Ordinary Life Down Under

It feels like it’s been ages since I sat down in front of the screen and wrote something down.

Lately there have been quite some changes. I have gone through a lot and I am sort of pushing myself into a direction which now seems clearer. I am steering the wheel.

I guess I can say that the adjustment process of me moving here is finally over. I acknowledge I gave myself some hard time because I wasn’t smart enough to do one thing at a time but instead I rushed everything all at once. Quite a lot to take on altogether. So anyway, to all you snoopy readers from all over, it’s time for me to give some updating on what my life is about here down under.

Where the f%$@ should I start with? Let’s see…

Ok. Now I am not afraid to jinx it anymore so I can talk about it overtly – nice word isn’t it? – Some of you might already know about it but since five days after I landed here in Sydney back in September, I have been seeing someone. Someone good. I mean, someone for real. We immediately synchronized our very busy lives and ta-dah… now we have been living together for about two months (Here’s the truth: I officially moved in early December but practically at that time I had been doing sleepovers 5/6 times a week for over a month).

His name is John. He is… from another country, let’s put it this way… (I am trying real hard to be understanding and open-minded with Yankees lately). He is slightly older than me, which is somehow felt in the relationship but the age difference is not troubling us too much – troubling me too much. I don’t think I mentioned his age to my mum, though. Unconscious fear? Probably – liar. Anyway, I have nothing to worry about cos… my mother is coming on March 13^th and she is obviously staying here with us. She will have to meet and sleep under the same roof with my gorgeous 36-yo African American boyfriend. Some CPR will be required, I am afraid. In my conversations with her I kinda overlooked these little unimportant details about him.

It seems that I am going to have quite some visits, not only mummy – I know mummy sounds very 6yo, but for fuck’s sake I live all alone on the other side of the world, I am allowed to miss my mother and call her mummy, aren’t I?

My friend Silvia is coming at the end of February and she’s gonna stay until my mother leaves at the end of March.

The three of us are going to have an intense 10-day trip up to Brisbane and Byron Bay, Cairns and the Barrier Reef Islands, the desert around Alice Spring and the Ayers Rock. Silvia and I are also flying to Tasmania for three days shortly after the Mardi Gras which is at the beginning of March.

As if my mother was not enough, my dad decided he wants to go on vacation in June so he is also coming over for a couple of weeks or so with a friend of his. In August then Laura and some friends will stop by to say hi before starting their adventure up in Queensland and all the way to Darwin.

You might start asking: doesn’t this guy have a job???

I am afraid I do… My internship is ending at the end of the month. My manager asked me to stay but she won’t be able to sponsor me, which is fine with me cos I have another project going on that’ll allow me to stay here in Australia and extend my visa. I have not decided whether I am going to accept her offer or not. I am going to send out some resumes soon. I will see what they come back with and I will make my decision. No rush. I know that I always have that door open with her, so I need not worry that much. Sometimes if you plan things too tightly, you’re gonna be disappointed cos nothing will ever go the way you though it would. You must allow some leeway and go with the flow, I reckon.

Anyway, I will have to find a way to keep myself busy with until I start university – yes you heard me! – at the end of July. I lodged the application just days ago and I am waiting for their offer. Keep your fingers crossed for me, please.

It’s gonna be either two or three semesters, depending on what master they assigned me. Hopefully it’ll be three. I will keep you posted.

My life here is quite simple – which is well different from humdrum. After all those troublesome months last (European) summer, I really need – physically and mentally above all – a break. Having a solid routine I can count on is important to me at this stage. Trying to put your life together and starting anew, I need to focus a lot and I feel this is what’s right for me now. I like it.

I have also approached yoga more seriously. I have 5/6 classes a week. It gets quite intense some nights. It really depends on the teacher, I reckon: Some of them can give you those little tips and help you focus on some particular aspects of either the postures or of your breathing and this is really useful; it can really make a difference.

Yoga is really having a great impact on my life. I am not fanatic about it, I simply like it and it makes me feel damn good. Dead tired but good. I am getting better at standing postures which require quite some balance. It takes time. Also my flexibility has improved a little – still a long way to go, though. It’s only been four months but quite surprisingly I have been attending regularly. John puts me down and says I still have my little belly I’ve been carrying around since Iceland. I don’t know, I don’t care much if the body changes, as long as I feel connected to it in such a good way, I really couldn’t give a damn to be honest. Who needs a perfect body when you’re sleeping with one? Nonsense…

The studio I go to offers quite a lot of extra workshops, retreats and training courses (some really intense and requiring some serious commitment). I am going to do some, I’m sure they won’t make any harm. It’s all so expensive, though. Now that everything’s on me, I really have to be careful on how I spend my money – rent, food, yoga, fun, flight ticket back home in December... Little by little…

Good news is that I am going to keep working even after classes started. Not full time though: I will cut back to 30 hours per week which is alright since classes are mainly at night. I have to make a living somehow.

Sometimes I do feel a little lonely cos since I don’t go to university and I work full time, I don’t have much time and chances to make new friends. Most of the people I know are John’s friends that I am still getting to know time after time. I am not complaining, though. I get along pretty well with myself I admit. We have spent some very nice nights which sometimes reminded me of the Icelandic ones. They’re all good guys. Here are some shots from NYE’s fireworks we watched from the top terrace of a building in Potts Point. It was just mind-boggling. Worth jumping on a plane and flying for some 22 hours, believe me.

But actually Sydney is just a great city that has so much to offer. It is really a good place to come live. Sometimes in summer it can get real hot and reach 40’. But then you can find yourself walking around the city one night and it’s foggy and misty and muggy – and occasionally even a little chilly. Last week a yellowish fluorescent aura was looming over the city and I admired it jaw-dropped. I was on the north side, where the fun fair is. I love that spot. I always want to go for a walk from the city over the bridge to the Kirribilli and catch the ferry back to Circular Quay. I think it’s just one of the finest places on this planet. Ola and I would go for a hike often around the city, she’d like it a lot.

I am really glad that I receive some emails every now and then and I am still in touch with a lot of people that now I feel belong to my previous “life”. I also got some nice, small, precious presents for Christmas and I want to take the chance to say thank you. For the greeting cards and CDs and everything. It wasn’t easy spending that day here. John was just great and put a lot of effort into trying to make me feel as happy as he could. And he succeeded. I felt as happy as at that moment I could feel. I just wasn’t home. Which was kinda rough. Especially with my parents splitting up and all, I really had wished I could spend Christmas with them. This Christmas in particular. I felt awkward, not really in a Xmasy kinda mood. Thank God I wasn’t alone.