Category: Australia (Page 21 of 22)

Googling

2012/09/04 / Nic / 18 Comments

Actually I was trying to google Cheonggyecheon.

Google is pretty good at guessing when you misspell an English name or word… but heaven help you if you don’t know the exact spelling of a Korean name! If you have any ‘ch’ in it don’t be surprised if “ching chong” comes up. I’ve had it happen more than once.

If you haven’t heard this before: it’s a very offensive and derogative term for Asian people. Originally used in the 19th century when Chinese miners came out to the Australian gold fields. It was used as an insult for Chinese people. It was also used like “Ching Chong Chinaman.” It mimics their names and their language but in a very stupid and uneducated way. Since then it has been directed at any Asian person by racists because if someone is that racist, well they are obviously too dumb to know that there are different Asian countries.

Unfortunately it is sometimes still used. A few years ago a Korean friend who worked on a building site in Australia asked me one day, “What does ching chong mean?” I was hesitant to reply just in case he had misheard and I didn’t want him to have something horrible explained to him if it wasn’t needed. My fears were confirmed though, when he said one of the white Australian workers had yelled at him “Hey ching chong!” He didn’t know it meant but had seen the boss yell so harshly at that worker and he realised the guy had said something so bad.

My husband also said that when he was working in an abattoir on one of his working holiday visas a white Australian called a Korean worker that insult. The white Australian worker was fired on the spot even though he’d been working there for years and years.

At least most bosses don’t tolerate it but it is upsetting that there are still morons using such an offensive insult.

So it’s always a ‘WTF’ moment when just innocently searching for a Korean name google says “did you mean this?” No I did not mean that google!

Saturday Afternoon

2012/08/19 / Nic / 13 Comments

Living in Sydney is pretty expensive. Australia is quite expensive in comparison to other countries but Sydney is probably the most expensive city. At the moment we live close to my husband’s work and in an area quite pricy but very close to the city area. Rent prices in Sydney are ridiculous so at the moment we share an apartment with another couple. Because of this I can’t do as much cooking as I would like. At my parent’s house I would often spend a lot of the weekend making Korean side dishes and stuff but until we get our own apartment I can’t really do that, so we stick with simple stuff for now. We also know the cheap places in the city to eat. And plan on showing them!

Yesterday we went for a walk to the city because we planned on showing you guys a cheap but good place to get Taiwanese food. We have to cross Darling Harbour to get to where we want to go. From where we live it’s a quick walk and then down a lift to Darling Harbour.

My husband often tries to push lift buttons with his knees.

Stupid.

Okay, walk through Darling Harbour.

The train for tourists behind me. And the damn wind. Ahhh, not a good idea to wear my hair out.

There is usually a carousel at Darling Harbour but I never paid attention to it before because that was before Gangnam Style. Stopped to have a quick dance in front of it. With a random kid.

What’s wrong with my face there?

Anyway, then past the trendy restaurants and lovely outside areas. My husband stops for a rest in the deck chairs.

Okay so, if you are in Sydney and don’t want to spend much money but want a decent meal here is where you can go. Find China Town.

Then find Sussex Centre.

Okay so we are going up to the food court on the top floor! Ew Food Court? Yeah a lot of food courts suck but this one is good. No Macdonalds or other crap, just Asian food.

Inside: What the hell is this? An employee moving a giant stuffed toy from one store to another.

Oh, Big Bang! Yay.

Unfortunately, the Taiwanese place we wanted to show wasn’t open at the time we went there (but of course it’s open every other time we go with no intention of making a blog post!). It’s okay though because we’ll just get other stuff.

My husband was quick to get Chinese seafood soup.

And I got some Japanese curry.

Most meals are $10 or under here and all types of Asian food. Yay. If you are coming into the city for shopping or whatever- no need to waste money on over priced sandwiches or other expensive food.

Hopefully another time we can show you the food we actually wanted to show.

Anyway. That’s what we did yesterday afternoon!

Money Box

2012/08/14 / Nic / 34 Comments

My husband and I have different reactions to saving money. He gets quite excited about saving money whereas I’m more like…’whatever’. For example if we save 30 cents on our groceries I will say “We only saved 30 cents” but he’ll say “Wow we saved 30 cents!” and then he will then proceed to explain to me that is we save 30 cents this amount of times we will save this amount of money blah blah blah.

He gave me this money box, well more like money teddy bear, and explained to me that if I put my extra coins in there I can save up a lot of money and then when there is enough money I can buy something nice, and isn’t that good? I was flippant about it because it was like he was explaining it to a child! I may not be the best at saving money but I know how a money box works!

Anyway he did make me laugh and was so cute about it and the money box is adorable. Here is a photo of it:

We had dinner in the city last night then he had to go to work. He gave me some coins and said “Put these in the money box when you get home”. Then when I was home he called to check I got home safely and then said, “Did you put the coins in the money box?” I replied, “No… not yet. Okay fine I’m doing it now!”

Actually you can save up a lot of money with Australian coins because our $1 and $2 are coins.

Free Food

2012/08/11 / Nic / 9 Comments

My husband and I have been apart for a few weeks because he has been working in Sydney and I’ve been staying with my parents waiting until we had somewhere to live in Sydney. Even though we could talk every day, it is difficult to be apart.

He really does. He usually will take two and because I don’t usually want a sample he will make me go back and take two, pretending they are for me, and then make me give them to him. Greedy!

Anyway, I arrived in Sydney last night (what shocking weather there is at the moment!) so we are both now together. We are sharing an apartment with another Korean couple until we get our own apartment. Renting in Sydney is expensive! Especially the area we are in as it’s walking distance to the city. It is difficult for my husband, he is basically starting his life again in another country, so we are quite poor at the moment. Oh well at least we have our own bedroom and bathroom and we are together.

When I arrived last night these were waiting for me on the bed:

The bear has a cute hood on, and when trying to explain it, my husband said “You can take it’s head off!”

Mr Owl

2012/08/09 / Nic / 12 Comments

Sorry! This post is not related to anything Korean.

At my parent’s house there is an owl that lives right next to their back deck. He goes hunting at night and then comes back and sleeps in the same spot through the day. He lived there for a few months last year then disappeared for the summer. At the beginning of winter he came back again. He is not scared of us all and if we walk by he usually opens his eyes and watches us.

Hehehe he went back to sleep when I told him to.

Lamb

2012/08/04 / Nic / 22 Comments

Koreans, in general, don’t like to eat lamb. In Australia lamb is quite a popular meat so Koreans are quite surprised that we eat it and enjoy it. They always say that the smell of it is really bad and they hate the taste. I’ve heard from Australian lamb farmers that lamb in Asia does smell different, that it isn’t as nice, possibly because they are grain fed? But lamb in Australia is pasture fed and doesn’t have the gross smell that it has in Korea. (But Koreans will still say it smells bad here).

My husband will eat lamb – if he does not know it’s lamb. He will eat it happily and enjoy it, but once I tell him that it was lamb he will say “I knew it tasted weird!” And yet he still ate it all?

I suspect it’s partly psychological, even though the taste of Australian lamb isn’t actually bad, there is enough underlying taste for Koreans to remember feeling repulsed at the taste and smell of lamb in Korea.

What food grosses you out?

Olympic Opening Ceremony

2012/07/29 / Nic / 20 Comments

I’m not especially patriotic. I love my country but never feel the need to be really patriotic during sporting events. I feel much more emotion seeing Korea win rather than seeing Australia win something. Maybe Korean patriotism is catching because I’ve heard of other non-Koreans feeling more passion for Korean victories rather than their home country. South Korea’s modern history is so inspiring that you can’t help but cheer for them.

Because I was watching the Australian coverage of the Olympic opening ceremony they spent a lot of time showing the Australian athletes. Much more than what was necessary. Showing more of Australian athletes on Australian TV is to be expected but it was really too much time on them. They didn’t even show the B countries coming out because they kept the cameras on the Australians. Then they were constantly cutting back to the Australian athletes, who weren’t doing anything that interesting, just being rowdy and taking photos and tweeting probably. I became worried that they wouldn’t show the South Korean athletes walking out. Luckily they showed both North Korea and South Korea. North Korea came out earlier with the D countries because they call themselves ‘The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’. You know a country is communist when they have to put ‘democratic’ in their title! Later The South Koreans walked out and I cheered for them.

It feels good to be passionate about a country that you can actually choose yourself. Would I like Australia if I wasn’t born here? Being patriotic about Australia just feels like an obligation, it’s not a choice. I know people who are very passionate and patriotic about Australia because they made the choice to move here. Australia gave them a chance at a new life and they are thankful. Their patriotism rings more true than an Australian who thinks Australia is the best simply because they haven’t been anywhere else. South Korea has opened up my eyes and made my life so much better and I’m grateful for that. So I’ll be cheering for South Korea these Olympics.