Welcome to Brisbane!

A Quick Introduction

Thanks to a new job opportunity and my need for change every few years, I moved (or am in the process of moving) to Australia, specifically Brisbane. When I first started interviewing (and lets be honest, until I arrived here, presumably like many of you, I had no idea where Brisbane was or what it was known for. So here is a quick rundown:

• Brisbane (pronounced  brɪzbən) is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia.
• Brisbane's metropolitan area has an approximate population of 2 million.
• A resident of Brisbane is commonly known as a "Brisbanite"
• It was also rated the 16th most liveable city in the world in 2009 by The Economist
• Brisbane has the largest economy of any city between Sydney and Singapore, and has seen consistent economic growth in recent years as a result of the resources boom.
• White-collar industries include information technology, financial services, higher education and public sector administration
• "Bris Vegas" is a nickname given to the city. This has been attributed to an Elvis Presley tribute CD and the city's growing live music scene.

Click here or more information on Brisbane. For more info on Australia as a whole, I strongly recommend Bill Bryson’s book In a Sunburned Country – It’s an easy and incredibly interested book that will make you laugh out loud.

I knew this adventure would be exciting and interesting and I wanted to share my experience with all of my family and friends but given…

International calling rates: an area where America is to blame – I could make 200 minutes of calls to the US and unlimited texts with my basic and cheaper than in the states iPhone plan and receive calls from the US for free, but most American plans charge all of you high fees to even receive calls AND texts, much less make the calls yourself.

The time difference:14 hours for most of you – quick tip – if you add Brisbane to your world clock feature on your phone, you can easily check what time it is hear…before calling us in the middle of the night. But in general look at your clock, change am to pm and add 2, and that’s what time it is here…only tomorrow…we are a day ahead. So it can be hard to find a time to call or Skype (I will sign onto Skype whenever I can so if you want to talk face to face, find me there – I am cbrookeorr).

And not wanting to spend most of my time repeating stories over and over instead of exploring my exciting new world.

…I decided to join most of my fellow Gen Y-ers by blogging about it. Admittedly, I feel a little old and lame for not having a blog already…and not knowing how to really establish or manage one. So bare with me – this is a learning experience for me.

I’m not quite sure yet how I will organize it or how often I will be able to add to it. For those of you that have worked with me you know that I am an ENFJ. The E in me doesn’t really like this whole blog idea because I would rather tell you all…in person…at a crowded bar…in Vegas. But instead, I am viewing this as an opportunity to strengthen my I side by reflecting and Journaling. I don’t anticipate being successful at it but I am going to try. The N in me will want to change that structure and make each entry creatively distinctive from the last. I may drone on forever (like I am now-to be fair, its 4 am so there isn’t much else to do) or may be short and to the point. I will try to provide detail to satisfy all you S’s out there (uh hum…Kristin) but I make no promises. I also will probably not proof read this before posting it so please pardon all spelling and grammatical errors as if this was sent from my blackberry or iPhone.  The F in be will try to give shout outs to everyone and will probably feel guilty when I inevitably miss an opportunity to reference someone – forgive me for that. And lets be honest, the F in me trumps the others as evidenced by the short cry-fest I had when I first arrived and the reality of the distance between me and my loved ones set it. I miss you all. And lastly, the J in me will want to have a set schedule and it will always be on my to-do list, but continually be pushed back in priority and I will want to structure it in an organized way but the procrastinator in me may sabotage that need. Oh and I will probably post pictures, but they will inevitably be a month late. J

For now (and again this may change as soon as my next entry), I am thinking I will start with whatever story warrants attention and whatever detail I have time or the attention span to add and end with some quick hit higher level points (similarities and differences to the Amer-can way, phrases that are different, and the funniest moments) for my fellow N’s out there who could care less to know the details and prefer to skip to the punch line. 

The Journey

         The Flight

The flight was looong (14 hours from LA) and uncomfortable. There is no getting around that. The seats were the size of the ones on any given AirTran flight and you are packed in like sardines. The aisles are even narrower so you cant really walk around without being in the way of the steady stream of patrons making their way to the bathroom. We slept as much as we could but not very well. The food was ok. The flight attendants were very friendly. The movies were recent. The landing was VERY rough – we lost altitude so fast I 100% expected the oxygen masks to fall. That happened 3 times on decent and 4 crew members got injured. But alas, we made it in safely at 6 am Brisbane time on Thursday after leaving Tuesday evening. Its rough – fly Business class if you can afford to.

The Jet Lag

So I’ve flown to Europe twice in my life. Both times I had been warned of the trepidations of jet lag. Both times, I had no problems adjusting almost immediately. This time was different. I attribute it to getting older and being less resilient. We landed at 6 am Brisbane time on Thursday (4 pm Wednesday EST) after waking up around 2 am on the plane. We ran around all day seeing the city, checking into the hotel, and getting things situated. We went to dinner. We fell asleep at 6:30 Thursday. We woke up at 4 am Friday and couldn’t sleep anymore – had another jam packed day and went for dinner and drinks and made it all the way to 9:30 pm. Up again Saturday at 5 am. And so on. Its been rough. Hopefully we will be a little more adjusted before work on Monday!

         The Rental Car

We got a rental car at the airport so we could get our oversized cumbersome luggage to the hotel and explore the city. It took us almost an hour to figure out how to get all the luggage squeezed, tightly, into the corolla. We had 5 70lb suitcases, two carryon suitcases, and our laptop bags. We could barely wheel it through the parking lot and even then we were losing pieces as they rolled astray into on coming traffic or people. We definitely looked like THOSE Americans who had significantly over packed for an assuredly short holiday.  I’m still impressed that we got it in. The driving was different but more on that later. The funniest part was the navigation system we had. First, it is in kilometers and meters rather than miles and yards. Would you know when to turn if you were instructed to turn right in 600 km? We sure didn’t. It also doesn’t tell you what the speed limit is like the ones in the US do. And the dashboard in the car is written in KM/H instead of MPH. So were didn’t have a sense for how fast we were or weren’t going…whoops. But the funniest moment was about five minutes into the trip when the previously friendly Aussie voice alerted us in an all too serious ominous tone “WARNING: TRAFFIC CONTROL. “  Again, we were at a loss. Our latest hypothesis is that there must be camera monitoring at some intersections (as that is usually when our Aussie navigator gets anxious) and she wants to prevent us from committing an infraction. It’s a mystery!

The Rundown

Similarities

Coffee Shops: Like us Amer-cans, there are coffee shops on every street corner (called Cafes) with great coffee and pastries and other delicious baked goods – though I haven’t spotted doughnuts, kolaches, or breakfast burritos – mostly croissants, baguettes, and other French influenced breakfast foods). They also don’t have sugar free syrups or sugar free redbull for that matter. There are some same coffee shops like Gloria Jeans and the Starbucks and the Starbucks and the Starbucks and the…well you get it. 

Restaurants: McDonalds, Vapiano, Subway, Wagamama (Kat – that should be enough motivation to visit – no?, and Burger King (but called Hungry Jack) 

Stores: Among others, they have Target, Nine West, Apple, Mac (makeup), French Connection, LuLu Lemon, Hoyts cinemas (flash back for my SU peeps), Tiffany, Louis Vuitton, Max Mara, Fossil, Toni and Guy, and lots of British stores whose names you might be familiar with.

Peculiarities (I don’t know why I called it this  - just sounds fitting – like something they might say here…though I haven’t actually heard anyone say it.)

The Toilets: I know it sounds odd to mention—inappropriate perhaps. And most of you are probably assuming it’s the whole flushing in the opposite direction thing. Honestly, I have no idea if the water in the toilet flushes backwards. I can’t say that I have ever taken note of which way it flushes in the US by comparison. The different thing we were perplexed by is the mechanism in which you flush. There is no lever. There are two buttons and we weren’t sure why at first. Even now, we aren’t sure. Our guess is that the half full one is to  use less water when you are flushing, well, less, a.k.a. number 1, and the full flush is for number 2. However, we have yet to verify that hypothesis because its sort of an awkward topic to ask a perfect stranger.

Stay Left: They drive on the left here. I don’t even want to attempt that feat soon – I would have turned into oncoming traffic at least 10 times by now. Luckily Lisa is a Left side driving rockstar so I will leave that to her. I also keep walking to the drivers door thinking it’s the passengers side – the wheel is on the wrong side too! And the most difficult every day hurdle is that they also walk (and pass) on the left here. We quite frequently feel like salmon swimming upstream in the crowds – then we realize its because we are walking on the right again. Its so ingrained in our habits that it is hard to adjust – even when you are thinking about it. They also pass on the left so when we almost run into people face first, and then step to the side to get around, we step the same way and run into them again. Entrances and Exits are also reversed. I suspect I will be running face first into locals for a while yet. 

Crossing the Street: I know it sounds well…pedestrian. But the rules here are different. I have been warned that they WILL hit you. And in fact if they do, and you did not have a walk sign or are jay walking, YOU are responsible for paying for the damages that your flying body inflicted on their car (any one else flashing back to the opening scene of Meet Joe Black? I am.) So not a lot of people jay walk here unless its early in the morning and the streets are fairly deserted (as we discovered on our 5 am stroll). And the crosswalk signs are more interesting than ours – the little blinking man seems more animated and is Green when you can walk and turns Red when you cant) In addition to that, it is accompanied by a loud ticking sounds to ensure that the walker understands that they are quickly running out of time to cross before becoming road pizza. Think of the 60 minutes into clock only louder and faster. Kim - you would not be able to walk around the city without having a panic attack so maybe we will just rent a car when you visit. ;) 

Beards: They are everywhere. I’m not digging the over abundance of gratuitous facial hair but I suppose I will get used to it.
Dogs: I haven’t seen any. Not one. And no dog park signs or signs warning you to clean up your beloved four-legged friend’s excrement. Curious.

Knee Socks...on men: Sorry boys - this isn't an attractive look and its not one I will come around to. 

Phrase-ology

           Travelator = Escalator

            Lift = Elevator

            Rubbish = garbage/trash

            Brekky = Breakfast

            A Smoker = Slang for a coffee

Unanswered Questions

Why are the egg yolks orange?
What are the egret size birds that act like pigeons and jump on café tables to eat scraps seemingly unnoticed by the patrons at the next table?

What are the pretty purple flower trees?

Why are there syringe disposal boxes in all of the public bathrooms?

What are the purple berries (see below) and can we eat them?

Laugh out loud moments

“I’m into long walks on the beach, a good book, wine, and recycling” ...wait what?

So we were signing up for our new Bank accounts at the NAB and our bank guy, Shamus Deveroux (although his name was Irish/French he was reportedly half Indonesian and half Australia- curious to say the least) was a 20 something local so we were picking his brain about the various neighborhoods and things to do. And to be fair, we were severely jet lagged – it was around 2 pm Brisbane time on our first day and we had woken up on the plane that morning around 2 am and hadn’t napped or really stopped moving since we landed. So after our barrage of where should we live and were to people go to have a good time questions, Lisa somewhat randomly transitions to – Do people here recycle? After a brief uhhhhm from the guy, he says “well yeah…I mean yeah… sometimes.” You can see him searching for the sociably responsible correct answer before he comes out with “Well no, not really.” And then in an equally unpredictable somewhat awkward turn with a quizzical look, he asks “Is that something your in to?” I wanted to bust out laughing at the question because it was so strange to hear but I was mostly confused at the moment thanks to the severe sleep deprivation. Lisa, equally puzzled, and also searching for the socially correct answer but not wanting to sound like a tool responds “Yes?” And then we both started uncontrollably laughing. Poor Shamus did not know what to say or do or why these silly Americans were deliriously laughing or how he had set this all in motion. Once we caught our breaths, Lisa tried to back peddle and explain how some countries recycle by rule and others don’t but there was really no way to fully recover. So when I hack Lisa’s fancy new Mac book to establish her Match profile so that I can vicariously date through here, I will inevitably lead with… I’m into long walks on the beach, a good book, wine, and recycling.

:) Thats all for now! Wish me luck on my first week of work!
<3 B