Australians are Dirtry

Caveat: what people say about Australians in this post is somewhat typical. What is more typical is the way they approach a new situation. I think it shows the way many people view "the outside world."

One of my students told me about her recent stay in Australia, where she lived both with an Australian family and with other exchange students from various countries in a kind of boarding house. During the days she studied English at a conversation school.

So, I asked, how was Australia?
I think Australian people and European people are dirty, she said (a woman of about 28 who obviously has some interest in foreign lands.)
Oh really, how come?
Because they don't wash their dishes.
They don't wash thier dishes?
Well, they wash the food off but they don't wash the soap bubbles off.

Ok, I've heard this one before. It's true. A lot of Australians don't wash the soap suds off. Why? Mmmmm, maybe because 80% of the land mass is a desert? Now I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't know that, say if you lived in the states, France, maybe even japan, though actually in Japan7s case due to tourism and working holidays and so on I'd say most of my students, especially those that lived in Australia for 2 mos, have a better working knowledge of the country than most N. Americans or Europeans do. I think your average canadian or Italain would be able to name only Sydney, as an Australian city but I think more Japanese would be able to come up with Brisbane or Melbourne for example. Good for them!

Now let's say you didn't know why Aussie's dont wash off the suds, what would you do? I think you'd do this thing called "speculation." You'd say "Hmm, maybe water is expensive. Or maybe they think it's bad luck. Or heck, maybe even Australian soap suds are tasty and nutritious and contain hard to find iodine."

Ok, I don7t know exactly what you might do, especially in the year 2066, but I do know what most japanese I klnow would do in this situation. They would analyze it in terms of "like."
ie: Japanese like clean. Australians don't like clean. End of analysis.

So when there7s a social problem in japan or another country, people say "Japanese dont like crime. Japanese dont like divorce." with the implications that the rest of the planet does.

So, my 28 year old student spent 2 mos in Australia, so I figured I'd help her figure out why, rather that just say it outright. If I say these things outright people tend to think I'm making excuses. So I said,
"Which part of Australia did you stay in"
"Perth"
Perth is in western australia and is particularly dry.
"I see. How was the weather?"
"Very hot!"
"Did it rain?"
"No, everyday sunny."
"Sunny and hot. No rain for 2 months."
"That7s right."
"Ok, did you fly from japan to sydney?" Sydney's on the other side of the continent,
"yes."
"Ok, so I guess you flew from Sydney to Perth?"
"Right... it took 5 hours."
"Did you see the ground under the plane?"
"Mmmm, desert."
"I see. So the people in your guest house didn't wash the soap off?"
"Well, the Australian didn't but we japanese always washed the soap off very carefully. We like clean. Oh, and the Europeans didn't wash soap too."
"But you have no idea why."
"Mmmm, dirty? Don't care?"
Another student tried to help. She explained carefully to me, step by step. "Uh, teacher, you see, Japanese people like clean. We don't like soap on dishes..."
"Ok, ok, ok, I'll tell you... the reason they don't wash the soap off is because there is very little water."
"Ehhhhhh?" (=Japanese surprise sound.) Long pause, eyes wide open, other students all looking at each other as they process this revalation.
"What about the European people?"
"Well, I guess they didn't wash soap because they were also in Australia where there is no water."
"So European people don't like soap on dishes?"
"No, nobody does! I'm sure people in France and germany wash thier dishes."
"How about America? Do you?"
"yes, of course we wash the soap off."
"Really? You don't like it? Japanese people don't like soap on dishes? We like clean"

etc etc