Good things

Just this year I counted seven flights that I have been on. Five of which were purely for immigration purposes. Now, I'm not writing this post to hate on the immigration policies or  the people working for that part of the government in any way but gosh how happy I am to be out of it for now! Yes you got it my visa has finally arrived and my last mandatory trip, this time to Singapore, has come to an end. In order to get a second tourist visa after staying in Perth for three months I left for bali just over three months ago. I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on how different two countries so close to one and other are. Bali, while hot and humid just like Singapore was definitely less urbanized, clean and organised. Although both countries smelled a lot like the pungent sweet and sour fruit durian. While I was in Bali I tried the creamy smelly fruit and decided it wasn't my cup of tea, but then walking through Singapore you get confronted with the smell wherever you go, except on public transport. Singapore's public transport was absolutely fantastic. There were signs all around stating the amount of the fine you would receive if you would eat or drink in any of the public transport station and trains. Just FYI it ranged from S$500  to S$1000. This, no doubt, contributed to the cleanliness of the stations. The cleanliness and the asian feel, smell and shops reminded me more than just a little of Japan and in particular Tokyo. The tall buildings and the large amount of people on their perfectly timed public transportation made me feel homesick for a country I haven't been to in years. This all compared to Bali where public transport was pretty non-existent and all transportation was done with taxis and illegal rides on the back of scooters.  Scooters which flooded the streets and were a big part of the scenery on every road. As a place to stay in Singapore I chose a Hostel for Backpackers on Lavender street. The room had four beds and was only meant for women. The WiFi was included and there was free toast with jam and coffee available in the mornings. The nightly fees were very reasonable and the city was only two train stops away. All around the city there were massive malls filled with restaurants, for me it wasn't difficult to pick Japanese cuisine often but for anyone else the choice could be overwhelming. All in all I would say Singapore has been a positive experience and I even met some people who I could consider friends.

However, I must say, the best part of all was coming back to Perth after five days and having received my partner visa. As soon as I got back I started applying for jobs, I got a bank account now and once I get the bankpas I can get my drivers license changed to a Western Australian one. Ah how good it is to be a recognised resident as I'm sure Nombeko could relate although her case is much more extreme.

Immigration is always so intimidating.

On a different note I would like to introduce you all to our new friends: Ajax and Emma (cats). It's been so nice to have them around in our very own apartment. I have a lot of things to be happy and grateful for lately and I couldn't have gotten here without the help of the people I love. My mind has gone to some dark and pessimistic places in the last year or so but right now I really can't complain about much (I'm sure I can find something if I try really hard). Let's just hope things will only get better right?

Ajax is white with a ginger tail!

Also one last anecdote I would like to share, I had a dream last night where my boyfriend got a new job and they were making him sign an agreement where he would have to pay 50 dollars a day to have his uniform cleaned. I thought this was absolutely unacceptable so I had an argument with his boss which ended with him punching me in the face. I reported it to the police and decided to sue them for millions of dollars!  Ha! I didn't know I had turned into an American.

Lots of Love

Time Flies

It has been a while since I wrote something on here. I think the reason I haven't is because I always feel the need to write about something interesting that's happened in my life and until now the definition of interesting was challenged by my activities. It has been a little over 6 months now that we moved here to Perth and my visa still hasn't come through at the time I'm writing this post. Unfortunately while my isn't here yet I'm only in the country on a tourist visa and I'm not allowed to work. Yay forever holiday! You might think, but after about a month or so or perhaps even sooner you'll start having trouble finding things to do and become bored, a couch potato and grasp at things that are even remotely interesting. I have always liked having hobbies and I've had a fair few sports related, arts or music related, tv or game related hobbies. However I've never had the chance to completely immerse myself in my hobbies and do them full-time instead of just on the side. In the first few weeks I went through a phase where I would buy some cheap wines, take off their label and stick them in a scrapbook where I wrote down how the price-quality was and whether we should buy this one again. Of course I realised that I didn't drink enough wine to keep me interested in this particular hobby unless I took up a whole different type of 'hobby'. Luckily I decided to take up painting again, learn a new instrument (ukulele) and learn how to knit. These are the things that have been keeping me busy as well as going to family events and (trying to) keep the house clean.

Something's that's kept me going was looking forward to going back home. Just about a week ago my boyfriend and I came back from our trip to The Netherlands where we stayed for almost three weeks for my cousin's wedding. It was nice seeing my family and friends again. The time spent back home went incredibly fast, it was so enjoyable that it slipped through my fingers. Of course it helped that I constantly had something to do, somewhere to go or someone to meet. It gives you a sense of purpose. And I think that is what I need, I need a sense of purpose. I have been trying to find it in my hobbies and even trying to make some friends but it's hard to make friends without something equivalent to a job or a study. Of course I thought about volunteer work but it's darn harder to find than you'd think. In fact I thought volunteering at Greenpeace would be fun only to find out you need a work visa to volunteer! I found a few other things but nothing I particularly wanted to do or had any chance of meeting people (like waking up at 5 to walk the seniors to the mall). I mean I guess I'm not such a noble person that I didn't want something out of volunteering, social contact (preferably people around my age). One thing I am immensely grateful for (sheer luck) is that I get along with my boyfriend's family quite well. I always enjoy the weekly get-togethers which give me a nice shot of social contact.

I have sent the final paperwork just over a week ago for my visa so all we can hope for is that it'll be here soon. And even better sooner than the 10 days I have left on my current visa. I'll keep you updated.

Ups and Downs

Australia is not such a bad place to be, to be honest, but having lived somewhere else my entire life there are some things that I notice and bother me. Like the fact that it's just impossible to find a place to rent that allows pets. What is up with the pet banning here? It's just so weird to me as well as not being allowed to change the places you live if you're renting. And by change I mean paint or drill a hole to hang up curtains. It's like they're really emphasizing the fact that it isn't really your home you're just borrowing it. But of all the things regarding properties here there's one thing that bothers me the most. Imagine buying a place in a complex. Within this complex is an organization called Strata that keeps the hallways clean and the lawns green. They have certain rules to how you should behave and one of them is not being allowed to have pets. I guess I can understand it if the owner of a property doesn't allow pets but being the owner of a property and not being able to have a pet? That I do not understand at all. Unless the pet is a nuisance to the other tenants I can see no reason not to allow pets. I mean we might as well ban babies right?

Another thing that irks me is the fact that drivers - and by the way Perth drivers are really abysmal drivers, it's really shocking to see how bad the drivers here are - seem to have no idea of how to handle bicycles. - I really love my bicycle though <3 - Most of them just pretend I'm not there whenever I cycle. It's just such a change coming from a culture where everyone cycles everywhere to going to a place where everything is miles away and everyone needs a car to get anywhere - and public transport sucks.

Well it felt good to get that off my chest! Now for some more positive things :) I've been doing a photography course which has been too basic for me so far but it has helped me spark my interest in photography again and made me want to pursue some more intense photography things. I'll let you know if I have anything to show for it. As well as we will most likely be moving into our new apartment by the end of next month! My boyfriend has been doing well at his job. He's tired at the end of most days but he feels like he's doing a good job. And last but not least, although I broke my nice routine for the past couple of days because I was sick, I've been going to the gym lots and enjoying it. It's something to keep me busy, fill my days and it even makes me feel good! Now hope my visa comes through soon :)

Spending my days playing games as well.

And this was drawn during the photography class which will give
you an idea of how focused I was.

My boyfriends birthday has come and gone and with it the
hilarious moment that he couldn't blow out all his candles!

Can't wait to move in to the new apartment!

Glorification

The other day I had a pie for the first time since coming to Australia. I remember really liking pies and enjoying especially the barbecue sauce, which is very different from the weird barbecue sauce back in the Netherlands.  

Although that's tomato sauce.

It's batter filled with meat and sauce. Perhaps I bought the wrong brand or the wrong kind but it just didn't taste as good as it was in my memory. It got me thinking about all the things I glorified in my mind. I read quite a good article about this concerning culture shock and how when you move somewhere else you glorify your own country and when you move back the opposite happens. I guess having been in Australia before I didn't have the culture shock as much as I could have. But things here are different - shocking right? Clothes and shoes can be very cheap but food and electronics are incredibly expensive. Everything is very far away and it can take up to two hours to drive from one side of the city to the other - luckily I'll be getting a bicycle in a couple of days, too bad you have to wear a helmet here even though it doesn't help at all! Of course the weather is very different here. We've had a few high 30 degrees weeks now and even one week while the air conditioner was broken. I feel a little stuck because I can't do much on my current visa but I hope my actual visa will come through in not too long.

My boyfriend somehow managed to get a job within a week of us arriving here and not only got it within a week he started within a week as well! As long as he gets through his three months trial period it'll be a permanent position, so I very much hope that everything goes well.

In about 2 weeks I will be starting a short photography course for fun and maybe try and make some better photo's. - and perhaps make some friends.

New Beginnings

If you grew up in an upper middle class family in The Netherlands, chances are you grew up going to Austria or some other European skiing area every year. Over the years you've perfected your skills and can easily go down a difficult slope. For me skiing was something I did when I was seven years old and ever since dreamt about going again but not being able to because, let's face it, skiing is a luxurious and expensive sport. So when my dad and my stepmom decided to take me and my boyfriend on a ski trip, before our big move to Australia, I was pleasantly surprised. And even though it had been over a decade ago since the last time we went skiing, I had the (silly) idea that I could naturally just ski without much practice. Of course you see where I'm going with this: I had great difficulty on the first day of our skiing trip. I was over-ambitious and decided to go with my father (who is quite a good skier by the way) to the top of the mountain and ski down off of it. Both my stepmother and I got stuck on slopes that were just too difficult and had to be picked up by a ski-mobile (which was kind of cool though). After a couple more days of falling and sliding my dad and I decided to go to the very top of the mountain and we actually managed to make it down on the last day. It took us about two hours and it was a little too hard for me but I managed and was really happy I did.

Yes, I doodled this on a frozen car window.

Now we've arrived in Australia and the skiing trip feels like it was a month ago even though it has only been about a week since we got back from Austria. We emptied out the house and put everything on the street for garbage pick-up. Packed and re-packed our cases and eventually made it through 20 hours of sitting in an airplane to get here. I'm quite jet-lagged which makes me concerned about my memory because the other day I read that being jet-lagged can cause permanent long term memory loss. But I guess that's ok since I'll just make up for it by drinking two espressos a day.

Now I'm spending quality time with my little friend Hamish who just loves to be scratched on his belly. We finally finished watching Silver Linings Playbook which we've been meaning to watch for a while. Although I felt a little guilty watching it because I promised my dad we'd watch it during our ski trip, which didn't happen. Sorry dad... It was a good movie though it's definitely worth the watch even though it starts out a bit chaotic and unclear.

Since it has been less than two days here I can't comment on a lot more but I'll keep you updated.

xx
Saskia

Flux

This may or may not come as a surprise but getting a visa is a lot of work and a lot of money. Not because you don't fit the criteria or because you did shady things in the past but because there are a lot of fricking forms you need to fill in. And by forms I mean 26 page mountains you need to climb. One of the questions in my visa application asks me to write down all the countries I've been to in the last ten years! Ten years! This may not be such a task for some people but for someone who loves to travel and when ten years is half of the life you've lived it's a LOT to write down. They even wanted the specific dates of when I visited each country. I don't know about you but when I like a certain country I return to it more than once so I had to make a list:

• Iceland - because well I have family there and I used to go there every year when I could still afford it
• Germany – I've been to Germany many times because I have friends there who I met in Japan
• Japan – As you know I went here as an exchange student in High School.
• Australia – Because, you know...
• Belgium - Just because it's right there!
• England
• Northern Ireland
• France
• Croatia
• Austria
• Switzerland
• Spain
• Denmark
• Jamaica – It has been a long time since I went to Jamaica and it has probably been more than ten years ago.
• Italy - Also think this was more than ten years ago. 
• Czech Republic

 They wanted to know all the names and birth-dates of my family even my stepfamily, at least two statutory declarations of Australian citizens who know us and can verify our relationship, multiple pass photo's of both of us with our name written in the back, a written statement of how we met and with proof of our relationship, a certified copy of my birth certificate and my passport, – don't even get me started on what 'certified' means – a certified copy of my partner's birth certificate and passport and then another copy of his birth certificate for his 20 page form.

It was highly confusing and stressful!

We decided to start and IndieGoGo funding project to try and cover some of our moving costs. We have had a few backers so far so I'd like to remind everyone how awesome the stuff is that we have left. We have a lot of things we can't take with us that I would love to give away to our helpers: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/fund-our-love So please help us out even if it's just a little bit it really means a lot to us.

After all this I had decided to be excited about Australia: I could probably start studying again. My boyfriend would have more chance to find job and I could go diving in one the most beautiful diving spots on earth. I looked around and even found a diving club I would like to join and a University that had some studies I was interested in. I talked positively about Australia because it made me feel better about the decision and I hoped it would make my boyfriend happier about it too. But the more positive I was the more negative he became. He didn't want to go back he wanted to stay and then he got a job offer from the interview he had a few days earlier. I wasn't happy, I wasn't unhappy. I was confused. I thought the universe wanted us to move to Australia but now it was giving us all these mixed signals. My boyfriend was very happy. He got what he wanted. We could stay. Yet all I could think about was that now I had to find a job too and I wouldn't be able to go to university until my boyfriend had a steady job. I did want to stay but suddenly staying meant that I couldn't study, or dive. My boyfriend would go from contract to contract hoping he could stay here for at least five years so he could get citizenship and not worry about being deported. Five years. I don't want to wait five years before I can start my life. It would've been nice if everything had worked out but it didn't and now we seemed to be stuck on this ledge of insecurity and uncertainty. If I looked more than a few weeks ahead my mind would go blank on where we would be or what we'd be doing. Nothing seemed certain. And then they called again a few days later saying they weren't sure whether they could actually afford him, they were going to have a meeting about it and they would know by 12^th November 2013. When they didn't call we called and found out his recruiter was on holiday. He wouldn't be back until the 24^th. So the 24^th came and we called again, he said they hadn't made a decision yet and that he would call the next week. I wonder if people ever consider whether their actions mean making life-changing decisions for other people. It feels like being stuck in an endless state of flux.

But even job offers have an expiry date, especially when your visa has one too. We still haven't received an answer to this day and we're going to accept that we never will. We have finally sent off our visa application, we canceled our house, sold our car and we're getting ready to move on the 10th of January.

A few nights ago I had a very interesting and scary dream. I had grown old and so had my boyfriend. Regardless of our age we went rock climbing. In the beginning there was a pretty clear cut path and although it was steep and difficult it wasn't that bad. There were two lines of rope on each side showing us where to go. But after a while it got more and more difficult so much so that we started tying ourselves to the rock. Then after a while the ropes stopped and there were only islands of rock sticking out that we needed to jump to, and you couldn't look down because we were above the clouds. That's when I woke up.

Decisions

My boyfriend was happy at his new workplace. The people working there were very different from him and he was still quite awkward but he was good at the job and there were a couple of people that really appreciated his work. The perks were nice, he had a pretty good pay and they even invited him on the company trip to Spain. I was excited and started planning ahead. We both got a gym memberships that we use at least twice a week – on a bad week. I wasn't worried about finances much and we went on a few weekend mini breaks just because we could. Things were going pretty well. The only downside was that he had only gotten a three month contract and we were nervous about the extension but that was something to worry about later. We were pretty relieved when after about a month and a half the manager said to my boyfriend that he thought he was doing a wonderful job and would definitely extend his contract for either another three months or even a year. This took all our worries away since his visa was dependent on his job and if he lost his job at any point he would be required to immediately leave the country.

Just when my boyfriend was settling into his job I got told that the café I was working at had to close down because the swimming pool that was next door decided they wanted a different company running the space next to them - the café was technically owned by the swimming pool even though they outsourced they still had the final call on who runs the space. I didn't mind that much because the pay was low – technically my pay was the same as a Barista but the café opened later and closed sooner so my overall pay went down. And I still couldn't stand my colleague. So when my contract ended I had prepared myself and had been applying for jobs. I managed to get a job as a management trainee at a fast food joint which was supposed to start right when my contract at the café ended. So when I didn't hear anything on the day I was supposed to start my new job I started wondering if I had just dreamt it all. I checked my emails and but there were no new messages. After a while I decided not to seem too pushy or needy and sent him an email asking about my start date details. When I didn't get any response for two days I decided to call on the second day. The restaurant owner who hired me said that he was just about to call me to schedule my contract signing. So a few days later I signed my contract but he didn't want me to actually start until the week after that. I was pretty confused about why he would say one thing and do another but I didn't want to sound whiny or desperate so I didn't ask. Then later it turned out he was about to have a baby so he was pretty stressed out.

My time between jobs had been right around when my boyfriend's family was here to visit him so I spent quite some time with them and got to know them a lot better. A Thursday in October was when I started working at my new job for the first time. It didn't go off to a great start to be honest. Nobody had told me what to do or what was expected of me as the first few steps when starting the job. I came and waited in line in order to get to speak to someone about what to do. She told me to have a seat and wait because it was busy – you know because there were about three people in line. Later it turned out that two girls just hadn't shown up for work so they were grossly understaffed. Nobody knew I was starting that day and nobody really cared. The girl who was supposedly showing me the ropes was using all her effort to work both kitchens and the drive-thru and as a result didn't have any time to really explain anything and I was expected to be able to suddenly just do everything right when I couldn't even tell the difference between the five types of frozen pieces of chicken. After a few hours the store manager arrived and she taught me how to make hamburgers and cheeseburgers. That's when I realised that all the people that had arrived one by one were about 16 years old and goofing around while working. I know it sounds cheesy – haha get it? Cheesy... but I couldn't connect to any of my colleagues and I absolutely hated this work. I knew I had to be able to work everywhere in order to become a manager but I just hated myself for what I was doing. It was like working in a factory being surrounded by kids and losing brain cells after completing every burger. I respect people who are able to make themselves work at a fast food joint because I just couldn't.

That's when it happened. The unthinkable. Something we weren't prepared for. My boyfriend lost his job that Friday. His manager said that he just didn't fit in. They were willing to give him a recommendation on his technical skills but he just wasn't right for this company. We were devastated. After all the build up and promises and the hopes we had it just broke down completely. We didn't know what to do. To us it seemed as though all hope had been lost. When we came here after my trip through Australia we knew things weren't going to be easy but we never imagined it to be this hard. I decided to quit my job. Maybe it was a mistake but I don't regret it.

As our back-up plan to gain us some time we went to Belfast for a weekend which is in the UK and therefore in a different visa-area. When we came back my boyfriend was allowed to stay for another
three months on a tourist visa. This visa ends on the 20^th of January 2014. We avoided the issue for a while but had a long and hard talk when we were ready to face the consequences. We decided to move back to Australia. We would have a place to start, some family and friends, familiar surroundings and I could get a visa – I can get a visa as long as we can prove we've been together for at least a year. Australia seemed like the best option. Our house here is only temporary and neither of us has a job. My boyfriend decided he wanted to stay here and applied for a whole bunch of jobs and even got a job interview for one of them. This was through the same recruitment agency as his previous job so they were also willing to arrange his visa for him. However we had no hope that he would get it since we had become just that pessimistic. We were getting ready for the move, we started sorting out forms for my visa and we even started packing and sorting through some things we'd had in storage for ages. We told all our friends and family about our decision to move to the other side of the planet.