Living in Australia

Life is a mystery 2 years ago we packed up from Australia to return to South Africa after spending six years getting used to the country.

Let nobody tell you otherwise it is one of the most difficult things to leave your home country and move to another. First you have to get over the differences in culture. Remember one of the most formative parts of your upbringing will be your school life. It is also the place where you logically make your friends and start to form friendship circles. By packing up and moving to another country you will lose these friendship circles and discover that it is quite hard forming friendships with people who have had a different cultural upbringing.

For myself I have found that it is quite common that the first friends that one makes outside of people from your own country are people from other countries as you logically have something in common (stranger in another mans land).

I am quite fortunate that I have spent a lot of time in Australia so I have the semblances of a friendship circle starting to take shape (this is difficult for me as I am quite an introvert in a lot of ways) thanks to my wife and funnily enough my kids. Having young children tends to put you in situations where the opportunity to socialise is much easier as at least you have a conversation starter. If you want evidence about the friendship circles forming at a young age watch how quickly the young children become part of the new society.

I am writing this blog for 2 main reasons one to help other expats and perhaps share experiences with other expats and 2 it gives me a way to purge my soul.