Monies

I went to Bank of America and got my currency today. Since it is so different from American currency, I thought I would talk a little bit about it.

First of all, the "paper" money is actually made of polymer. It's shiny and smooth and seems to resist being folded. The $20 note has a picture of Reverend John Flynn, who apparently started the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and Mary Reibey, who was a convict who arrived in 1792, made money in shipping, and became a noted philanthropist. The $10 bill has a poet, A. B. "Banjo" Paterson and Dame Mary Gilmore. One the $5 is Queen Elizabeth and the Parliamentary house in Canberra. I guess you're not allowed to have a person equal The Queen, but an awkwardly design capitol is okay. It's too bad that I don't have any coins yet; they have platypuses and echidnas and emus on them!

It's also too bad that American currency is not quite as interesting. Australia has gone out of its way to put women and indigenous people and animals and singers and poets and doctors on its currency instead of dead presidents we hardly care about any more and that weird pyramid thing (on the one dollar bill anyway).

On another note, I am bored out of my mind. And, of course, insanely jealous of the people who have already left. I've got a free trial of Netflix to keep me going for a while, and I'll be going to Olin next week for various events. Only three weeks left...