Being Aussie

I feel a little like I’m Jane Goodall in the movie Gorillas in the Mist. I’ve been invited into the tribe of people we know as Aussies. I’m sort of like the participant researcher. Spending time studying human behaviour. They invite me along to different events (tennis, Melbourne Cup, comedy night and I sit and try to make sense of their behaviour. You learn new lingo, like dropping the end of names and replacing them with an a or an i. There are things called sharts and eski’s which I won’t go into but one is a good thing to have in Qatar and one is not. There is a wonderful directness about many of the Aussies which is quite refreshing, sometimes challenging. As the Aussie doubles player who was part of the winning pair spoke at the awards ceremony she mentioned two things which stood out. She thanked the sponsor (Sony Ericcson) as having them on board meant they could make some good money on the tour. And then she followed up by saying that “it was good to see the Sheika here watching the tennis” Direct, bold, to the point, no her royal highness or nothing like that just the Sheika. She was genuine in her comments in a truly Aussie sort of way.