when you purchase Internet for your home or wireless broadband you also must purchase a cap limit on your upload/download for each month. Let me say that again. You buy your internet on the basis of how much data you can transmit each month. Packages start from about 500mb up to 40gb. There are unlimited packages as well but that term is used very loosely. In reality they mean that the first 3g or 10g is will be transmitted at the highest speed available. After you have used you allotted number of “high speed” gigs you then have unlimited use as dial up speed provided that it is during non-peak hours. This concept is strange to us and we began to wonder how much data we actually send/receive each month. Seeing as how these limits even include actual web pages viewing time we felt our only choose was paying $150 for the highest “cap.” To make thing even better you can not get a land line in your home unless you sign up for a two year contract. Which mean that in order to get internet we have to buy a wireless USB modem for the low low price of $150.

Cell phones are even worse. I purposefully left our phones at home because using them here to phone each other as well as phone the states would cost at least a dollar a minute. To me that was too expensive and finding a cheaper local alternative would suit us better for calls to each other. We had planned to use Skype as our long distance alternative but Skype is now out due to the Internet “cap”. We looked all over the city at the pre-paid phone plans and left each store with mouth agape. The plans, the prices, the “caps”, the credits, the recharges, and the phones are all wrapped in a ridiculously confusing and expensive existence. Aussies pay out the ass for their cell phone use. Calls to each other are about a dollar a minute. Texts are around 50c to each other. Forget about calling someone on another network! Data plans for iphones and the like are even more confusing and expensive. The term “Rollover minutes” is foreign here. Every minute you purchase expires at the end of the month, every text plan you purchase expires at the end of the month.

Thanks to a Brit working in an electronics store who explained it all to us after helping another US couple we were able to make a little more sense of it all. So far talking to him as been the most humbling experience we’ve had in Perth. When we asked him why the cell phone plans and internet were so expensive and awkward he said, “The US and China are way ahead in technology and Australia is always trying to keep up. You have no idea what kind of technology you’ve got up there compared to here”. Whoa! We walked away from him thankful that he helped us out but also shitty that we are the stupid Americans who don’t know how good we’ve got it.

We’ve taken advantage of our technology and assumed that the rest of the world was far superior or at least on equal ground. Being a Brit made the blow a little softer than if he were an Aussie, but I couldn’t help but look at H and see the same feelings reflected back. In a crowded electronics store filled with the latest technology it suddenly became clearer. On an endcap were cassette recorders for dictation that could not even be described as pocket sized. A basic Sony model: $70. PS3 games: $107. True there were items way cheaper here than the states, but mostly everything is expensive and limited. It all made sense now.

No wonder the kids on the bus were using their phones to listen to mp3s. Each two year contract comes with 100 free downloads from their respective mobile store, why waste your home internet “cap” on music that you can get right from your phone? I also saw two random kids talk to each other about the music on their phones and then exchange the music via Bluetooth. Brilliant! Why buy more music from the phone’s store or download at home when you can ask the random dude next to you on the bus to share his playlist via email? Seeing that made me happy for the youths of Perth, they were finding ways around the “caps”. Did I still feel like a selfish American who doesn’t know what he’s got? Yeah I did. I don’t feel sorry for those kids or the technological hardships they must endure, but maybe I’ll spend less time yelling at my cable modem and more time seeing how the rest of the world lives.

After 24 hours stuck inside a plane and a journey that took us nearly around the world we are now finally in Perth. Stepping off the plane into the jetport we felt a rush of chilly air reminding us of this country’s backward seasons. However, 6 hours earlier we were in Sydney hoping to get through customs. Leaving our business class accommodations on our 17-hour trans pacific flight we made our way to Sydney customs passing the duty free shop. Apparently its possible to buy a barrel of liquor at cut rate prices! Who knew!? As appetizing as it was to see we had bigger fish to fry at the customs and immigration desk. We lined up and tried our best to look like normal everyday tourists. Which I suppose wasn’t too difficult. In Heather’s bag were printouts from customs websites we had nearly memorized because of our lack of experience with international travel. We were ready to declare every item we carried with us. Heather had almost memorized the contents of her purse alphabetically. After we were eyed up by the customs agent and had a stamp in our new passports we were let loose to get our flight to Perth. No questions, no hassles, nothing. What a letdown!

In the baggage claim at Perth a Grant Thornton employee named Chloe who was very happy to meet us meet us. She helped us with our bags out to the car where we got our first real glimpse at Australia. Well, by glimpse I mean we stared at the ground trying to shield our faces from the cold breeze of winter. Chloe’s car is a little black Peugot similar to a Honda Civic. Seeing as how we packed for 5 months her car was almost literally packed to the ceiling. We sped off and started to see bits and pieces of the city as we neared it. The suburb we first entered from the airport looked very working class and resembled the outskirts of Pittsburgh. We closed in on the bay and looked across the water to see downtown. The skyline of the city stretched out across the shore and back as far as you could see. At first glance it looked like Chicago’s little brother. Downtown itself to me resembles a mating of Chicago and Pittsburgh. The road pulled away and Chloe took us to King’s Park. A huge sanctuary opposite the city across the bay, King’s Park is massive and begins to conjure thoughts of Central Park in NYC for its quaint spots and wildlife along with a trendy restaurant and beautiful gardens. Exploring will definitely be on the to-do list. Chloe takes us by the Grant Thornton office so Heather can at least see where she’ll be working for the next 4 months. The office is a few blocks from downtown but is directly across the street from King’s Park. According to Chloe it’s not uncommon to go into the park and enjoy a relaxing lunch break. Heather was very excited at this possibility. The car turns right and we head towards our new home. Both the office and our apartment are fairly close together on the west side of the city. The tree lined streets with old brick buildings beside newer contemporary buildings reminded us of Boston and those cute little northeastern towns like Salem. I suppose it’s not out of the question for one British colony to resemble another British colony is it? We round another cute little park and come upon a bricked street. Chloe parks the car and we pull our jet-lagged bodies out to see our new home. We see a gated brick complex with multi story buildings surrounding a pool area in the middle. Not too fancy like the contemporary buildings beside it, but comfortable looking and welcoming. Our apartment is very basic but appointed very well and definitely room enough for the two of us plus our incoming roommate Elise from California. She’ll be here in a few weeks so we have the place to ourselves for a while. Chloe gives us the keys as well as the gate code for the complex and writes down her “mobile” number. (The term “cell phone” in Aus is replaced with “mobile.” ) Her mobile number is just a long single sequence of numbers on the paper. No dashes or parenthesis or periods to distinguish anything within the number. Weird. After Chloe left there we were standing in the middle of our new apartment…in Australia. For over a year it was in the back of our minds that an international vacation would be next on our big trip list. Here we are now on the other side of the world. Heather smiled at me. I grabbed some luggage and set about to unpack it all. Heather scouted the rooms. Our fridge had some basic groceries and the cupboard contained enough for us to have a few lunches and breakfasts. We spent the next couple of hours exploring on foot. A few blocks up we found an ATM and a number of small shops including a newsstand where we could get a phone card. Outside the shop the town was dead. Other than a few locals heading home from work we were the only ones walking the sidewalks. It was eerie like a zombie movie all empty and quiet.

Tonight I’ll sleep well. For 2 weeks now I’ve been so worried about getting down here and ensuring everything from Orlando to Berkeley Springs would be in order. I tried to figure out the heater but I think it may be broken. Heather found the stockpile of towels and blankets so we should be ok for the night. This is our biggest adventure together and I’m glad to know it won’t be our last.