Exactly one year ago we arrived in Sydney. Our new home. We were so excited to explore and discover our adopted home town.
Let’s go even further back in time.
October 2018 – Berlin, Germany.
Mo received a headhunter mail on linkedIn. Usually, he does not really reply to such emails, but this time something was different. The headhunter was looking for someone who wants to move to Sydney, Australia and work for one of the biggest tech companies over there. As you might know, we’ve been to Sydney during our sabbatical at the beginning of 2018 and we kind of liked it.
Something unusual happened… Mo replied to that headhunter’s request. We were thinking something like “Let’s just see how far it gets and what the offer will be. Discuss everything else later.” Fair enough. After some calls, video interviews, and mails he got an offer, a handsome offer. Time to discuss everything else.
Ok, here we go. He started the conversation out of curiosity and suddenly we had a serious offer. We finally had to think about it – for real. WTF are we going to do? We can’t move to Sydney. This wasn’t really our plan. We just came back to Germany from our sabbatical. I just started a new job in Berlin. What is our family going to say? And so on… We decided there is only one way to find an answer.
First, we made pro and con list: The result was: no, we can’t move to Sydney. Next, we flew to our much loved favourite city: Brussels. We got some good Belgian beer, serious cheese and then we tipsily worked on that pro and con list a bit more. Then we ignored the list altogether and had night-long serious conversation about it. Finally, we listened to our gut – it demanded more cheese and beer. But it also told us, that this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Back in Berlin, Mo signed the contract and we finally talked to our friends & families about the crazy thing we just agreed to. Even though, it may not make a lot of sense on paper, it felt like something that we just needed to do; needed to experience. And luckily, our friends and family are supporting us in all our crazy endeavours.
February 2019 – Berlin, Germany
Everything is prepared for our relocation to Sydney. Flights are booked. We have visa approval. Our apartment ist cleaned up. Our important belongings are packed. Farewell parties with friends and families took place.
We are ready to go – aren’t we? Somehow, yes. But you are never really ready for such a big step. You just have to do it, otherwise, you will never find out.
We jumped into the airplane and “just” 32h later we arrived in Sydney. It was like in a dream, didn’t feel real at all. This is our new home now… really. Wow. How did that happen?
Did we move to Sydney for the money or because there where more pro’s on our list? No. We moved here because we wanted to explore that part of the world. We moved here because we wanted to live close to the ocean. We moved here because I always wanted to live somewhere else – not just travel but really live. We moved here, because of the adventure.
February 2020 – Sydney, Australia – One year later
We are still in Sydney. Do we like it? Yes. Do we miss home? Yes. Do we stay a bit longer? Yes. How long? We have no idea.
Honestly, we have no idea how long we are going to stay. We just extended the lease of our apartment for another year. This doesn’t mean we have to stay for another year. But we probably will.
I’ve never been that long away from home. And I feel homesick quite often. But in such moments I try to remember, that it’s just an experience and I need to enjoy it as much as I can. And that’s exactly what we do: Enjoying our journey. But if you live abroad for a while you might also discover some interesting and weird cultural differences.
What seems to be weird about living in Australia
- They have too much cheddar and nearly no other cheese options (probably a commonwealth thing)
- Some food options are not easily available
- Good cheese
- Sauerkraut & Rotkohl
- Good bread
- Bretzel
- Döner
- No Quark at all
- Everything is expensive… everything [Mo disagrees]
- They sometimes do not understand the concept of efficiency
- They are really into skincare and teeth whitening
- It’s a car country and they love big cars… I mean BIG cars
- Cycling is either a serious sport or a touristy thing. There is nothing in-between. No Hipster-Bike-Culture, no critical mass.
- Everything is far away… everything
- You can’t buy alcohol in the supermarket, you have to go to a specific shop for that
What we like about living in Australia
- A lot of sunshine and good weather
- Beach live. Surfing, snorkeling, swimming, sunrise at the beach, beautiful coastal walks, active outdoor culture and going shopping just dressed in a towel. Trust me, you get used to the sand everywhere.
- Free public BBQ facilities (and they are clean and functional)
- Funny birds like cockatoos, kookaburras and the majestic bin chickens
- Funny animals like kangaroos, echidnas and platypus
- The people are very friendly and just a bit more chill “no worries, mate”
- They care more about the environment
- Most of the museums are for free
- Beautiful nature and plenty of national parks for bush walks
- BYO – Bring your own. This means if you go out for dinner you often can bring your own wine if you want. It’s just normal.
- Good coffee culture
Future
No one knows 🙂 But there is still a lot to explore and discover for us on this side of the planet…
