Antipodal Posting – Lessons We Learn
One of the commitments Nicole and I made
leaving Calgary was to change our lives in as many positive ways as we could.
To learn what we could, wherever we were. Adapting in such a way not only
facilitates our movements abroad, but also results in experiences that make
these moves enjoyable.
So far? Well…so far, so good. While there
is always room for improvement, we are finding living as expats rewarding and
full of rich experiences that we might have otherwise missed. However, there
have also been some unexpected results from this adventure. Most notably our general
awareness of the world around us.
On one hand this makes sense, after all
living abroad, in largely unfamiliar cities and countries, you don’t have the
same historical familiarity to draw upon as when we were in Calgary. There’s no
“remember that park when…” or “just down the street from Steve’s…” we simply
don’t have those benchmarks.
Now we navigate based upon posted names and
distances to the nearest 10m. In fact we’ve often found ourselves lost, staring
a signs only to be told, “Yeah, mate, it used to be called something else….”
Pure awesomeness.
 |
| How Far We Have Travelled - Spencer's first art interpretation projection |
We strain to catch the local nuances in
vernacular, accents and cultural references. A challenge more difficult than we
anticipated and often I think how taxing it must be for immigrants that also
have to struggle with a new language as well as new geography and nuances.
Among all the changes that we’ve
experienced, I continue to be surprised how much and how often Nicole and
Spencer change. Not much of a surprise with Spencer, she’s growing and
absorbing information like a dry sponge, and because of the combination of
travel, multinational friends and school we are besieged with interesting
conversations. Conversations such as “if the sea formed the earth, where did
the water come from?” or “does Canada have a North and South Island like New
Zealand does?” to discussions of the differences between lo-fi and hi-fi
recordings (Spencer doesn’t like lo-fi). There are also more introspective
discussions like when Spencer shared her feelings of a painting we have on our
wall.
For Spencer it has reminded her of a recent
visit to Ayers Rock / Uluru National Park. In particular the colour of the sky
as dawn faded and then again later as dusk settled. The tracks across the
painting, which I've always assumed was a grain field in Western Canada, (something
Spencer has only a limited reference to), reminds her rather of the sands in
the desert coming alive in the light and the paths that she spotted during our
trip. Amazing little brain that always astounds us with how much is going on in
there, clearly something she gets from her mother.
Spencer also inquired one day about the
meaning of “fitness”, resulting in the “Princess Fitness Challenge”. A
discussion that I’ve managed to manipulate into a renewed commitment to eat
better and exercise more.
 |
| Racing the Sunset |
"What’s fitness?" She asked.
"The ability to do more without
getting tired," was the best I could articulate.
“So like I could walk further without
complaining and needing a rest?”
“Exactly.”
"OK. Let’s get more fit so if I go to
Disney I can see all the Princesses without getting tired!"
With that, we’ve become committed. Like a
puppy that wants to play in the park regardless of the weather; in all the
lessons that are at my disposal from Pavlov to Icarus to Frankenstein, I’ve
failed to avoid creating a monster.
What started as a 4km (~2.5mi) scooter ride
to our surf beach with a race up the stairs at the end has now become further
than 6km (~3.5 mi) effort at a sub 50 min 10km pace, with Spencer wanting to
chat most of the way.
 |
| Princess Challenge in full flight |
Rather than accepting the prevailing
position that we should discourage our daughters from being drawn to
princesses, I’ve taken a different stance. Princesses don’t have to be silly
and vapid, they can be kind and responsible and they can inspire us to be more
than we currently are, plus there will be lots of examples from Nicole about
how successful you can be by using your brain.
What Spencer doesn’t know is that we’ve
projected a Disney trip to something “after her next birthday” but is actually
going to happen during our return from our upcoming trip to Calgary. Next week.
She doesn’t know, which will be part of
the fun of landing in LA. So please, please, please don’t say anything. We’re
telling you here as part of the fun for everyone else.
Strangely, I also continue to be surprised
how far Nicole has come (and also that she’s kept me with her the entire time).
Always a capable engineer, Nicole has and continues to elevate her game. Growing
from drilling technically complex wells in Alberta to leading a small team in Brisbane,
Nicole is now managing a larger team of drilling and completions engineers as
well as managing and mentoring the graduate program. The graduate program is
something that she’s actually championed and is designed to take baby propeller
heads from university and turn them into fully functioning super geeks. I
suppose there are never enough engineers around.
Other lessons are less meaningful, but
interesting all the same, such as that from our German Au Pair who demonstrated
why the Germans are destined to dominant the world markets. A model of
organization and pragmatism; she gave Nicole birthday gift of a night at the
movies. Her $30 gift certificate translated into an $80 babysitting gig.
Kirsten is now in charge of our investing advice.
In the end,
we’re living in a beautiful country. A place that while it’s raining and cloudy
a lot of the time, it’s blessed with more rainbows here than at a Pride Parade.
It seems like there are lessons and rainbows behind more clouds than you’d
guess.
I’ve also
learned that I like sharing these experiences with all of you.
 |
| Rainbow Capital of the World |
 |
| Rough Seas |
 |
| Rains so often you hardly notice |
Posts
