I must have an unusual story. I never wanted to go to Australia. I wasn't going there (here and there) even on vacation. It so happened that in 2017 I went to work in Mongolia for six months. This is a separate song in itself, but the main thing turned out that Mongolia is full of Australian mining business and full of Australians working there. The crazy business trip eventually lasted for 11 months. I had a desire to move from Mongolia, which is still quite harsh for life, to an English-speaking country. Translation difficulties quickly became tiresome. I had almost no selection criteria other than language and climate. I really wanted to be warm. At one point, I found myself living in Ulaanbaatar surrounded by Australians: working with them, communicating with them, traveling with them; I even had an Australian boyfriend. Well, the option of moving was on the surface: I started looking for a job in Australia. A few months later, I found her, got a temporary work visa, and here I am in Brisbane, the capital of the sunny state of Queensland.
So there is no dream or fantasy of a beautiful Australia in this story. I didn't really know anything before I moved. And maybe that's what's helping me so far: I haven't had any over-expectations, I just came and enjoyed what I have.
I love the amazing Australian ability to compliment. The theme follows from the eternal small talks. It's not a big deal for strangers to talk to you and celebrate a wonderful detail in your wardrobe. The usual situation: walking down the street, suddenly the lady on the way stops and screams: "What a cool dress! It suits you so well! You look great! I get comments about my very fashionable coffee mug in almost every coffee shop. To hear that you have beautiful earrings in the elevator from a stranger is also quite common. They don't even notice it, so much on the back of the desire to just say nice things. I've discussed it with a few Australians, and only after the examples do they know what I'm talking about: "Oh, yeah, I do that. Do they probably think the whole world lives like this? No, but I am learning.
And in general, all these casual conversations in front of a coffee machine, in line or in an elevator, when you feel uncomfortable and don't know what to say, it's a beginner's hell of an emigrant. Australians calmly discuss weekend plans (or how the weekend went), husbands (wives), weather, vacation, politics, sports. For a person who is not from the environment, for example, the last two topics disappear at once: I am not ready to speak about Russian politics and sports, and I do not know anything about Australian politics. How easily strangers move on to family stories can shock a man from the former Soviet Union. For us, even asking who our partner works with (that's what they call boyfriends, herlfriends, wives and husbands) is on the verge. And here, we can say, it is not even polite to ask. In general, it turns out such a quick superficial friendship with smiles and conversations about nothing, which, of course, slightly denies the bottomless inner world of Russian people.
Also, of course, I am still surprised by the ocean. My boyfriend is very tired of me at such moments. We'll come to the coast, and I'll walk on the sand, rejoice at the waves, smells and every two minutes exclaim: "What a beauty! How cool! Hear how the sand creaks! Look, what an incredible color of water! - etc. Obviously, for a man who grew up on the coast (with physical surfing, yeah), all this is not interesting at all. Well, here he is (and any Australian) reacting to the snow in the same way. I've been tired of snow for a long time, but still not tired of the ocean.
Australians are very different. This is the main thing. Australia is a country of emigrants (no, not only convicts, but also emigrants). Statistics show that 25% of the country's population was born outside its borders.
At the same time, for example, there are a huge number of Italians and Greeks, whose origin cannot be hidden, even if you are born in Australia. That's why I don't understand at all how Australians get to know each other abroad: they all look different - Hindus, Chinese, Scots, Germans, anyone. Society is very tolerant of all nationalities, skin colours, religions and other preferences. I am very happy about this.
One day my sister came to visit me in Ulaanbaatar. At dinner with ten Australians, she wondered how they could even be one nation - so different people. Already in the country, I notice how different diasporas have their own places and parties. You can, for example, find a coffee shop where Greek grandparents with endless little cups of coffee, newspapers and chess will sit almost round the clock.
Kangaroos, surfers, Sydney opera... - about everything that a normal Russian knows about Australia? Well, maybe a boomerang and a bunch of scary snakes, sharks and other things that want to kill you.
Kangaroos, of course, don't jump in the middle of town. But I solemnly declare that the stereotype about kangaroos and Australia has much more rights to exist than the stereotype about Russia and bears. When was the last time you saw a bear in the wild? I never did. There are almost twice as many kangaroos in Australia as there are people. There are about 26 million people here, and 45 million kangaroos here. The number of dead kangaroos on the roadside is not comparable to the number of dead animals on Russian roads. And yes, kangaroos can be eaten. But kangaroo meat is considered to be of low quality, few people buy it home, mainly used in pet food.
Of course, there are surfers. But to say that every first Australian surfer will be a mistake. About Sydney Opera House, I can say that I took a classic photo with it, and I have collected likes in the insta - and I want to remind everyone that Sydney is not the capital of Australia! The capital of Australia, Canberra, is a small city (400,000 people) that was designed and built to be the capital because Melbourne and Sydney are tired of competing over who is the coolest.
Insects, jellyfish and snakes are really there. In spring, huge street cockroaches constantly flew into my apartment. It was a terrible time of fear and pain. But then the municipality worked on the area from this animal, and they disappeared. Also, we periodically remove spider webs and big spiders from the trees. In general, if you live in the city, then you don't meet with anything terrible. But the habit of shaking out clothes and shoes, standing on the balcony, is produced very quickly. Just in case, just in case, who crawled in.
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