still new and confused!

[Bushbaby]

Hi all!

Well I have come to Auss a year and a half ago, leaving all my beloved friends and family behind to joing my boyfriend. Its been amazing and hard, but am slowly making it on my own, though sometimes it feel like I have hit a wall. I am at the moment in a small town and finding it a little hard to meet new friends and get accepted by everyone and finding it exceptionally to find the most basic of jobs! Ah well...

Still, loving it here and hope you all enjoy it as much as I do.

[Bob]

Bendigo is where my mother's great uncle settled back in the 1880s on a 300 acre farm in Huntly, so that part of Victoria is where I've visited a little in the past.

It's tough being a newcomer to Australia, not knowing anybody outside of your circle of family and mates back home.

The first couple of years were the toughest for me when I went to the eastern States to live and work shortly after getting married.

Eventually, I got to know a few people from my church and the rest was plain sailing.

I found sports clubs, churches, organisations like Rotary, etc. to be a place where I could get to know a few folk.

Have you explored the option of working voluntarily, like in an Old Folk's Home, and I'm pretty sure that you will be seen as a willing worker and the word will go around with someone letting you know of a job coming up.

It's a good way, too, of getting out of the house and mixing with others for a while.

Also, send Mara a PM.

She is not light years away from you and may have some "inside" knowledge of that part of Victoria.

[Riekie]

It must be difficult for you. I'm assuming you are still young, and at that age a social life is of great importance, so I can imagine how difficult it must be for you. At my age (over 40 and over the hill... ) quiet moments and days without speaking to anyone is pure bliss!! After such a long time in Aus and still not able to make friends, you must feel desperate & lonely. How does your boyfriend experience all of this? Is he also struggling?

From what I read in your post, you are not working at the moment? Try not to be too fussy about the type of work you do - here in Aus you can do anything to earn an honest living and not be looked down upon. I am currently working in a field way way "inferior" to my skills & experience, but I'm loving it! It's good to have a laugh or a chat with someone other than my hubby & kids - even if I don't socialise with them after work. If you could find a job where you will be dealing with the public, even better! I just LOVE meeting heaps of new people every day and have mini-conversations with most of them - even share a joke or quirk every now & then. The money I earn is not much, but that is not what it's about - it's the interaction with other people and the feeling of belonging somewhere other than with my family, that I enjoy.

I'm very lucky to have made many friends here in Aus! Hope you'll soon find a job you'll love and meet many friends!!

[Mikej]

Try not to be too fussy about the type of work you do - here in Aus you can do anything to earn an honest living and not be looked down upon.

Hello Riekie, this is good to hear and I expected as much in Australia, and most of the rest of the world for that matter. Here in SA people are too materialistic and superior. In my limited travels I have yet to find a country where you find so many expensive cars on the road. It doesn't make sense.

In other countries you find a motor mechanic living next to a doctor or a truck driver next to a lawyer. Here in SA we tend to judge people not on their value as a person but rather on their material value.

Regards

Michael