Living in the Southern Hemishpere

As winter turns to spring here in the Southern Hemisphere, I wonder if I will ever get used to the fact that September speaks of budding trees and returning birds and the end of ski season instead of falling leaves and the start of school.  I am sure that I will never get used to opening the pool in December or February being the hottest month of the year.  See, I grew up a Northern Hemisphere type of girl and in the mid-west nonetheless.  Snow fell from November to May (at times).  It just makes sense that my whole "rhythm" has been thrown off by some of the changes down here.  But then again, in all probability, yours would be too if you were to move south of the equator.  Because only about 10% of the world's population lives south of the equator.  10%.  So, when 90% of every living person on earth sees and experiences things one way, it tends to become the de facto norm.  I lived that norm for almost 40 years.  And then was asked to learn and live a new norm (yep, you can teach an old dog new tricks...)  What is different here?  What isn't?

Let's get the most prevalent myth out of the way first.  No, our toilets do not flush backwards.  The Coriolis effect, which is what the backwards swirl is attributed to, does not, in fact, affect toilets and sinks.  It does affect the ocean, the Great Lakes and similar large bodies of water but not my kitchen sink.  What affects the rotation of the water in my sink or my toilet is the small irregularities in the way they finished the bowl.  If the bowl is not perfectly symmetrical, or has any small divot or scratch, it will throw off the way the water flows.  How many of you really pay attention to which way the water really flows down your drain?  In my house in California, we had two toilets that swirled clockwise and one that went counterclockwise.  Try it - I bet you will find water swirling willy nilly in your own house.

So, if that one isn't true, what is different then?  Many things...

Like the moon.  The moon in the Southern hemisphere looks upside down to those living in the Northern Hemisphere (and vice versa).  It really makes a lot of sense.  Because the moon orbits the earth fairly close to the equator,  to anyone living above the equatorial line the moon is in the southern sky (you have to look south to see the equator), but for those of us in the southern hemisphere the moon is in the northern sky (again, we look north to see the equator). Which effectively renders it upside down.  As an example:  In the Northern Hemisphere a waxing crescent moon will be a right crescent and in the southern hemisphere it will be a left crescent.  If you are living or visiting down under (the equator that is, not necessarily in Australia) just stand on your head and things will look normal again.

Staying with Astronomy, the night sky is also very different and not just because we are looking at it from different angles but because we are actually looking at different constellations.  The curvature of the earth makes it impossible for us way down here in Chile to see certain constellations that the Northern Hemisphere takes for granted - The Big Dipper, Polaris and the W of Cassiopeia (and many more lesser known constellations).  But, those in the Northern Hemisphere will miss out on seeing the Southern Cross, Centaursu,  Argo Navis and Pavo.  It's a trade off I am sure is lost on me, being that Astronomy is not my strong suit.  And, as a side note, which constellations you will be able to see depends on what latitude you live at.  Down here in Chile we are so far blow the equator that much of the northern sky is lost to us.  If you live on the equator though you would be able to see almost all of both skies.

One thing I found out that did come as a complete surprise was that a compass manufactured in North America will work here but it is a bit harder to work.  Magnetic North is magnetic North no matter where you are in the world.  But the farther south you get the more you will have to rely on weights to ensure accuracy.  To understand, which I don't,  you will have to rely on the easiest explanation I found...There are five regions for compasses based on proximity to the North pole - going from Zone 1 for North America to zone 5 for Australia.  The difference is tine weights on the needle that prevent the needle from "grounding out" and stopping moving by having the needle touch the inside of the case.

And then there is the Sun Dial.  Even though the sun still rises in the east and sets in the west, we are looking at it from a different direction (keeping in mind that the equator is our point of reference).  Hence, in the north the sun moves from left to right because east is to your left.  Here, east is to our right, which means that the sun travels through the sky from right to left.  This causes shadows to be cast differently in both hemispheres at the same time of the day.  In the Northern Hemisphere the shadows will move clockwise, just like a regular clock but here in the Southern Hemisphere they move counter clockwise, which makes our sun dials look very different.  The "noon line" on a sun dial for those south of the equator will point towards six p.m. (south) and will continue to move in a counter clockwise direction.

But that is enough astronomy, how about some astrology?  It's not quite as easy as turning things upside down or backwards.  Because once you are born under one sign, you will forever be that sign.  You can't simply "swap" signs with the one directly across the astrological chart from yours.  Once a Cancer, always a Cancer.  But you will have different traits of that sign depending on which side of the equator you were born on.  Hence if you are born in the Southern Hemisphere in January, you will always be a Summer Capricorn, even if you move north of the equator.  Which doesn't change your intrinsic energy from the sign but it functions in a different manner.  At least this is what I am told.  I don't know anything about astrology other than I am a cancer.

Now feng shui is a simple one to adjust to because you do simply reverse it all and turn it upside down.

Which brings me full circle.  Our season are reversed which turns me all upside down.  Since our seasons are exactly six months off I feel just a bit off sometimes.  At Christmas time I feel the need for snow and hot chocolate and a roaring fire, and we are ushering in the start of summer instead.  Same for celebrating my July birthday the dead of winter.  It also makes our school year a bit backwards.  We start school in March and end in early December, just in time for summer vacation.  There are some small breaks in there for the kids (Easter in Fall, Spring Break in September) but it is still a bit to get used to.

So, I have found living down under takes a bit of getting used to.  And not just because of the language barrier.

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