Skip to main content

What I have learnt in the last month

In the last month in Sydney, I managed to learn a number of life lessons, some silly, some really valuable, I will try and share these with you today. 

The more things change, the more things stays the same is very true and can be applied to almost any situation, so the traditional gender roles will apply regardless of the continent you find yourself on.  I will still be responsible for laundry, my husband with numerous degrees cannot operate a washing machine, tumble drier or iron.  We live with the creases and kids can wear a pair of pajamas at least three times before it needs a wash.  

Anything that involves labour should be appreciated, you can buy a dress on sale in Australia for $5, and a cappuccino will set you back $4,50. Common sense tells you this is not possible, yet it is, you see the minute someone in Australia makes your cuppa, at a minimum wage of something totally ridiculous  like $40 000 per annum you pay, clothes are made in Chinese sweat shops, so its cheap. 

Woolworths in South Africa is the bestest place on earth, they chop, peel, dice and cook for you. Woolworths in Australia is just another retail store. 

Filling up a car with petrol is an unthankful job, South Africans must tip petrol station attendants more, heck, give them minimum wage if you must, in Australian dollars.  It is smelly and confusing and not as easy as it looks. 

Cleaning the house is only fun for the first ten times that you do it, after that, lets just say your standards are dropped ever so slightly.  Cobwebs, where? No Liam, there should be a ring around the bath so we can see where the water must go...just dry the plate a bit better Gerhard, its not that dirty.  

Public transport is amazing and possible.  Gautrain must be embraced, busses and all.  However, if you do drive, embrace the gigantic parking spots in Gauteng where you can fit a bus. 

The correct spelling of busses and forrest is in fact buses and forests.  Sorry Australians, I had to google this. 

Home really is where the heart is and I simply cannot live anywhere else than amongst friends and family in South Africa.  I miss Sekai too much, I miss Liam's school, date nights, fancy restaurants, going to work and gym everyday without my kids, affordable childcare, affordable houses with more than one bathroom for a family of four. 

Yes, we are leaving Sydney tomorrow, back in SA on Sunday.  We live on the edge and we fly by the seats of our pants...who knows, we might try Kazakstan next, there is nothing boring about us...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I had a stunning Louis Vuiton Bag

I love handbags, I am crazy about them, I would forgo food for a good handbag.  Everybody has a 'thing' and mine simply happens to be handbags.  Big ones, small ones, madly expensive ones and el cheapos that you get at the flea market, grey ones hand crafted by old ladies at the old age home, shiny metally ones.  I love handbags. Well guess what?  No, not that Guess, not as in the handbag...I now have a diaper bag.  A red one, and it needs to double as my handbag.  There is just no way in hell that I can manage a two (almost three!) year old, a two week old, a diaper bag and a handbag, something had to give and in this case, it was my poor almost new chunky Louis Vuiton bag.  I miss it already... The thing is, when you have a baby, some things are just not meant to be. At least this time around, I have managed to paint my nails (all of them, fingers and toes) twice, and I have worn make up on at least four separate occasions.  With Liam a...

Hello from Sydney...still feels weird to call his home now

We arrived in Sydney without too much drama, kids were generally good on the plane and we even managed to get some much needed sleep.  A twelve hour plane ride followed by a one hour shuttle to our lovely temporary home in Elanora Heights and an extended four hour wait for Gerhard followed, no phone this side as he had to take mine. That meant that I got rather frantic at one stage waiting for him. Safe to say that in typical paranoid Niki state, I actually marched the two kids off to the next door neighbor's house and borrowed a phone... The sun here sets after 8, so we went to Woolworths (where else) last night. Ate dinner at 10, all in bed at midnight. Liam, Luka and I slept like babies, by the grace of some paracetamol for the two smalls and a sleeping tablet for mommy...imagine my surprise when we woke after 8 this morning. So today the fun bit starts, big shopping! Gerhard needs a laptop and printer, we need cellphones, a car, a house, furniture, I was born for this.  ...

Liam and growing up

It struck me about five minutes ago how fast Liam has grown up since I fell pregnant with Luka.  Let me use an example, Gerhard had to leave the house really early this morning to go and play golf.  Liam is still a bit phlegmy, so he is still nebulised morning and evening - Gerhard's job.  Refer to previous posts about pregnancy paranoia and you will clearly understand that there is just no way in hell that I can nebulise Liam. So this morning the two of us eat our breakfast and then its time to nebulize, and I tell Liam he will just have to do this on his own, poor thing.  So there is my two year old boy sitting on the couch nebulising himself, my heart actually broke into pieces. He also got his very first set of golf clubs yesterday, not the plastic variety but mini golf clubs in a proper bag.  He is just so chuffed with himself!  He actually called his Oupa Hansie yesterday to show him his golf clubs (over the phone yes).  He could not con...