Sydney Sweet Sydney

Jump to Comments

I must apologise for the long pause since my last post. I hope you are all delightfully busy with Christmas cheer and well I know I’ve been enjoying myself being back home.

Since leaving Milan this is what I have been loving and appreciating with newfound zest…

• Sheer Space ~ Flying over Sydney, for me,  there is always a thrilling moment before landing. I normally feel content but this time I felt especially blissful and appreciative. Gorgeous aqua water teamed with a dazzling white coastline! We really are blessed. The rooftops also struck me as particularly large compared to the apartments of Milan and Hong Kong!

• Clean Wide Streets ~ As adorable and quaint as the medieval streets of Italy are they often come with medieval standards of hygiene. Dog poop and urine are all over the narrow streets and is a repulsive and perplexing aspect of life there considering Italians are such clean freaks within their own homes.
• Lovely Water ~ In Milan every time I went to boil the kettle limestone would build up literally after one go. It would also leave watermarks and stain everything and it was necessary to use “anti- calcare” wherever you use water such as on dishes or clothing. It was awful. I’m so pleased I can drink tea or make rice without worrying now!

• Café breakfasts ~ Going out for breakfast in Sydney is the best. It was fabulous to get a traditional brekky with bacon & eggs. In Italy breakfast is not enthused about the way lunch and dinner is and is usually just something plain & sweet like a pastry with black coffee. I’m happy to be back in a land where breakfast is hailed as the most important meal of the day and an abundance of cereal, fruit, yoghurt, hot English style brekky, pancakes etc are available. Yes I would say breakfast is my favourite meal that or dessert!

• Good Customer Service ~ It is terribly satisfying to be back in a country where the “customer is always right” mentality reigns. Where between the hours of 9-5 Monday to Friday a fake smile (if a real one can’t be found) has it’s place. This is a good thing and something that Italy should take note from. I found it appalling how employees (of supermarkets or shopping centres) would stand around gossiping with colleagues rather than serve customers or when they did treated people with contempt and hostility as if the customer was doing them a disservice. Simply because they don’t feel like smiling they won’t. Being “genuine” meaning behaving as they feel rather then how they ought to seems to be more important there, even at work & even to customers.I’ve witnessed situations where 5 staff members thought their conversation more important then the queues of people waiting. However this is a reverse scenario when it comes to designer shopping. In Sydney most people would find it intimidating entering into Gucci, Prada, Armani etc because the staff act in a judgemental manner towards the public; rather like the famous Pretty Woman scene. In Milan not so. Tourists wearing sneakers are welcomed with beaming smiles. They simply can’t tell who will buy or not and so are “nice” to everyone. This I believe is how it should be.
• Multicultural Mix ~ Oh Sydney is such a cosmopolitan city! What does it mean? For one a fantastic variety of ethnic dining. Thai, Japanese, Indian… we have a lot of different flavours of the world on our doorstep which is lovely coming from a country which is certainly food orientated and does have a lot of to choose from but not much outside an Italian menu. Another good point of multiculturalism is it’s so nice to go out and about and see a diverse mix of beauty. It’s also fantastic that random strangers no longer stare and attempt to talk gibberish Mandarin to me as if I’m the new animal at the zoo. Horrid. Sydney on the otherhand is accepting of part Asians and mixes of all kinds! Now in the fashion capital that is Milan pale models do float around and about of course but it’s simply not the same as down under and I think it may have something to do with my next point…
• Atmosphere ~ People are a lot more reserved in Milan then their Australian counterparts! In Sydney you can feel the vibes in the air as soon as work knocks off… It’s fun to go out and party here and there are quite a few new clubs since I left too! Certainly the parties in Milan are impressive and I’ve mentioned a couple here on this blog but the atmosphere is not as wild as Sydney.
• Instant Noodles ~ Honestly I missed them! There is a selection in Italy but really the market is not deemed important enough since Italians only eat good quality fresh produce. Not exactly something noodles are And they are ridiculously overpriced too! I have seen one single packet of noodles (and not a reputable brand either) on sale for 2€10c! I’m not joking! Here they can go for 40c and certainly in Asia the difference is more remarkable.
• Delicious Healthy Convenient Food ~ We have a culture which in the last 10 years has made healthy food a lot more accessible. Salads, soups, sandwiches, sushi, fruits, smoothies, juice, museli bars… delectable healthy goodness is ready and waiting everywhere you look. You don’t need to search far. In Italy juices haven’t kicked off the way they have here and sushi (as I’ve mentioned before in some of my party posts) has only just arrived and is newly fashionable. Top parties provide it and Georgio Armani even has his own bar which serves sushi as aperitivo! In a regular day you will need to fork out for this status symbol. A mini lunchbox containing assorted pieces sells for 10 € in Milan!
• Weather ~ Certainly the balmy days, palm trees, waterdragons & lizards, freshly mown grass, grass!, watering the lawn, the beach… I can’t tell you how happy I am to be spending Christmas according to our usual way which entails swimming in the pool before  breakfast, tropical fruits, seafood platter, mango pancakes, cherries… Despite what they say about the tradition of a White Christmas I’ve yet to experience the beauty of one of those, last year it was just cold. Period!
• Safety ~ It’s fabulous to be out at night and feel secure. To take public transport or be in a public space without worrying about pickpockets. And to know that this is my country, I am a citizen and should anything happen that I matter and would be taken care of. We really are very lucky in Australia.

So far these are the little gems that have been making me smile since I’ve been back. It’s good to be home.

Images from here, here, here, here, here & here.

17 Comments

Filed under Aussie Aussie Aussie, Destination Depiction, La Vita Milanese, Sweet Pink Raves

Tags: appreciation, comparison, culture, customer service, fake smile, food, good points, happiness, home, home sweet home, italy, life in milan, limestone, manners, safety, smile, space, sweet, sydney