Downtime

Our company left us on April 29th, and then we spent the next four weeks trying to get back to normal.  The kids went back for the second term of school.  Sean and I went about settling into the new apartment and getting back into our routine.  We began to eat a little healthier since a month of "vacation eating" had left our clothes feeling a little tight.  Basically, life proceeded on in a fairly ordinary pattern.  We needed a little downtime from all the recent excitement.

We had a few happenings during those weeks though.  The first event was Carter's cross country carnival on May 1st at Primrose Park.  While at the park, they split into their four houses (Carter is in Fraser House) and then hung out and waited until it was their turn to run.  The 8 year olds had to run 2 kilometers (1.25 miles), which was 2 laps around the perimeter of the park.  Carter did very well!

Carter going towards the finish line!

A couple of days later, on May 3rd, Aubrey had her cross country carnival.  The younger kids stayed on the school grounds and ran around a marked off path.  I'm not sure what her distance was, but they ran around the entire school yard once.  They split the Kindy class into 3 groups based on height.  Surprise, surprise, Aubrey was in the tallest group.  She did a great job as well!

Aubrey is sitting with her class waiting for her turn to run.  On the day of the carnival the kids can either wear their sport uniform or a shirt of their house color.  Aubrey is dressed in blue as she is in Fraser house (same as Carter).

There she goes!  (on the far left)

Going for the finish line!

Most of the other events during this time revolved around friends leaving Sydney.  That has been a theme lately.  I have mentioned this before, but I was thrilled that it was so easy to meet people when we first moved to Sydney.  It was nice to find people so welcoming and to immediately find groups to join.  My social calendar was quickly filled with bush walks, coffee dates, and dinner parties.  Almost all of my new friends were expats.  I didn't think much about it.  Actually, it made conversation easier.  No matter what country they were from, we had the common bond of knowing what it was like to move here from a foreign place.  We knew what it was like to be far from family and to learn to make a new "family" with friendships.  For example, my friend Diane and her family lived upstairs in the same apartment building.  Aubrey and Carter loved going up to visit their apartment and their teenage daughters often babysat for us.  We helped each other out of some sticky situations.  They were our people to call in the middle of the night if there had been an emergency.  It made the 9,000 mile move away from our blood family so much easier.  

The down side is, after a little over a year of being here, that security blanket is almost gone.  Most of my original group of American friends that I made within the first weeks of moving here have now moved on themselves.  And it isn't just my American friends that are going; I am feeling it amongst all my groups of friends.  I am learning a hard reality of what the life of an expat is all about.  It goes against my Midwestern roots.  Midwesterners tend to like to put their roots down and get comfortable.  But, you can't put those roots down when you are living a transient life.  You see friends come and go.  Hopefully, a few are able to stay the duration with you, but nothing is guaranteed.  You have to open yourself up to the possibility of meeting your new best friend at any social event.  Sometimes that is great.  I have met some awesome people that have become great friends in very random places.  Sometimes, though, it can feel draining to always be trying to make new connections.  This is a fine balance that I am constantly trying to engineer. 

I did not take many pictures at the going away gatherings we've attending during the last month.  I did manage to snap a couple though.  One was at a park for the last playdate with Carter's friend, Jian.  His family does still live in Sydney, but they moved a little further out of the city.  Carter misses Jian and I dearly miss seeing his mom, Anni, and his baby sister, Hannah, at school every day.

Climbing the tree at Brothers Park at Jian's last playdate before moving

Another photo is at the Butlers' going away party.  Diane Butler has been like a big sister to me.  Since I have four big sisters in my own family, that is a connection I really cherish.  She took me under her wing when we first moved to Sydney.  I am forever grateful.  I look forward to reuniting with the Butlers in the future when we are all living back in the US.

Carter and Aubrey with MacKenna (on the far right) and some of MacKenna's friends.   Carter and Aubrey adore MacKenna and would often beg us to let her babysit. 

This is a recall of a picture I had formerly put on the blog.  This is a portion of the "family" we created in Australia.  The Willis family, the Butler family, and the Thoe family.  By August the Thoe family will be the only ones in this photo left in Australia.  We will miss all of you!

I feel as though I am in a rebooting phase of my life in Sydney.  A lot of my close friends have left or in the process of leaving.  I am reevaluating my life here and what I want the rest of my time in Australia to look like.  It may be very different from my first 14 months here.  Some things will not change though.  I still want to be open to new opportunities and live every day to the fullest. And I hope to teach Carter and Aubrey to do the same.