Monkeys and Sausages

The biggest difference in Australian English is all the abbreviations. Everything is shortened. Jeff bought me a book about Australian language and culture and it has actually been quite helpful. I've already heard a lot of words that the book had listed, such as:

brekkie - breakfast

sunnies - sunglasses

barbie - barbecue

cardie - cardigan

goalie - goalkeeper

jarmies - pyjamas

postie - mail deliverer

sparkie - electrician

kindy - kindergarden

arvo - afternoon

avo - avocado

rego - registration

The book also says: "Nicknames are all but compulsory in Australia and only rarely will a person be called by their given name." This is very true. Rebecca would be Beck or Becky, Lachlan Lachie or Lacho, Matthew Matty, Joanna Jo, Michael Mike or Micky... And It's not always about shortening the name, sometimes the nickname is longer, as in John would be Johnno.

Noah and Felix don't really have nicknames but Maya is sometimes called missy or missy moo like are a lot of little girls here. Jade and Jorja have a lot of nicknames, the most common ones are probably Jadie and Jorjie. Or monkeys. Sausage is also a nickname for a little child. At first it sounded really weird but now I think it's actually really cute. Timothy would probably be the king of nicknames: Tim, Timy, Timtam, Timo, Timomatic... And the Finnish one that I gave him - Timppa.

I've only come accross a few words that have a different meaning or are completely different. The woods is called the bush and hiking is more often referred to as bushwalking. I did have a situation that could have been quite funny if Hannah hadn't been handing me her flip-flops as she said that I could borrow her thongs... XD

xo.

Mily (my new Australian nickname)

ZOO, Swimming and Other Stuff

This week has been absolutely wonderful! It's the school holidays so we've been up to all sorts of fun stuff. I've also spent a little more time with the Sharpe's.

On Monday I had a lovely time drinking ice chocolate and playing tennis with the kids' nana (grandmother) and her lady friends. I went so that she could give me some pointers for my netball game the next day.

On Tuesday we had a massive water fight with Noah and Maya. Then we packed up scooters and a netball in the car and went to Lapstone courts to throw the ball and scooter around. In the evening I had my first netball game. First time ever playing netball and it was an actual game. I was a bit overwhelmed trying to play and get the hang of all the rules at the same time but I think I did ok.. I was WD = wing defense. Hopefully I'll get to play the same position next week or I'll just be even more confused :D Luckily my team's very nice!

Wednesday was probably the high light of the week. The Sharpe family took me along to the ZOOOO - more precisely Taronga Zoo in Sydney. I'll just let the picture do the talking:

Timomatic and Bryan

:Snake

The Giraffe house

A giraffe in the city.

The most adorable animals on the planet: Meerkats

Yay, face paint!

My best friends Jorja and Jade. Oh and the city skyline.

The heartwarming sight of elephants having fun together in the water.

Seal Show

A wallaby. I think. Or is it a kangaroo..?

There are at least four different species of kangaroo.
Wondering which one's meat they sell in the stores.. :D

Enjoying the skyrail ride.

A big thank you to Josey for these photos!!

On Thursday we went for a swim in the Springwood inside pool. They'd opened the water slide as a school holiday special. I had fun playing in the water with the girls. We tried putting Timy in the water too but he really didn't think that was a good idea.

On Friday we took Maya with us and went to the Jellybean pool in the national park for a swim. A lot of water play this week. I also had dinner with the Sharpe's for the first time. We ate fajitas and had ice cream for dessert. Yummy!

I ended up looking at pictures form Finland this week and felt a bit teary as I realized how long it's actually going to be till I see my family and friends again. Luckily I'm having the time of my life here so I didn't feel too bad.

xo.
Emilia

Burning off Breakfast at the Beach

Burning off

I got a couple of worried texts from my family about the bush fires that were out of control yesterday. I saw a lot of smoke but they weren't near enough to be of any danger. Scary things though, bush fires. Sometimes I forget how safe Finland is. No bush fires, no earthquakes, no floods, no highly venomous animals, no sharks... Just a bit of slippery ice in winter :D

Bush fires are very common in Australia. Before summer there are a lot of hazard reduction burn offs. Meaning they deliberately start a fire in controlled conditions to burn off bush so that in summer there will be less bush to burn. Making a fire to avoid one. Clever.

Glenbrook village and burn-off smoke

Breakfast

I was warned about Australians being morning people. That is very true. You don't necessarily need to wake up super early but when you do you get up and get going. It's not at all unusual to meet up with your friends for breakfast. I've done that a couple of times already and it was actually really nice :)

I've been eating very healthy but breakfast has been the one meal that I've managed to indulge in every once in a while. Pancakes, ice cream, French toast... Yum yum! I should have taken pictures, I know :c

Beach

Last weekend we went to Maroubra beach. The weather was beautiful and the waves were amazing. Luckily the Australian winter is over and the spring here is like Finnish summer. Not complaining. Not at all.

The title was a bit misleading as I haven't really done any sports since my arrival. That'll change soon though as I've taken up netball! It starts in two weeks. I'll try to write a few times before that though...

xx.

Em