It's the weekend and another round of 'weekend-engagement' posts. This time Galen actually outdid himself and gave us 6 choices - here we go!
I really wanted to talk more about #6 however, I realized that I pretty much already did that in this post so scratch that.
Option #2 and #5 it is, they go hand in hand for me
My first move to a different country was almost a lifetime ago in the 90s. I was 27 (I know by today's standards that's already kinda old, but ~25 years ago - it wasn't - if that makes sense). I applied with my company to be transferred to an 'English speaking country. They have offices pretty much all around the world and I 120 % expected to soon be in the USA.
I took this step because I wanted to move farther away from home. At the time I had long moved out and to a different city in Germany but it was too close. I was still under my family's umbrella yet I wanted to completely stand on my own feet, without them around. My company agreed.
We are offering you - Melbourne, Australia!
Imagine my surprise - Australia? Where the heck is - Melbourne? Yup, I was that stupid back then (some things might not have changed - LOL). Off I went to a bookstore, yup - that's right, kids, a brick & mortar bookstore, not Amazon, and searched for books about Australia. I found a couple that I still have and cherish. And I started listening to music groups from down under, most notably Crowded House (I know they're from NZ, still).
I accepted the offer and was to fly to Oz on August 1st, the middle of summer (in Germany)
The day of my flight came closer and closer. I packed, I don't remember, maybe 20 moving cartons, included a computer, that my company transported for me from Germany to Oz. Then the day came. My fam drove me the 3.5 hours to Frankfurt international airport to see me off.
Oops, I almost forgot, a couple of months before this big date, my dad got diagnosed with (aggressive) skin cancer. Operations, chemo later - he wanted me to go and live my life.
So I got on my first long-haul flight. Before this I have only ever flown 4 hours straight - that's it. This flight was more like 12 hours + 5-hour stop-over in Manila + another 8 hours. It was brutal at the time. And boring. Especially the stop-over, very boring and long.
Eventually, I made it to Melbourne, Australia - my destination. I hadn't made any plans, and I mean none. I didn't know what would happen once I arrived in Melbourne - gosh, was I stupid... don't answer that. Luckily, my new boss was there at arrivals and had a flyer with the company logo very visible, so I went up to him 'hello, I am... '.
The company put me up in a hotel in the city center, my boss dropped me there and I went to sleep for a few hours. It was early morning local time, I was kinda dead.
I remember getting up in the afternoon and going for a walk in the 'big city Melbourne' with skyscrapers - whoa. Without a GPS, no cell phone, without a map, just me - walking. Hours later I was very happy that I found my hotel again.
View over the gorge with The Chalet at Mt. Buffalo
Was I made feel welcome? I believe I was if a little different from what I had expected. My expectations were set a little high from what my colleagues who had visited their Australian colleagues previously had told me. For example, 'you'll be invited to a 'barbie' (= BBQ) before you know it'. That actually didn't happen until much later, and it was o.k.
My biggest immediate problem was - again my own f****n stupidity - I went pretty much unprepared. Can you believe that I went there... without money in the bank? Gosh, was I naive, stupid! I thought, well, I'll get paid, so I can pay for rent and living and - oops, what about food until you get your first paycheck, dummie? And what about transportation? Welcome to Australia where there is no public transport like there is in Germany. Usually work is a ways away from your home i.e. you will need a car!
The Chalet Mt. Buffalo, VIC
This is where I will be forever grateful to my parents.
They wired me enough money to get a crappy old used car. Of course, under the condition to pay it back (which they never asked me to, yet I offered) when I eventually returned to Germany.
Do you remember that I mentioned that it was August, the middle of summer in Germany when I moved? Guess what - that's pretty much the middle of effin' winter in Oz and Melbourne is not the Outback or sunny Queensland, it has a fairly continental climate so it got really, really cold. One time during my time there it even snowed. I needed winter clothes and didn't bring any and had no money to buy any.
Parents to the rescue again, they sent me a care package - some of my winter stuff along with some other goodies like Toffifee - LOL.
High Country, Victoria
I was saved from my own stupid me again by my parents
Not surprisingly I felt quite lonely at first because I was - alone. But even back then I was okay with that. Actually, more than okay, being on my own was why I took this step. Ironically, I only made it because my parents even though they were on the other side of the globe had been there for me.
Speaking of my parents, only 10 months later in June on a Public Holiday in Oz - Queen's Birthday - I got the call that my dad had passed. Despite the holiday, my boss was at work, he organized a plane ticket home and within a couple of hours, I was on a feeder plane from Melbourne to Sydney and from there to Frankfurt. I don't remember the stopover, maybe Singapore - it was a blur. The important thing here is that my Australian colleagues came through for me and organized the flight on a Holiday, through their network (we were working in airfreight/oceanfreight logistics) and upfronted the cost.
I stayed home in Germany for three weeks before returning. To my own home down under.
Apologies for ending the post on such a somber note. To be honest I've mulled it over for a while if I should hit the publish button or not... Who knows how many will make it up to here? This is a freaking long blog post, which I have mostly written for myself. It felt good to write down this part of my story that until now only resided in my head.
Off with the mood, all this happened a long time ago. Now I need to find some Oz photos to beautify the post 😇.
Found them! I'll end it with a (not so) cuddly koala. BTW - both pictures of the kangaroos and the koala were taken in the wild not a zoo.
Cheers,
(Ocean)Bee
Unless otherwise noted, copyright for all photos, dividers and gifs ©Oceanbee|ImagesByCW
