Intercultural Life
Can you see the stars where you live? In Sydney we can see some, but we can see a lot more in my home town. People who live in places where they can’t really see the stars are surprised when they see the night sky here in my home town. It’s very beautiful.
I’m a party pooper, but I didn’t think that him eating sticky honey chicken on the daybed, while playing computer games, was a good idea. He might be cheeky while Mum is not here, but if she walked through the door right now he’d be jumping up and apologising profusely.
My parents are in Japan because my brother just graduated from the Tokyo School of Music. They went to his graduation and are now spending about a month travelling around Japan with him. My husband’s sister and her boyfriend will be staying in my home town at my parents’ house while on their working holiday visas. My parents already have a Korean couple boarding with them (as well as renting the house next door out to Korean guys) so even though we are in a rural part of Australia, in my parents’ houses there are plenty of Koreans. So right now I’m the odd one out. Even though this is the Australian house I grew up in, there are 5 Koreans here right now. I’m the one that can’t always follow the conversations.
My husband has spent so much time here that he is really comfortable in this house and it’s like home for him too, which is why he is just lounging around and wanting to eat on the nice cushions.
Luckily he did just mean from the bathroom sink. I do understand the confusion though. In Australia if it’s public toilets we can just say “toilets” and if you are “going to go fill up a bottle in the toilets” in public it’s understood that they are using the sinks, not actually filling a bottle with toilet water. So he thought he could just use the word “toilet” to mean our bathroom.
Australians tend to use the word “toilet” a lot more than Americans it seems. Often in Australia, a toilet may not actually be in the bathroom, but in a separate small toilet room often near the bathroom. I remember when I was younger and we had American visitors in our house and they asked to use the bathroom. We had to ask if they wanted to actually use the toilet or the bathroom because no point showing them the toilet-less bathroom if they actually wanted to use a toilet.
Also we can drink the water straight out of the tap in Australia. In Korea they seem to always drink bottled water. I sometimes feel a bit stressed when I’m in countries where you need to buy bottled water because I’m so used to just drinking tap water. I can sometimes panic that I don’t have enough bottles of water to last me, and I’ll die of thirst overnight haha.
What do you call the……”facilities” in your country? Bathroom? I’ve heard “Wash room” before. Australians and Brits I think, may say “loo” for toilet. So many conversations can be had about toilets! A good friend of mine gave me a book about toilets all around the world. Really interesting! Also, Australian toilets flush a different way to American toilets. Another toilet fact is in some areas of Korea, particularly rural areas, or even just some older buildings, you can’t flush the toilet paper, you have to put it into the bin next to the toilet because of the plumbing. If you are not used to that it can be hard to remember to do that….
If you have some interesting toilet facts about your own country, please share! Just don’t drink water out of the toilet….
Maybe they shouldn’t be learning from me… I should have told them that yes you always have to press it 3 times hehehe.
Traffic crossings are different in Korea. I noticed they tend to be lights and a pedestrian/zebra crossing and you can only cross when the lights change (people who live in Korea, tell me if there are other kinds, I can’t remember). And cars don’t seem to stop in Korea, even when pedestrians have right of way, there are cars sneaking across the crossing! In Australia, the traffic light crossings and pedestrian/zebra crossings are two different things. Traffic light crossings are usually at intersections but pedestrian/zebra crossings can be anywhere. The most important difference is that in Australia if you are on a pedestrian/zebra crossing cars HAVE to stop!
Many times in Australia, I’ve stepped out onto a pedestrian/zebra crossing and a Korean friend will hold me back saying, “Nichola! How can you cross? There are cars!”
I explain that all cars have to stop at these crossings so we don’t stand at the side waiting for the cars, because once they approach the crossing they slow down and stop.
One Korean friend said, “What if it’s a Korean driver?”
Yes… didn’t have an answer for that!
Sometimes you don’t notice things about your own country or city until someone from another country points it out.
We were walking around an area where there are a lot of people running, BUT it’s not unusual to see a guy in the city area with his shirt off too. That’s not really done in Korea.
Because of my husband’s work schedule, we aren’t always with his sister and her boyfriend together, so there are times when I’m the only one looking after them. They can’t really speak English, so my very poor Korean skills are being put to the test. I need to study!
Why are the people who work in the Roads and Traffic places always in horrible moods? They do have to deal with the public which must be hard, but so do many other people and can manage to do it with a smile. The other aspect for my husband when someone is that rude, is the question, “Are they being racist?”
I do think in this situation, and judging from everyone else’s stories about dealing with the RTA, that the woman was treating everyone the same way….. horribly.
I’m eating those chocolates right now. Yum yum yum. He carefully picked out the flavours I like at the gourmet chocolate shop. I accidentally saw him buying them and got excited but I hid so he wouldn’t know that I saw him.
We always celebrate Valentine’s Day the Australian/American way. In Korea Valentine’s Day is for girls to give chocolate to guys. Then a month later on White Day guys will give candy to girls. I much prefer Valentine’s Day here, but Korean girls do get a lot of other special days as well.
We don’t do anything over the top but it’s nice to get some flowers and chocolates.
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