As my mom likes to say, you can pick your nose and you can pick your friends, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose. But what about picking a team? I decided I like the AFL and I’d like to start cheering for a team because I think I’ll like it even more if I care about the game results. Normally, I’d be set because of my credo of going for the home team. I’ll allow for a soft spot in one’s heart for the team from where one hails, BUT I think sports are about community and in order to really be a local one should go for the home team. Unfortunately, 9 of the 18 footy teams play in Melbourne so there really isn’t a home team. There goes my belief system…

Jon and I went to the St. Kilda Bowling Club last weekend and with footy on TV, I took the opportunity to find out how other people picked their team. For most Melburnians their team tends to be the team their family has always barracked for and often they don’t know anything about the origin. I met an American with the same dilemma and found she looked at the teams in Melbourne and then looked at which ones were any good and then checked out the colors (must include blue) and mascots (ideally Australian) and settled on the North Melbourne Kangaroos. I am very pro-kangaroo, but somewhat anti-blue (it’s Duke blue) so it’s an option – just not a great one for me.

Jon takes this decision much more seriously than me so he’s been going over the pros and cons of various teams since we arrived. He’s pretty set on a team with Melbourne in the name which narrows it down to two and he also likes kangaroos so he may join our American pal in going for North Melbourne. Then again, there is a St. Kilda (where we live) team, but they aren’t really a St. Kilda team other than in name only so does it matter? I should also add that I feel bad for any team Jon or I pick, particularly if they are any good as they will inevitably become a terrible, nail biting, heart attack inducing team that only wins in the worst possible way. (What is the footy equivalent of being up by 21 points and losing?)

So… where does that leave things? Heading into Round 15 of 23 at which point the “final series” aka playoffs start. Each round is confusingly called *something* final – Qualifying/Elimination Finals, Semi Finals, Preliminary Finals, and finally the Grand Final. Hopefully I can make a decision before the season is over in October!

I just realized that tomorrow is my three month anniversary of being in Australia. Does that make me an Australian? Would being here longer? I’m guessing no either way. Being away from home is a great adventure and I’m loving so much of what makes Australia different from the US. BUT… it also reinforces how much being an American is part of my identity. I would NEVER have thought that until I moved here and it seems like quite a revelation to me. Maybe I’m too easily impressed with my own revelations – haha.

Lately, I find myself going through my daily routine and somehow forgetting that I’m in Australia. Then I hear people talking and I’m nudged back into the present. I read a letter to the editor in the local paper and someone was complaining about the paper using the work “franking” when referring to post marking a letter and claimed that was just another example of the paper being too American and using Americanisms. Well, color me surprised since I am pretty sure the only time I’ve heard of “franking” something is in reference to making sure my train ticket was “franked” in Germany. It is funny though because so many of the language differences are just that for some word we (Americans) typically use, Aussies often use a synonym as their preferred term… dogs on lead v. dogs on leash, pass v. badge, heaps v. lots, diary v. calendar… but that is hardly what truly distinguishes an Aussie so it amuses me that someone took the time to write and complain as is often the case with letters to the editor!

Jon and I are in the process of watching DVDs lent to me by a coworker who suggested that if we watch all of them, then and only then, we might just might understand Aussies. I can’t imagine what the equivalent movie set would be from America. Any suggestions?? We’ve only watched one so far, Kenny and found it quite funny with a few turns of phrase that we didn’t quite get. We’re also watching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix (the Netflix Australia selection is very limited…) and all the Canada jokes remind me of Australians. Lots of the same stereotypes fit…

Robin : You can’t just up and run a marathon it’s like 42 kilometers
Ted : Alright Canada Australia I’ll take it from here. Barney it’s like 26 miles !