More cultural learnings

So in keeping with the richard pryor thing, I just saw an exact (yet Australian) replica of Rich B, the nazi leader of Sigma Chi at John's Hopkins (whoops - and no, I'm not correcting that).

Also, babies here - i've seen many in strollers, and they all have HUGE foreheads. Not just big, I mean, these domes could be used to pick up alien radio waves at S.E.T.I. It's weird, because grown ups look normal, it's just every baby looks like it's destined to eventually star on little people big world (a show about a midget/dwarf family for the uninitiated).

Another odd cultural thing is the words they use. Obviously this is the case anywhere you go, but here, american words meaning the same thing may be more or less appropriate. Example: In many of the postings for apartments for rent (i'm still hunting for that elusive australian room - it's wiley (sp?)), anyone requesting a gay roommate, or announcing that they are cool with having a gay roommate (or even just saying the roommate has to be ok living with a gay person), will say "queer friendly." Apparantly this is widely acceptable, according to Penny. So I wonder; is it simply ok to use "queer" in Australia, or is it appropriate only in the same way black people can use the "N" word in America? Interesting.

OK, a little more later, I'm off to Daniel's (my 13 year old host) cricket match. Speaking of cricket, it's actually kinda cool to watch - very relaxing, you never have a play where it's expected of the fans to get up and cheer- nothing's ever so tense or euphoric, it's just completely a laid back, almost delta-wave sleep inducing, yet not annoying sport. And there's a Pakistani guy named Enzamam that looks like Fidel Castro and wears no helmet. He's sweet.