First impressions, part 2 – comparisons

Apologies for the continued absence of photos – my real computer is still(!) on its way in a container, and I’m itching on getting some real photo editing and selection done. It’s highly annoying not having decent equipment to look at the shots. So while we’re still waiting for the photos, here’s a second round of first impressions about Australia. Since I’ve lived in the US and Finland most recently, it’s sort of obvious to compare Australian things to how they are in the US and Finland. Fair? No. Natural? Yes. So here we go:

US vs Australia

• Package sizes – while the GFC has brought back some smaller sizes in the US, everything is still big there. And the same disease of 1kg potato chip bags has been infecting Finland for some time, too. But over here, stuff like that is generally sold in reasonable quantities. Sure there are jumbo-sized this & that available, but it’s sort of refreshing being able to buy a whole bag of potato chips, eat them all in one evening and not feel bloated or gain 1kg from one bag.

• General knowledge aka are people “dumb” here, too? Luckily, no. Not to disparage the Americans – some very smart people there, too – but Australians in general do seem to have a better grasp of the rest of the world than Americans. Take Finland – even though Finland is only half the distance from US than it is from Australia, comparatively few “average” people knew about it in the States. When saying we’re from Finland, comments from Americas were to the tune of, and I quote, “Oh what state is that in?” and “It’s somewhere near Fiji, right?”. Over here, they’re more like “Oh nice place, we went there a couple of years ago!” and “Oh really?! I have good friends in Sweden but never been in Finland.” etc.

• Attitudes towards immigrants seem friendlier here than in the US; and this doesn’t mean that anybody was hostile towards us in the US either, but it just means that Australians are clearly very used to heavy immigration and all kinds of basic things, like getting a local drivers license, are quite easily taken care of.

• Lack of superlatives; with Americans, many things are “awesome!”, “wonderful!” or at least “great!”. Not so much here; things are mostly just “good”. Which is good. Because if you call everything awesome, what do you call something that’s truly awesome?

Finland vs Australia

• Perception of safety is a funny thing. Whether you feel safe may have very little to do with actual safety, but it’s got a strong influence on what you’re likely to do or not do. For example, I was kind of disappointed to notice that streets in Australia are mostly very poorly lit compared to Finland. When it’s dark, it’s dark almost everywhere, hence, going for a run after sunset doesn’t feel like a good idea. It might be, but it doesn’t feel like that.
  
  On the other hand, some small curiosities make Australia feel more safe than Finland; mailboxes are one. Mailboxes in Finland tend to be locked and made of bomb-proof armored steel or something like that. Here, mailboxes are openings or just very flimsily locked. Packages can be left on the doorstep, and apparently nobody steals them – not sure if anyone would steal them in Finland either, but it’s unheard of that the mail guy would leave a package unattended outside your door in Finland. House or unit door locks are a similar story – like in the US, locks here in Australia are the kind that can be picked by an amateur or kicked in. In Finland doors are like mini-safes that can withstand any assault.

• Job titles are for the large parts identical in spelling, but differ in contents. This makes it a bit more challenging in finding the right position content-wise; for example, a business development manager here is typically a salesguy-type of a position, whereas my past years as a BDM were not quite like that.

• People are certainly more friendly and open towards strangers here. Finns come out as positively xenophobic compared to US, let alone Australians. Also, say what you will about the “how are you”s and “fine”s, I like that kind of meaningless small talk. The indifference exhibited in Finland may be more honest, but it certainly doesn’t make your day any happier.

• Potatoes. Oh the irony – the Finnish staple food, potatoes, taste better in Australia than they do in Finland. I couldn’t believe it at first, but it’s now been conclusively and repeatedly proven – potatoes are better here. Why, I have no idea.