McDonald's. Or "Mack-uhs" as they call it here for short. I don't eat at McDonald's when I'm in the US, but... there is something intriguing about checking it out in other countries. Glad I did. The early Greek and Italian immigrants have clearly influenced the coffee culture here. McDonald's uses a manual Barista espresso machine and steams the milk for your coffee. So do convenience stores. The local 7-11 store (yes, they have 7-11 here) boasts Illy coffee. "Flat white" is popular: a cappuccino with most of the foam. Back to McDonald's...I admit to indulging in some fries, which I am thrilled to be able to call "fries" rather than "chips" as they are typically called here. Oh my they were yummy! In Australia they don't allow the scary processed oils that the US allows, so it is easier for me to get fat here. i.e. donuts have no partially hydrogenated oil, nor do cracker (which come in amazing bbq flavors!) or cakes or anything else. Oy, look out hips. One saving grace is how outrageously expensive things are here, for example, 1/2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts are $16 and a single can of Pringles is $7. Not that I smoke, but there is currently a proposal in the State of Victoria to tax cigarettes so that one pack will cost $20. Does that mean that fat people who smoke are really rich?
WORD WONDERS
Bickys= short for biscuits=cookies
No dramas= used as an alternative to "no worries"= no problem
I won't be a minute= hang on a minute (and it almost always means way more than a minute; why lie?)
Have a play= play
Have a go= try
Have a bath= take a bath
Have a walk= take a walk
Moyne= mine
Good on you= great for you, or great of you. i.e.-I did a great job with my presentation. Good on you. OR I cleaned the entire kitchen for you. Good on you! Thanks.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Shopping Mania, Kiwi and Koori
Australian Aboriginal Art
I'm moving in to my new apartment this Saturday. Woo hoo!! I've been shopping like a mad woman, burning through those Australian Dollars. My friend Jenny, whom I met when I was apartment hunting (she was looking for a roomate) drove me to Ikea and we were there for a zillion hours. That was my first Ikea trip and what an event. Super smart to have a restaurant in a store like that; you can power up with food and shop for hours and hours more. Plus, they have giant $1 Swedish milk chocolate bars for sale at the restaurant cashier; more fuel.
Even if you are not an economist, you can understand economies of scale. Population of Australia is approximately 21million. Population of US is 304million. Population is 15 times bigger in the US. Goods and service are accordingly 15x more expensive here. OK, not exactly, but you get the idea. Buying a smaller volume and having to import = cha-ching.
Kiwi Bird of NZ
My friends, Jenny and Brendan, both have station wagons and will help me move on Saturday. By the way, cars are another way that Australia and the US are more alike than the UK and the US. People here also have big cars. Not so in London. Nowhere to park in London. Anyway, Brendan is a guy whom I met at a Vipassana meditation sit. A group of us went out to eat afterward and we sat next to each other at the table and hit it off. Super nice guy from New Zealand. People from New Zealand are referred to as "Kiwis". Why not "bananas" or "apples"? I Googled it and apparently the Kiwi is the national bird of New Zealand, only found in New Zealand. The bird is either extinct or endangered; I read both facts. And, the bird is hairy and flightless-- barely has wings at all. My friend Jeanice suggested that perhaps the kiwi fruit is named after the kiwi bird because it is small and brown and hairy like the bird.
Aboriginal Art
Brendan and I went to the Melbourne Museum together last weekend and saw a visiting exhibition called Koori Voices. "Koori" are indigenous Australians that traditionally occupied modern day New South Whales and Victoria (two of Australia's states). The exhibit tells the story of the aboriginal people of Australia since the British arrival in 1830, the impact of colonization and the way the aboriginal people have struggled to maintain their culture. Something else the US and Australia have in common: appalling treatment of Natives. Sad and depressing. A positive thing about the exhibit was that it was curated by the aboriginals themselves, so the exhibit was what they wanted to show about their story. There were beautiful portrait photos and native music as well.
I've got loads more to write, but have to get ready for work.
WORD WONDERS
- chuffed: pleased, delighted
- ta: thank you
- winge/winging: whining
- arvo: afternoon
Thursday, February 11, 2010
First Biz Networking Event/What Not to Wear
WHAT NOT TO WEAR
Attended my first business networking event. A luncheon at Comme restaurant in CBD (downtown Melbourne, Central Business District) sponsored by one of our alliance partners. Gorgeous restaurant-- the food, the space and the service. http://www.comme.com.au/
Met some nice people, made some good connections, including one solid sales lead. Yea! Got invited to croquet and coffee (separately).
The most surprising part of the day was when Heather saw what I was going to wear--wide-leg navy slacks, a blue silk blouse and a coral colored blazer-- and immediately urged me to go back and change. Apparently, people here dress very conservatively for business. I ended up wearing a brown knee length skirt, caramel colored ruffled blouse and a chocolate brown silk blazer. I snuck in my chunky silver tiffany necklace and had to give a firm "no" to the pantie hose and pumps suggestion; an American girl has got to draw the line somewhere. Besides, it's 90F degrees here right now.
But I'm glad that I listened and changed my clothes. Everyone there was wearing navy and white or black and white matched suits or dresses. Yikes. The one exception was the speaker, the CEO of a popular company here. I won't say her name or the name of the company but you can ask me offline. I will tell you that she wore an all red suit accessorized with creme colored patent leather pumps smothered in a pattern of blooming red roses and giant green leaves. And get this... a matching handbag. Really. And, I kid you not, the compliments were flying. Wow. I guess I have some adjusting to do...
WORD WONDERS
Mozzies= mosquitos
Brecky= breakfast
EFTPOS= debit card (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale)
doyz= days
type= toype
toyme= time
payple= people
rye-n-ge= range
Attended my first business networking event. A luncheon at Comme restaurant in CBD (downtown Melbourne, Central Business District) sponsored by one of our alliance partners. Gorgeous restaurant-- the food, the space and the service. http://www.comme.com.au/
Met some nice people, made some good connections, including one solid sales lead. Yea! Got invited to croquet and coffee (separately).
The most surprising part of the day was when Heather saw what I was going to wear--wide-leg navy slacks, a blue silk blouse and a coral colored blazer-- and immediately urged me to go back and change. Apparently, people here dress very conservatively for business. I ended up wearing a brown knee length skirt, caramel colored ruffled blouse and a chocolate brown silk blazer. I snuck in my chunky silver tiffany necklace and had to give a firm "no" to the pantie hose and pumps suggestion; an American girl has got to draw the line somewhere. Besides, it's 90F degrees here right now.
But I'm glad that I listened and changed my clothes. Everyone there was wearing navy and white or black and white matched suits or dresses. Yikes. The one exception was the speaker, the CEO of a popular company here. I won't say her name or the name of the company but you can ask me offline. I will tell you that she wore an all red suit accessorized with creme colored patent leather pumps smothered in a pattern of blooming red roses and giant green leaves. And get this... a matching handbag. Really. And, I kid you not, the compliments were flying. Wow. I guess I have some adjusting to do...
WORD WONDERS
Mozzies= mosquitos
Brecky= breakfast
EFTPOS= debit card (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale)
doyz= days
type= toype
toyme= time
payple= people
rye-n-ge= range
Monday, February 8, 2010
Good news! Deidre has an apartment!
Woo hoo! I've got a two bedroom apartment in a good neighborhood! Very cool split level! Downstairs: two bedrooms and a bathroom. Upstairs: kitchen, lounge room and awesome deck. Check out the pics! 
My move in date is Saturday, 20th February. I'll have to buy a refrigerator and washer/dryer since those "white goods" don't come standard with an apartment. My thrift shopping and scrappiness skills will be well utilized when it comes to furnishing the joint.
My move in date is Saturday, 20th February. I'll have to buy a refrigerator and washer/dryer since those "white goods" don't come standard with an apartment. My thrift shopping and scrappiness skills will be well utilized when it comes to furnishing the joint.
I'll be working from home, so one of the bedrooms will be an office. The commute will be tough :o)
Speaking of tough, if anyone knows how to easily (and artfully) position photos in google blogs, please let me know; I'd love to learn.
That's all for today!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Box Hill and Chinese New Year
Happy New Year to all of my Asian friends.
The house in Mont Albert where I've been staying is about a 15 minute walk from an all-Asian suburb called Box Hill. Every sign in the shopping center is in Chinese or Korean (at least those are the languages I can recognize). It is the only substantial shopping centre within close walking distance, so I go there often. A section inside the shopping centre is a dedicated market--as in fresh fish stands, fresh chicken stands , vegetable stands-- all competing for customers. It smells awful to me, but I'm fascinated by the vendors trying to out-shout one another in alternating Chinese and Australian: "big sale fresh fish", "get your chicken here", "cauliflower only $5", "best papaya in town"
There is a whole section where you can get take-away sushi (sushi to go) or sit down and enjoy it. I ate a couple of California handrolls ($2.50 each) and they were absolutely delicious. Super fresh. With each handroll, one gets a miniature plastic fish about the size of your thumbnail, filled with soy sauce. You pour the soy sauce out of the fish's mouth after unscrewing the miniature red cap (a bit bigger than a pin head) closure. Really cute, but throwing those fish back in the water does nothing good for the environment.
I also like going to Box Hill because I am truly a minority there and it is such a bizarre experience. When I walk in the bank, tellers and personal bankers greet people by saying "nee how" (hello in Chinese). I expected that people might not be nice to me, but every time I've asked directions (it's a big center and my sense of direction is less than perfect) or needed help with something, people have literally turned around from where they were going and walked me to my destination. When I didn't have the right change, the person behind me in line simply gave it to me. When I needed help with getting my mobile phone pre-pay card re-charged, the girl was immensely patient; I had to keep asking her to repeat herself because of our different accents and the speed at which people here often talk (fast!). One other interesting point about the bank experience...On the train one day I asked an Asian girl about being greeted in Chinese and she said that she is Chinese and didn't like it at all when they greeted her that way because she doesn't speak Chinese and thought it was an inappropriate assumption that she did. Interesting cultural perspective.
After work the other night I walked to Box Hill to go grocery shopping and have some dinner. There is a strip of restaurants outside of the shopping centre: Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese. Because the weather is so wonderful here right now (sunny and 77F during the day / 68F in the evening) there are loads of cafe tables outside and they were all packed. I asked two women if it would be OK if I joined them and they welcomed me with big smiles. Both Cecilia and Iris were Chinese, former was an SAP consultant and the latter was Iris' niece who is studying at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), a top rated school in Australia. Both were drinking a cream colored beverage from straws that they had punched through the clear plastic seal that acted as the top for their drinks. I asked what they were drinking and they said "soy milk". I ordered a vegetables and tofu and while I waited for my food to arrive, their snacks arrived: deep fried turnovers (giant dumplings??) filled with scallions. They proceeded to tell me that they were on a diet. Anyway, we had a lovely dinner together and I walked happily back to my temporary home in Mont Albert. The end.
FUN FACTS
Restaurants and grocery stores are open after 5pm during the week, but the regular retail stores close at 5pm Monday to Friday. That means you actually have to think and plan ahead if you need something and it means that if you work 9a-5p , you have to wait until the weekend to do a lot of things.
WORD WONDERS
"reckon" = to figure, to suppose
Rine= Ryan
doynt= don't
Pay-d-f= .pdf
give me a hoy= holler at me/call me
eetz a goah= it's a goer= yes, let's do it/ all good
A-D= 80
The house in Mont Albert where I've been staying is about a 15 minute walk from an all-Asian suburb called Box Hill. Every sign in the shopping center is in Chinese or Korean (at least those are the languages I can recognize). It is the only substantial shopping centre within close walking distance, so I go there often. A section inside the shopping centre is a dedicated market--as in fresh fish stands, fresh chicken stands , vegetable stands-- all competing for customers. It smells awful to me, but I'm fascinated by the vendors trying to out-shout one another in alternating Chinese and Australian: "big sale fresh fish", "get your chicken here", "cauliflower only $5", "best papaya in town"
There is a whole section where you can get take-away sushi (sushi to go) or sit down and enjoy it. I ate a couple of California handrolls ($2.50 each) and they were absolutely delicious. Super fresh. With each handroll, one gets a miniature plastic fish about the size of your thumbnail, filled with soy sauce. You pour the soy sauce out of the fish's mouth after unscrewing the miniature red cap (a bit bigger than a pin head) closure. Really cute, but throwing those fish back in the water does nothing good for the environment.
I also like going to Box Hill because I am truly a minority there and it is such a bizarre experience. When I walk in the bank, tellers and personal bankers greet people by saying "nee how" (hello in Chinese). I expected that people might not be nice to me, but every time I've asked directions (it's a big center and my sense of direction is less than perfect) or needed help with something, people have literally turned around from where they were going and walked me to my destination. When I didn't have the right change, the person behind me in line simply gave it to me. When I needed help with getting my mobile phone pre-pay card re-charged, the girl was immensely patient; I had to keep asking her to repeat herself because of our different accents and the speed at which people here often talk (fast!). One other interesting point about the bank experience...On the train one day I asked an Asian girl about being greeted in Chinese and she said that she is Chinese and didn't like it at all when they greeted her that way because she doesn't speak Chinese and thought it was an inappropriate assumption that she did. Interesting cultural perspective.
After work the other night I walked to Box Hill to go grocery shopping and have some dinner. There is a strip of restaurants outside of the shopping centre: Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese. Because the weather is so wonderful here right now (sunny and 77F during the day / 68F in the evening) there are loads of cafe tables outside and they were all packed. I asked two women if it would be OK if I joined them and they welcomed me with big smiles. Both Cecilia and Iris were Chinese, former was an SAP consultant and the latter was Iris' niece who is studying at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), a top rated school in Australia. Both were drinking a cream colored beverage from straws that they had punched through the clear plastic seal that acted as the top for their drinks. I asked what they were drinking and they said "soy milk". I ordered a vegetables and tofu and while I waited for my food to arrive, their snacks arrived: deep fried turnovers (giant dumplings??) filled with scallions. They proceeded to tell me that they were on a diet. Anyway, we had a lovely dinner together and I walked happily back to my temporary home in Mont Albert. The end.
FUN FACTS
Restaurants and grocery stores are open after 5pm during the week, but the regular retail stores close at 5pm Monday to Friday. That means you actually have to think and plan ahead if you need something and it means that if you work 9a-5p , you have to wait until the weekend to do a lot of things.
WORD WONDERS
"reckon" = to figure, to suppose
Rine= Ryan
doynt= don't
Pay-d-f= .pdf
give me a hoy= holler at me/call me
eetz a goah= it's a goer= yes, let's do it/ all good
A-D= 80
Vipassana in Brunswick East
MEDITATION
Went to a Vipassana meditation one hour sit today in East Brunswick. http://www.dhamma.org/ Excellent! Lovely people. Great energy. Afterward a group of us went out together for Indian food. Actually, just me, three guys and a girl. All of the other girls left so quickly after the meditation that I didn't even get to introduce myself. Alicia, is the one who stayed. She is here from Ireland for a just a couple of months to help her brother who is here in Hospital. A fourth guy, Simon, is considering renting a room in his house, so after dinner, Brendan (a Kiwi --from New Zealand) drove me to Simon's. The house was gorgeous! Beautiful wide pine floors, bedroom big enough to fit a king size bed, very minimalist, organized, great sunlight. By the way, they advertise "northern exposure" here rather than Southern. We are on the opposite side of the world. That took me a minute to wrap my head around. A little bit out from the neighborhood I ideally thought that I wanted to be in, but a good place. Simon and I will talk more about the apartment this week. In the meantime... Brendan (the Kiwi) and I are getting together next Saturday to check out the Melbourne museum. Yea!
Another sunny, 70 something degree day here in Melbourne. Love that.
FUN FACTS
Eggs are not kept in the refrigerator section of the grocery store. They are simply on a shelf. Not refrigerated. This is true in every grocery store I visited. I inquired (of course) and apparently the turnover is so high that they don't feel there is a need for refrigeration. I guess that people here don't sue if they burn themselves on their coffee.
Butter. Butter goes on all sandwiches. Yup, ham and cheese. Chicken, fish, Peanut Butter... you name it, it gets butter.
No, I haven't yet tried marmite or vegemite. Though I have smelled it and what came to mind was miso paste. I happen to like miso paste, so one day soon I'll be reporting on my first marmite/vegemite experience. I don't yet know the difference between the two.
WORD WONDERS
"jocks"= men's underwear
"meant to"= supposed to I was meant to be there at 4 o'clock.
"rocked in" or "rocked up" = arrived, showed up
"neely"= almost she nearly got it right
"Zed"= Z (the letter)
"here"= hee ya
"troy"= try
"troy eet hee-ah een melbn at the bank coulled A-N-Zed" try it here in melbourne at the bank called ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group)
Went to a Vipassana meditation one hour sit today in East Brunswick. http://www.dhamma.org/ Excellent! Lovely people. Great energy. Afterward a group of us went out together for Indian food. Actually, just me, three guys and a girl. All of the other girls left so quickly after the meditation that I didn't even get to introduce myself. Alicia, is the one who stayed. She is here from Ireland for a just a couple of months to help her brother who is here in Hospital. A fourth guy, Simon, is considering renting a room in his house, so after dinner, Brendan (a Kiwi --from New Zealand) drove me to Simon's. The house was gorgeous! Beautiful wide pine floors, bedroom big enough to fit a king size bed, very minimalist, organized, great sunlight. By the way, they advertise "northern exposure" here rather than Southern. We are on the opposite side of the world. That took me a minute to wrap my head around. A little bit out from the neighborhood I ideally thought that I wanted to be in, but a good place. Simon and I will talk more about the apartment this week. In the meantime... Brendan (the Kiwi) and I are getting together next Saturday to check out the Melbourne museum. Yea!
Another sunny, 70 something degree day here in Melbourne. Love that.
FUN FACTS
Eggs are not kept in the refrigerator section of the grocery store. They are simply on a shelf. Not refrigerated. This is true in every grocery store I visited. I inquired (of course) and apparently the turnover is so high that they don't feel there is a need for refrigeration. I guess that people here don't sue if they burn themselves on their coffee.
Butter. Butter goes on all sandwiches. Yup, ham and cheese. Chicken, fish, Peanut Butter... you name it, it gets butter.
No, I haven't yet tried marmite or vegemite. Though I have smelled it and what came to mind was miso paste. I happen to like miso paste, so one day soon I'll be reporting on my first marmite/vegemite experience. I don't yet know the difference between the two.
WORD WONDERS
"jocks"= men's underwear
"meant to"= supposed to I was meant to be there at 4 o'clock.
"rocked in" or "rocked up" = arrived, showed up
"neely"= almost she nearly got it right
"Zed"= Z (the letter)
"here"= hee ya
"troy"= try
"troy eet hee-ah een melbn at the bank coulled A-N-Zed" try it here in melbourne at the bank called ANZ (Australia and New Zealand Banking Group)
Saturday, February 6, 2010
The Apt Search, My First Date and Dettol
Wow is it competitive to rent an apartment here! Fifty people show up for a 15 minute "inspection" (showing) and then everyone interested fills out an application form. The Realtors generally want a copy of your license, registration, bank statements, passport, birth certificate, tax form, fingerprints (kidding about that last one)....and on and on. Interestingly, the apartments don't come with closets or a refrigerator or a washer dryer (not kidding). A cheap two bedroom costs $400 per week (they quote in weeks over here), so it could be more than $1600 per month if a month has a few extra days in it. So after you pay $1600 bucks a month, you then have to go buy a washer and dryer and a refrigerator and have it delivered and hooked up. I guess it's not that weird if people rent for long terms, but it certainly isn't convenient. I saw two good apartments today-- both newer buildings with closets. Filled out applications, so we'll see. Am still also looking for a roomate situation where everything would already be set-up and ready to go.
OK, on to the juicier stuff... I joined an Aussie dating service. It is called RSVP. You can check out my profile here http://www.rsvp.com.au/ my screen name is "ddate". I've gotten about 100 "kisses" so far. "kisses" are basically short text messages from guys who are interested. Of those, three were okay, none particularly hot. I had my first date with one today. OY!! Soooo BORING!!! Thought I would die. Divorced guy, three kids, talked about how bad the divorce was, how he misses his kids, more about how bad the divorce was, about how his dreams were crushed. Blah blah blah. OK, so the guy was sad, I should give him a break. Well, he certainly wasn't making it easy. Between talking about how distressed he is from the divorce, he must have told me 100 times that Melbourne is THE best city in the world and Australia is THE best country--which it may be, but when I asked him if he had ever been to the US, he said "No". I said nothing in reply. Had he been to Europe, I asked? Yes, Paris. OK, we all know that I love Paris, so again, I said nothing. Then he kept insisting that the area where he lives now in the suburbs here is THE best and the ONLY place to live. He advised me (unsolicited) repeatedly that it is" mad" (crazy) for me to be looking in any other neighborhood than his. He lives in a big house in the burbs where he and his ex raised their kids. He insisted that there is no public transportation in the area where I've been looking at apartments, Carlton North-- where there are loads of cafes single people and nightlife, not to mention a major tramline running right through the center of it. I explained that I did not magically transport myself from Carlton to meet him; I took two trams. He said that he worked in Carlton for 20 years and is 100% certain that there are no trams there. I proceeded to pull out the tram map and show it to him. Oops, he didn't have his glasses with him so he couldn't read it. Whateva. On top of all of this fabulously enjoyable (not) conversation, he also looked as old as he apparently felt. I have an issue with dating guys who look worn out. I'm sorry if that sounds mean. To top it off, I'm not at all a fan of Aqua Velva yet I could not escape the aroma. OMG. It really felt like time to go and I had tell him six times thank you, but I am not interested in going back to your house for dinner. I was really practicing my meditation breathing at that point and decided that I would do the one hour walk back to the place where I'm staying rather than taking the train The walk was fabulous. It was a gorgeous, sunny 77F degree Melbourne day with a beautiful breeze. The neighborhoods here are thick with old beautiful trees creating an archway over the roads and bright flowers at sprinkled everywhere. Lovely. Ahh. Back to center.
I stopped at "the chemist" (pharmacy) to buy some hydrogen peroxide (small cut on my foot, no big deal) and guess how much a bottle was? I kid you not... $10. Yes, regular old hydrogen peroxide that you buy in a US grocery store for 59 cents. I understand import taxes, etc. but don't think you have to import hydrogen peroxide. If not, then why in the world is it so expensive here? No idea. What they use here instead is called Dettol. I've heard of people in the US using it to kill roaches or get rid of ants--no kidding. It is a product from Germany and the chemical name is parachlorometaxylenol. Check out this wki link that says it is poisonous and should not be ingested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dettol
Needless to say, I spent the $10 for the hydrogen peroxide and moved on.
OK, on to the juicier stuff... I joined an Aussie dating service. It is called RSVP. You can check out my profile here http://www.rsvp.com.au/ my screen name is "ddate". I've gotten about 100 "kisses" so far. "kisses" are basically short text messages from guys who are interested. Of those, three were okay, none particularly hot. I had my first date with one today. OY!! Soooo BORING!!! Thought I would die. Divorced guy, three kids, talked about how bad the divorce was, how he misses his kids, more about how bad the divorce was, about how his dreams were crushed. Blah blah blah. OK, so the guy was sad, I should give him a break. Well, he certainly wasn't making it easy. Between talking about how distressed he is from the divorce, he must have told me 100 times that Melbourne is THE best city in the world and Australia is THE best country--which it may be, but when I asked him if he had ever been to the US, he said "No". I said nothing in reply. Had he been to Europe, I asked? Yes, Paris. OK, we all know that I love Paris, so again, I said nothing. Then he kept insisting that the area where he lives now in the suburbs here is THE best and the ONLY place to live. He advised me (unsolicited) repeatedly that it is" mad" (crazy) for me to be looking in any other neighborhood than his. He lives in a big house in the burbs where he and his ex raised their kids. He insisted that there is no public transportation in the area where I've been looking at apartments, Carlton North-- where there are loads of cafes single people and nightlife, not to mention a major tramline running right through the center of it. I explained that I did not magically transport myself from Carlton to meet him; I took two trams. He said that he worked in Carlton for 20 years and is 100% certain that there are no trams there. I proceeded to pull out the tram map and show it to him. Oops, he didn't have his glasses with him so he couldn't read it. Whateva. On top of all of this fabulously enjoyable (not) conversation, he also looked as old as he apparently felt. I have an issue with dating guys who look worn out. I'm sorry if that sounds mean. To top it off, I'm not at all a fan of Aqua Velva yet I could not escape the aroma. OMG. It really felt like time to go and I had tell him six times thank you, but I am not interested in going back to your house for dinner. I was really practicing my meditation breathing at that point and decided that I would do the one hour walk back to the place where I'm staying rather than taking the train The walk was fabulous. It was a gorgeous, sunny 77F degree Melbourne day with a beautiful breeze. The neighborhoods here are thick with old beautiful trees creating an archway over the roads and bright flowers at sprinkled everywhere. Lovely. Ahh. Back to center.
I stopped at "the chemist" (pharmacy) to buy some hydrogen peroxide (small cut on my foot, no big deal) and guess how much a bottle was? I kid you not... $10. Yes, regular old hydrogen peroxide that you buy in a US grocery store for 59 cents. I understand import taxes, etc. but don't think you have to import hydrogen peroxide. If not, then why in the world is it so expensive here? No idea. What they use here instead is called Dettol. I've heard of people in the US using it to kill roaches or get rid of ants--no kidding. It is a product from Germany and the chemical name is parachlorometaxylenol. Check out this wki link that says it is poisonous and should not be ingested http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dettol
Needless to say, I spent the $10 for the hydrogen peroxide and moved on.
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