Top 10 Things I Just Don't Get

I wanted to title this post "Things I Hate", but hate is such a strong word.  I feel like most of the time I am trying to be positive about the things I get to see and do.  I try to project and talk about the good and great things about where I am and what I'm doing.  I really like the clinic that I'm at and the people that I work with.  I am able to do things I have never done at home (beach-anything falls into this category).  I also am getting to meet tons of new people from Australia (duh) and from all over the world.  That was six sentences started with "I", sorry 'bout that....apologies to all the English-teacher types.  Yet, there are things that annoy the bejeesus out of me.  Today, you get to hear what they are.  This doesn't mean I'm miserable.  This is not a commentary on hating Australia.  These are the musings of an expat of the Top 10 Things I Just Don't Get.

1)  For a country that I hear how wasteful Americans are all the time, and how drying clothes in a dryer is wasteful (more on that later)...why the ever loving f*&%^ are there only single pane windows here.  And the doors!  None of them are sealed.

2)  I want skim milk.  I LOVE skim milk.  I have only found it in 1 store and it is 4.59 AUD for 2L (1/2 gallon).

3)  I also don't want to hear from the Aussies how Americans love fast food and are overweight.  Kettle calling pot black people.  Schnitzel, chicken shops, Mac'rs, chips.  I get teased here for running and biking just as much as I do in the midwest.  And I'm not even doing Colorado levels of activity yet.

4)  Please coffee.  I would even be happy to see a Starbuck's.  Where I order exactly what I want and it is ready in 2 minutes.  The grocery store has an isle full of instant coffee.  Also some Celestial Seasonings would be awesome.  (I know some of you very well...if you choose to remedy this be very, very careful how you label...herbal tea will be destroyed...instant drink mix can get through...this goes for all types of things through quarantine)

5)  At red lights you cannot turn left. (equivalent of not turning right on red).  Dumb.

6)  I love wine and beer.  I like most kinds.  But people, there are wines besides Cab/Sav/Shiraz and Reislings/Sav.  There are also beers besides yellow beers.  This doesn't mean what you have isn't good.  It just means that there are OTHER types of things as well.  This doesn't mean I expect to see American beer everywhere either, just some ambers, stouts, pinots, sangiovese, etc. would be a welcome sight.

7) There are 6 million kinds of snags (sausages) here.  Please, someone find me some Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage.

8) On the breakfast meat note.  Do not make a face about streaky (American) bacon being fatty.  I don't eat the skin of most meat. I don't eat chitlins on the pork roast.  I don't want to hear about it being fatty.  Don't knock it till you try it.

9) I hate hanging my clothes to dry.  I hate crunchy jeans that take forever to dry.  I hate that I have to plan to do laundry when I'll be home for enough time.  I hate that things don't shrink back to shape.  I hate that I can't dry clothes on the only day I have to do it, because it's raining.  

10) Yes, Adelaide is dry.  Denver is dryer.  No, really.  I get that it's rained more here recently than usual.  I do, I really do.  But dudes, I lived in the desert.  For the record Denver gets 15.4" of precipitation a year.  Adelaide gets 21.5" a year.  For those that are math challenged, it means Adelaide gets 40% MORE moisture than Colorado.

Tomorrow I will return to positive outlook Kelly and post pictures of what is one of my favorite things here.