Long time no talk

It has been a while since I have sat down to write. It isn’t that I haven’t thought about it, but usually by the time I get around to it the inspiration has left or I am no longer in the mood to write. My apologies.

Life here is good. We have settled into a routine and I am out of my homesick/weird funk. With each passing day I feel more and more comfortable here. I knew getting past the being gone for 2 weeks barrier was going to be rough, but I didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was. Outside things factored into the rough patch as well and it all combined for a perfect storm. What outside factors you might ask? Let me explain:

1. Jerry spends time 3 days a week at a uni here. In the beginning the time spent there was quiet a few hours each of those days. He has also been visiting robotics teams as time allows. He is sweet to make sure I know his schedule and to always invite me/include me in his plans, but I can only handle so much robot 🙂 I found myself missing home at the 2 week mark of this journey, but then I would laugh at myself and think “I don’t have a home.” After we talked and he reminded me….I do have a home and it is wherever he is. Him not being with me as much had contributed to me feeling homesick. As we have settled in things have gotten into a groove and we are both doing better at balancing our time.
2. 2 weeks was the longest I had ever been outside the USA. Jerry spent a summer abroad during college so he was a bit more prepared for how this would all go.
3. Jerry is an extrovert, I am an introvert that can act like an extrovert. This is something that we are always working to balance in our relationship, especially as we travel and are each others main person of support. What he draws energy from is not what I draw energy from. We respect each others differences and have committed to working on balancing these things.
4. Coronavirus. This adventure was always going to be tough no matter how wonderful it is at the same time. Never in my mind had I considered we would get here and a new virus outbreak would grip the world. Has it scared me….um yes! Has it caused me to stop living my life….I have worked really hard to be able to say it has not. It would have been easier if I had just holed myself up in the apartment and not gone out for a couple weeks, but I didn’t allow myself to do that. Let me explain:
   • Our current apartment is .3 miles from Chinatown.
   • The Lunar New Year celebration went on here for over 10 days.
   • Australia is a whole lot closer to China than the USA.
   • There are many Chinese people that call Australia home.
   • The end of January marked the start of the school year here in Australia.
   • Many of those Chinese people that call Australia home travel to their home (China) during school break.
   • Our main form of transportation here is our feet. The other type of transportation we use is public transportation…trains, light rails, buses, metro, ferry.
5. In general the challenge of navigating a new place and a new normal.

All of that crap contributed to the struggle that I am happy to say I am on the other side of now. Does it mean that it is now completely simple to be here and miss out on all the things going on at home? Hell no! What it does mean is that I can see the opportunity we have been given and I do my best to embrace it each day, even if my knee jerk reaction is to say no. Each day is a new challenge and a new opportunity. I am not sure why we have faced some of the challenges that we have, but we have laughed, cried and grown through them all.

The big question on most people’s minds is have we looked for Aussie jobs, have we started to look into Visa’s, what are we going to do moving forward, and where are we going to live? We are proud to report we have answers for all of those! The answer is….no, no, who knows, and who knows. That’s right, for the time being and until one or the other of us says enough is enough professionally homeless is what we will remain. The opportunity to travel and see the world is too great to settle down at this point. We will continue to take life one Airbnb reservation at a time (and let’s be honest, one robotics event at a time) and will see where the journey takes us. For those wondering we will be in the states from April 8th through the middle of July 2020. After that we have some figuring out to do but the possibilities are endless and that is both exciting and terrifying, depending on the day you ask me!

More soon and thanks for your support, NB