Different Strokes

Just a few things of which I am unaccustomed:

• Unrefrigerated eggs for sale on the supermarket shelf. This has to be the most unsettling thing for me. I’ve been told they fluff better when baking.
• Instant coffee over a coffee pot in the home and the workplace. Seems to be a preference for Australians and my Irish roommates.
• Expensive beer. A six pack of what is considered a drinkable beer is $14. Cans are more expensive than bottles. There also seems to be a preference for “spirit pop,” as there is a vast assortment of American brand name liquor mixed with pop. There is even Johnny Walker Cola. That’s exactly what I would want to do with a good scotch.
• Being labeled a typical American for making a peanut butter sandwich. I was just eating cheap.
• People greeting each other saying “How you going?”
• Paying rent weekly.
• The eerie sound of a bird called a Magpie.
• Living in a converted garage with no windows.
• Being called a Yankee. (I take what I said earlier back. This is the most unsettling event so far.)