There's No Place Like Home...

Long story short: I was terrified of the movie “The Wizard of Oz” as a kid. I always wondered why you hear the same thing from parents: “Oh that movie scared me when I was little. Here, Junior, you should watch it!” And, sure enough, it scared Junior, who is now probably showing it to his/her kids, making the same comment about being scared.
But as much as I dislike the movie, I could not think of a better way to end my blog posts here than to say, “There’s no place like home.” For those of you who don’t know, Australia is often referred to as “Oz.” So it just seems to be quite fitting, really. (I really just wanted to show off my creativity. Accountants don’t get to refer to their work as “creative” very often, without getting into legal trouble.)
It has been quite a journey. Thinking back to arriving here in mid-June, it never crossed my mind that I would one day be saying the following: 98 total days, 70 work days, and approximately 60 peanut butter sandwiches later, I am returning to Charlotte. And if you extend the tally until the time when I actually leave here on 07 October, it will be 111 days spent overseas. I will be just 10 days short of being gone for four months. All I can say is wow.
I don’t know where the time has gone! There is still a lot that I have yet to see and do over here. As you all know, I will be traveling for the next 10 days or so, trying to take in as much as I possibly can. But I know that I will definitely be up for a trip back here in the next couple of years. So if any of you are up for it, let me know!
I have said it before, but just to make sure everyone’s question is answered: Yes, I have had a wonderful time over here. But yes, I am ready to come home. I have met some great people, and I now have friends from several countries around the world. And yes, I am really going to miss all of them. Hopefully I will meet up with some of them later in life. At the same time, I know there are several of these new friends that I will probably never see again. And that’s fine. I guess in some way, I have plenty of people who were friends from years ago back in the US that I will probably never see again. Sometimes we run across them on a fluke, but not very often. So I will just hold out hope that I will stay connected with all of my friends from Australia through email, and maybe I will see them again soon.
With all of that said, I can easily say that I have really missed all of you who are reading this blog. Maybe a month ago, a friend of mine asked me what some of the things were that I missed most from back home. Now, I told her that the friends and family thing was an obvious, so I wasn’t going to include that one. And, of course, I miss my cats. It’s not quite the same to go to sleep at night without JJ trying to curl up either on my legs or pawing at my face, trying to get my attention. (Although I will say that I have been stretching out like crazy across the bed here, since I have no cats to share it with!)
Other than friends and family, I’d say an obvious thing I have missed is also some of the food. I fully intend to hit the Bojangles on my way home from the airport for a biscuit and some sweet tea. And Lupie’s will be one of my first restaurant stops the week I get back. Absolutely, I have been missing the food I am used to having full access to back home. I have yet to see a green bean over here, which is my number one favorite. (When cooked in fatback, of course.)
But aside from what I would say are the things I am “expected” to miss, there are still some of the little things that I have really missed over here that I can’t wait to get back home to. For example, I come home from work at night, and half of the time I end up talking out loud to myself, just out of habit. (Talking is the habit; not talking to myself. Although I do talk to myself some at work, usually using expletives. Those of you who have worked with me can probably attest to hearing it.) But being able to come home and either talk to Sally about my day or to call one of you is something I just can’t do over here. The time difference makes for either very late night or early morning phone calls. I can’t think of a word to describe it. Not so much lonely, as I always have stuff to do to keep me occupied. Maybe just "quiet." And you all know that I’m not one who would be described as “quiet.”
What else? I miss my recliner back home where I fall asleep on the couch on Sunday afternoons while watching football. Wait, who am I kidding? I fall asleep pretty much every night at 9.00 for 30 minutes. I miss doing that. (The couch here is just flat out uncomfortable. It is physically impossible for me to nap on it. And trust me, I have tried.)
I miss going out to lunch or going to the grocery store and running into people I know. I can’t think of many weeks that go by where I don’t bump into someone and spend a few minutes catching up at some random place in Charlotte. Or walking into a restaurant and having the waiter/waitress or the owner know you.
And speaking of lunch, I miss going out to lunch with people. As I mentioned before, I have had my fill of peanut butter sandwiches. (I have had my fill of Asian food and chicken and rice dinners, as well.) One of the things I have mentioned about the Sydney office is that most people bring their lunch and rarely go out. I have gone out to lunch a handful of times with some people here, but for the most part, I have my lunch packed and ready to go when I leave in the mornings. While I admit that I am probably saving a good bit of cash by making my lunch every day, I am ready to go out to lunch with friends and enjoying an hour away from the office. Just a little break to chat and laugh before getting back into the grind.
I mentioned saving money by eating in… One of the things I miss is the low cost of living! I am ready to stop paying $2 for a bottle of water, a coke, or a candy bar. And $7 a pound (okay, $15 a kilogram) for chicken is killing me! Not to mention $20 for a pizza for one or an uncooked steak, $20 for a dozen KK assorted doughnuts (I refuse to pay that), $6 for a side of fries, and $6 for a beer? Whatever I saved in lunch, I am sure I blew through in dinners and nights out. I can’t wait to get back to the land of blue plate specials!
It might sound a little silly, but I also miss walking through the office back home, and having just about everyone say hello. As I mentioned to you guys before, this office is a bit less social than back home. Not that I expect everyone to be chatty. But a simple “Hello” when passing in the hall would be nice. (It happens some here, don’t get me wrong. But typically only if you really know the person you are passing.) In the Charlotte office, I tend to be more social, and end up stopping and talking to at least one person as I pass through the office at any given time. And I kind of miss it. The smaller office where I know everyone and can have random discussions with anyone who works there is probably a big thing that I have missed while being over here. I have friends here, but it’s just not the same. I think it’s that comfortable feel that you really can’t get in an office with 200 people who take up two floors of a large office building.
Hopefully everyone understands what I mean now when I say I have missed a lot of things. Things that I probably took for granted while living in Charlotte. Things it took my being apart from for me to realize how important they were to me in my day-to-day routine. Which means that I have clearly missed all of you!
So now that I have gotten through all of the sappy stuff, I guess I should start wrapping this final post up. But I have one final entertaining story (to me, anyway) to share with you as I go:
As I was walking to the train station last night, I saw that there were new banners up in downtown Sydney. It is a new social campaign for the month of October, I think. I can’t decide if the banner was funny because it was insensitive or because someone just clearly didn’t think through what was written. But in big letters, attached to light poles throughout the city, are the words: “Remember… Dementia Awareness Week.” Very nice. Remember about dementia. Why don’t we also put banners up that say something like “Run to your local support group for people with prosthetic legs” or “When you’re hot this summer, let’s remember burn victims.” Terrible. But I have to admit, it made me laugh…
All right. I really am winding up now. I think Kim is going to come for my computer soon! I have my exit interview in a few minutes, so I might be told to just hit the road when it is over and done.
Okay, here’s the deal. Once I turn in my computer this afternoon, I am pretty much cut off of Internet access. So I doubt I will have any more posts for you guys until I get back to the US. I will make sure Sally and I take a lot of pictures from New Zealand, Melbourne, and the Reef. And I will put up some stories and pictures of our vacation adventures once I get back home and can access my blog site.
Several people have asked me to keep this blog page going once I get back, just for entertaining stories. I have told everyone that the only reason these stories are funny is because I am in another country. But we’ll see, I guess. With that in mind, here’s the deal: I will try to continue to keep the blog site going for a little while after I get back home. Mostly because I am sure you all want to hear the funny stories of my looking the wrong way when crossing the street or trying to get used to driving on the right side of the road again. So I will keep the posts sporadically updated for a little while when I get back. We’ll see how long it lasts…
All right, everyone! I am wrapping up. I’ll be out of pocket for the next two weeks (although you can still try to catch me on email throughout the trip). The next time I talk to you guys, I will be back in the US! WOO HOO!
So I guess I’ll close out the same way I started this incredible journey: I will talk to you all “on the flip side!”