Just Another Sausage Sizzle

Everything that happens here seems to call for a sausage sizzle. Case in point is the standup meeting coming up tomorrow morning at work. It's the last one of the year for the commander and some of the personnel will be rotating into a new assignment beginning next year so they've got some serious "farewelling" to do. Apparently "farewelling" (and just about any occasion you could conjure up) calls for a sausage sizzle. Aussies love sausage sizzles. You can't go shopping on a Saturday without finding at least one sausage sizzle going on out front of a store. We went to a farmer's market Saturday and it was no surprise at all to find they were having a sausage sizzle.

I'm not a fan of sausage so it's hard to really dig this phenomenon, but sometimes they also offer egg and bacon in addition to the sausage and that's when I'm all in. Eric always gets the sausage and they tell us the way we say sausage is a tip-off that we're not Aussies. We aren't quite sure what it is although we think we might say it with a bit more "aw" while they say it with more of an "ah" sound.

It is funny to watch people's faces when we start talking. We were at the brand new Bunnings (like Home Depot) on Monday checking out all their stuff and as the store had just opened, the workers were extremely eager to help people. One bloke asked if he could help us and we said "we're looking for a bird feeder". As the first couple of words came out of my mouth his eyebrows shot up to be quickly followed by the customary furrowing as he tried desperately to translate US English to Aussie English. His response was, "Did you want a bird bath?" I'm not sure how he thought feeder sounded like bath, but I don't even try to figure it out anymore.

I do know it would have helped tremendously if I'd said "bird feeda". Aussie English rules seem to dictate that anything that ends in 'er' be pronounced as though there were no 'r' at the end. What's even more interesting is that words that end in 'a' such as Australia or America are pronounced "Austrialier" and "Americer". There does seem to be a conservation of the letter 'r' - what's taken away is just added elsewhere, but there is a pair of words where it leaves me completely confused as to what they're talking about and that's the Myna and the Minor birds. My pronunciation is exactly the opposite of theirs so which bird is which I couldn't tell you.

There is one instance where they actually sprinkle seemingly far too many 'r' sounds into one word and it is my very favorite word to hear them say. The word is drawing and since we often refer to drawings of parts at work I get to hear them say it in that awesome way they do that sounds like "drarwring".

We've been enjoying the birds here a lot lately. Sea eagles out front of the house just hanging on a breeze inspecting the water for a prospective dinner. Kookaburras do their "laughing" every evening around the time it gets dark just like clockwork.

We had a couple rainbow lorikeets come for dinner earlier this week. It was a little wet that day and suddenly I see one on the railing looking pointedly at Eric who was working on the computer. The lorikeet kept moving down the rail trying to get his attention. It was so deliberate it was almost comical. Once Eric (the maitre'd) acknowledged his presence, the lorikeet took his place at the table (the door). At this point their waitress (me) ran and got a few sultanas (Aussie raisins) and served the lorikeet and his spouse tiny chunks of the sultanas. They loved them in spite of the fact they had to keep scraping their beaks on the deck to get the sultanas off the side of their beaks.

I can just imagine the conversation Laurie and Keith (my names for them) had before they got to our place.
Laurie: "I don't feel like fixing dinner tonight. It's wet and I'm tired."
Keith: "Okay. You know, I think there's a restaurant not far from here that might be open. I'll check."
Laurie: "Just make sure it's a place with a nice view of the water."
Keith: "All right. I'll just see what the maitre'd has available. Now if I could just get his attention..."

Sorry to be so silly, but I do enjoy wondering what goes on inside their little heads sometimes.

This afternoon was the Boeing Christmas party. It was at the Newcastle Paceway. Yes, it's "Paceway" and not raceway. I have never been to harness racing for horses. It was quite the affair especially when you consider what Boeing does for Christmas parties back home (as in nothing). Eric and I really enjoyed watching the horses "pacing" which is what we would call trotting. They had the most beautiful cadence in their step and went so fast you'd have thought they must be galloping. We didn't bet on any of the races; just watching the race was entertaining enough.

Our last weekend before coming home is just around the corner. Time goes so fast we'll be jumping on that plane before I know it. I don't look forward to 24 hours of traveling, but the carrot on the end of the stick is getting to see family and friends. For that, I'll gladly put myself through those paces! Love to all and see you soon!