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

Tinsel and all that glitters

And so the 1 st of December happened and we put up a tree.  A very simple version of a story that is just a tad longer… As in the past, I decided not to put up a tree at home as we leave for our annual beach holiday soon in any event.  Well after seeing trees, baubles, glitter and what not on Facebook, I felt extremely guilty for denying my kids the pleasure of Christmas for two whole weeks whilst my virtual friends’ kids were all rolling in the tinsel.  So I decided to put up the tree after all, how lazy can one person be.  Out came the box and the tree and the lights and horror of horrors, we are missing a leg.  So Luka and I went to the mall last night and got a new tree, a bigger tree and more sparkly things than we need.  If it says Christmas, and if it even has a hint of glitter, we have it, we even have fairy lights running up our balustrade, we have baubles and glitter and advent calendars, I really went to town on this one.  It i...

Luka is 6 weeks old, and sleeping in her own room

A breakthrough, at last... 2 Nights ago I was ready to sell Luka.  I told Gerhard that I do not for the life of me understand why we decided to have a second baby.  I was absolutely shattered, telling him I hate maternity leave and I cannot wait to go back to work.  I told him that I am counting days  until the 1st of August when Luka can start school.  Not nice, I know, but I also told Gerhard that I do love her, I just wish she was bigger. This is the result of not sleeping for 6 weeks - and add to the mix the fact that Luka got a severe cold and was not sleeping at all for 2 nights in a row.  Man oh man was I in a deep and twisted frame of mind... Well, today is my 6 week check-up, I feel like a new person, you see Luka moved to her own room last night.  Yes, it might seem cruel, but we probably squeezed another 2 hours worth of sleep out of her last night, all due to the fact that we did not listed to her grunting and farting.  We have a...

Liam's first day at the new school

We have been preparing Liam for his first day at the new school for the past three weeks, so much in fact that he told me the day before yesterday that Teacher Hannetjie is going to love him to bits.  Cute, just slightly weird considering that he met Teacher Hannetjie for the first time the day after making this bold statement. This morning he got up all excited and told me that today is the day.  He got slightly less brave as the time for leaving came closer.  When we reached the school and he saw the kids were not playing outside (I must point out that the temperature was -1 degrees Celsius at that stage, he got a bit teary.  Thank heavens for teachers like Teacher Hannetjie, she comforted him and included him immediately, so here is to hoping that Liam will have an ok first day at the new school. Last night I told him that I simply cannot believe that he is turning three, and going to big boy school.  I told him there is a lump in my throat, his reply, ...