Two For The Price Of One

Y'all are sooooo lucky! Not only will get all brilliant posts from me, my buddy and traveling companion, Kitty Southworth, will also be posting on this blog! Yep, we're sharing a blog.

Kitty is new to blogging, so there's going to be a learning curve.  Also, she can't spell for s**t.  :)  We will try to put our pictures at the beginning of each blog so you'll know who's writing.

Stay tuned, it's only gonna get funnier / weirder from here!

A Place To Lay My Head

I finished all the lodging reservations for Australia this week! Seriously jazzed! Especially since I'm paying less than $50 a night for any of my lodgings!  :)



First, my fave neighborhood, New Farm



A Jucyvan adventure with Kitty



A few nights in beautiful Byron Bay

Then on to equally lovely Noosa to visit the Risby-Jones family.

Finally, the hip West End (a Brisbane neighborhood).

 

Aaaaaaand.....she's back

Finally, I'm getting back to Australia!

I left Brisbane July 31, 2011 and I've pined for the place ever since. After saving my pennies, I'm finally going back. Mid-March to mid-April. Yes, a whole month.

This time I'll be joined by my biz partner, vacation partner, and good buddy Kitty Southworth. She'll be there from mid-February to mid-April. We've both got our own itineraries but we plan to spend 7-10 days together touring the countryside in a Jucy van. You really want to stay tuned for that, trust me. 

What will I do while I'm there? Re-visit some of my favorite places. See some places I didn't get to see when I lived there. Re-connect with some of my favorite people. Do a lot of walking. Do a good bit of writing. Maybe get up to the Reef for a day or two of snorkeling. Just flippin' enjoy myself.

So, I've re-opened this blog. I'll be posting info about my plans and travels and including relevant information from Kitty. It will be a grand time, one way or another.

Stay tuned........

A Fond Farewell

I've been back from Australia for a month. This blog was created to share my Australian experience with you and I think it's time to close it down. I will now switch all my blog-creating-energies to my professional blog, Have Hands Will Travel.

But before I go, what have I learned from this past year?

Australia is more different and more alike the US than I expected. Culturally, they hew closer to their English roots than I expected. Tea, meat pies, humor, sports, values -- they're all more like England than the US. But when it comes to social struggles and where they will be in 20-30 years...I think we'll see more similarities with US culture.

Australia has a love/hate relationship with the US -- love what we can do for them and love that we generally like them but hate the way we can overwhelm their culture with our culture. They really do hate that.

I've said it before (to the consternation of my Australian friends) but I'm saying it again -- Australians have a borderline alcoholic society. Is everyone an alcoholic? No, but way too many people drink way too much and the general culture still isn't ready to face that head-on. So, don't ever take on an Aussie in a drinking contest!  ;)

Americans will never conquer the Australian accent. The closest we get makes us sound like Canadians. I think Aussies have a secret extra hinge in their jaw.

I love Brisbane. I know that's not a view widely shared by the rest of Australia or even large swathes of Brisbanites but it's a sweet little city and damned pleasant place to live. I miss it.

The sun is as fierce as they claim it is there. They all say it's the "hole in the ozone" which I don't think is true but I have actually felt my skin sizzle there! It's disconcerting to say the least.

Aussies really truly are more laid-back than Americans. That's not just a rumor.

I needed the last year to gain some valuable perspective on myself and some key relationships. I learned, in reflecting on those key relationships, that I was probably the one that was going to have to change.

Walking away from my life and my business for a year gave me a freedom I still carry with me. I now know that I can walk away and it will be OK.

God bless whoever invented Skype.

Even 30 days into my re-entry into the hurly-burly world of Washington DC I can hold a small oasis of calm that I didn't have before I went to Australia. I call it the "she'll be right" corner. :)

America has a natural energy and drive that is core to our identity. It has its downsides but it does define our culture and I mean that as a compliment. We are curious, we are experimenters, and we still believe we can find a solution to most problems. We may be utterly deluded in that but it's a beautiful delusion to be lost in.

Writing full-time is so much more work than I remembered it being! On the other hand, I'm still a pretty good writer.

Thank you Australia (and Jeff and Alcatel) for a beautiful year.

Thank you to each of you who kept up with me through this blog. It made a difference to know people were reading it and it warms my heart, now that I'm home, to hear people mention something they saw in the blog.

Good night.

Changed Habits: Driving

It is a question -- how many of the Australia-inspired changes in my habits and perspectives will survive my transition back to DC?

I found Queenslanders to be better drivers than Washingtonians. They did not speed nearly as much as we do and they almost (no one's perfect) always let someone change lanes in front of them, even slowing down to permit that to happen. In DC, you are on your own if you want to change lanes and good luck!

I've done a fair amount of driving since I've been back. I can be quite the speed-demon driving west on I-66 to Manassas but everywhere else I am far more likely to be driving at or below the speed limit (in the far right lane, I promise!), much to the annoyance of the lead-footers behind me.

I like this. It turns out to be much easier on my nervous system. Also, maybe I'll stop getting tickets from the speed camera in front of Gallaudet University on Sunday mornings! That would be nice too.

Thank you Queensland for making a positive change in me.

Starting Over

17 days back and I'm feeling myself falling.....

Before-Australia, my days and nights had a rhythm. Sometimes I thought that rhythm would flatten me but it was familiar, known, expected. In general, it revolved around my work.

My work is....well, it's not there. I had one client on Monday. Two more on Thursday. Only one next week. I knew it would take a while to re-build. Now I don't just "know" it, I see it on my calendar (all those blank spaces!).

I am having trouble relaxing into the open spaces. I am facing a different economic truth from pre-Australia and from in-Australia. We're not destitute, we're not broke (OK, I kinda am), and we're fine. But....

The old rhythm isn't there. Is it a matter of patience? Of course it is. Is it time to crack my knuckles (metaphorically) and engage in some active marketing? Of course it is. Is this completely normal? Sure!

It still feels weird. Very weird. Ask me again in a week, it could be a totally different story.

Re-entry. It is never exactly what you expect.

We Have Re-Entry!

Well, we're back. Despite yet more fun fun times! with American Airlines, we are back in DC. Jeff arrived July 31, I arrived August 1 (it was 1:30 am when my flight finally got here).

After 2 weeks, I'm about 95% back on US time. I still have trouble remembering what day it is. Once I start seeing clients again (later today), I think I'll get back in synch with the calendar.

The heat and humidity hit me as soon as I walked out of the airport and it was oddly welcoming. "Oh yes, I remember you!" We haven't had the insane heat of July but it's been plenty hot and humid enough.

I discovered (remembered?) on that very first day -- after I woke up -- that heat smells different here than it does in Australia. I can only presume what I was smelling was the effect of the heat on both the plant life and the building materials of Washington DC and those aren't the same as Brisbane. Again, it was oddly comforting.

I spent one particularly hot and humid day running errands, which had me outside for most of the afternoon walking all over my half of the city. I was sweating like a pro football player and, um, loving it. It's not that I particularly love sweating but I was enjoying being on my feet and being in the outdoors. I fear the Queenslanders may have converted me into a fresh air fiend!

In some ways, Australia is beginning to feel like a dream. Did that really happen? Was I really there? The coupla-thousand pictures on my hard drive gives me some reassurance it really happened. Plus, I made my first deposit this morning into my Oz Savings account, which will (if all goes as planned) get me back to Australia in about 18 months.

The things I was dreading about returning to DC are still here. My mom is overjoyed to have me back and my sisters even seem pleased with it. My housemate is working hard to engage with us. I think more conversations need to ensue. My prison-bound friend is still prison-bound and I've visited with him twice and will continue to visit weekly. His larger circle-of-support is very glad to see me back and have wrapped me into their efforts to help him with this transition.

My return to Augustana Lutheran was pure joy. We hosted an Aussie-style bbq our first Sunday back and they loved it (particularly the grad students and 20-somethings who are always up for free food).

Got my first client tonight (and she's going to be a doozy!) and two more on Thursday. Got writing time scheduled in for Wednesday and Thursday. I'm getting back into "work" mode.

And DC? Just as intense (and sometimes angry) as I remember it. Beautiful and sad at the same time. Too serious most of the time. It's....DC.

And I'm back home in it.