Monday, August 1, 2011

A year today

Hello Sydney - It's been a year today
hello Sydney...
Another coffee
one of them
Time is flying
time is flying

Hi everyone,

It is a year today that I landed in Sydney, packed with nothing more than 23kg.
How light it felt to sort of start from scratch but also how nervous I was to know that many things I would miss are far away. A year -- How can a year go by so fast is what I am asking myself.

I remember walking through the streets of Sydney, trying to make a new friend with this city which should be my new home. I would compare so many things to home, sometimes unconsciously sometimes pretty consciously....but I realized soon that it is not about to move the country, the habits you are used to into a new country but to understand what it is you loved and liked at home and to being able to miss that without making it hard for the new situation. And to try to be open to explore new things, be curious and appreciate new things and be happy when there is something new you start liking knowing it belongs to the life you are in at the moment.

The light here in Sydney is one of the things. It is extraordinary, I sometimes try to catch it with my camera but I think you are not really able to capture it. I have never experienced light like this before...sometimes on a Sunday morning when I go for my run through the Botanic Gardens I think how magical it is...and how lucky I am to enjoy all this here right now...

There are many things I started liking, e.g. the coffee, I seriously think I never ever had better coffee in my life like the one you can get here//Food, like veggies/fruits are in general so good here//the different sounds, like the laugh of the Kookaburra bird or the different trees, flowers, bushes and their smells//the Art Deco houses in our neighborhood .....and so many other small things

I have written many emails in the last year - sent letters & parcels, spoken into my computer, waved into the little camera of it ending up at a different screen somewhere in Europe...trying to be still part of the lives of friends and my family is a lot harder and much work and the time difference doesn't really make it easier. I needed to learn that I can't come by for a birthday brunch or just ride on my bike to a friends house to stay for dinner and have a good chat. And I miss this a lot.
I also miss Saturday mornings at my old apartment in Hamburg, giving personal birthday hugs, living in the same time zone, being a sister, daughter, friend and just being physically closer than I am at the moment...

How did the time go by so fast. Do you know - I hope you liked the moments of my last year I shared here with you. Thanks for coming by.

Maria

19 comments :

rike said...

lieben dank dir maria fuers 'teilen' ... ich musste heut auch ueber das umziehen nachdenken. bei uns ist es in zwei bis drei monaten soweit. wir bewegen uns nur innerdeutschland, aber irgendwie fuehlt es sich trotzdem groß an.

fuer mich ist es der abschluss meiner studienzeit. diese war nicht die gluecklichste, weswegen ich mich sehr auf den ortswechsel freue.

umso mehr, wenn ich deine schilderungen lese. das neuentdecken, der perspektivwechsel, sogar das vermissen. auf all das freue ich mich so sehr. auch wenn ich weiss, dass ich meine probleme natuerlich mitnehme, was mir hin und wieder auch mal angst macht. aber nun gut, so langsam freunde ich mich mit mir an ;)

freundlich grueßt
rike

Hanna Päivikki said...

Hi Maria,

Thanks for being able to follow your year! Yes, time goes so fast I can't imagine… but maybe a lot of things have happened too.

Sometimes I'm not so good at missing things (other places, people) in a good way, but start to think about them too much and forget how to be in that moment, in that place. I'm learning I hope.

Summer greetings and nice days to Sydney!

Ingalill said...

Hi Maria,

thank you for sharing your thoughts and all the different moments during the last year!

I’ll be moving to Stockholm in a couple of days and I am already very excited. Wondering how my life is going to be in one year. :)

All the best to you,
Ingalill

Anonymous said...

as i had the chance to live in different places all over the world, i understand your feelings and thoughts very well. good memories, old habits and in front of you a uncertain future you are about to explore. in some way it breaks your heart to leave the old life right behind you but you can´t resist to look for a new way of living. a life on the run, torned into two homes. but somehow there is a way to reunite these two homes and make it one home - with the best of each of them.

wishing you lots of unforgettable coffee chats, lovely avocado dinners and a never ending light which leads you to the place you belong to!

jana said...

wunderschöne fotos maria, und worte.
es war schön, dich im letzten jahr über deinen blog und mails mehr und mehr zu "kennen". und das licht in sydney scheint wirklich einzigartig...

Kristina said...

hallo maria,
danke für diesen tollen post und alle anderen aus dem letzten jahr. ich finde deine bilder wunderbar und freue mich immer was neues von dir zu lesen... ich ziehe nun auch im november nach melbourne, von daher war es natürlich noch interessanter deine eindrücke und über gefühle zu lesen. ich habe schon oft weit weg von zu hause gewohnt, aber doch noch nie so weit weg wie australien... von daher mache ich mir auch sorgen wegen dem vermissen... aber ich freue mich auch auf all die neuen und schönen dinge in australien :)
liebe grüsse, kristina

Kate said...

Well I'm delighted that you came to Sydney! I'm so happy that you're enjoying your life here, despite the difficulties of missing home xxx

Cecilia said...

I'm only from Melbourne and living in Sydney for about 18 months - but I agree about the kookaburras! They're my morning wake up call! But they sound so pleasant I can't get annoyed at them, regardless of how tired I may be!

máni said...

happy first aussieversary! ;)
du bist so mutig, weil du ans andere ende der welt gezogen bist und schön, dass du es mit uns teilst!

Anna Emilia said...

Lovely to have your journey here with such beautiful photos of your views of streets and moments.

Thank you for the recipe of the lemon cake. I will turn it to vegan and enjoy some of the blueberries that I picked up yesterday soon.

Many hugs!

Marion said...

A year already ? Oh my ! Time flies !
Thank you for sharing you everyday life with us here, I'm always so looking forward reading your new adventures, hope it will last for a long time.
xx

MANDY said...

Happy one year Maria ... have so enjoyed sharing it with you !!!
(Oh and we will catch up for that coffee one day !!!)

Mary said...

i'm so glad you mentioned the coffee!
it's one of the things i really miss about new zealand :)

Anne said...

I have nothing to add to the other comments, but I just wanted to say hi and that your blog is such a favourite of mine. xx

Jule said...

ein wundervoller blog und so wundervolle bilder!
und man bekommt direkt lust den lemon cake nachzubacken! definitiv etwas, was ich demnächst mal ausprobieren werde! genauso wie den blog weiter zu verfolgen... :)
alles liebe! jule

----
http://until-morning.blogspot.com/

Kaylovesvintage said...

makes me miss my family at the blue Mountains..

enjoy...the town ..

shurupchik said...

Oh..I so understand what you mean. I realized reading your post, that Im already for 4 years in Germany and the time flies by so fast.
I miss my friends and family and my city a lot..but Im happy I have them =)
Congratulations on your one year (an by now 3 months anniversary =)

Amanda said...

Hi Maria,

I know this is an oldish post but I wanted to let you know that it was so great to read because it felt like I was reading something I could have written myself.
I'm from Sydney and can relate to all those things you described...but I don't live in Sydney anymore. I live in Vancouver and I totally understand how it feels to not be able to be a sister and a daughter and a friend.
It's hard and trying not to compare is really hard.
I've been gone for 2 yrs and it's still tough.
Thanks for this post and for your beautiful blog. I love seeing Sydney through your eyes.

Katyha said...

I just stumbled upon your blog today and it is lovely to see the words you have written. I am originally from Chile but have been here since I was a year old so this is my home. I agree, kookaburras have a lovely call but what I love the most are the currawongs. I could listen to them all day.

I am slowly going back through all your posts and I am enjoying myself tremendously. Lovely blog :)