Lost in translation

Being in an English speaking (well officially anyways) country, one shouldn't have a problem understanding the locals, unless the local uses more slang than English in their sentences! Australians love to shorten their words (probably because they are constantly drunk) and end the contraction with "ie". Here is a list (short) of the expressions I heard so far:

Breakky -> Breakfast

Sunnies -> Sunglasses

Pokies -> Slot machines

Wetty -> Wet Suit

Barbie -> BBQ
[updates]
Brissie -> Brisbane (the city)
Pommie -> People who come from the UK (i have a feeling this is more derogatory than anything else)
Footie -> Australian Football (not soccer, not american football, some weird mix between rugby, soccer, volleyball, basketball)

They also have their variations of other expressions too

Arvo -> Afternoon

Mackers -> Mc Donalds

Minced Meat -> Ground beef

Capsicum -> Peppers (green/red/orange/yellow)

Sultanas -> Dried raisins

help?

Meeting new people

When living in a new country or new city, one of the hardest challenge is to meet new people and friends. Leaving your friends behind, you only have yourself to rely on. Although I'm a very sociable person and not afraid to meet new people, my biggest hurdle was to find WHERE to meet new people. I never liked the idea (nor have I had much luck) meeting people in a club, it's usually quite pretentious and there might be fake people.

Fortunately for me, my coworker is a really awesome dude and I get along very well with him. He introduced to me to this community called couchsurfing.org, which is a community built over couch surfers. A couch surfer is literally a person who travels and sleeps on couches of other people. At first I found the concept quite dodgy (I mean, I wouldn't want to sleep in a stranger's house that I've met online! Or host a complete stranger) but once I got to know the community and the website, it's quite safe. Working on referrals and testimonials throughout the community, you can easily tell who are the trustworthy people and who you should avoid.

For the past month or so, I've been regularly attending meet ups where heaps of couch surfers meet over a beer, sharing stories and travel experiences. Hopefully when I get back home, I can host a few couch surfers and hear their stories.