Il pericolo di Australia

You know what's really fun? When you come fom a country that's home to some of the most poisonous animals in the world (which you come in little contact with, but that that's beside the issue) and you can impress all the Italians who think they're so macho.
One of the boys in my class here asked me a little while ago if we had jellyfish in Australia and had I been bitten by one. When I said 'no' I could see a smirk forming on his lips, he was going to tell me about how many times he'd been bitten and how excruciating it was, etc, etc. Standard male behaviour. So it was with great joy I could tell him 'In Australia, if you're bitten by a jellyfish, you die." quite matter-of-factly.

This sort of answer always makes people stop and think. I just love it! They asked about sharks too, they wanted to know if any sharks came close to the beach and was it dangerous. I said "Well, yes. But it's not really dangerous." Oh the shock on their faces! "But we learn shark safety in school, it's OK."

But what's funny is it makes me realise just how much danger we ignore. There are safety precautions there like the flags the lifesafers put up and we do learn about these things in school. (Bushfire safety, beach safety, what to do for a snake bite, the list goes on) But the odds really are stacked against us Down Under. I remember thinking once how crazy the Japanese were to not think about earthquakes when the country is on such a huge fault line, but it's what we all do, isn't it? The danger isn't affecting you now so you don't think about it.

The Italians probably think I'm crazy for being so scared to cross the road here but I'm more likely to be hit by a car than bitten by a shark and, given the way Italians drive, I think the statistic is doubled here.