....and I'm loving every bit of it.
I've been working non-stop for the last eight years almost. For the past couple of years I've been planning to take 3-6 months off (because anything less would've been too short) but I haven't had the opportunity and I don't have the financial cushion of falling back on a husband. Not yet. And I've been too chicken to give up my job without another in hand in the absence of a financial cushion. But I'm between jobs right now and with some clever planning and a little bit of luck, I've managed to squeeze in a month off. And I so need it given what lies ahead, but more on that later.
So as I said I've been thoroughly enjoying my time off. I wake up by 8.30-9 every day, pour over the gossip supplements of newspapers for hours, have a leisurely breakfast, laze around the house, take a shower, sleep, meet friends for lunch/coffee/dinner, go to book shops, work out, read, watch movies...and I could do this for the rest of my life! I will NOT get bored. It's just so nice to not worry about deadlines and revenues, slog over Excel sheets and presentations, fire fight, or rattle your brains over whether every member of your team is happy and is having their expectations met.
With the new job comes a new country....Australia!!!!! Sydney to be precise. Now the thing that I don't understand is, why do people have an opinion on a place without having been to it? My friends in Sydney and some friends who've visited the city recently have only good things to say about it. And there are some who've never been to Sydney but are going out of their way to tell me what a boring/dead place it is, based on accounts of their cousins/friends/whoever who didn't like the place at all. For all I know, they were most probably extremely homesick people or people who don't mingle with the locals of the place they migrate to, but keep looking for other Indians who they can celebrate Diwali Nights with.
No hard feelings against Indians in other countries or their Diwali Nights, but I feel the whole point of moving to another country is to integrate with the local population and experience things one hasn't experienced before.
To each his own though. I recently came across a person who didn't like Paris inspite of living there for 4 years! Paris, for Chrissake!!!! The reason - language and the lack of Indians. What can I say...it takes all kinds?
What I'm sure of is that if I haven't been to a place I'd keep my opinion to myself. At most, I'd tell the person that I've heard from people I know that it's not a great place to be, but I haven't experienced it myself so I could be wrong. I'd never talk as if I'm a veteran of the city!
Anyway, I may be infrequent at this space for a while given the impending move and the millions of errands that go with it. This post was primarily to share the news with you and to let you know that the party is in Oz :)
