Yesterday was the Melbourne Cup. Basically for the last 2 weeks, there's been all this talk about it on TV about fashion and racing. The Melbourne Cup Carnival consists of a series of horse races starting around 10:30 AM, but the last race is the important one that would win the Melbourne Cup. It's one of the biggest racing prizes (maybe the biggest) with the purse being $5.1 million.
During the day, you can see people everywhere dressed up in bright colors and funky hats. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos, but I did see three guys dressed in bright colored suits. Imagine lime green, pink and bright blue. All the women wear dresses, but the big thing are the hats and hair pieces, which have lace and feathers.
Nicole and I met up at the Rocks and checked out a couple of bars before settling down at the one that included a TAB. A TAB is where you can place bets on the horse races. We got there around 1pm and lines to place bets were constantly long. Even though the races are an all day event, the race that everyone wants to see is at 3:00 PM. It's called the "Race that stops the Nation." Literally, I think everyone stops working and goes to somewhere so that they can see the race. Everyone cheers when the race starts and then I think after the race, no one goes back to work.
The weather has been bleak here. Cloudy all day with spurts of rain every couple of hours. Where is the sun!? I guess I shouldn't complain too much because the flies aren't as annoying.
Australia's interesting fact of the day: The standard greeting. Whenever you meet up with an Aussie, they will most likely say "How are you going?" to you. It's funny to hear because in the US, we are used to "How's it going" or "How are you doing". I think this is one phrase that I will never be able to adapt to because it sounds so strange.
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4 comments:
The perfect answer to "How are you going" is "We be going by bus and you?" I guess you didn't win your bet as youwuld have said "I am going to the bank".
In French, when you ask "Comment Allez Vous?" your intent is to say "How are you" but you are literally saying "How are you going?" I wonder if there is a French influence in AU?? Your CA Mom
Guys, haven't you ever called dad and heard him say "how goes it?"? He would fit in perfectly in OZ
We need some more pictures! Although, at this point I feel like I have been in Sydney with you guys the whole time and there isnt much point in visiting :)
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