Month: April 2020

My first formal lesson had come while visiting The Outback Steakhouse in Atlanta, Georgia several years ago. They served cheese fries as a signature appetizer, and the drink coasters all had the words “CHAZE FROYS PLAZE” printed on them. This was to teach guests how to order in Australian because you would get them at…

Names are interesting things here. Among the most interesting names for people that I’ve heard so far are girls’ names. Among these are “Khiara, Krisenya, Kalena, and Tuula”. (Sorry Maisey!) I’m not sure where these were derived from, but certain names such as Kylie and Bindi come from word names. A Kylie is essentially a…

Back where I come from there are many words for the substance that comprises roads: asphalt, concrete, blacktop, pavement. But here the term of choice is ‘bitumen’. Asphalt and bitumen are essentially different terms for the same thing, but the process of laying an asphalt road in the US, so far as I understand, is…

The idea of coming to Australia began with something I read back in 2000 (our old future). My mother suggested a book she had read about the Appalachian Trail, which had been written by an author she’d discovered by the name of Bill Bryson. Now this suggestion was coming from someone who voraciously read Patricia…