Trying New Things and Leaning another Language

This week has so far been a week of trying different Australian foods and specialties. Starting with the kangaroo meat on Monday, I decided to take a step down and try Vegemite last night. My Australian roommate Clair told me she HAD to make it for me before I left to go back home, and I guess last night was the night. It started out with a piece of toasted bread, then she smeared a ton of butter on the bread, followed by this "amazing" spread layered on top that Australians think is the best thing ever invented. The closest thing I can describe Vegemite to is a thick spread that looks like chocolate (but tastes nothing like it) followed by tons and tons of salt. When I took my first bite, immediately all I could think about was taking a gulp of the ocean. It was SO salty tasting and nothing I have ever eaten before. I decided to be adventurous and take a second bite to see if it got any better, which was a bad idea. Immediately I spit it out because the saltiness was too much for me to handle. I think Clair was a little upset with me not liking it, but I am proud of myself for trying something new.

Since I have gotten to Sydney, all I have heard about was that I need to Tim Tams. This is a biscuit, composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit, separated by a light chocolate cream filling, and coated in a thin layer of chocolate. I went to the grocery store and bought a package for everyone to try. Let me just say, it is 100 times better than Vegemite and absolutely amazing. If I have room in my suitcase, I will try and bring some back to America for everyone to try! 

Enough with the food already, as I am sure I am making all of you hungry! Today in one of my tutorials, which is a small class with about 15 students, we were learning about referencing and ways to reference different pieces of literature. My tutor, the teacher, was calling on people to come to the front of the class and write on the board an example of how to reference a book. I got selected, and walked to the front of the class and started to write my answer on the board. In-between writing my answer, I would explain what I was writing and why I wrote it that way. For example, I would say that the format requires you to put the authors name, followed by the year of publication of the book, and then I would continue to write the answer. My tutor stopped me and said I needed a "pause," which I found kind of weird of him to say. So I continued and said, "Next you need to put the place of publication..." and then I paused for about 10 seconds looking at everyone else. Then I continued, "followed by the page numbers used." My tutor stopped me and asked if I was confused because of the way I stopped and looked around before writing the page numbers down. I said no that he told me to pause, so that was what I was doing. Immediately, he started to laugh. This is when I learned that a "pause" in Australia is a comma, not an actual hesitation in a sentence. One of these days, which probably will not be until the end of my stay in Australia, will I understand their language! I asked him other differences so I did not mess up again, and he said that they call a "period," which for us is the point at the end of a sentence an "end stop," or something like that.

Little differences in the way different cultures and countries speak actually do make a difference. Now I am sure he is going to go home and tell his whole family about the American girl in his class thinking a pause was a hesitation, not a comma.

Heaps of Love,

Heidi