It's Been Two Years (So Are We There Yet?)

Tuesday 5 November marks the 2nd anniversary of our arrival in Australia. It was two years ago that we left our home, jobs, family and friends in Calgary, Canada and leapt into the great unknown of Perth, Australia. Austensibly, the reason for moving to Perth was for work. I got a really good job offer that was in my field but different enough to make it new and interesting. They also promised to pay me much more money than I am actually worth. The deeper truth was that we really enjoy travelling and experiencing different cultures and we always wanted to come to Australia. It was an opportunity to see a new part of the world (on someone else's nickle) in a relatively safe location, where English is the primary language, the weather is amazing and with many of the same British colonial attitudes and norms that helped shaped the Canadian cultural landscape. In other words, it was an adventure but a relatively safe one. Also, it allowed all of us to get knocked out of our comfort zone and experience life from a different perspective. The bit of irony that comes attached to this is that we have now, more or less, settled into a new comfort zone.

Two years later I can say with some confidence that Australia has delivered on a lot of what we were hoping it would. However, it hasn't been without it's share of struggles.

One of the reasons (or perhaps justifications) for moving to this part of the world was to see this part of the world. It's much more convenient and economical to visit parts of Australia, south east Asia and other areas of the eastern southern hemisphere when you're home base is relatively nearby. Over the last two years we've managed to visit parts of Australia including the Gold Coast, Melbourne and Margaret River. Our long term plans also include visiting Sydney, the Great Barrier Reef, Uluru, the Kimblerly and Ningaloo Reef. Also, we've used Perth as a launching pad to travel to Bali (Indonesia), Japan, Singapore and a business trip to Shanghai. Cyrus has also visited New Zealand. Our future plans include trips to Thailand, Vietnam/Cambodia, Malaysia and New Zealand. Living in Calgary, these trips would have taken us decades. However, living in Perth we may manage to squeeze most of them in within 4 years. Perth itself is a very nice city. It is relatively modern and, as such, it doesn't have most of the problems that many of the worlds more established cities experience. It is clean, surrounded by ocean and rivers, warm and dry and generally safe. In human terms, Perth is like an adolescent: it's no longer fresh and new but it also hasn't matured yet, but it has a great deal of potential. The city is experiencing a lot of growing pains in terms of infrastructure, culture, crime and economy but it has a solid foundation to grown upon.

Our initial reason for coming to Perth, employment, has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Yes, both Nadia and I are employed. However, since we've lived here our pay has consistently gone down for a number of reasons. First of all, the tax benefit we received for being non-residents was legislated out of existence by the previous federal government in July 2012. It doesn't appear that the new government is planning on reinstating it any time soon. Secondly, the original project I was working on, which came complete with 2 seperate bonuses, has evaporated. The original intention was for me to work on that project for 4 years but less than half way through, the client scaled back their operations due to cost uncertainty and a volatile market. Since I moved back to my parent company I've had very little to do at work and my days are generally filled with boredom and frustration. Nadia's job is fine, although, it certainly isn't challenging her in any meaningful way. The kids are struggling to find work, although, Keva is already on her 3rd job.

Zaren and Cyrus recently graduated high school here and Keva is finishing grade 10. At the moment neither of the boys have any long term plans other than trying to find some work and come up with a long term plan. In general, they're all doing well and going through the normal teenager stuff that we all have to live through.

I've been asked several times if we have any regrets. That's a hard question to answer at this stage. We were cruising along just fine in Calgary but who knows if that would still be the case had we stayed. I certainly feel that this experience has broadened my horizons and enriched my views but the same could be said for many experiences, including war, jail and torture (Note: I am not comparing living in Perth to war, jail or torture). I guess I don't really believe in regrets but rather I do believe in growing and learning. We have certainly done both as a result of the move to Perth but to what end, we're not yet sure.

The other question we're often asked is if we are going to stay here. That's another tough question to answer. On the one hand, we miss being "home" in the culture we know, with the families that raised us and near the friends that support us. On the other hand, it's hard to imagine going back to Canada any time soon. There's a risk of romanticizing our previous lives in Canada. Our lives weren't perfect there. We experienced many of the same frustrations that we do in Perth, but they were, more or less, familiar frustrations. Certainly, we had a much better support structure in Canada.

After two years in Australia we are eligible to apply for Australian citizenship. At this point, we do not plan to do so. There are a few reasons for this decision. The first being that we don't feel like we want to stay in Australia or at least not Perth. The second is, generally speaking, we don't like Australians. Maybe that's a little strongly worded. It's not that we don't like them necessarily but rather we don't feel like we fit in the culture and, at this point, don't want to fit in the culture. There are a lot of similarities between Canadians and Australians. There are a lot of really good things about Australia and Australians but the things that aren't so good are tough to overlook and some of the differences are difficult to overcome. Additionally, if we become Australian citizens our tax status may change although we're not clear on all of the repurcussions yet. One of the repercussions we are clear on is that if I become a citizen my employer is no longer is responsibile for sponsoring my work visa and can make me redundant any time it's convenient for them (like it would be right now). Lastly, if we do decide to get our citizenships and then leave Australia, there is a possibility that one or more of the kids will stay here without us. That's a deal breaker at the moment.

My visa is good for 4 years. As of tomorrow, we are half-way through that committment. That said, we can leave anytime but it may incur a financial penalty with my employer. Either way, at the moment we are intending to stay and see how things play out over the next two years.

So, are we there yet? We've enjoyed a lot of our experiences here; experiences that would have been almost incomprehensible living in Canada. There are days when we want nothing more than to simply be back home, although those days are more and more fleeting. There are also days when we can't imagine leaving here, although those days are quite rare. It's almost impossible to quanitify if our time in Australia has been a net gain or a net loss. There have been some ups and some downs. It feels like the journey isn't complete but it's hard to know when you're uncertain of the destination. But it doesn't feel quite as odd anymore to call this place "home".