Australians are big into breakfast cereals. Growing up it was Weet-Bix all the way with the occasional Crunchy Nut Cornflakes thrown in on special occasions and of course Saturday morning porridge. The cereal aisle in Australia is pretty much that… wall-to-wall cereal options.
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I’d never really thought about the word Advent before I moved to Austria. Apart from the good old Advent calendar, it never occurred to me this was anything more than a commercialisation of the lead up to Christmas. Which, it kind of is, but as it turns out, starting on the Sunday nearest to the 30th of November, Advent signifies the beginning of spiritual preparation for Christmas.
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Coming up to Christmas the year I finished high school, I was met with a shocking revelation – I had no money to buy presents for friends and family. My once-weekly evening job saw me earning more than enough to get by, in a time where my parents were still paying for my essentials, but the office closed over Christmas… and my pay checks would dry up. I had been thoughtless with my money. It’s not that I spent a lot – but I sure spent a lot on things I didn’t need.
I was embarrassed. I was ashamed. I did not want to admit that despite pocket money and a job, come Christmas, I would be broke. In that moment I vowed that never again would I put myself in such a position. And I did what anyone would do… I concocted a lavish internet scam.
Just kidding… the internet was barely a thing back then…
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I love making lists… and then ticking things off. I always have. I have early memories of making lists as a kid, and the first two things on my daily job list were:
I must have felt super proud when just getting out of bed had me achieving two daily goals! Is that the secret of how I became a morning person?
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Immigration is a big topic in Austria. Let’s be honest, it’s a big topic almost everywhere, and one of those places, is Australia. I grew up in a multi-cultural boiling pot complete with all the challenges that come with a mixing of different cultures, sprinkled with racism and the natural tendency to gravitate toward people that look and act like you do. In the time that I’ve been in Austria the immigration debate has just gotten hotter, with scores of people attempting to escape violence or just seeking a better life for their families. I like to imagine that my perspective is more rational because I grew up in a country that was already rife with these problems. But who knows. Let’s not forget the fact, that as a white Australian, I am technically an immigrant to my own country. I am not actually native. My ancestors are English prisoners… that essentially stole the land from the aborigines.
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When we moved in, our house was already kitted out with solar panels on the roof. I’ll admit that I didn’t realise there was a difference. I thought our solar panels simply generated electricity – so heating the water and everything else. But apparently you need a special kind for that. Something called Photovoltaic. I don’t get the science behind it, but earlier this year we installed these special panels on the roof, which now means, that we generate electricity, not just heat water.
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Maybe it’s my age, and that I get tired. Maybe it’s the ease with which shows can be stopped and started these days. Maybe it’s the number of short, easy to digest series available. Maybe it’s that our attention spans are getting worse. Maybe the movies just aren’t as good anymore. Who knows, but what I know is, it seems like making it through a full movie in one go is not like it used to be.
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We have a tradition. Friday night is date night. We like to head out early – less crowds and more time to relax when we get home. But before we go, we convene on the couch at around 5pm to play a couple of rounds of Mario Kart.
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There are many people out there who have phobias about spiders… or heights… or flying… but not me. My phobia is about ‘things with wings’. And look, it’s probably not a true phobia in the real sense of the word. It’s more that I just don’t like them; they make me nervous, and squirmy, and want to run away.
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Last year we invested in a robot lawnmower. I have to admit I wasn’t initially certain that outsourcing the mowing to a robot was a wise investment, but then again, I am not the one who has to mow every week (back problems gets you out of that permanently).
We named him Oy, after the Billy Bumbler in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, because… well… he needed a name and he’s kind of like a dog. It’s almost like he craves human interaction.
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an aussie in austria 