04.30.10

Well, as I have mentioned before, there are ten 1st cousins (of John's) out here. Today we got to spend some time with Nadia, one of the 10. She took us to Williamstown which is on the south side of the river in Melbourne. We ate lunch, walked the pier and then headed back downtown. John and I had a great time walking downtown a few days earlier but it was especially nice having a tour. Not knowing where your going limits your ability to really see all the nooks and crannies. We took the city circle tram around the cities perimeters, walked over to the south bank where the Crown Casino was, walked around the very quaint and thematic china town and even got to see the up close architecture of the weird triangle building across from Flinders Train Station. After, we grabbed a few drinks on Fitzroy before heading home and hitting the sack! It was a wonderful day and Nadia was the perfect person to show us the best parts of town, seeing as how she enjoys the city so much herself. We got some beautiful pictures of downtown at night and being that it was a Friday...we also got to see the bars, pubs and restaurants in full swing!
The city and it's suburbs do have quite a bit of architectural art. I think this always contributes to the cities appeal and of course is always a conversational piece. I guess I enjoy looking at it and then putting in my judgmental statement, but regardless if I like it or not, it's become the one thing that really has made Melbourne stand out.
Having driven around so much and reading all the signs and advertisements, I am really starting to pick up on the whole Aussie accent. Rule number one is that Aussies shorten EVERYTHING, which is what makes their sentences hard to understand some time. Brekky = breakfast, mackers (pronounced mack-ahs) = McDonalds, pokies = poker, salvos = salvation (army) the list goes on! It's not slang either, in the McDonald's commercial they really say "...only at mackers!"
Another thing that needs to be clarified is the word LUE. People in the states think that the 'lue' is the aussie way of saying 'bathroom'...au contraire! Here, the bathroom is where the sink, bath and shower are. All separate. The lue is the room where the toilet is. Nothing else...just the toilet.
Also, the word Sheila is in reference to a woman and is considered an insult. I assume it's similar to how we would use 'hussie' or even 'white trash'...teehee!
A 'bogan' is a full blooded Aussie, born and raised. A 'wog' is what they refer to as an Aussie that is really Italian. According to Justine, these two types of Aussies are pretty divided and don't get along in some cases. I guess there are even some night clubs that are 'bogans only'! I guess you will see division like that anywhere but that isn't stopping me! I wanna get into some clubs and really see what the nightlife is really like!