Boys and girls, its now been 3 months since I left the UK for the distant shores of Oz.
During that time, I've cried (and not just at my bad dates...), enjoyed experiencing sunshine for more than 4 consecutive days at a time (yes, really! Sunny Sydney is quite a contrast to London), had my first sunburn Down Under (and boy, that hurt), changed my vocab (yes, I admit it. I now say "dude" and "far out". Don't judge me), and - to summarise - have undergone a completely new way of living.
On the surface, it feels like very little has changed over the last couple of months since arriving here - I still live with family. I still work at the same job (which is good). I'm still attempting to create a social whirl for myself (to varying success). And I'm still acclimatising, in general, to life in a different hemisphere, twelve thousand miles from home.
But - and this is a big but - I've hit the wall. The three month itch, apparently common amongst ex-pats. The novelty's worn off, but the real settling in hasn't begun. Instead, I'm in a weird halfway position, where I miss home - yet feel out of the loop with life back there - and simultaneously feel out of the loop with life Down Under. It's like I'm an iPod, and the Cloud hasn't yet synced me (where that simile came from I don't know. Enjoy my brain's randomness, that's all I ask of you).
So, where does that leave me?
Pining for home, admittedly.
At the same time, unwilling to go back any time soon (just for a visit), because I have the very strong (and probably correct) notion, that should I do so - coming home to Sydney will be exceptionally difficult.
So that means I stay in Sydney, pull my socks up, jut out my stiff upper lip, and fall back on that famous English Reserve to get me through. Either that, or a large glass of Pinot Noir should do the trick.
But no - seriously. The effect of The Wobble has meant a pause in proceedings. A break. A chance for my brain to take its own version of a KitKat (have a break, have a ...). And so - the planned house hunting has stopped. Instead, I'm re-appreciating the joys of staying with family, not having to cook my own meals (a mixed blessing, in truth), and having that bit more support.
It strikes me that this process - because it is definitely a process, and not something that ended with boarding the plane, or getting a job, or any of that - is ongoing in a way I really hadn't imagined. The good days and bad days come and go - still with far more good days than bad - and the settling in will take a while yet.
Upsides: I ride a ferry to work. Living with family means I have emotional support, the chance to buy my own car (rather than spending that money on rent, and thus having to rely on the pretty poor public transport system), and yet total freedom to what I want, as and when I want. I'm making friends. Work is good. Skype is the world's best invention. And I don't have to fly Qantas to go home...
Downsides: There's 12,000 miles between me and some of the people I love the most in this world. What more is there to say than that?
Folks, I leave you with one parting thought.
As Dorothy said (ironically, in The Wizard of Oz...) "There's no place like home".
Love to everyone, at home and abroad
Belle x
During that time, I've cried (and not just at my bad dates...), enjoyed experiencing sunshine for more than 4 consecutive days at a time (yes, really! Sunny Sydney is quite a contrast to London), had my first sunburn Down Under (and boy, that hurt), changed my vocab (yes, I admit it. I now say "dude" and "far out". Don't judge me), and - to summarise - have undergone a completely new way of living.
On the surface, it feels like very little has changed over the last couple of months since arriving here - I still live with family. I still work at the same job (which is good). I'm still attempting to create a social whirl for myself (to varying success). And I'm still acclimatising, in general, to life in a different hemisphere, twelve thousand miles from home.
But - and this is a big but - I've hit the wall. The three month itch, apparently common amongst ex-pats. The novelty's worn off, but the real settling in hasn't begun. Instead, I'm in a weird halfway position, where I miss home - yet feel out of the loop with life back there - and simultaneously feel out of the loop with life Down Under. It's like I'm an iPod, and the Cloud hasn't yet synced me (where that simile came from I don't know. Enjoy my brain's randomness, that's all I ask of you).
So, where does that leave me?
Pining for home, admittedly.
At the same time, unwilling to go back any time soon (just for a visit), because I have the very strong (and probably correct) notion, that should I do so - coming home to Sydney will be exceptionally difficult.
So that means I stay in Sydney, pull my socks up, jut out my stiff upper lip, and fall back on that famous English Reserve to get me through. Either that, or a large glass of Pinot Noir should do the trick.
But no - seriously. The effect of The Wobble has meant a pause in proceedings. A break. A chance for my brain to take its own version of a KitKat (have a break, have a ...). And so - the planned house hunting has stopped. Instead, I'm re-appreciating the joys of staying with family, not having to cook my own meals (a mixed blessing, in truth), and having that bit more support.
It strikes me that this process - because it is definitely a process, and not something that ended with boarding the plane, or getting a job, or any of that - is ongoing in a way I really hadn't imagined. The good days and bad days come and go - still with far more good days than bad - and the settling in will take a while yet.
Upsides: I ride a ferry to work. Living with family means I have emotional support, the chance to buy my own car (rather than spending that money on rent, and thus having to rely on the pretty poor public transport system), and yet total freedom to what I want, as and when I want. I'm making friends. Work is good. Skype is the world's best invention. And I don't have to fly Qantas to go home...
Downsides: There's 12,000 miles between me and some of the people I love the most in this world. What more is there to say than that?
Folks, I leave you with one parting thought.
As Dorothy said (ironically, in The Wizard of Oz...) "There's no place like home".
Love to everyone, at home and abroad
Belle x
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