an aussie in austria

I recently went back to work. And it was great. But it was weird… and weird in ways I wasn’t expecting. It was great to be greeted by some familiar faces. But amongst the sea of faces… I couldn’t help thinking one thing… everyone got old!

You see… despite the fact that I’ve only been on maternity leave for one year, it happened on the back end of Covid, so it’s actually been four years since I’ve seen some of these people. That’s me walking down the corridor at work with a half-smile, wondering if the vaguely familiar faces are actually people I know. I mean, of course they got old! Damn, I got old too!

The other thing I found halfway weird was how people shake hands again in greeting. People kiss again. And I had forgotten that it was a thing. I have to resist the urge to ball my hand into a fist and scream cooties! I feel like I’m back when I first moved to this country. Is this person a hand shake person. Or is it someone I know familiar enough to kiss on the cheek? And is it a single kiss, or two?

And even though I’m back into maternity leave for another year soon, it’s going to look a lot different. I won’t have to hide from society either because of Covid or because I have a newborn attached to me all the time. Let’s hope both of those times are over and skipping years is a thing of the past!