Independence Day in Oz - Part Deux

My sister wasn't sure what to do for her first Independence Day living in Australia...that is, until she saw an advertisement for a monster truck show with fireworks! What's more American than that? So to celebrate July 4th, I thought I'd post some photos of her first monster truck experience along with the top ten things she missed about her homeland:

In no particular order...

10. Thanksgiving, 4th of July, a cold Christmas, varied landscapes, and four different seasons


9. Fast Internet - they don't have cable internet yet. It's still ADSL isn't bad, but not as speedy as in the U.S. of A!


8. The convenience of things - in Mackay (this does not go for the whole of Oz), most businesses are closed on Sundays. During the week they close early like 5:00 so it makes it extremely difficult to go shopping. If you don't go on Saturday well tough - you've missed out for another week! Hardly anything is open 24/7.


7. Being current on TV shows and being able to watch the TV shows I love...In Australia, everything is a handful of episodes behind if you even get the show here. Some of the junky TV I loved back in the U.S. isn't even on TV here so I have to find it on the internet. A lot of the websites that have the full episodes block you if you aren't in the US from watching them so I had to find a way around it and mask my IP address so that it looks like I'm in the US...oh the pain...


6. Good customer service - believe it or not it was better in the U.S.! I think it could have something to do with the fact that they don't tip here in Oz...


5. Pride for your country! It's not quite as big here or at least it isn't shown as much.


4. My friends/family and my Mackay (my dog who I named after the city I now live in...confusing I know!) of course!


3. Driving on the RIGHT side of the road.



2. The words we use in the U.S., for example:

• Hood/Trunk instead of Bonnet/Boot

• BAYsil instead of BAHsil
  

• Dry heave instead of dry reach

• toMAYto instead of toMAHto
  

• Also included here is which syllable we put the emphasis on (e.g. maSSAGE instead of MAssage)

1. Food! Such as Martins Potato Chips, Franks Red Hot Sauce, Sweet Peppers at Subway, good pizza, good cookies and my mom's home cooked meals. Mmmmmm American eating...

So count your blessings that you live in a country with good food, holidays, seasons, pride, good television, and good customer service. There are a lot of wonderful things about Australia, but you know what they say...there's no place like home!


Well that 'good customer service' one may be somewhat questionable, but apparently we just don't realize how good we have it here in the good ol' U.S. of A. Happy fourth of July everyone, hope you had a great one!