Barbies and Simplicity

I meant to write this a few weeks ago.....


So yes, I mean barbies as in "throw another shrimp on the barbie." Ha! Aussie's love to shorten their words (sunnies, lollies, boardies, eskies, need I go on?) A few weekends ago, I went to two barbies in two days. Both took place in a grassy area of a park next to the beach. The first was a birthday party which had a mix of Aussies and international students in attendance. Everyone was eating hot dogs or sausages wrapped in a piece of regular white bread. I think there was ketchup. Not so much on the mustard though. The second barbie included steak, grilled veggies, falafel, etc.


To me, the American 'bbq' includes 1 really expensive grill, someone's backyard, an assortment of meat, proper buns (hotdog and hamburger), corn, possibly some beans, tomatos, lettuce, onions, ketchup, mustard, mayo, relish, pickles, plates, forks, knifes, a plethora of beverage choices, etc.


And that is why I love traveling- simplicity. A lot of times it is easy to lose sight of why we are doing things and forget that it is not necesary to over do everything and to have so much stuff. My australian barbies just came down to people getting together, enjoying the beautiful sunshine, taking advantage of the free/public grills, and just hanging out. In other countries, people don't seem to forget this lesson as easily. I'm glad that I am remembering.


That being said, I do feel a bit little like an American snob in one respect. I'm having the hardest time with the way the internet works here. Australia is sort of deceptive. It feels a lot more like home and looks a lot more like home than a lot of countries but it is still different and challenging in its own way. It is hard to explain, but if for example, I were traveling to Mexico or China, I would expect a lower level of similarity to my American life. But, Australia kind of reels you in (as I imagine England would) because it is sort of similar. So then it is easy to gradually expect and crave the comfortable, easy life I had at home. I think that makes it harder for me to laugh at myself when things go wrong here ( my bus woes, etc.). I just have to keep remembering that despite the similar language, this is a foreign country.


My original thought was going towards the internet situation. Here, you pay by how much you download unless you pay a lot of money every month for unlimited access. So plans include 1 or 2 or 5 or 8 or 12 GB/month. On campus, there is a system called NetCheck. So it is possible to access university websites, but outside of those, you have to enter in your username and password for Netcheck. Every student gets $20 credit each semester. I don't know exactly how it works, but watching a few youtube videos would use up pretty much all of that credit. It just seems like in a place like this, there wouldn't be these sort of restrictive systems.


Ok. I'm done complaining. Yes, I will be attending more barbies and spending less time on the internet. Yay for simplicity!