The lovely NancyPearlWannabe left this comment last night
“Dear LaLa,
Please write a post about all the fun Aussie things you do that we cannot do here in the States.
Love,
NPW”
I have really had to think about this. In the States you do all sorts of fun things that we don’t really do like Halloween, we don’t do Thanksgiving and Keg Parties never really took off.
I’ve been to a good Toga Party in my time (TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!), possibly wearing a pastel blue sheet with… erm…geese on it.
Australia Day would be one of our unique celebratory days, you can see photos from my last one here and read about reasons why I love Australia Day here.
It’s a great day and a great reason to become Australian. If you are ever considering becoming Australian I suggest that you put this reason on your immigration application form.
“I want to become an Australian so that I can drink copious amounts of beer and wine and wear a silly Australian flag tattoo and green and gold clothes on Australia Day.”
Another great aspect of Australian life is our slang, you know you are on home soil when you hear someone working at customs call their colleague a “nong”.
Some of my favourites are:
Pissed – drunk.
Rack off – go away, get lost.
Tightarse – someone who won’t buy a drink or wont part with money.
Thingy / thingo / thingummyjig – any thing that doesn’t have a precise name.
Jingoes – exclamation of surprise.
In fact, sometimes I like to say “By jingoes, by crikey” when I am surprised about something.
It’s very satisfying.
That or “Are you fucking serious?”
I am usually pretty surprised when I say that too.
We can also celebrate Christmas in summer, you can read about my plans for Christmas last year here.
I hope I have provided you with a unique insight into what life in Australia is like.
Oh yeah. I ride a kangaroo to work 
I read all the way thru this thinking “I hope she tells the Yanks we ride roos and wombats around town”
So… Australia Day is kind of like our 4th of July? Count me in! I’ll celebrate from over here, pretty much as far as you can get.
I kind of pictured you surfing the days away, hanging out at the Opera House, and riding around in kangaroo pouches. I’m glad I got one out of the three right, anyway!
Please may we see a picture of you riding said kangaroo to work? I somehow suspect it may be a safer way for you to get to work than the car…..
ps – with a ‘real’ job, we now can afford the internet at home, woohoo! miss you x x x x x
My backyard is simply brimming with kangaroos. I wish they’d bugger off.