A Journey of a Thousand Miles (or a few thousand...)

Well here we are in Australia.  Everything is so different here.  We got here on Friday afternoon after 29 brutal hours of flying on three different airplanes.  It's been three days and we're all still jet lagged.

The first time the culture shock really hits you and you realize that you are in a different country, on a different continent, on the other side of the world is when you go grocery shopping for the first time here.  They don't have Walmart Down-Under, instead having bunches of different stores for everything.  There are a few bigger stores though such as Woolworths, Aldi, Coles, and Big W.  

On saturday Aunt Leah (well my second cousin but it's easier to say Aunt) came and took mom and me grocery shopping which was awesome.  All the brands and food is different here, including ketchup which isn't called ketchup (it's tomato sauce) or taste like ketchup (they add barbeque sauce to it).  Also, if they say that it's an "american" food or "american" style when you travel outside of the USA....

It's not.

Don't trust the 'American' mustard...

On Sunday we went to church for the first time in our new Aussie ward.  The thing that has amazed me the most since moving to Australia is the diversity.  Whereas in small town Cache Valley, where it is mostly white with the second major ethnicity being Spanish and small amounts of others, here it is the worlds mixing pot.  Our neighbors across the street are Pakistani, while another set are Tongan, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, English... you name it.  

The exciting moment on sunday happened though when I walked into the Young Single Adult (YSA) sunday school class and introduced myself.  Since I have such a 'strong' accent here compared to them as soon as I opened my mouth I got the usual "Oh!  You're American?  John's from America too!"

The boy named John looked up from the other side of the room but didn't say anything.  Later in the lesson it was his turn to read and as he started I about fell out of my chair.  John, you see, if from Mississippi.   He has the thickest southern drawl of your life and I understood the Aussies more than I understood him!  I just wanted to check we were even from the same country!  

Oh well.  :D  That's America for you.  

Can't wait for the adventure!  Bring it on!