I have been pretty good at keeping track of the cultural differences of living in Australia. For example, I no longer walk to the left door of the car first when I go to drive, and I haven’t driven on the wrong side of the road for weeks. I have no problems using cash because I know which coins are each denomination.

I messed up this week.

Here’s the background: To come to Australia on a three-year visa, we are supposed to undertake a chest X-ray. As I was in the first trimester of pregnancy at that time, I declined. I signed a legal form saying I’d be happy to do it at a later date. The government was nice enough to let me come anyway.

A few weeks ago I got the letter from the government clinic that told me that my appointment for the X-ray was scheduled for 10/09/2007 and gave me directions to the clinic. Alright, there is a good chance my baby will have been born by then, I thought, so I put it on my schedule for October, intending to call if I didn’t think I’d make it or if the baby had just come.

So it quite surprised me to get another letter this week telling me that I’d missed my appointment. I was confused. I know my calendar says October! I would have called to reschedule if I thought it was in September (my baby’s still not here…). How could I have missed it?

Oops!

Does anyone else see what my error was?

I’ve been pretty good at remembering the reversed dates issue. My hospital appointment dates are always written in “reverse,” and my first day at the hospital here the doctor kept getting confused by my US obstetrician’s report because the dates were American. But somehow I was completely flummoxed by the date in this letter. I called to tell the clinic that I was just very dumb–I’m not trying to give the government the runaround or anything. The woman at the clinic didn’t seem concerned at all that I’d missed my appointment. I guess this happens. I’m rescheduled for the end of November.

You’d think that I wouldn’t have such confusion. I speak English. This is a modern country that is very much like America. And yet, there are cultural differences that confuse me if I’m not paying careful attention. I wish I could say it won’t happen again, but chances are it will happen again–when I’m not thinking.