elleneo Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 The stupid trollies!!!Having to speak S L O W L Y as most aussies just dont understand me for some reason?Ignorance about Africa, South Africa and the lifestyle we had eg Some think we had 4 maids, 2 gardeners full-on cotton-picking, coffee-plantatian lifestyles!! some people just say the most idiotic things to me, it really is entertaining..Presumptions eg that we are racist, hate aussies,only mix with south africans or only speak afrikaans at BBQ's ( although I have met some who fit this bill)Terrible customer service!!! although I have experienced 2 extremes on this one.My list of whats awesome is waaaaay longer though 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynnie Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Definitely the trolleys!!!BUT - I must differ from elleneo - I have received superb customer service (compared to "Afrika-tyd").... except for the one incident with a carpet "cleaner" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbie_P Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 At the moment... their sport! In particular, cricket and rugby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlBrough Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 The stupid trollies!!!Having to speak S L O W L Y as most aussies just dont understand me for some reason?Ignorance about Africa, South Africa and the lifestyle we had eg Some think we had 4 maids, 2 gardeners full-on cotton-picking, coffee-plantatian lifestyles!! some people just say the most idiotic things to me, it really is entertaining..Presumptions eg that we are racist, hate aussies,only mix with south africans or only speak afrikaans at BBQ's ( although I have met some who fit this bill)Terrible customer service!!! although I have experienced 2 extremes on this one.My list of whats awesome is waaaaay longer though When I was in Germany you wouldn't believe how many times I was asked if I am scared of the wild animals, as if we have lions and hyenas roaming our streets at giraffes and zebras as pets... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllisonW Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 I have learned to live with most things.The one thing that gets me is the first world problems. I am sorry but when i see some of the things that people get their knickers in a knot about I can have a what the hell moment! I think i will always be so grateful for the perspective that my life in SA gave me. I think South africans are wonderfully pragmatic about most things, from parenting to life. We are used to having BIGGER things to worry about. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikkiH Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Property pricesWhat type of properties you can get for those pricesThe price ripoff for things in shops compared to prices in usa and the delayed release dates and less to select from etc...Oh these first world problems!! Compared to RSA there are no problems in Aus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaughanroe Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 What sucks for me is having to work today...You see its 29 degrees outside and with no wind it makes for the perfect beach weather, or golf weather, or motorbike weather.Then again the weather will more than likely be the same on Saturday so I guess I will have to bide my time. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donovan83 Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 What sucks for me is having to work today...You see its 29 degrees outside and with no wind it makes for the perfect beach weather, or golf weather, or motorbike weather.Then again the weather will more than likely be the same on Saturday so I guess I will have to bide my time.I'm sitting at work in City Square and from my floor (31) you can see the beach. It's a beautiful day and we really shouldn't be in an office! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sianvz Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 That's a general sucky thing about work! My husband is a surfer and always moans because he's in the wine industry and the best part of the year in the Cape is when he's couped up in a cellar for 12-14 hours a day during harvest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaughanroe Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Yup I guess work is just one of those things... unless.... you won last weeks lucky lotto powerball and then you would have $20mil to play with and I dont care what anyone says, if i won that then I would take a nice long holiday... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sianvz Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 I would take an indefinite holiday and go and live on an island somewhere! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaughanroe Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Like Australia? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 What sucks for me is having to work today...You see its 29 degrees outside and with no wind it makes for the perfect beach weather, or golf weather, or motorbike weather.Then again the weather will more than likely be the same on Saturday so I guess I will have to bide my time.And then the weekend comes. Happened here for the last couple of weeks where the weather during the week is sunny and perfect and the come Saturday morning, it rains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarcK Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 I don't like the news programming in Aus - find the news a tad dull and generally only focussed on Australia. Not enough foreign news content. Parking prices are just shocking - for a country as large as Aus you would think parking would be affordable. Parked my car at Brisbane airport yesterday for 10 hours - $42 (Around R360!!) Don't like the fact that Aussies consider sick days (sickies) as entitlements Not a great service culture - there tends to be more of a take-it-or-leave it attitude. This is a generalization but I have experienced this many times (from airlines, to hotels, to shops etc..) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HadEnoughofJuju Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 I don't like the news programming in Aus - find the news a tad dull and generally only focussed on Australia. Not enough foreign news content.I don't watch the news here in South Africa any more because there is just never any plain old fashioned good news. Just lots of violence and corruption.Not a great service culture - there tends to be more of a take-it-or-leave it attitude. This is a generalization but I have experienced this many times (from airlines, to hotels, to shops etc..)Service can't be as bad as it is here, the term customer service in South Africa means help your self because I am just too lazy or too busy chatting (in a language that you don't understand) to my colleague about personal stuff and how arrogant the idiot on the other side of the counter is for wanting service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizM Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Oh the one other thing (depending on where you are now) is how long it takes to get places. For me, living in the Southern Suburbs of CT pretty much everything is like a 15 min drive away (slightly longer for the beach). When I was in Sydney I would travel 1.5hrs to and from home to uni every day. I know I'm going to miss having everything so close.If you have medical aid here, you will be used to getting to see specialists fairly quickly. Public health in Oz will generally take a loooonnnggg time to see a specialist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandC Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 coming to Australia is not about placing yourself in the camp of being pro Australia or anti South Africa, it's about absorbing yourself in the culture, the people and the country, which I believe is just as beautiful as Africa, or it will be once you have had the same history and connection with the land..Could not have said it better! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammyjo Posted March 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Thanks again everyone for the fantastic insights! I've spent more time giggling and thinking about settlement challenges for newly arrived south Africans than doing any work today Ohh... And I reckon I may also kinda fit the nevau bogan (spelling??) criteria...Hehe. Cheers guys! S 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 You guys crack me up - I have recently discovered that I have entrenched myself so much in Aussie culture that I am what you call a "nouveau-bogue" -Nouveau-bogue like things like large plasma TV's, Deltra Goodrem, Tiffany and Co, Pandora, WiiFit, sushi, wine tours, investment props, post xmas sales, discount airlines, cruise ships, Andre Rieu, Bunnings Warehouse, reality TV, Moet et Hennessy, self help books, the Melbourne Cup ..................I went to a charity book sale, and bought a stack of books that were tied up together for a few dollars. In this stack was a book called " Things bogans like - how to identify the 21st century bogan" - and after reading a few pages discovered my family and friends are all nouveau-bogues.So this is not a bad thing about Aus - its the ferals that you have to beware of.Lyn, you crack me up, oh how I would love to get together with you for a few glasses of Moet. Pandora.....how is this for nouveau bouge or nouveau bogan!..... Have you ever seen women wearing two or three Pandora bracelets? bear in mind that to fill a Pandora full of charms might set you back $1000.........Melbourne cup? It's an excuse to buy an expensive frock, have a spray tan that makes you look like a satsuma, pay $100 for a fascinator......and ruin it all by getting fall down drunk and behaving in a very unladylike manner......we get to see them on the TV each year....Oh dear, I found your post so funny and You are right, watch out for the ferals......folks in South Africa please note than when your kids are really being naughty and you are trying to enjoy a nice frappe with you girlfriends at the local bistro/ working mans club, it is perfectly acceptable to refer to your own children as " ferals" 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sianvz Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Like Australia?Yes exactly!Oh and just got a call from my husband to say he decided to chance it and ask his boss if he can take a few hours off now that things are quieter and go for a surf. So he's at the beach right now. Dammit! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunnyskies Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Definitely servo meat pies ( my one Aussie friend calls them rat coffins) and snags.The amount of fast food consumed - really scary.The bad attitude of some drivers - often delivery guys who drive too fast, tailgate and try and push you around, but they don't know that I used to drive in Africa and I'm not scared of them - also, people who park in the clear way before peak traffic is over and make bad traffic even worse - on the plus side these drivers are by far the minority.The inability of people to pronounce our Huguenot surname correctly or ever spell it correctly - we have lost the French spelling and the space.The doctors - the fact that you struggle to see the same dr twice as a number of the GPs work flexi time - the fact that a Saturday afternoon appointment costs $100 - the fact that I've had one GP practice see me 5 times with a terrible skin rash that was driving me insane before they would refer me to a specialist ( in fact they only referred me because I went ahead and made the appointment and then demanded a referral) - on the plus side we never go to the dr unless absolutely necessary.The narrow roads in some suburbs - we lived down one and had our side mirror knocked off by a passing vehicle - linked to that the swerving you have to do around vehicles parked in the street - but the plus side is that you can park in the street and your car will still be there 2 hours later.Actually not much of a list and I can survive any of these - other than meat pies and snags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MandC Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Lyn, you crack me up, oh how I would love to get together with you for a few glasses of Moet. Pandora.....how is this for nouveau bouge or nouveau bogan!..... Have you ever seen women wearing two or three Pandora bracelets? bear in mind that to fill a Pandora full of charms might set you back $1000.........Melbourne cup? It's an excuse to buy an expensive frock, have a spray tan that makes you look like a satsuma, pay $100 for a fascinator......and ruin it all by getting fall down drunk and behaving in a very unladylike manner......we get to see them on the TV each year....Oh dear, I found your post so funny and You are right, watch out for the ferals......folks in South Africa please note than when your kids are really being naughty and you are trying to enjoy a nice frappe with you girlfriends at the local bistro/ working mans club, it is perfectly acceptable to refer to your own children as " ferals"Okay, now not trying to sound totally stupid, but (my excuse is an Afrikaans upbringing) what is ferals??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizM Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 Feral - Person with little or no class. This is an insult that is often used and a feral can be an individual often labelled as a bogan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreaL Posted March 7, 2013 Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 I love the urban dictionary for things like this...http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=feral1. Feral Poorly dressed, spoken and educated people at the lower end of the socio-economic scale. (See also Chav,Bogun,Trailer Trash) Known for their prowess at stealing cars and their utter disregard of birth control options. In addition to an extremely high swear-word vocabulary, their children have constantly running noses, dirty faces and unkempt hair.Those kids are such ferals - I just heard the 5 year old say "--------you, man!"2. feral Unkempt, Unruly, Unmanagable childWhen a child is left to their own devices too often they can be described as feral. They refuse to respond to the most simple command and can often be found in the neighbour but one's back yard, generally trying to playfully strangle the cat. A feral child has a tendence to appear unkempt, wear ill fitting clothes (usually of pastel colours). Can quite often be the child of a bogan.4. Feral A wild animal (with corresponding behavior) that used to be domesticated and tamed. To "de-domesticate".I discovered a feral cow that had escaped from its farm years ago.Most people I know that use the term " feral" for their children mean that they are wild an unmanageable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaltAM Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 (edited) Some things to get used to...- struggled with the taste of all meat when first arriving...definitely lost some weight ...but have gotten used to that now- pleasantly shocked at first at the size of the chickens (and various chicken parts) in the supermarket - the fact that the salt is not as salty as we are used to in SA- that most restaurants (that we can afford to go to) need you to place your order at the counter...no waitperson to take your order- pleasantly shocked at first that many shops, especially in the city, display their goods on the pavement and there is nobody watching it - pleasantly shocked at first that when walking in the city very early in the morning that you will see deliveries left in front of shops and that nobody even takes notice...or steals it - pleasantlyshocked at first that many banks don't have security doors to walk through and that the tellers are not behind bulletproof glass- impressed that public transport is air-conditioned and that there are no windows missing on the train or that the seats are not missing and generally clean- impressed that women can walk in the city after dark, and even use public transport by themselves after dark- shocked that the shops/shopping centres close so early (especially here in Brisbane)...I like my late shopping- pleasantly shocked that most people just take your word as proof (in most cases)These are just want I can think of right now...but, after the initial shock wears off, you settle into your daily life and then one day....you are shocked that you start complaining about what used to be trivial things when you first arrived...and that is enough proof that you have settled in! Edited to clarify that my shock was not "shock horror" but more shocked that things like this are remotely possible and that it is normal! Edited March 8, 2013 by WaltAM 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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