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Aussie shows on Netflix – coming home

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netflix remoteNetflix is great… isn’t it?

Well, whatever your opinion it’s a bit of a turnaround for me, because I was always the one that insisted I would never pay for TV. I didn’t need all those extra random channels full of repeats and garbage… what was available on free to air was perfectly fine.

To be fair I wasn’t a huge TV watcher, but still.

Then I arrived in Austria. And suddenly TV was all German. All German. All. The. Time. And so I just stopped watching TV completely. And I did weird things like actually hiring or buying DVDs.

And then came Netflix.

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The changing faces of friendship

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friendship long distanceThe Christmas just gone I spent a whole month in Australia. One. Whole. Month. Which should be enough time to catch up with everyone, shouldn’t it? Well it was, and it wasn’t. Juggling Christmas, with family commitments, holidays and going back to work, time seemed to get sucked away

I want to see everyone. I want to spend time with everyone. And not just time, but quality time. I want alone-time with my girlfriends, I want alone-time with all my friends together in a group, and I want additional catch ups with hubby there. Perhaps a week with every friend and family member would do it.

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An open letter to my friends and family – I’m sorry I won’t be there

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Missing my friends
It’s hard to leave your besties behind

I’ve now been living in Austria for almost 4 years. Having a steady job, buying a house and finally feeling like I’m starting to get a slight grasp of the German language… well it’s a little bit scary.

Because it’s gotten to the point where I realise that this is somewhere I might be for a while. A few years, at the very least. The initial suitcase of clothes I brought over has been added to with various knick knacks and other belongings through each visit and each return trip home. My old bedroom in Australia is looking less and less like mine all the time.

And in facing this reality, I just want to say to my friends and family: I’m sorry I won’t be there. Because in the future, there will come a time, an event, a life occasion, a celebration, a sickness, a death… and I just won’t be able to be there.

 

 

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Farewell Grandma – a collection of memories

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grandma wedding
At my wedding, 2015

A few weeks ago I received the inevitable but upsetting call – my grandma had passed away.

I was home alone on a Friday morning and I had no idea what to do with the news. I cried, I called a friend, I cried some more and then I just felt lost.

Because I couldn’t do anything. I was too far away to help my parents out, provide support or attend the funeral. The last time I saw her was 18 months ago. She was in relatively good spirits until the end, though had definitely been on a bit of a downward spiral in the last months. I felt better knowing that she hadn’t been too uncomfortable, had died peacefully in her sleep, and was probably more than ready to let go.

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The other side of homesickness

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homesickness husband support
Aussie Aussie Aussie!

I go on a lot about homesickness… and I apologise, but I will probably continue to do so from time to time, because… well frankly because I have a damn good life which means that ‘minor’ issues such as these play a bigger part than they otherwise would.

And apart from you lovely folk reading my blog there is one other person who has to put up with a much bigger chunk of my whining.

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