Orientation Meeting/ Mall

Today I woke up and went to my mandatory orientation meeting from 10am-noon. It was pretty darn boring. They told us about culture shock, using the campus website, signing up for classes, and whatnot. When they covered the topic of obtaining a drivers license, they did discuss some interesting facts that I thought I should share with you. I know people that complained when certain laws came into effect. Here are some Australian laws that hopefully put people their place and make them stop complaining.

The drinking limit is 0.05 I was informed that is about 1 glass of wine for a lady and about 2 drinks for men per hour. If you get a blood alcohol content above that your license is taken away, no questions asked. There is not DUI nonsense. The catch phrase the Aussies says is "If you drink and drive you are a bloody idiot!"

Even if you are riding a bike and have a BAC higher than 0.05 your license is taken away.

Seat belts are mandatory for every person in the car. If someone does not wear their seatbelt it is a $500 fine. If the driver is caught not wearing their seat belt it is $1000!

Talking on the 'mobile' (cell phone) or texting is a $250 fine.

Wow, I guess we have it pretty easy in the USA. Our laws are like a slap on the wrist.

During the orientation I learned a few other tidbits of info. The money here is plastic not paper so it doesn't rip. They have 5 cents, 10 cents, 20 cents and 50 cents coins. $5, $10, $20, $50 plastic bills. I'm sure they have bills higher than $50 but I have not received any and don't know for sure. The coin size from largest to smallest is 50c, 20c, $1, 10c, 5c, $2. It is a little confusing and I have to read every coin before I pay for something. I feel like a little kid learning how to count change at the stores.

After the orientation I went to the mall in search of cheap end of summer clothing. Specifically skirts and dresses because it is in the 90's over here and I want something that doesn't stick to me legs and will replace the shorts that I ripped. Turns out all of the "sale" items are still ridiculously expensive. I was at the mall with my friend Sophie. Sophie was born and raised in Yorkshire England and her family moved to Singapore 8 years ago. Anyways we were on our way to the 'Chemist' (pharmacy) so I could buy contact solution, because apparently that is the ONLY place you can get it. We saw a store across from us in the mall and started to cross the main aisle when we heard "Stop.....Hey.... Stop!!!!" We look to see a security guard running and pounce into another man knocking the man into a sunglasses rack right outside of the Chemist. The man then fell and 2 security guards started tackling him. The man put up a hell of a fight and was very close to escaping, twice, when a third guard came. The were finally able to put the man in handcuffs and take him away. I think the man was caught stealing, but I never found out for sure. By the way, the security guards wear dress shoes, dress pants, a polo shirt, and suit jackets. I think that would be a terrible uniform to wear because it would be hard to take a thief down, as I clearly saw.

Then I came home and have just been chilling out every since.

*More vocabulary:

A 'rubber' is what you erase pencil markings with

And a 'fag' is what people smoke, not a cigarette

I did actually know these and a other words from previous posts. I just share them all with you incase you didn't know. This way readers of my blog get to be culturally educated as well.