Australia

We're in Australia for a while now and are more or less settled.
Many things baffle me.

Charities are everywhere. Schools seem to raise a large amount of funds. Parents must often
feel the pressure to have to contribute.

 Private school fees are about A$17,000 or more per year. I can't find an all boys public school here. In Singapore, education is free, even for all boys catholic school or all girls catholic school. I wish the schools here are like that too.

Flea markets ask for a gold coin donation which is either $1 or $2. This is strange to me.

Buying a house isn't simple either. There are auctions and when the house agent say that the selling price of a house is between a range of $300000-$360000, it may not be so as the vendor wants a minimum of $390000! (what they call a vendor's bid). To me, it doesn't make sense and is dishonest. Why have the buyer think they can buy at the price range, only to be disappointed after waiting all those weeks prior to auction day.