Is it weird to ride shotgun in my Grab?: Studying down under and its cultural quirks
I took a Grab alone the other day and instinctively reached for the passenger seat, but my Grab driver looked rather flustered as he cleared the seat of his belongings. Was it just the panic from being in close contact with a passenger amidst the novel coronavirus outbreak? Or was it because we don’t usually sit in the passenger seat if we are taking a taxi alone?
For context, I’ve just returned home from studying in Melbourne. Admittedly, before I did, I too had the same habit. I would almost never ride shotgun and barely make conversation with taxi uncles. While in Melbourne, my friends noticed that and forced me to start a conversation with the Uber drivers whenever we took one. It was rather uncomfortable for me as I’m terrible at conversations. But stepping out of my comfort zone meant having conversations with people from all around the world — Ethiopia, Egypt, India, etc. They’ll share their story on why they chose to relocate to Melbourne, I’ll laugh off the “your English is really good” and share more about Singaporean life — just lovely conversations to start the day. I noticed that sitting in the passenger seat when alone and being chatty seemed to be the norm — one that I had to force myself to get accustomed to, and so much so that I forgot how it may be an unusual thing at home.
Having not travelled around much before studying abroad in Melbourne, such cultural quirks came as a surprise to me though I know it may not be to most people. But I thought I’d share some anyway and the peculiar incidents I experienced that I hope will make this an interesting read for you.
“How are you?” But no, I don’t really mean it.
You can probably tell but they are generally friendlier and chattier. Instead of a cold “hi” (or none at all) you’d be greeted with “How are you” and “How are you going”, which I assume is the standard greeting in many other countries as well. Nice of people to bother asking about how I am — or so I thought. You’re really only expected to answer with “I’m fine, thanks” and you’ll reciprocate the question (if you feel like it). But clueless me once answered with a long-winded story about my day to my poor tutorial mate about how I woke up late, rushed out the house but spilled coffee on myself so I had to — yup. No one cares. Just say you’re fine even if you weren’t.
If you want the seat after, just ask
I’ve only experienced this once, but I thought it was a nice gesture that we should probably adopt. You know how when you’re at IKEA for a meal and you are surrounded by people waiting for your seat staring at you like vultures? Yeah, not very pleasant is it. I was eating in a crowded cafeteria and a lady came up to me to ask if I could let them have the seat after I’m done, I agreed and they proceeded to wait in a corner. A win-win situation if you’d ask me — they’ll be guaranteed a seat and I can finish my meal comfortably without the staring.
‘Straya!
I’m sure you’ve heard of Aussie slang — Maccas for Mcdonalds, arvo for afternoon, barbie for barbeque, brekkie for breakfast, devo for devastated, and the list goes on. Basically, shortening their words whenever they can. But there’s some I find rather dangerous in a social situation if you don’t know what they meant:
Shout — “Hey it’s my shout.” Make a guess? It means to treat someone to a drink/food. I have no idea why or how that came about, maybe they were so drunk that instead of a “I’ll buy the next round of drinks” they were just shouting inaudibly…? I first came across that when my friends and I were discussing grabbing some bubble tea and one of them kept saying he’ll shout. So I asked “What are you shouting about?”. We stared at each other in confusion.
Stuffed up — “Sorry, I stuffed up.” I think we go with “I screwed up” more. When I first heard it from my friend I thought she meant that she ate a lot and was really full. We had a good laugh.
Footy — As you’ve guessed, it’s short for football. But more specifically, Australian rules football (AFL). Aussies LOVE their sport. The AFL Grand Final is a public holiday. And if you’d ask “What’s footy”, don’t be alarmed if you have people turning around to look at you bewilderedly. Googling it might save you the embarrassment (though I still don’t understand how the sport works… Sorry mate!).
Well, not all things are pleasant or funny. I’ve had a car full of drunk men pull up beside me shouting “Hey chinky girl, where are you going?” and men (and women!) catcalling me on the street. My friend had a half-naked man carrying a paddle follow her on her way home and asked her if she had any money. After crossing a traffic junction he threw the paddle in the ditch and tried to hit on her.
Once, I even got whacked in the face randomly on the streets in the CBD by a teenage gang. I wasn’t doing anything or even looking at them, just walking by. She flipped my ice cream. I was hopping mad.
Experiencing a different culture can be daunting, which was the case for me. But I’ve learnt that if you’d dive into one with an open mind, take things in stride and simply ask when in doubt, you’ll get to bring home the good things, have the best conversations sharing the funniest things and live to tell the most unpleasant things. What did I take away from this? Just being more open to having conversations with strangers, maybe a little bit of an accent I reckon, and a firmer grip on my ice cream.
