The Beginning of the End

I haven’t been blogging much for the past few months and I’ve recently decided to wind down this blog. This might not be my last post ever, but I definitely won’t be writing again for a while.

When I started blogging, I had just moved to Australia and everything was a novelty. I was also pretty lonely and didn’t have much to do or anyone to talk to.

While I’m still on my expat journey and probably will be for a long time, my desire to write about it has waned and the time I have to devote to it has dwindled. I now have work, volunteer, and family commitments to keep me busy.

I have also found that the longer I’ve been here, the less happy I’ve become. Australia is a great country with a lot to offer, but I don’t fit in here. Combined with my personal depression and a lot of bad circumstances, I don’t feel that I have a lot to say that is very positive at the moment.

Now, this is my space and if I feel like writing about all the things I don’t like, that’s my prerogative and anyone who doesn’t like it can suck it up and leave. I am not now and have not ever written this blog to please anybody else. If you want a happy expat blog filled with cupcakes, rainbows, and dancing unicorns, look elsewhere.

Some comments that I have received (and not published– that’s my prerogative, too) have been very nasty because apparently some people are upset that my blog isn’t upbeat enough for their tastes or they can’t accept that not everyone thinks Australians are the greatest creatures on earth. I don’t know why people feel compelled to say they hate my blog and are going to go find another one that suits them better. I don’t care one way or the other and I’m not sure why an announcement is necessary or why some people feel it’s appropriate to direct cuss words and name-calling at me when making their announcement. But I’m not going to publish or respond to comments like that. As I said, this is MY space.

I think it’s important to remind people that not every expat experience is a positive one. There’s nothing wrong with that. Every expat has good days and bad days, and some people have more good days while others have more bad days. There is nothing wrong with not gelling with a new host country or culture.

I think there is far too much snobbery among expats with this subtle expectation that if an expat can’t adapt, there must be something wrong with them. This is why I don’t hang out much with other expats and why so many expats keep it to themselves when they are unhappy.

In any case, I’m here for the foreseeable future, since I do need to get my citizenship. H is unlikely to get US citizenship and doesn’t want it anyway (can’t say I blame him!). As we do need at least one country where we both have citizenship so that we don’t face any problems in the future where one of us is no longer allowed to live or work in the other’s country, the best option is for me to get my Australian citizenship and probably for all of our kids to be born here, as well.

It’s not that I think America is the greatest country ever, because I don’t. In fact, I deeply hate America in a lot of ways and I’m not sure I really want to go back there, either. I think some people may have the impression, after reading one or two posts, that I’m some uncultured redneck who can’t deal with anything different. Since I’m actually very well travelled and I grew up in a non-redneck state in a white-collar family, that assumption is pretty far off the mark. My dissatisfaction with Australia involves a lot of complex factors, most of which I have never mentioned on this blog, because they are private. That’s another reason I’m not going to acknowledge some of those comments– they are woefully uninformed.

So I’m going to keep muddling along in my own way and probably not sharing much of my journey anymore. I’ve left up the relevant and popular posts. I may occasionally come back to make a post on the immigration process (since I’ll be doing PR in a little over a year) or something similar that other expats may find useful as a resource. And I’ll probably keep reading other people’s blogs that interest me. But otherwise, I think I am pretty much done here.

I’ll leave you with one last expat tip: There is a new-ish store in Prahran on Greville Street selling USA products called USA Milkbar which is similar to USA Foods, but smaller and a bit more conveniently located. Check it out.

Thanks to everyone who has followed my blog for (nearly) the past two years.