Real Australians

Similar to in the US, Australians celebrate the end of their work week with Friday drinks after work, and thanks to my new job, I was invited to partake in this Australian experience. After spending all my time so far with other backpackers, it was an interesting change to hang out with a group of locals. From when I first got there, they made fun of me for everything, starting with the kind of beer I was drinking (Tooheys), saying that no Australians actually drink that. Also along the lines of beer, they all think Foster's is disgusting and none could think of a bar that actually serves it. They also teased me for my accent and how I say words like "Melbourne" or "mate". I was pretty impressed with their imitations of American accents.

I'm not so sure I like and/or understand their perception of Americans--they wanted to know if I had ever been on spring break, and were very disappointed when I told them how much I disliked Cancun. They also wanted to know if I'd been to band camp. Sigh.

On the other hand, I would guess that Americans' perceptions of Australians are not much more accurate. They had all been to the US a number of times, and all said that their conversations with Americans consisted of the Americans yelling "G'day mate!" and "Put another shrimp on the barbie!" Sadly, I'm not too surprised. I just hope that I didn't come off as being quite as ignorant. They did invite me to come out with them again, so either they are really enjoying making fun of me, or I am actually a decent representative of my country.


Your Australian Fun Fact for the Day: Burger King in Australia is called "Hungry Jacks" because there was already a Burger King restaurant in Australia when Burger King began franchising here.