Wisconsin Girl in Perth: Everyday Life Series

I really wanted to start a series of blogs about my everyday life here in Australia. There are lots of little things that happen or just general observations that make me think, "I should blog about that" but I always wonder if people want to hear about regular life stuff or if it will be boring.

Guess what? Most days, I get up, go to work, come home, maybe do something else at night (gym, band rehearsal, something with friends....depends on the night), eat something, and go to bed. Just like a day anywhere, really. But that is being too simplistic. The truth also is, even if I don't notice them at the time, I face little challenges every day that in the end, will add up to me being different. Maybe not better, but definitely different (and I hope better too). Most of the time it's funny stuff like language, food, driving, funny things that happen at work, etc. I'm just doing my best to get by, be good at my job, meet new people, and not have people laugh at me (too much) and my silly American-isms, or cause any driving accidents.

After nine months, driving on the left has become so natural that I don't think about it much.....so natural that sometimes I scare myself because I'm NOT thinking about it, therefore I must be doing it wrong. I no longer think round-a-bouts are strange, and frankly I kind of enjoy them. My language is starting to slowly adjust. I don't have to think twice anymore when someone asks me, "how ya going?" or proclaims "good on ya!". The words "reckon" and "mate", and ending a sentence with "hey?" are now part of my daily language. I try, but pretty much fail miserably, to talk in kilometers instead of miles, Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, and kilos instead of pounds.

At work, my head no longer spins at the notion of a career break or long-service leave. The sight of a 2-ring binder full of A4 paper no longer makes me giggle. But I still don't know what all the paper sizes are (A4, A5....buncha more A's?) I know the system makes more sense than ours, but I still just refer to A4 as "almost 8x10". I mostly self-correct my spelling but it is a conscious effort (humour, organisation, theatre). The date annotation is still hard for me.....21/9 is easy (Sept 21), but what about 2/9? I jump to Feb 9 straight away. Another die-hard habit is that summer, to me, will ALWAYS be June-August. But here it is opposite. So when I say I'm going home next summer, we are talking about different times of the year!

But some stuff I think about is more personal. I've actually always really enjoyed my time alone, and recharge from it in order to be my normal happy, social self. Most would say I was already extremely independent before moving here. In fact, I may have been called "annoyingly independent" by an ex. And now being so isolated and really not depending on anyone for anything (although I appreciate any help, I never really expect or ask for it)....I'm afraid I might be past the point of no return. Will I ever be able to stand another person enough to have them around all the time? Will I be able to travel with a spouse / boyfriend and not get to do exactly what I want to do at all times? Have I completely overshot independence right into spinster crazy cat lady? While I'm on a roll, what in the world am I doing with my life? Am I really going to stay in Australia, this far away from my family? FFS, is this even doing anything for me? Should I just move back to Wisconsin (forget Chicago) and start having some babies like a normal 32 year old? If I DO just move back in another year and this hasn't really progressed my career, then what in the hell am I wasting this time for? I haven't even met my nephew! As you can see I can sometimes get a bit manic over the whole thing.

To remind myself that I am normal and these are all normal feelings, I like to refer back to the psychological steps that happen when moving to a foreign country - honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and mastery. The Honeymoon period is when you think everything is amazing and are giddy with excitement. Definitely over that. The Negotiation phase is when you stop just being excited to be there, and have some anxiety about all the choices you've made (the "Expat Blues"). You may even start to recall how great your home country is compared with the new country. There can be some psychological effects in this phase resembling depression, that are hard to understand what is wrong. And I know I've been (or am) there....weight gain, sleeplessness, crying while doing sit ups at the gym are all probably good indications of that one. But don't worry, I am fine:) A crazy person doesn't recognise that they are crazy. Adjustment is when you start to return to basic normal living again, getting more into routines, and can appreciate good things about both places. I'm honestly probably at the beginning of Adjustment, with some slippage back into Negotiation on a bad day every once in awhile. Which is pretty normal. This is NOT a waste of time....even if all I get from it is 2 awesome years in Australia, tons more friends, more work experience, and lots of cool travel. Sounds pretty amazing to me.