I woke up this morning, urgently checked my mail as I am used to, and there was this message waiting for me: `Kevin Rudd is following you`. Yeah, that was funny to see. LOL.

I signed up to Twitter a few days ago, because I was interested what this social network is all about, that everyone is talking about these days, even  in the news. More and more celebrities are joining this network.

So I am tweeting as well, but to tell you the truth, I do not now for how long. I am not interested in doing this all the time. And you know what? I am not alone with this. According to a research around 60 percent of twewbies -new people to Twitter- do not use Twitter after the first month. I can understand this, because I also do not use social networks as much and as intensively as many others, but this time I was really interested  why it is different from other social networks, such as the Hungarian Iwiw, the Dutch Hyves or the most famous Facebook .

If you only look at the benefits or the positive side of this site, Twitter can be useful and funny. And why not see the positive side only? Yeah, public social networks can be dangerous, but this time I do not want to be more paranoid. So let`s talk about the good things.

You can make your profile on Twitter and you even can have ‘friends’. The big difference is that you can make connection with celebrities or companies much easier. Because you click on celebrities to follow them, does not mean you know them personally or you are friends. It means only that you are `following` them. Mutually, they can follow you as well, so they become your `followers`.  Why they want to follow you or be followed by you if they have absolutely no idea who you are?  The reason is very simple: it is a really good marketing tool for them to build closer relationship and/or sell you some products much easier…

Basically, what you are following is a short message consisting of a maximum of 140 characters, about what people are doing during their day. It is like: `I am going to the cinema tonight`.  People like reading what others are doing at the same time. What they are eating, what kind of situation they are in, what they are wearing, etc. I am not sure that this is true for everyone, I think there are more important things in the world, but on the other hand I can imagine it. You use to ask your family members or friends as well what they did or what they like, don`t you? And if you can not ask but would like to, it is easy to read it almost secretly, isn`t it?

So in this way, Twitter is a so called `microblog`, because you can send your short messages, like you do in sms or text-messages, but it is going to reach a broader public on Internet, not to mention, that it is free these days. It is a bit similar to MSN where people use to make a short notice next to their names -seen by their friends-, but I recon it is not changing so often.

For me the biggest advantage is that it is an easy way of getting news-updates. On a separate page, you can see all the messages of persons or companies you are following, ordered in time. I started following the Hungarian “Index” and the Sydney Morning Herald, as I noticed that they are continuously sending their latest news headlines. It was funny that the SMH immediately replied and started following me, but I am still waiting for Index, they need a wake-up call. If they only knew what they loose by not following me…

So I have four followers with Kevin Rudd: the Sydney Morning Herald, an SMH-blogger Joe Hildebrand, a figure that is changing his personality all the time, and now Kevin Rudd, the REAL ONE!!! Oh, if you have not heard from him, he is the prime minister of Australia!!!

I say the REAL ONE, because if I search for Kevin Rudd at this moment, the search engine gives 13 results. Among these KevinRuddPM is the real nickname, and it is not Kevin Rudd, just because the so called ‘squatters’ already hijacked his identity.

Not everyone is real however, it seems unlikely that the prime minister sits in front of his computer because of this. They employ someone for this purpose, the so called ‘ghost-twitter’. Hugh Jackman embarrassed himself recently, when his “ghost-twitter” was talking about the Opera Center instead of the Opera House. This looks quite bad for someone from Australia, so to save his image after these harmful 140 characters, he donated 100 thousand dollar to charity a few days later. From now on, I also will be very careful when writing something on Twitter…

Like on other sites, there are also some people here hiding behind the name of someone who is famous, and abuse it by writing nonsense. Today there was an article about this in the SMH. In general there is quite a lot of news about Twitter or Facebook, as a kind of advertisement, telling which celebrity reached a million followers or who the latest famous member is. There are also articles with a warning, how people can use these sites for wrong reasons. But there are also many success stories.

Recently I read, there was a smart company (SR7): that immediately adapted to these new developments they are doing research for other companies about the behaviour of their employees on social networks. Many companies are afraid (maybe with a good reason), that employees can damage the image of the company, if they are writing negative things on these sites. To prevent this, Telstra  came up with new regulations, about how their employees should deal with the social networks.

A well known recent case for example is Domino Pizza, when two employees uploaded a few pictures, about how they are ‘polluting’ the pizzas, before bringing them to the customers. This was all I needed! I hate it, if you are so vulnerable; you indeed never know what exactly you are eating…

It became clear, that many companies cannot really use this kind of damaging accidents and they sacked people because of their Facebook messages. Attila read somewhere yesterday, that a person got fired because she stayed home sick, saying that she cannot work, because she is not allowed to use a computer. But then she uncovered herself while writing on Facebook…

So be careful!

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Everyone coming to Australia picks up a tourist guide or a book and looks for information.  It can be the Lonely Planet, or anything else. Somewhere in the book is probably a section with useful tips that you will need. For example you need a visa to enter Australia, or you should not forget your sunscreen etc. There are many things however, not covered in the travel books, that you will encounter when coming to Australia. Here are our 7 general tips that you will not find in the tourist guides.

1.       Learn how to use chopsticks.

If you ask what the typical Australian cuisine is, many people will say it is bbq and some kind of Asian. Whether you like it or not, it is quite hard to avoid noodles and sushi here.  Most food courts are a mix of Japanese, Chinese and Thai.  You can find a sushi bar on almost every corner in big cities. We like this, because it is usually fresh, healthy and more tasty than McDonalds or other fast food. It is part of the Australian culture, and you will see that everybody here - young & old - is used to chopsticks, like Europeans to knife and fork.

2.       If you do not speak English, learn Chinese.

You are probably laughing about this advice, but it is good to know that Asian culture is very lively in Australia. A high rate of the population in the big cities - especially on the east coast - originates from Asia, many from China.  There are suburbs where about 90% of the population is Asian. Where we live, we would perfectly manage to do our shopping by only speaking Chinese. Therefore in general there is a need for people speaking Asian languages; even Prime Minister Kevin Rudd speaks Mandarin fluently.

3.       Make friendship with cockroaches

This advice doesn’t sound very appealing… But you better get used to the thought that there is a big chance to meet these awful creatures. In Europe it means something really bad to have cockroaches in your kitchen under the sink, but here it is almost common to have them every now and then, no matter how clean your apartment or flat is.  In general they are crossing the kitchen in the dark, probably when you are really tired and don’t expect them.  You can get rid of them, because each supermarket has a large section with pesticide sprays and poison.  Furthermore you should clean your kitchen more often than you are used to and put all your food in closed boxes.  You can put “snakes” in front of your door as well to make sure no roaches or other bugs can enter your place. If you still find one running around, the vacuum cleaner does a good job.

4.       Check  your luggage for food

If you don’t want hassle or pay fines at your arrival, do not take any food, nuts, honey or plant seeds in your luggage. Australia is a separate continent with a very different wildlife from the rest of the world and they protect their special and sensitive fauna.  Like Bill Bryson wrote in his book Down Under, this climate is so good for other plants and animals, that it is dangerous to take here anything. Someone took 24 rabbits -unknown here before - more than hundred years ago, and the result: there are so many of them here, that they can not kill them any more. And many more deceases and plagues have been brought into the country over the last centuries.

Therefore Australia is extremely careful at customs when you enter the country. You have to declare everything that can be of any risk and sometimes they check all luggage of every single person. Basically every kind of food is prohibited, so you better make sure to eat everything you brought with you before arriving. People have been fined more than 100$ for a forgotten apple in their backpack.

5.       Be prepared for a cold winter in Sydney

When coming to Australia, you expect to be on the beach all the time and have eternal sunshine. The truth is slightly different, especially in the winter months. Okay, it doesn’t get as cold as in Northern Europe but you still have to dress a bit warmer. There are of course differences within Australia, because it is a large country. In the north it is always warm, and in the southern parts, like Tasmania, it can become very cold sometimes. In Sydney however it can get cold, but people just don’t seem to accept this. This means that heated houses are very rare, and insulation doesn’t exist in most apartments. Many doors have big gaps and all windows are single windows. The result is that the inside temperature is not much different from the outside temperature. So if you are here in winter and it is 5-10 degrees outside, make sure to have a warm blanket!

6.       Don’t get paranoia with dangerous animals, just live and let live

Dangerous animals are favorite topics to talk about here. To say it very simplistic, almost anything can kill you here. Of course, there are the spiders, snakes and sharks, etc. But did you know that there are poisonous frogs and even some plants in the rainforest you shouldn’t touch, because they will cause serious health problems for months?  It is good to know the basic things, but do not read all the books and try to prevent yourself from every possible attack. It is true that there are snakes for example, but this doesn’t mean there is one in every tree waiting for you. The animals are more afraid of you, so if you behave just like normal it is very rare to even see a dangerous animal.

7.       No worries!

In general everybody here is very friendly and helpful and the Australian lifestyle is very relaxed.  Wouldn’t you be with nice weather and so many beaches? You are here to enjoy your time, we are sure you will.

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Many places in Sydney are being coloured in purple-blue nowadays: it is the flowering season of the beautiful Jacaranda tree. First of all, I have to tell you a short story about me and my relationship with plants. I never felt this kind of enthusiasm about flowers, trees and other plants before. But the truth is, that this all started here in Australia. The whole year long, flowering bushes and trees make you just a bit happier when you are passing them on the street. You can not miss them if you are walking in the city. I have sent a lot of letters and pictures - many about flowers - to my family in the past few months, telling them, that the nature here is absolutely stunning and lovely. At a certain point one of my dear aunties reminded me smiling of that day (this happened a few years ago), when they were talking between each other about the flowers- growing in their gardens-, and suddenly I was wondering loudly and ironically, whether I would be interested in flowers as well in a few years time …

But let us go back to the jacaranda tree. I can say, it is one of my favorite trees here in Australia, because of its castanets-shaped fruits hanging on the branches through the whole year. But the name of this tree has been unknown for us until these days, when it started flowering so purple, so brightly, that we got curious and looked after this tree on internet.

You can find Jacarandas in tropical areas, especially in South and Central America, in India, Africa, etc. Here in Australia -according to Wikipedia - Brisbane  is very famous because of its purple avenues, as well as Grafton because of its Jacaranda Festival held in every October.

The students at Sydney University know the saying: “by the time the jacaranda in the main quadrangle flowers, it’s too late to start studying for exams”. By the way, the tree is also known as `exam tree`. If a flower falls onto your head, it apparently means, that you have failed your exam, unless you catch a falling bloom before it reaches the ground.

Finally, there is an other Australian expression as well, which says: “When the bloom of the jacaranda tree is here, Christmas time is near”.

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Today we made a start with the collection of useful links, just press the “Links” button in the top right corner to see them. This is a start and we will keep updating the list. We would appreciate your help, so if you think that there is link that should be on this page, please leave a comment.

Thank you!

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