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| Topic Started: Jun 17 2007, 11:49:18 PM (445 Views) | |
| melbar | Jun 17 2007, 11:49:18 PM Post #1 |
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Chinwagger
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This i guess is more the the American's out there
 Just wondering how long it took you guy's to work out let alone remember all the different conversions...eg feet, miles, farenheit. My first job over here in America was as a heavy equpiment operator for road construction, on my first day i was asked to move something from the Asphalt :headscratch: ( i only knew it as bitumen), how silly did i look :# Im building roads and didnt know what Asphalt is :rollin: |
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| TerritorianTori | Jun 18 2007, 12:11:12 AM Post #2 |
Dance to disco
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Hiya Mel, LOL...don't worry, I could tell a few stories about using the wrong word for stuff too. hehehe.  I don't remember how long it took, exactly, but there was a point at which I quit trying to convert everything in my head. Now it's just one or the other. In Texas, the highway speed was 70mph; here in the NT it's 130kph. In Texas, the temps would drop down to the 30s and 40s F which is pretty cold; here, they only go down to the low 20s which is just 'cool'. Practice, practice, and time... you'll get used to it.
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 South Texas to the Northern Territory - since 2004 I'm a huge fan of... Angry Video Game Nerd | The Big Bang Theory | Doctor Who | Pet Shop Boys | Yanks Down Under ~ Americans living in Australia Avatar by Sketch Shop Boys | |
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| Bindie | Jun 18 2007, 01:08:09 AM Post #3 |
True Blue Mate
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I pretty much have had the same experiences as Tors. I just found a normal number like... 30 degrees C is on the verge of hot (to me) and I just adjust everything around that. I know that 1 kilometer is just over 1/2 mile so I just mentally adjust and the same with a kilogram - it's about 2 pounds. Wool is yarn, and to nurse a baby is just cuddle! Imagine my surprise when my brother in law asked my OTHER brother in law to hand over their new baby because he wanted to nurse her! *BLINK BLINK* It's all learning curve, isn't it? |
 The future is no place/to place your better days, DMB Canberra, ACT since 2004 | |
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| Susan | Jun 18 2007, 09:33:28 AM Post #4 |
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Unregistered
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Bitumen is asphalt? I have heard the word - but had no idea what it is/was! Now I know. As far as getting used to the metric system, it is still a challenge sometimes. For temps, I was once told that if you have a celcius temp of say 25, you double that amount and add 30 to get the farenheit equivalent 25X2 =50 and add 30 = 80f . It's not a perfect equation, but it gets ya pretty close. Susan |
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| melbar | Jun 19 2007, 03:27:55 AM Post #5 |
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Chinwagger
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I think im more at the stage where i get more confused than when i first came over here. I went home in April and my poor daughter had to keep telling me im driving on the wrong side of the road :help: then when i drive here im still driving on the wrong side :banghead: . I dont know if everybody calls asphalt, Bitumen in Australia but its what ive called it all my life. For the metric system, i have that worked out now......its hot or cold that simple :# Have a great day everybody. |
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| TerritorianTori | Jun 19 2007, 09:46:13 AM Post #6 |
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Dance to disco
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LOL... my parents still say this to me! And my response is that if I was really driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, I'd have had a head-on collision a long time ago. :mrgreen: |
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South Texas to the Northern Territory - since 2004 I'm a huge fan of... Angry Video Game Nerd | The Big Bang Theory | Doctor Who | Pet Shop Boys | Yanks Down Under ~ Americans living in Australia Avatar by Sketch Shop Boys | |
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| incognito | Jun 19 2007, 09:46:40 AM Post #7 |
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Chatterbox
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When we lived in the States together for 3 years, my husband worked in construction and adapted pretty quickly to different measurements but had a hard time at first with the different names for things when he'd ask for help in Home Depot - like asking for a light globe, tapsets (instead of faucets), etc. I'd say about 6 months before our move (he was there 2.5 years or so by that time) he was forgetting a lot of the Aussie terminology for things and was utterly confused as to what they call things here. Now that he is back in Oz, he is having a hard time getting used to metric and still uses some American expressions. I have been here a year now and I for the most part have adjusted to different terminology but still get tripped up now and then when I don't expect it. At work I was assisting our production manager with some edits to an ad and I said parenthesis and he did not know what I was talking about - they call it brackets here. My husband trotted out a few Aussie expressions over the past few weeks that I had never heard and I just looked at him in utter confusion. I had no idea WHAT he was saying! Stuff like that... I think how quickly someone adjusts partially depends on how motivated someone is to adapt and how much they interact with people from their new country, if they have a job outside of the home, etc. |
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| imafranktoo | Jun 21 2007, 11:57:29 PM Post #8 |
Little Miss Key Breaker
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I can empathise with the driving on the wrong side of the road on both sides of the world. Since coming back here I had to drive the day we arrived in New England. I had to ask Neal to help me remember. Which side is it again? Oh yeah go to the right!! Don't drive that way around the cul de sac that is how you did it in Australia. Yikes! Of course was there traffic to follow in front of me? Nope! :rollin: I think the more you use measurements in the area you live in it does get easier with time. Although, I am still unsure what the difference between the Old Aussie measurements for cooking/baking and the new one. Love, Jen |
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| Rissaroo | Jun 22 2007, 12:43:07 PM Post #9 |
True Blue Mate
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Hmmm, well, despite the fact that I'm a housewife, I was never much of a cook before now, so cooking measurements/temperatures I either guess at (usually comes out all right) or I just look up the recipe with the measurements I'll need to cook it here. Of course now my mom's about to send some of her recipes via email so I may need to rethink that method. I still get tripped up over distances or speeds, but I don't have a car or ride in a car too terribly often so that doesn't come up much. I still weigh myself in pounds though I know what I weigh in kilos and my goal weight in kilos and can easily convert if need be. Outside temperatures I've gotten the hang of, like if someone says it's 20 degrees, I know it's probably a very nice day (I like my weather a bit cool). But I like to know the exact number so I usually end up converting it anyhow. :p And as far as phrases go, after a year and a half here and almost two years having daily contact with an Aussie, my husband STILL throws out words and slang I don't know. It's like, "What?!" And I've picked up some of the words myself without really meaning to--mostly those we say most often, like rubbish or rubbish bin, and toilet instead of bathroom. I haven't visited back to the States yet, and I'm wondering if when I do my friends and family will pick up the differences or if I'll slide right back into the way I talked before. Fun! :mrgreen: |
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| Bindie | Jun 22 2007, 12:55:00 PM Post #10 |
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True Blue Mate
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I wonder this as well. I might plan a trip back next year. Maybe it's time. |
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The future is no place/to place your better days, DMB Canberra, ACT since 2004 | |
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| kel428 | Jun 22 2007, 02:29:29 PM Post #11 |
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True Blue Mate
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I sometimes can't remember American slang! It's quite funny because I'll say that something is "dodgy" and my friends look at me like I'm nuts! I'll say, "You know...dodgy!" And they just laugh because I can't think of the American alternative! |
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| shylady | Jun 22 2007, 02:36:19 PM Post #12 |
oldYank
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me either... too. My Aussie husband thinks I'll probably "need" to go back next year, he has something like 13 weeks vacation coming, and figures we'll just buy a car and travel for 2-3 months between my family and relatives :& At the moment I'm perfectly happy right here, and keep in touch via Skype, etc, so we'll see. Unless there's a new grandbaby by then, I don't feel the need... 
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"I could’ve turned a different corner, I could’ve gone another place... " ku,'09 | |
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| melbar | Jun 23 2007, 03:47:22 AM Post #13 |
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Chinwagger
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I was a good cook back in Australia, but now its like i have to learn all over again. Even recipes i use to make don't taste the same :# . But i'm getting there, i'm sure not getting any more thiner so must be doing ok :mrgreen: |
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| TerritorianTori | Jun 23 2007, 10:08:44 AM Post #14 |
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Dance to disco
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Hey, you guys might be surprised. When I went back last year, it only took a week or so and I was talkin' like a Texan again. :mrgreen: |
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South Texas to the Northern Territory - since 2004 I'm a huge fan of... Angry Video Game Nerd | The Big Bang Theory | Doctor Who | Pet Shop Boys | Yanks Down Under ~ Americans living in Australia Avatar by Sketch Shop Boys | |
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| Rissaroo | Jun 24 2007, 09:57:35 PM Post #15 |
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True Blue Mate
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Now, I don't want to sound like I'm unhappy here or anything, but I've only been away from the U.S. for about and year and two months now and I'm dying to go back! I'm actually a bit worried because after this trip, which we're hoping will happen next February and my father is paying for, we're not sure when the next time we'll be able to afford to visit will be. I don't want to keep asking my dad to shell out $4000 just for our company, but at the moment it's all we can do to keep the bills paid and chip away at our debt. I don't mind too much keeping in contact over the internet and phone with friends and family, but I'm actually pretty amazed at the amount of foods that I'm yearning for. I sat down tonight and made a list of foods I miss and it took up a whole page. Then I stop to think about what I have been eating--mostly cheese sandwiches or PB&J, sometimes a frozen pizza--and I realize I've given up a lot. :(( It may seem silly or weird, but giving up all those foods has been HANDS DOWN the most difficult adjustment for me in the past year or so. I'm used to living pretty far away from family, and I'm content to keep only the company of my online friends and my wonderful husband, but food is something that has always been important to me. Again, I'm not unhappy here, but I am surprised that of all the different and new things to experience, this has been the hardest. Actually, a lot of the little differences (light switches, accents, slang, customs) that are different here truly delight me. But giving up Mexican? Super duper tough. Have had major fights with husband over this food homesickness. Sometimes I'm surprised that I don't weigh more than I do considering the love affair I have with food. I think I may have veered off the topic slightly along the way here. :p |
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| canaussie | Jun 24 2007, 11:22:20 PM Post #16 |
True Blue Mate
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I can relate. In the beginning of my 3.5yrs in Australia I missed certain foods too. What I wouldn't have done just to buy a box of Hamburger Helper :rofl: My mother sent me a care package one time ... all I really wanted out of it was the red licorice ... :lurve: Anyway...over time those things waned and I found things in Australia that I really liked and liked to make. So I replaced what I was missing with other things. Now hubby and I sit here and make a list of the things we miss in OZ (to eat) and we make our list for when we go what we need to bring back - no not a box full of tim tams :mrgreen: It takes time and you know when you visit you'll be headed right for your favourite most missed items that you can't get in OZ....I did it when we came here for a holiday....and I'll do it when we go back down under in a couple of months. There's good stuff in both places I do agree...it is expensive to go between the two countries....Australia is just so far away. Why don't you ask your father to visit you next? That way you're not asking him for the money to get you home but you're asking him to visit you so he can be in your company. As for this thread on adjusting....I didn't have that problem - the Canadians are the same as the Aussies...everything is in metric here! |
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Paula (dual Canadian/Australian) married to an Aussie since 1999 and mummy to an Aussie since 2000 | |
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