"The problem is, and this sounds really obvious, that when you move to a foreign country you're a long way from home. What I mean is, you're a long way from your mates and family. You're forced to fit in with everyone else. You don't have the comfort of knowing that later on, down the pub, you can tell everyone "and then she poured coffee on my cornflakes" and get some sympathy."
-In the Merde for Love, by Stephen Clarke
Although no one here has tried to pour coffee on my cornflakes, this paragraph in the above book struck a resonance with me. When things happen here that seem completely, cultural strange to me, there often isn't anyone around that I can look to who will confirm the ridiculousness. That being said, one thing I avoid like the plague down here is other expats who only want to complain. Most often, it seems that other Americans are the most likely to make the assumption that I'm going to readily agree with their thinking that Australia is backwards, the people are less intelligent, and the way back home is always the right way. I can understand the frustration with things being different, but the best way to keep yourself from settling into your new life is to surround yourself with negativity. It's ok to complain a bit, and it's often necessary to a certain extent, but finding the positives in your new environment, even if hard work, is important.
"Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler, belonging no more to one place than the next, moves slowly, over periods of years from one part of the earth to another." -Paul Bowles
Friday, 26 February 2010
Saturday, 13 February 2010
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