Living in the country you were born in, makes you think that it is the only place you can ever call home. This is how I felt anyway. Growing up, getting married to the man of my dreams, becoming parents at a young age so that the kids can grow up knowing their grandparents. That was my dream. My reality.
So, this is what we did, but my husband always wanted to travel and experience other countries, not just for a holiday, but living elsewhere, that sounded great!
With work and career building and every normal growing stage, we never got around to travel much. Life was all about kids and family and schools and church. So, when the call came to move to Australia, we were so surprised and excited, that we thought we might just as well go.
The South African life was never a problem to me, I like the diversity of the cultures and I enjoyed getting closer to my fellow countrymen and women as the cultures started to merge.
My children never had the dreaded apartheid bug and could not even understand the terrible jokes that were always part of society.
So it was on the 27 December 2005 that we landed in Sydney. The flight was better than most, being that we had business class tickets. How spoilt can you get!
When we arrived at hour new home, two hours north from Sydney, we were really excited and the house was beautiful. Just like the pictures we saw.
We drove down to Sydney again on the 31st to see the fireworks, I am so thankful now that I did that, because I realise that it might have been the first and last time I see it live. What a spectacular scene! The best way to start a new chapter in your life!
On the 1st of January we realised that it is not all as it seems... we experienced the hottest day of our lives. 46 degrees Celsius! humid! the wind was hot!, the clothes in the cupboards were hot, the water in the cold tap was hot!
Around lunch time, when we realised we cannot even lie on the floor to keep cool as that was hot too, we decided to go to Port Stephens to see weather it was cooler there. Wow, were we glad to feel 38 degrees!. We had lunch there and in the afternoon drove home. When we reached Newcastle we decided to go for a swim at Nobbies beach... the water was freezing, the wind was Hot! So you would be frozen to the waist and from there you would burn from the wind blowing so hot.
Later on, the locals explained to us that the desert wind blew and that is normally combined by a very cold sea.
At this point, just a day later than my first wow, I wanted to go back to what I was used to.
This was my first experience of my new home.
5 comments:
Pretty much the way it was, although the man of her nightmares had already been in Oz for four months and at least knew what to expect... well sort of. The heat of 1 Jan 06 was terrible!
The heat still catches up with me at times, as we were used to a more moderate climate with fewer extremes, but overall the country is great and we do enjoy it here.
Looking forward to our first election in Oz as eligible voters next week - if only we could find a half-decent politician to vote for...
Hubby
Hi
Yes it is not easy living in a foreign country. My first experience was Dubai. maybe the best expat post of all. Believe it or not. Maybe because the weather is so awfull people are more dependable on each other, but once you go to the women expat coffee mornings you were okay. Everybody was so friendly and you got friends immediately. Hong Kong now is different. More like JHB, every one for themselves. But ja, we have done this before and will enjoin the experience.
Linky, this is a nice little chat...I am sitting in north Holland enjoying bike rides and swimming in a rather cold ocean and writing and eating cheese and all kinds of things i never get at home, and thinking....yes, I can easily live here. I can probably live anywhere where I have something meaningful to do. Must say, life is pretty "soft" here, one would probably start feeling guilty after a while, but I can also get used to everything being so easy!! willemien from Botswana
Linky replis to willemien... watch this space Willemien. Guilt is a topic that will come up soon.
Living in another country has definitely stretched my world views. And maybe there is no harm in being pushed out of you're comfort zone. Even with all the hardship after 10 years, it is still worth it. I've discovered things about myself that I never would have otherwise know of... and we even get to meet weird people like the Aussies!! Xx
Catharina
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