Friday, January 17, 2014
This Is Perth
First Postings/ About the Name
Welcome to my blog! I am very excited to begin writing, and even though my trip doesn't technically start for about a month, the journey and preparations and excitement has been building for several weeks now.
A little about my adventure:
On February 20th, I will be taking a 20plus hour flight to the beautiful city of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, for the purpose of being an Au Pair. (For those of you who don't know, an Au Pair is basically a fancy term for an international, live-in nanny. The job is also about having a cultural experience, as well as providing one for the family you are serving.) I will be caring for an adorable 18-month old little girl for 6 months to a year.
It is kind of a strange thing to announce to people the fact that you are leaving home for several months. Much less, to go someplace as exciting and desirable as an Australian beach city! There are not many conversation starters that seem to lead into the topic very well.
"Hey, guess what? I'm moving to Australia for 6-12 months! Have fun here in this lovely Central Valley drought summer!"
The responses I get from the people I have told are actually quite predictable. "WOW! You are brave!" That seems to be the most common one. And the most encouraging! I have never really thought of myself as brave, up until the last few months. And I definitely never thought that I would be leaving home and spending much of a year in another country, away from everyone and everything I know. I daydreamed about it, yes. But daydreaming and actually doing are very different things. You don't have to have courage to daydream.
Now, about the name of the blog: Walkabout Sheila. Thank you to all my facebookies who gave such wonderful, creative suggestions to my blog title prompt! Several of them were very tempting!
A walkabout is a rite of passage into the Aboriginal culture. (The Aborigines are the native people of Australia, like the US's Native Americans.) During their adolescence, they would go out into the wilderness and learn to survive on there own, sometimes for as long as 6 months. The rite of passage would mature them, unite them with their people, and be a spiritual journey for them. Now obviously I am not attempting a walkabout in the traditional sense of the word, but I do expect this trip to be something that thrusts me into adulthood and draws me closer to God.
Sheila is not quite as significant. It is just an Australian slang for girl/woman. So, yeah. That's all I have to say about that. (Said in my best Forrest Gump voice)
I look forward to adding posts often on my trip, hopefully with some pictures as well! So long for now, oh bloggers of mine!
A little about my adventure:
On February 20th, I will be taking a 20plus hour flight to the beautiful city of Perth, the capital of Western Australia, for the purpose of being an Au Pair. (For those of you who don't know, an Au Pair is basically a fancy term for an international, live-in nanny. The job is also about having a cultural experience, as well as providing one for the family you are serving.) I will be caring for an adorable 18-month old little girl for 6 months to a year.
It is kind of a strange thing to announce to people the fact that you are leaving home for several months. Much less, to go someplace as exciting and desirable as an Australian beach city! There are not many conversation starters that seem to lead into the topic very well.
"Hey, guess what? I'm moving to Australia for 6-12 months! Have fun here in this lovely Central Valley drought summer!"
The responses I get from the people I have told are actually quite predictable. "WOW! You are brave!" That seems to be the most common one. And the most encouraging! I have never really thought of myself as brave, up until the last few months. And I definitely never thought that I would be leaving home and spending much of a year in another country, away from everyone and everything I know. I daydreamed about it, yes. But daydreaming and actually doing are very different things. You don't have to have courage to daydream.
Now, about the name of the blog: Walkabout Sheila. Thank you to all my facebookies who gave such wonderful, creative suggestions to my blog title prompt! Several of them were very tempting!
A walkabout is a rite of passage into the Aboriginal culture. (The Aborigines are the native people of Australia, like the US's Native Americans.) During their adolescence, they would go out into the wilderness and learn to survive on there own, sometimes for as long as 6 months. The rite of passage would mature them, unite them with their people, and be a spiritual journey for them. Now obviously I am not attempting a walkabout in the traditional sense of the word, but I do expect this trip to be something that thrusts me into adulthood and draws me closer to God.
Sheila is not quite as significant. It is just an Australian slang for girl/woman. So, yeah. That's all I have to say about that. (Said in my best Forrest Gump voice)
I look forward to adding posts often on my trip, hopefully with some pictures as well! So long for now, oh bloggers of mine!
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