Being an Aussie - around the house
Jun. 29th, 2013 07:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deird1Believe it or not, there are many things in your house that you've probably never realised are different anywhere else. When I went to Germany, I was fascinated by lightswitches, of all things. And it took me a week to figure out how all the windows worked.
So...
The Powerpoints
Our powerpoints (not "outlets") are different to yours. They also produce a different voltage.
They look like this:
What you do is, you keep it switched off (like the socket on the left), plug your appliance in, and then switch it on (like the socket on the right).
If you're bringing over any electrical stuff, remember to bring an adaptor with you.
The Toilet
Your toilet might be in the bathroom, or it might be in its own teeny separate room. In the latter case, both the room and the object are known as "the toilet". Hence, the conversation "Where's Mike?" "Oh, he's in the toilet." makes sense even if Mike is not literally swimming around the bowl.
Our toilets have less water in them than American toilets. You tend to get a small quantity of water sitting right at the bottom of the bowl. If it's getting close to the rim, it means the toilet is blocked and about to overflow.
Every toilet in Australia is a "dual-flush" toilet. You use the "half-flush" setting if your toilet visit didn't... *ahem* ...cause much disturbance in the force. And the "full-flush" setting if you need something more substantial. There's not really a single way that loos will indicate which setting is done with which button - you pretty much have to figure it out as you go.
A Couple of Kitcheny Words
It's not a kitchen counter; it's a kitchen bench.
To clean the bench - or the floor, or the front of the microwave, or whatever else you've got lying around - you'll need a cleaner of some sort. Much as "Kleenex" has become a generic word for "tissue", one of our generic cleaners has inserted itself into the Aussie vocabulary: if someone asks you to hand them the "spray-and-wipe", they're talking about a bottle of cleaning product which you spray on the bench, and then wipe off again.
(People here don't really use "Kleenex" as a generic term. Just by the way.)
Oven Temperatures
...are in Celsius. Not Fahrenheit.
Quick guide to Aussie temperatures, coming right up...
Watching TV
There used to be five TV channels (ABC, 7, 9, 10, and SBS). These days, with the advent of digital, there are more - but still all run by the same companies. This is why you can have channels "7", "7 digital", "7TWO", and "7 mate" - none of them actually on the 7th channel. Weird, but you'll get used to it.
DVDs here are region 4. But most DVD players can be unlocked to multi-region, if you know how.
Also - we do not have Netflix or Hulu. Overdose on them now, while you can.
The Mail
I get the impression from movies (and The Sims) that, in the US, if you want to send a letter you put it in your own letterbox and lift the little flag. Is this correct?
Here, you have to go and find a giant red post box.
Putting Out The Bins
Rubbish is collected on a weekly basis. In most suburbs, there will be three separate bins:
- the standard bin
- the recycling
- the green bin
If you're in a flat, you probably won't need to worry about the green bin, but make sure to separate your rubbish from your recycling.
Questions? Comments?
So...
The Powerpoints
Our powerpoints (not "outlets") are different to yours. They also produce a different voltage.
They look like this:
What you do is, you keep it switched off (like the socket on the left), plug your appliance in, and then switch it on (like the socket on the right).
If you're bringing over any electrical stuff, remember to bring an adaptor with you.
The Toilet
Your toilet might be in the bathroom, or it might be in its own teeny separate room. In the latter case, both the room and the object are known as "the toilet". Hence, the conversation "Where's Mike?" "Oh, he's in the toilet." makes sense even if Mike is not literally swimming around the bowl.
Our toilets have less water in them than American toilets. You tend to get a small quantity of water sitting right at the bottom of the bowl. If it's getting close to the rim, it means the toilet is blocked and about to overflow.
Every toilet in Australia is a "dual-flush" toilet. You use the "half-flush" setting if your toilet visit didn't... *ahem* ...cause much disturbance in the force. And the "full-flush" setting if you need something more substantial. There's not really a single way that loos will indicate which setting is done with which button - you pretty much have to figure it out as you go.
A Couple of Kitcheny Words
It's not a kitchen counter; it's a kitchen bench.
To clean the bench - or the floor, or the front of the microwave, or whatever else you've got lying around - you'll need a cleaner of some sort. Much as "Kleenex" has become a generic word for "tissue", one of our generic cleaners has inserted itself into the Aussie vocabulary: if someone asks you to hand them the "spray-and-wipe", they're talking about a bottle of cleaning product which you spray on the bench, and then wipe off again.
(People here don't really use "Kleenex" as a generic term. Just by the way.)
Oven Temperatures
...are in Celsius. Not Fahrenheit.
Quick guide to Aussie temperatures, coming right up...
0 degrees - freezing. Literally.
10 degrees - cold morning
20 degrees - nice day
30 degrees - nicer day
40 degrees - TOO HOT TO MOVE
...short intermission while we switch from weather to food...
100 degrees - water boiling
180 degrees - moderate oven
200 degrees - standard oven
220 degrees - hot oven
300 degrees - you're going to burn the roast
Watching TV
There used to be five TV channels (ABC, 7, 9, 10, and SBS). These days, with the advent of digital, there are more - but still all run by the same companies. This is why you can have channels "7", "7 digital", "7TWO", and "7 mate" - none of them actually on the 7th channel. Weird, but you'll get used to it.
DVDs here are region 4. But most DVD players can be unlocked to multi-region, if you know how.
Also - we do not have Netflix or Hulu. Overdose on them now, while you can.
The Mail
I get the impression from movies (and The Sims) that, in the US, if you want to send a letter you put it in your own letterbox and lift the little flag. Is this correct?
Here, you have to go and find a giant red post box.
Putting Out The Bins
Rubbish is collected on a weekly basis. In most suburbs, there will be three separate bins:
- the standard bin
- the recycling
- the green bin
If you're in a flat, you probably won't need to worry about the green bin, but make sure to separate your rubbish from your recycling.
Questions? Comments?
Cooking
Date: 2013-06-29 12:18 am (UTC)A US tablespoon is 15mL; an Australian tablespoon is 20mL.
A US teaspoon is a third of a US tablespoon; an Australian teaspoon is a quarter of an Australian tablespoon. So, weirdly, a US teaspoon and an Australian teaspoon are about the same size, 5mL.
A US cup is half a pint, or 236mL.
An Australian cup is 250mL.
We don't use ounces, we use grams or millilitres, depending on if it's dry or wet. A 14oz can of beans is a 400g can of beans.
7-Elevens do not sell alcohol or bullets.
The only 24-hour supermarket in Melbourne is the Coles on Glenhuntly Road in Elsternwick; other Melbourne supermarkets generally shut at 12 (for Coles or Woolworths) or earlier (for independents, although some Woolworths have now started shutting at 11 in the winter months.)
Your best source of Asian food ingredients is your local Asian grocery: they'll be cheaper and have a better range than the supermarkets. Look for wherever there are lots of actual Asian people shopping. (This applies to a wide range of Asian countries.)
Your best source of Mexican food... nup, this is Australia. The closest you're going to get (apart from restaurants, and not a whole lot of them) is Old El Paso in the supermarket.
Vegetables and meat. Your cheapest source is what we call a 'market'. I think in the US that's a 'public market'? A large, open-air place with lots and lots of stalls, and definitely not a farmer's market (over here those are ridiculously expensive.)
Electric kettle: the quickest way to boil water. Yes, quicker than the stove. Yes, quicker than an electric kettle in the US: this is a consequence of our voltage being different from yours. The kettle boils faster here.
Drinking water: your tap water should be safe to drink, and depending on the pipes in your house and the level of chlorination in your area, quite likely tastes good too. Give it a go before buying a case of bottled water or a Britta filter.