Differences....

Having lived in Denver for 4 months now, I am feeling a teeny bit qualified to talk about some of the differences between living in Australind and living in Centennial/Denver.  If you choose to move to another country for a year to live you expect there to be differences...no right or wrong....just differences.These are some of my observations between the two.....

The postie delivers your mail to the letterbox and if you have a letter to post, you put a stamp on it, pop it in the letterbox and put a red flag up on the letterbox.  This lets him know there is mail to post and he takes it for you!! Nice.....(or you can go through the drive- through Post Office!!) Speaking of which, you can also go through the drive-through Pharmacy and Bank as well!!

No mail to post.....

                                           

Mail to post...so simple....love it!

                                        

Rubbish (trash) also gets picked up by the rubbish truck, however at home this is all done automatically, whereas here it is done by hand....the men hang off the back of the truck and physically pick your bins up and throw the rubbish in the back of the truck.  Also there are no SULO wheelie bins (probably because these are manufactured and supplied in Australia)....life's pretty exciting when I'm writing about the rubbish bins!!

Where's Oscar the Grouch?

Australian rubbish bin

 

Rubbish pickup ...Australia

 Power points are different too....they don't have switches on them, so for instance if we want to plug something into a power point, we plug the cord into the power point, then go to a "light switch" which is away from the power point, and turn the power on there,....we are still getting used to this, as in Australia you turn the power on or off at the power point. Again, scintillating reading....but differences in our everyday lives....

Power point

                                                        

Power point switch...not near power point..

                                        

Australian power point...

Coles and Kohls might sound the same....but that's all....

 

Bread is a bit of an issue here...we are pretty basic bread eaters at home..."sliced multigrain" does it for us.  Here we have struggled to find bread that isn't sweet and the best way to disguise the taste is to toast it and put Vegemite on it.  And of course people here we have spoken to about our Australian delicacy all hate it...that's usually because they prepare it as they would Nutella....thick!!  Someone even had a spoonful of it and now hates it....no surprises there!!!  I went to a Yr 1 class and we gave them all a taste on a Salada biscuit, with butter and the Vegemite spread thinly, and out of a class of 30 kids, 28 of them liked it, so it's all in the preparation!!

The "Ace" name is different in the 2 countries as well....

Australia

America

and Bunnings and Home Depot (pronounced Deepo) seem to be similar....

Money: I still struggle with the money here.  Pennies are a pain...noone wants them, yet you get them in change without hesitation!  I still can't tell the difference between the coins, and the notes are all the same colour, so are difficult to distinguish. (and I've got really bad eyesight!). I've always thought the Australian currency was pretty clear cut and it really is compared to the US currency. We have a US bank account, so we use our cards pretty much all the time.  If I have to use coins, I just put them in my hand and say to the cashier, you take what you need!!

US money

                                              

Australian money

                                
The US bank we are with here doesn't seem as "modern" as our bank at home...I can't transfer money from my US account to Jakeb's US account (same bank) over the internet.  I have to ring up to do it.  I did apply to the bank to have this facility available to me in early Feb and I am still waiting to hear back!!  At home I would pay nearly everything over the internet,...here it is cheques, (checks) of which we were given 5 free ones when we arrived and after that it costs you.  When you do go into the bank I was surprised as to how much was still being hand written.

The cost of living here is cheap compared with home.  I really notice the difference in the price of fuel (gas) and groceries. Grocery shopping is always a bit of hit and miss and quite often what I end up buying isn't what I thought it was!! There are so many food products that are standard in my kitchen at home that I have spent months looking for.  When I ask someone, they either can't understand my accent or just look at me blankly!  So I was delighted to discover that cilantro is the same as coriander, fish sauce and mint sauce ARE available and lemonade is similar to lemon juice.  I miss the beautiful carrots from the Bunbury Farmers Market though and finding a really nice crunchy apple is proving difficult and I can't find bean sprouts.  One huge gripe I have is with the shopping trolleys (carts) here.  You can't move them sideways!!!!  Sounds insignificant?  No way! It does my head in every time I go to the shops!  If you want to move the trolley sideways to get out of the road of someone, you have to lift them....aaaggghhh!!! First World problems...I know.

Fueling up your car is different.  You have to pay before you put the fuel into the car. So if you are paying by cash you go into the shop first and  tell them how much you are putting in and hand over the cash.  If you need change, you get it when you have fueled up.  If you are paying with a card, you swipe the card at the bowser and either put your postcode (zip code) in or PIN, it often asks if you want a car wash as well and then you just fuel up and drive off.  No human contact whatsoever!! I like it.

Aussie servo/roadhouse

US Gas station

I have tentatively mastered driving now, but don't enjoy the large amounts of traffic or driving in the snow.  It took me a while to get used to the road rules....a couple in particular.  You can turn right on your red light if it is clear....such a good rule.  It still gets me though and I have been known to be sitting there with cars tooting me, not realising it was me they were tooting at, to turn right!! STOP signs are EVERYWHERE and usually least where you expect them! 4 way STOP signs are common and this really threw me.  The rule is whoever gets there first goes first!  None of this giving way on your right rubbish!!  But it works!!  I was at a really busy intersection where the lights weren't working and everyone automatically did the 4 way stop sign rule and traffic flowed.

Traffic lights are high up and across the intersection from where you are meant to stop.  The marked lines on the roads are so poorly painted that I have not realised and gone to stop underneath the traffic light, which means I am in the middle of the intersection!!  Turning left is scary as, again, the roads are so poorly marked you can't tell where your lane is and could end up having a head on!!

Australian traffic lights

US traffic lights...Centennial

 Street lights are virtually non existent - near where we are staying anyway, (except for the one that shines in our bedroom at night!) which makes night driving really difficult.  Indicating seems to be an optional extra here and roundabouts are few are far between, with (it seems) no signalling required whatsoever.  Thank God we have "Simon"our trusty GPS travelling with us. He has been to the States before and the UK and Ireland, so is well travelled and has proved invaluable at times.  We have kept "Simon" on the metric system as "turn right in 1/4 mile" is foreign to me!

Speaking of the metric system....tell me your baby was 8lb 5oz and I get it, but tell me to buy a lb of bananas and I'm lost!!  Fuel: $3.49 9/10 per gallon....huh? If someone is described as being 6ft tall....no problem, but turn right in 200ft.. come on.....and as for Fahrenheit...I have no idea.... :(

It seems to me that school dates in particular are referred to as a "Season".  When Morgan was applying for enrollment to Uni. of Nthn Colorado, I think the two dates were Spring and Fall.  We didn't know when that was and ended up enrolling in the wrong "season".  I wish they would refer to it in months...so for example, the school year starts in August - not Fall.  Too confusing for me!

Of the schools I have visited (5 of them) none of the students wear a uniform.  I think there is a lot to be said about uniforms in a school (especially when Joshuah said some of the kids at his school wear their pyjamas).  Even it is a matching shirt, it makes life easier and cheaper for parents and I think they look great and gives a bit of pride and ownership to their school. Just my personal opinion...

Aussie kids in their school uniforms

A couple of weeks ago Joshuah came home from school and told me there had been a bomb scare at his school. Someone had written on a bathroom wall that a bomb was going to go off at a certain time. This was a few days after the Boston bombings and on the anniversary of Columbine, which is a neighbouring school.  We then got an email from the school reassuring us it was all OK and was a hoax. A huge difference between home and here is my kids have never been at a school that has had a bomb scare and the indifference of people who live here, when we told them.  Apparently it happens "this time of the year" and is "just one of those things".  So for this Aussie mum I found that attitude disturbing as it was an awful experience for Joshuah and really worrying for me.  Hoax or not, surely this shouldn't be accepted as part of the culture?  Reassuringly, when I told other Aussie exchangees. they were just as disturbed as me.

The driving age in Colorado is 16 and the drinking age is 21, so kids can drive by themselves when they are 16 (14 in some US States), but can't drink till they are 21... yet you can join the US Military at 18.  With Joshuah (17) being our 4th and last child we have taught to drive, I am very comfortable with the licence system we have in WA, and I guess if it is compulsory to vote at 18, then they should be able to legally drink at that age too.  So for Morgan (19), coming over here and not being able to have a quiet beer when he wanted has been a pain. (I think he has managed to overcome this though!!)  :)

Joshuah..the day he got his P Plates

Tipping and tax...I HATE this and will NEVER get used to it.  If I see something for $6.45 and I take it to the checkout, I hate that it will cost more than the price advertised. It's not the extra amount that annoys me, I just want to know how much something is!  I know there is a reason behind it, but Australia has managed to include the tax in the price you see....on a menu, in a shop, at the hairdressers etc...so you know when you see $6.45 in Australia, it will cost you $6.45 at the checkout.  Tipping is also annoying, and I get the reason why we have to, but when you add tax and tipping to a total, it certainly makes a difference.  Having said that....the service you get is usually outstanding.

But the best information I have been given since we moved to Denver is...... cooking at altitude is different to cooking normally! I was so happy to hear this....just imagine....I have one whole year to blame my crap cooking on the altitude!!

Speaking of which...check this out below...I had never seen cookie dough before, let alone in polony knob form, so I gave it a go.....

 They are very sweet and have lasted longer than a week, so I'm not sure how successful they are, but I reckon I did alright....altitude and all!!  :)