I’ve now lived in Australia for a year. On a day to day basis, things are mostly the same, we live close to a city, we don’t drive much, etc. One main thing that is annoying is that everyone always knows you aren’t from here immediately. So now, in addition to “how tall are you?” I also get “where are you from?”

I’m generally a sports watching bloke, and I’m trying to get into their sports and enjoy watching cricket and footy. But I miss watching baseball, football and hockey. We catch a few games here and there live, but with a 14-16 hour time difference, our best hope is for Friday or Saturday night games in the US, which air at 10am or so the following morning here. For example, the Super Bowl started at 10am on a Monday morning. Not really feasible for Super-bowl like activities. Though on my way to work I saw a group of people in Drew Brees jerseys exiting a limo and heading to a bar. That is a definite thing here, just wear *any* NFL jersey to go watch a game. We met one of our Australian friends due to him wearing a Ben Roethlisberger jersey at a 4th of July party. Sara had to mock his choice and we became friends!

As far as playing sports goes, I really miss softball.  Boy do I enjoying socking dingers.  On the plus side, I’ve played a lot of basketball. I am flabbergasted that they support leagues every weeknight on 10 courts, whereas in DC, it was a struggle to even find a league.  It may shock you to know that I’ve been doing hot yoga two times a week for the last year as well.  I think it is what enables me to play basketball two times a week!

We are way behind on our US TV shows, we don’t have cable or a DVR (called a PVR here) – though most shows are available over free-to-air.  But, episodes sometimes don’t get here for a while and they are on at really odd times.  We have been able to finally watch a few series we never watched using Netflix – Parks and Rec and 30 Rock.

I continue to *love* that prices include tax and that there is (usually) no expectation of tips. It really simplifies life in so many ways. Though it does seem to lead to people (like bartenders) not really trying as hard. Also, we enjoy the Aussie way of ordering at a counter and then sitting down and having the food delivered. With prepaying like that (and no tipping) – once you are done, you just leave – no waiting around for a the check.

The “cafe culture” here continues to grow on me – there is a lot of variety in the all of the independent restaurants and many fewer chains. Makes for very interesting meals and leads to trying some new things.

I still haven’t gotten over beer pricing.