Transcript of AE 1333 - 10 Culture Shocks KENYA vs AUSTRALIA

G'day, you mob! Pete here! Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today we're reacting to the video Top 10 Culture Shocks On Migrating to Australia from the channel Migrant Doctor Mum-Anna. Go check her out if you haven't already. Don't forget that you can listen to this episode on the Aussie English Podcast. It's free, it's on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, wherever you get your podcasts. And besides that, let's get into it.

My name is Anna. So essentially, what was my biggest culture shock coming to Australia is the informal sort of way of addressing people.

[G'day, mate!]

And this was very different for me because obviously I was coming into the workplace and upon arrival, I just discovered that people call each other by first name basis. Obviously, having lived in Kenya, usually your bosses, you address them by doctor so-and-so, you address them by professor, if they're a professor. And up to date, even when I visit at home, I still find it hard, you know, to call my mum's doctor by name. I still say doctor so-and-so. Even the head of department, you still will find that people call them by their first name.

Yeah, we hate it. Australians typically hate any kind of pompous, just using those kinds of honorifics. Doctor. Mister. Sir, ma'am. Missus.

[Don't you ever call me that.] We just hate it. It makes us uncomfortable. I think it's cultural baggage that we have since Australia was colonised largely by a population of convicts who were all obviously lower class, working class criminals. They got brought over here. And I think it's just that rejection of superiority. And Great Britain has this class divide, upper class versus the lower class, this class warfare. And Australia was kind of like a fresh start and we just reject it. We really, really don't like it. I remember one story I have, I was working as a waiter at a restaurant. This guy came in and he was probably in his 70s, maybe a little older. And I said, you know, sir, can I get you a menu? Because of his age and the way that he looked, I wanted to be really polite. So even me as an Australian, and in that position as a waiter, I was kind of like, I'll just throw out, sir. For some reason I decided to. And he pretty pretty much just said, Fuck off, mate. My name's Dave. And I remember being like, okay. He's like [Don't call me sir.]

And I seated him down and I just kept serving Dave. And he referred to me as Pete and yeah, it was, it was a great night. So don't be afraid to just use our first names, especially if we tell you. You can start with calling someone sir. Mister, misses, doctor, whatever. If you feel that's comfortable. And then if they say, "Just call me Dave", you're actually doing them a favour, making them comfortable.

The other thing that I did notice is a lot of times people call you with this, you know, adjective. So you find patients calling you "Hi, love", "Hi, darling", "Hi dear". And for me that was different. It was quite different.

It's so true. You'll hear these quite often, from women to men, to other women, to kids. It's sort of like skewed towards women and older women using this kind of language. Darl. Love. Dear. Honey. Sweetie.

[Good to see you, darl!] [And you've done some bad things, sweetie.] [How are you, darling?]

We do it to show friendliness. It reduces the distance between you two, right. It makes you feel like you're friends. And it's very calming. It sort of puts us at ease.

[Mm. So good.]

Whereas if you came in and said Mr. Smissen.., I would be like, ugh, it's almost like you're pushing me away, distancing me from you, as in, like you're down here or you're up here, but we're not equal. And I think that's the psychological thing going on here. Australians love that idea of we're friends, we're mates, we're equals. Just treat me like a normal human being that you would at home, at the shops. Whatever. I'm not more important than you. Less important than you. We're on the same level.

[We're the same! You and me!]

The second culture shock that you're likely to experience is work-life balance. Australians actually adhere to work-life balance.

[Here, we work to live, not live to work.]

And this for me was such a pleasant shock because obviously, again, the environment that I was used to, where we're going to work all the time. One thing that I have learnt about Australians is whatever they value, they create time for it. So you find people are into sports, people are into family life, people are into their kids activities and stuff like that. Because of that, people, when they're choosing their careers, they actually factor that in mind. So you'll find that some people will actually, you know, settle in for some specific jobs just so that that job gives them the work-life balance they experience.

This is 100% true. And this is my situation, guys. I had to make that choice early on when having children about how hard do I go trying to grow my business, trying to earn more money. And it had gotten to a point where I was obviously making enough money to survive, to pay the mortgage, to pay the bills. And it's a diminishing returns type curve, like I could be making, you know, more money, but I would have to spend a lot less time with my family. So I was an Australian. It was sort of like, there's no real point. I'm not alive to work. I'm working so that I can live and I want to spend time with my kids. So today is, as an example, took my wife to work, took my daughter to her grandparents house, took my son to school, came home, had a nap for like two hours, got up, started working. Now I'm back here doing some videos and in about an hour and 15 minutes, I'm going to go grab my son from primary school and then hang out with him for the rest of the evening.

[Can I get a hell yeah?]

So I think she's right. Australians are very much more work life balance oriented. You're not going to see us usually fighting over jobs that pay a lot of money, but you have to work 80 to 100 hours a week. It's really stressful. Everything like that.

[Ain't nobody got time for that!]

And in line with that work life balance, Australians actually value holiday and vacation.

Yeah.

You'll hear one saying, I'm either going to a vacation or I've come out from one or I'm planning a vacation. They actually put in time and save up actually to go for vacation.

Some things you'll see loads of Australians, particularly once they get to late 20s, 30s, 40s you know, that sort of young family type age. They'll get things like camper vans or camping gear, and they'll be going on trips to places around, probably the nearby kind of area, like within a few hours on a regular basis. So like I had a neighbour when we were living down the road here renting, who had a caravan. And it was like every single weekend he was away with his entire family, two small kids and his wife, and they were just going to different places, camping for a night or two and then coming home. And that's a very common thing here in Australia.

[As is the serenity.]

The third culture shock that I did experience was the Aussie slang that's used here. I wasn't sure of some things, and that's both for the medical terms and the non-medical terms. Like when I first came, you know, you know, the way we ask patients in Swahili [speaks Swahili], you know, if you directly translate it is "Have you gone to the toilet?" Or, "Have you passed poos?", or something like that. So when I came here, I learned to use "wee" and "poos". I learned to ask, "How's your water works?" which is essentially how's, you know, do you have any problems with passing urine?

This is so good. How's your water works? It's like, how's your plumbing? This is something I've heard a lot about with students and friends who've migrated to Australia and then work in the medical industry as nurses or doctors or surgeons or whatever. They typically say there's just so much slang and abbreviations and vocabulary related to medicine, and they'll be asking me about these things. And I'm like, I don't work in that area. I have no idea dude, you're going to have to tell me.

[What language is that?]

I think for some reason, Australians are very creative with language. And so it's probably the case in any realm. Not just medicine, not just normal Australian life, but anywhere you get people doing a certain job and lots of people interacting and talking with one another, I think they're going to create different words, abbreviations, slang and everything to kind of speed things up.

And Australians find every reason to use short, short, short words. They can abbreviate everything.

[Did you just make that up?]

I just learned the other day, after a long time of being in Australia. SOBB. A physiotherapist would write in the file SOBB. What's SOBB anyway?

[That's not a word.]

It's "sitting out of bed". You know, they'll arrive ATOR, so 'At Time Of Review'. I'm just like so many abbreviations. And then things like the Aussie slang itself, where you go out to eat and then someone will say, "I'll shout", so I'll be paying for, for today and something like that, or It's my treat today. So obviously, you know, it takes time before you learn that.

[Does anyone speak English around here?]

I really recommend guys, if you are migrating to Australia, try and learn as much of this stuff as possible and use it. Don't feel like because you're not Australian or you don't speak Australian English as your native language, that you can't use the slang. We love it. We absolutely love it. So please just dive in, learn as much as you can and use it.

One other thing is, there was a shock as well, is the fact that when you go out for a meal. You know, in Kenya, when somebody invites you out for a meal, let's go out for dinner or something like this. Most times they are the ones paying. But here in Australia, please take care of your own bills. You know, when you go out, when somebody invites you for a birthday party or somebody to invite you out for drinks and stuff like that, go in knowing that whatever you eat, you have to pay for it.

Yeah. Don't be a cheapskate. And, like, load up your plate, order heaps of stuff, thinking that you're going to all split it proportionately or that the other person is paying.

[Yeah, I'm not doing that.]

Just don't assume that. It may be the case. It may happen, but typically it's like going with the assumption that you are going to pay for what you order. Anything else is, I guess, a blessing, right?

The fourth culture shock that I did experience is there is a lot of mutual respect. There is a lot of kindness to one another. I mean, there's a lot of I'm sorry, there's a lot of Thank you's. There's a lot of Excuse me. People will say, Hi, how are you? People will say, Do you want to sit, or Do you want to take my seat?

[They're so nice.]

Which is obviously you just assume the first world people will be snobbish. If you're struggling to pull a stroller from the car, someone will offer and say, Can I help you?

That is true. I think, by and large, if we see people in trouble or in need of help, we're very quick to try and lend a hand.

[So do you need a hand?]

Because it feels good. It feels good. It's that idea, I guess, of Australian 'mateship' and taking care of one another. Obviously that's not everyone. Not everyone behaves this way. There are definitely impolite people and people who won't help.

[I'm not helping anyone unless there's something in it for me.]

And the interesting thing she mentions there, the different ways that we show politeness by kind of padding out the language. I often tell my English students this that even though we're informal and we use a lot of informal language and slang and first names of people and everything like that, we show politeness by padding out sentences when we're asking for something or saying thank you or whatever it is. A good example. My wife came to dinner once when we were first getting together, and I think she was saying like, Give me the salt. And in Portuguese you would say, [speaks Portuguese], right, Give me the salt. She's Brazilian. And I was just like, Jesus Christ, girl.

[Did you just say that?].

Like. And she's like, what? What's, what's the issue? And I'm like, you would say something like, Can I please have the salt? Could you please pass me the salt? May I have the salt? We pad it out with these auxiliary verbs. Things like 'can', 'could', 'may', 'might', and adding in 'please' and all that sort of stuff. It's almost like the longer the phrase, the more polite it is.

[Seems like overkill, doesn't it?]

Another big culture shock that I experienced was the weather. Oh my goodness, I still struggle with summers. The summers can be extremely, extremely hot. 40 degrees.

That's crazy coming from someone from Kenya. My assumption would be that it's really, really hot there. But that's probably just my ignorance in thinking Africa is a hot place. Probably got plenty of cold places in Africa. But yeah, this is going to depend on where you live in Australia. There are definitely loads and loads and loads of hot places during the year and in summer. But then there's also some very cold places.

Burning. Scorching. The winters are cold. Good thing is, there's no snow where I stay, so that's pretty good. But obviously I don't mind winter because then you can just layer up and your air con full blast and stuff like that and just wait for the bills.

Pretty much! I'm always like, Don't use the air con, Don't use the heating. Whereas my wife just unleashes the fury and it's just like, Just leave it on 24/7.

[That shit's expensive!]

So we usually meet in the middle. But like last night, we're lying in bed and she turns the fan on. I pick up my phone, I'm like, It's bloody 18 degrees outside. What are you doing? And she's like, [I think I'm dying?] You're from North Brazil! How are you not able to handle Melbourne weather? I don't know, I guess everyone's different.

And the interesting thing about Australians is they'll just slip, slop, put on their bathers, put on sunscreen, and, you know, you still find them outdoors. Like it's a scorching December afternoon and they're still outdoors. They still are very outdoor people. They will still be by the beach.

Man, if you're not going to go to the beach on a 40 degree day, what's the point of having it? That's the best time. I remember growing up and anytime it was like 40 degrees and especially late into the evening, the sun is like slowly going down. It's sunset, you go to the beach, it's still hot as fuck. You get in the water, the water. It's the end of summer, so the water's kind of heated up. It's around 18 degrees down here in the south and you get this dry breeze. So you could literally dunk yourself in the water, stand up. And the evaporative cooling that happens is just amazing.

[I feel good!]

It's just amazing. And you get like a handful of those days a year. But they are to live and die for they're, they're the best, the best. And if you have an ice cream in one hand? Ooh, heaven!

The other shock that I got, oh my goodness, was house hunting. At home, if you have money, you will get whichever house you want. You just rock up. You have your deposit. You speak to the owners either directly or via an agency. You provide- I can't even remember if we used to provide identification. Maybe now, but I remember it wasn't a stringent process getting yourself a rental. Here, essentially, you will have to first get onto the sites for rentals. Most of the time it's real estate domain and then you have to look for an inspection date. You have to go inspect the house and then you have to put in your applications. My goodness, it's like you're applying for a job. You have to provide evidence of your financials and then you have to provide references. Who will be contacted. It's freaking exhausting. Only after that will you get a house.

It's a nightmare, especially at the moment with supply and demand. We've had so much migration over the last two years. Post Covid, I think we've had about a million people come in. And again, migration isn't really a problem, but we don't have enough housing. So because the supply and demand is totally off kilter and there's way more demand than there is supply, it's a total nightmare at the moment to try and buy a house, to try and get a rental.

[God, this place is messed up.]

It's just absolutely nuts in Australia at the moment. It's crazy. Even when my wife was working at the Brazilian Embassy in Canberra a few years back, when we first got together, we went there and tried to find a house to rent and we went to one. There was one inspection, we went to about 20 different inspections. There was one though. I remember there was a line of people going hundreds of metres down the street. And when I got to the realtor and asked, like, How many people are coming here to inspect it? She's like looking at her tablet. 105! And that was pre-COVID. That was just at the start of the year in Canberra, and that's how crazy it was. And I remember just being like, [Ah, fuck this shit.]

The other thing that goes hand in hand is what I call quote unquote 'roadside shopping'. So in Australia you will find certain times of the year people put out, you know, stuff that they don't need. And then so people will put out, you know, like let's say I've bought a new couch, I will put my old couch outside or I will. And when I say outside, it's just on the verge. And anything on the verge.

On the nature strip, she's talking about. But yeah, this is so funny. It's almost comes up in every single one of these culture shock type videos, the people putting their hard rubbish out on the nature strip to be picked up either by the garbos, the garbage collectors, or by neighbours. And so quite often you will see it diligently kind of placed out for people to be able to pick up and take away. So furniture, bikes, appliances. You'll see little signs on them, often written in like 'free' or 'still working', all that sort of stuff. I think we're just, we try in that sense, to just not be wasteful. Although I'm sure, you know, we're wasteful in many other ways. But that way you will just drive around suburbia. You will see this shit on the side of the road, all over the place, pretty much all the time.

It happens at different times of the year. People put out what they don't need. Carpets. Bedding. Kitchen stuff. Couches. Lawn mowers. Essentially anything you can think about is put outside. An electrical thing is not working. Most times they will say 'not working' or-

Yeah, there's that too. We would put a sign on it saying, you know, 'busted, not working, don't get it'.

So that if things are not working you don't take them.

The most annoying thing though, is like when you're trying to get rid of stuff and people take it away and you're like, Yes! And then it appears the next day and you're like, Fuck, they changed their minds. There needs to be like, this cultural change of "no gives these back-ses", right? If you take it, it's your problem. Put it on your nature strip. If you don't want it after that, don't bring it back to my house.

When we first saw this, and my mother in law would walk the streets, and then we would see this one and say, That's so good.

I thought she was going to say something like, [This place is a mess.]

Why is there just trash everywhere? Why do these people just throw their rubbish on the front nature strip? What the hell is wrong with them?

Your thought process or your mind, or your mind at that point is thinking, Oh, I can have this, I can have this. Until you realise, Oh my goodness, these things are too much. You actually do not need a lot of them.

My wife's always like, Why do you bring this home? We don't need this. And I'm like, well, We might need it one day. You never know! Like, this is a beautiful antique side dresser. Who knows? We could use this for something. And she'll just be like, Get rid of it.

[Get that shit out of here!]

The other shock that I found was the leisure activities. Australians, like I already mentioned, value their leisure activities. People will plan when it's AFL season or when it's the Melbourne Cup.

She is going to trigger some people, she said AFL season and then she's put up an image of rugby. People are going to be pissed. I'll see you in the comments!

People will take time away from work. People will swap shifts just because I want to go to watch an AFL game or I want to go to the Melbourne Cup, that's how much people value their leisure activities.

[Maybe they're just lazy.]

I think the ninth shock that I've seen is people walking barefoot in Australia. Australians love walking barefoot. Even when it's hot. I don't even know how they do it.

[Why they like that?]

You'll find people barefoot. This was different for me because, you know, at home, everybody is striving not to walk barefoot. You know, people are striving to get shoes. We're striving to get what we call here thongs or slippers at home.

That's a really good point that she makes. It's interesting hearing someone who's come from, I assume Kenya is a third world country. Forgive my ignorance if I'm wrong guys, but yeah, if the social norms are kind of completely inverted, where in Kenya, obviously it's almost like a status thing of I want to show that I've made enough money to have good clothes, good shoes, a nice bike or a nice car or a nice house.

[I'm not poor.]

In Australia, we take for granted the fact that everyone pretty much has that, or at least has access to it, and so we don't care about it. At least most of us, right? If you see someone who's wearing Versace, everything spent thousands of dollars on their clothes, is getting into a car that's probably worth more than my house. The average Aussie is just going to gonna think, [What a dickhead.] Why would you spend that on that, right? Like, who are you trying to impress, buddy? No one cares.

And the last one is. I know a lot of people have said there are a lot of reptiles in Australia. When I say reptiles, you know, it's snakes. It's this and this. I've been lucky. I haven't so far met up with a snake. But I know of friends, especially in some areas who say, Oh, I've seen a snake, I've seen a brown snake, I've seen this, I've seen this, but I've been very, very lucky.

It's funny. It's one of those things. We've got copperheads and I think tiger snakes around here very, very frequently. There's copperheads around and you'll be in the Facebook group seeing people comment like, Watch out, there's a copperhead here, blah, blah, blah. Typically we grow up and get told, just don't run around in long grass. Make sure you make a lot of noise when it's a hot day and they're likely to be out and about. Stamp around, stamp your feet. Don't creep around in the long grass, because that's when you'll sneak up on one and scare the crap out of it.

I remember I had one one incident. I had to share this with you guys. When I was probably about 12 or so, I think we went to the mountains somewhere nearby or camping, and we went for a hike up a common popular trail up to the top of these mountains, and I needed to relieve myself. So I kind of snuck off the side of the trail and, you know, walked up to a tree and unzipped myself, ready to take a piss. Anyways, as I look down, because you got to see where you're aiming, you don't want to piss on some poor animal. Unfortunately, there was a snake, a brown snake right there at my feet and I shat myself. It was as startled as I was. It just looked up because it was curled up at my feet, and I just turned around and just ran off, and I was like, Snake, snake! Look, a bloody snake!

And Dad's like, [Your dick's out.]

Like, zip yourself up. So I'll never forget that. That was, um. Yeah. That was my manly reaction to almost peeing on a poor, poor snake, just minding its own business, basking in the sun.

Cool! So that's it, guys, you got to share your experiences with me, too. Leave a comment below and let me know what shocked you about Australia. Besides that, YouTube reckons you're going to enjoy this video and I'll see you next time. Tooroo!