Intercultural Life

Category: Australia (Page 20 of 22)

Little Cousins

There was a memorial service for my grandmother yesterday. It was a really nice celebration of her life and a chance to see extended family again. I have many second cousins who are very very cute and my husband thought they were adorable. UNFORTUNATELY, they all were scared of him! Possibly because they had never met him before but also because he looks a bit different. Most of my cousins live in towns that are predominately white and haven’t interacted with Asian people before. My poor husband, every time he tried to talk to them, they ran away or just stared back, stunned, at him. It didn’t help that my husband was like, “Hello little children!” and came across kinda weird in his enthusiasm. They are all very young too so they didn’t really understand that my husband is part of the family now… even though he looks a bit different. My husband gets slightly upset at that, but eventually some of them interacted with him a bit. The little boy in particular found enough courage to run up to my husband say “G’day mate!” And we taught one of the older girls how to say “Annyong”.

Hopefully next time we see them they’ll be used to him and talk to him instead of just staring back haha.

Ants

Ugh I hate ants inside. I’m not scared of them, they are just annoying. I’m not really scared of creepy crawlies and usually just take them outside, but my husband is petrified of them. So I’m the one that deals with them ^_^

I hate mice and rats though, I’ll deal with all the spiders if he deals with any small feral mammals. Things like mice just gross me out, because they could be carrying disease and are not easy to catch. One time we came back to my parent’s house after being away for a few days and a mouse had somehow got inside and into the bath tub. So gross. My husband just put on some gardening gloves picked it up and disposed of it outside. So he can be so strong and manly in that situation but if it was a spider he’d be screaming and running away.

Ants though, just make me a psychopathic killer.

Australian Accent?

Marie asks:

“So I have a Korean friend in Australia. He learned American English, but since he’s been in AUS he’s developed a more Aussie accent rather than an American one.

So does your husband have a Aussie Accent when he speaks English?”

Hehe.. Good question.

He doesn’t, he has a Korean accent and I actually hope he always has it. He does sometimes attempt saying very Aussie things but I don’t like it.

Why don’t I like it? I just really prefer the Korean accent to the Aussie accent. Even though I’m Australian myself, I find some Aussie accents so grating. I’m sure many of you might be thinking “But Aussie accents are so hot! I love *insert popular Australian male actor here*!” Who is hot at the moment? Chris Hemsworth? Yes, but those types usually have a milder Australian accent. I’m from a rural area where the Australian accent can be really really strong, especially for men. It is a mumbling nasal sound with a tendency to go up at the end of every sentence, whether it’s a question or not. Just not my cup of tea. Although I’m originally from an area with very strong rural accents, my parents were originally from Sydney and I just never picked up the rural accent. I have a milder accent and only slip up on a few words that may betray where I’m from.

I just really love the Korean accent so I don’t want my husband to even have a slight Aussie accent. We know Korean guys that do though, or almost have an Australian accent. They usually practice copying the way Australians speak. Even though in Korea they are taught American English (which causes some problems when they come to Australia) some can adjust their accent quite quickly. If they know enough English before they come to Australia, within a year they may have an Australian accent.

My husband however…. he just lives in his own little world. He just doesn’t really pick up the accent. I think there are a few reasons for this. One being that my husband speaks quite slowly and softly. This doesn’t lend itself well to the faster Australian way of speaking. Another reason I think, is his English level. He got his English to a decent level and just kinda left it there. Other Korean guys we know are continually striving to perfect their English and mimic native speakers.

He does pick up things I say, and I pick up things he says (What a nice!) but I don’t think my accent is strong enough to make a big influence on him.

Who knows though. Maybe in 10 years he will be speaking like an Aussie bloke. Streuth!

You Want To

I knew because I wanted to do the same thing! We are the perfect (evil) couple.

We live somewhere where there are always many tourists. So on what is just a casual stroll at night for us we’ll see many tourists taking photos. We also live near, not only a harbour, but an area with many water fountains. It’s like the desire to push people into water increases every day! Muahahaha.

 

The Balancing Act

We actually share an apartment with another couple, we don’t have our own apartment at the moment. The Sydney rental market is ridiculous, there just isn’t enough apartments for the demand and that drives the prices up. We live in a more expensive area, so while we are close to where my husband works and so close to the city, it is much harder to get an apartment just for us. Sharing an apartment isn’t that unusual for couples here. But it still sucks!

Sydney was recently named the 2nd most expensive city in the world to live in after Tokyo (no wonder I don’t find the prices high in Japan!) So because it’s an expensive place and the rent prices are atrocious, it creates an unfortunate environment for everyone who is not on the lease of an apartment. When you go into a share apartment situation the person/s on the lease have all the control and can treat you like shit, even if you are paying most of the rent every week. Because of this, even though this apartment has quite a large living area, we don’t feel comfortable using it. We have our room and bathroom and that’s where we spend all our time. BUT, we don’t have a sofa or proper table! I think it’s more important to me than it is for my husband. Firstly because he is Korean and is used to doing things on the floor so doesn’t really miss having a table or sofa, and secondly he has worked out this balancing act of laying half on the bed with his laptop (and food) on the floor.

He lets me have the desk and chair. ‘What a nice!’

We are currently looking for an apartment- just for us- but it might take a while.

Weirdly it may actually be easier to get an apartment when we live in Korea. The system is different there; you put down a very large bond and then pay less per week/month. Here the bond is not that large but weekly rent is so high so it’s a lot of wasted money. That said, I don’t want to complain too much because Sydney is an awesome city to live in.

At the Post Office

He does this all the time! He will whisper behind me that someone is Korean. I’m sure half the time they hear it as well. What was I supposed to do? We are in Australia, the guy was speaking fluent English to me so it would be pretty weird if I said something back in Korean!

It’s different if we are in a Korean restaurant because then obviously I would use some Korean words. But we live in an area where there are many Koreans so it’s not a surprise to see that some work at the local post office. But he just loves pointing it out all the time. Like on the street and walking past people, “They are Koreans.” Okay. Haha.

 

 

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