Americans in Australia...

On Facebook I've joined two groups to help me "fit in" or to find people that miss certain things from the US that's not available here and where possibly to find these hidden gems. One of them Yanks Down Under and the other one Americans in Queensland. Now, I love to complain about stuff I can't get, like Cool Whip, or frozen orange juice concentrate. But one thing I did do before making the massive move here is to research brand names, now brand names are one thing, the other is who owns that brand name? For example I was an avid Crest toothpaste user, it's all I bought, and when it was on sale I bought quite a few. Crest is owned by P&G I remember this from the Sunday coupons when the whole P&G lineup had coupons. Sadly they do not have Crest here, but they do have Oral-B, which I'm liking a lot. Most people hang their laundry outdoors to dry, it's rare for people to own dryers and the thing the Americans are complaining is that the stores don't carry Bounce (they do but only in Costco) and Queensland won't have a Costco till around January-ish. I'd rather have a proper clothes line outside, in this sun, if you hang it let's 9am by noon it'll be fully dry, whether it's towels or clothing. These people complain there's no Dawn, yet I'm happy with Palmolive as that's what I was using in New York. Soap on the other hand bothers me, I hate that I cannot get Irish Spring (only on USAFoods.com) and my biggest pet peeve is that Bath & Body Works is not here in Australia and to make it worse they won't ship here, YET they are set up in anti-American countries like Kuwait and United Arab Emirates? They're promoting these candles, saying they're the world's best, um until you make it available world-wide you cannot claim that. You're lying to promote your stuff. Party Lite on the other hand IS available world-wide, so technically they have the right to say world's best. Someone was looking for canned black beans on one of the sites and I happened to mention a store we like to go to called Pennisi Cuisine, they have stuff from Spain, Mexico (they have real NACHO cheese!) :) they have Goya products, pickles and sauerkraut from Poland and Germany, they have products from Croatia, Vegeta seasonings and Ajvar and one of the women on the Americans in Queensland said, oh we've been there and we weren't overly impressed. I thought, there is nowhere else in Queensland that I've found that has proper Nacho Cheese. In some aspects I like the groups as when Tide laundry detergent was available at our local supermarket was great, it leaves my towels and blankets smelling oh so nice, but I'm not silly to spend $21 for a 50fl oz bottle when I'v seen double the size in Stop & Shop for $12, yet these Americans are going ape shit and spending the $21 for it, um I bought it when it was on sale for $15 and I won't buy it again until I'm out and it's on sale. Even if we had two incomes I still wouldn't pay that amount, I'm sure P&G has other Australia made laundry detergent that works just as well, Tide works great and it has that nostalgic scent to it. Clorox as a brand in not available here, yet Chux is (same shit) only thing is they don't have Clorox bleach yet they do have Chux antibacterial wipes, I mentioned this and some know-it-all says, "it's not the same". They complain about no Stouffers lasagna, of course they don't, you're living in the land down under, try some of their frozen foods. I have, they have meat pies and they're not huge, one pie is a serving and it's just enough meat, gravy and crust for a meal. Winge, winge, winge, serious shaking of my head about some of these Americans in Oz.