Can you guess what kind of pie I had for supper? Yep. Seafood.
And I collected information about Australia from an Australian. I want that to be very clear: these are not presumptuous assumptions I’m making after just one week in the place. I’m just repeating what I heard.
- Perth is the most remote city in the world. [Note: another Australian told us the country is 6 cities surrounded by nothing.]
- The highway from Perth to Adelaide has the longest straight stretch of any road in the world–146 km.
- England is the mother country, but we don’t want to be like our mother. America is sort of like a big brother–we mimic him, but don’t want him to know.
- The Olympics here were like the prom–like a coming-out party. Did I look okay? I did okay, didn’t I? Yes I did . . . didn’t I?
- Australians are more egalitarian than Americans–not ambitious like chasing the “American dream”–egalitarian,that is, except as regards indigenous peoples.
- Aboriginal people didn’t gain the vote until 1969.
- When the colonies of the Australian continent joined into one nation in 1901, they passed the White Australia Act, limiting citizenship to whites.
- You have to prove yourself to be an Australian. In the early to mid-20th century, an influx of Mediterranean Europeans caused an identity crisis: “How are you really Australian?”
- Australians aren’t flag-wavers like Americans. The flag isn’t shown very much.
- The general attitude is that we shouldn’t take anything too seriously. [Note: I can't count the number of times in just one week I've heard "No worries," as the response to all sorts of situations.] That seems to be one big Australian problem with Christians, they take their faith too seriously.
Australian friends, responses? Reactions? More details?
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Make sure your name is entered for the Mystery Prize(s) from Down Under. You can enter up to 3 times–#1 and #2 and #3.
