More Australian Slang

Good ON ya! = Good for you!

Fairdinkem = Still haven't figured out what this one means yet.

Have a Britney = Have a beer. Britney Spears; beer

Take a David = Take a shower. David Gower; shower. (I don't know who David Gower is)

How ya goin? = How ya doin?

Meant = supposed ("It wasn't meant to break")

Have a feed = Get some food

This arvo = This afternoon





I have picked up a few Aussie-isms myself. I end some of my sentences with, "hey?" now and I call my friends mates. It always sounds awkward when I hear myself say it, but I'm trying to fit in, hey? G'day, mates!

Kangaroo Sandwich, anyone???

Outside of the zoo I haven't seen a kangaroo yet....but I ate one! I had my first taste of kangaroo last week in the form of a burger. It wasn't too bad, either! It was a little chewy, but tasted similar to steak. I don't LOVE steak, so I didn't love the kangaroo. But it was alright.

The One Month Mark

I've been in Oz for a month now, and even though my awful sense of direction is still working against me I am getting around the city a little easier now. I'm learning the train schedules and how to use the bus. Gracie, Katie and I had to learn the hard (and embarrassing) way the other day when we got on a bus at Bondi Beach to head back home and the bus driver started to drive off then stopped and said to us, "What are you doing on here?" (Doors open) "You have to stay. Get off." Apparently, we were on the wrong bus. Ours pulled up about 20seconds later.

I picked up a part time job at a gym a couple of doors up from my apartment. It's called Bayswater Fitness and it's a lot of fun. I'm the only girl working there at the moment, and the only straight person. I work with a bunch of gay men and it's always entertaining with them; never a dull moment.

We've made friends with some of our neighbors in the apartment building so we've been having a lot of fun at home lately. We lost a roommate (Julia) and gained a roommate (JoHanna....still largely referred to as "new girl").

Next weekend some of us are planning a trip to Canberra. It will be nice to get out of the city for a little while!

I miss you all! More updates on the way. Please e-mail me and update me on your lives and any US news that I should know. HaileyHerdlinger@aol.com

Quick Update: Apartment Living

Sydney is still incredible. My apartment is actually a lot of fun now. Well, for the most part. It's almost like a sorority house at this point. My two Canadian friends Gracie and Katie moved in and two of the guys moved out, so it's me, 3 German girls and 2 Canadian girls. Gracie, Katie, Catarina, Nora, Julia, and me. Oh, and Tree. Don't forget Tree. Tree is the 39 year old Thai man that lives in our living room. That's right, our living room. He's set himself up a fort with sheets and shower curtains all around it. You can see it in the first picture below. That's our living room (some of the people live there, some were just visiting before we all went out) and that's Tree's house in the back corner with the flowers. Awkward? Yes, we all think so too. We're working on the situation at the moment. The rest of the girls are all really sweet and a lot of fun.

We've had a lot of rain over the past few days so I haven't gotten much beach time. :( It's hard to do anything when you don't have a car and it's pouring down rain outside. We have 2 dvds in the house: Dirty Dancing and The Notebook, so we've started wearing those out already.

If anyone feels the need to send a care package then I can give you my address! :) Just e-mail me: HaileyHerdlinger@aol.com

Miss everyone!