My apologies for this letter coming to you so late. I knew there was no hope in getting this out in time for Christmas, so think of this as more of a “here’s to a great 2010” letter.
2009 started with a really, really big question for Chris and I’s future…what was next? He was graduating in May and therefore, no more student visa. We had discussed me moving to Australia before, but now it was time to seriously think about how we would make it happen. We had timelines to figure out, money to save, and bills to pay. We finally settled on me getting a 1 year working holiday visa and coming over in mid-October, which, as most of you know, is what happened. Money was the BIG factor as I really had none to spare. So first order of business à moving somewhere cheaper! I lived in downtown Minneapolis from June 2007 until June 2009 and loved every minute of it! I had a big fancy apartment with great amenities, my friends all lived really close, and I was 3 blocks from work. It was great, but with one huge problem – I couldn’t afford it! Chris’s family came to visit in early May to see him graduate from Concordia University in St. Paul. They also got to meet my family for the first time in our 5 year relationship. Upon their departure though, it was down to business. We packed everything up, sent 80% of my ‘stuff’ home to be stored at mom and dad’s and moved the remaining 20% to a wonderful little house in a northern suburb called Fridley owned by one of my very generous co-workers at Target. I rented a bedroom from her for the months of June through the end of September. It was totally worth it! In those 4 months, I was able to save enough to get my overused credit cards mostly paid off and pay for my own plane ticket, travelers insurance, and visa with some money to spare. I think most importantly though, since I was no longer living 3 blocks from work, I was forced to leave work at a reasonable time (thank you roomie!). The 2 plus years I was working at Target were absolutely great, don’t get me wrong, I learned a ton, got some really great experience for my resume, and met some of the best people ever, however, it really took its toll on me. To be quite honest, I was burnt out. Chris left to go back to Australia at the beginning of June, so I had the entire summer of 2009 to myself to really reflect on what I wanted in life. I started with this fact: I was 24 and a workaholic.
I knew this is not what I wanted in life. I did know that I wanted to be with Chris and that he was in Australia indefinitely, but I also had this huge looming cloud of sadness over my head at the thought of leaving my friends and family. I just didn’t know if I could do it! Also, I like to think I have an adventurous spirit, but to be honest, I HATE change! For example, every time they would gather us at work to announce that someone was leaving the team due to a promotion or leaving the company I would get an enormous sense of dread…’oh no… we are losing the one person that knew everything that was going on….the new person is going to be SO difficult to train in….what if they can’t hack it….what if I can’t hack it???’ I realized though….everything always turned out all right, so what was I so scared of? I had a good chat with my lovely parents and to my huge relief they supported me 110% to go to Australia. They said I needed to be happy and if that was what would make me happy at this stage in my life than to go for it. I absolutely could not have made that decision without their love and support and for that I am eternally grateful to them. (love you mom and dad!)
By August, I was ready to set the ball in motion. I told Target that I had bought a plane ticket to Australia and my last day was going to be September 30th. I was scared to death! I’ve never really had to quit a good job… it usually just worked out that I was graduating (from high school, SWCC, or ISU) and moving somewhere else and thus had to quit… an easy excuse since it wasn’t really expected of me to stay. I guess this was a similar situation, but so, so, so much harder. I had a little moment of anxiety before I put in my notice… did I really want to leave a really good job? Would I ever make enough money to cover my bills? What if I couldn’t find a job once I got to Australia? I’m really good at working myself into a little ball of stress! Well, plane ticket was already bought so I was going, ready or not.
Those last weeks flew by and before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to my Minnesota ‘family.’ There were lots of laughs, lots of tears, and lots of memories made. You know who you are and please know that I truly, truly miss you all! Dad came up to Minneapolis on Thursday October 1st and moved me home to Iowa on October 2nd. During a stop at a gas station in southern Minnesota, when I tried to buy us each a to-go cappuccino, my father so graciously said he would pay as I was now “unemployed and homeless.” Holy s***! Talk about freaking me out, thanks dad! This was the first time in my working life that I didn’t have the next job lined up and the first time since I moved away to college in August of 2003 that I was moving back in with mom and dad. This was the first time in my life that I didn’t really have a plan!
Anyway…I spent the first 17 days of October spending the last bits of time with my friends and family. It went way too quick. I know I did not get to see everyone I wanted to see, nor did I get to spend as much time as I would have liked with those that I did get to see. I barely had time to unpack before I was repacking what I could fit into my 2 new giant suitcases that I bought for this new chapter of my life. If you know what my closet looked like, then you will not be surprised to hear that despite my best efforts… I ended up with 3 suitcases, a huge backpack, and a rolling carry-on busting at the seams, instead of my planned 2 suitcases and light carry-on. Very wishful thinking.
I arrived in Australia on October 19th (my lil bro’s 18th birthday!) and flew head first into my new life. First up, after finding Chris in the very busy Sydney airport, was climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. AMAZING! This was a little surprise from my lovely boyfriend…a kind of belated anniversary gift since we did not get to spend it together.
I arrived in Canberra on Tuesday night, October 20th, to a very warm and loving welcome of Chris’s mom, dad, brother, and soon-to-be sister-in-law. I think knowing that I was automatically going to have a great support system and people that cared about me here made this decision a lot easier. I hit the ground running and was going on job interviews 2 days later. I ended up having about 4 job offers from retailers at the major city shopping center, but while this line of work may have better supported my experience and education, I was looking for a little bit of a change and, to be honest, more money than a retailer could offer. I interviewed with a recruitment agency on the 22nd and had a call from them the following Wednesday wondering if I could temp for them for a few days. At the end of my 3 days temping, I had a job offer as a team coordinator with Kowalski Recruitment, a locally, family owned recruitment agency. It is such a drastic change from the large corporation that Target is; I work with 7 other people. My job is basically to find qualified people to apply for job openings, set up interviews, and inform the candidates of the outcome. As a stipulation of my visa, I am only allowed to work for a business for 6 months at a time, so I am on a contract through the beginning of May. I feel so fortunate to have found a good job so quickly and am forever thankful to the Kowalski family for taking a chance on the ‘American’ girl.
The holidays were definitely unusual. The Kimptons very graciously held a Thanksgiving dinner for me to make me feel more at home. It was DELICIOUS food and we played the same games that my family plays, but for some reason it just didn’t quite feel the same when it was 100 degrees outside. For Christmas, Lorraine and Andy (Chris’s parents) were so excited to have all the children and significant others finally home for Christmas that they took us on a big trip to Northern Queensland to a resort in Noosa, right on the beach. So this was Christmas day for me:
I heard there were blizzards at home….at least you had a white Christmas, right?
So, there it is…a quick summary of 2009…well as quick as 3 pages single spaced can be I guess. Before I jump into plans for 2010, I would like to leave you with a few of the lessons I learned in 2009:
1. Chill out! Life does not have to be as complicated as I sometimes like to make it.
2. Work to live, don’t live to work.
3. Make the most of the time you have with friends and family…it is quality of the time, not the quantity that matters in the end.
So, looking forward to 2010!!! I will be turning a quarter of a century old this year…totally weird when said like that, but I’m looking forward to officially entering my ‘mid-twenties.’ I do not have any solid plans yet for this year and you know what… I am okay with that. What I do know is I will be coming home May 19th for a couple weeks to celebrate my dad’s birthday, my little brother’s high school graduation, and be a bridesmaid in one of my best friend’s weddings. I hope to see as many friends and family as possible as well so keep your calendars open!
Outside of this…only time will tell. Chris and I are just going to dedicate the year to saving money and taking little trips when we can. Without setting any definite parameters, I have set a few goals for 2010 that I would like to leave you with:
1. Live a more eco friendly life. I have always been interested in all things ‘green,’ but realized I haven’t really been doing all I can to make a difference. This needs to change…now!
2. Live a more healthy lifestyle (I’ve kind of fallen off the eat healthy/workout train and would like to get back on pronto)
3. Pay the last pesky amount off my credit card (and never use a credit card again!)
4. Learn something new…I’m thinking another language or a computer course of some sort.
5. Read something interesting… Chris bought me a book for Christmas called Dreaming of Dior. It shows pictures of designer clothing from the last 200 years that someone has in their personal collection and tells the history behind each piece. I loved that I was actually learning something while enjoying a really good read.
6. Don’t buy needless things!!! I want to have less of a focus on material possessions in my life… I only have the capacity of 3 suitcases to live out of anyway.
To all of my loved ones… I hope you are all well and happy. I wish you nothing but the absolute best in life in 2010 and beyond. Please keep in touch and check out my blog for a lot more pictures and stories. I am really trying to keep it up to date, with little success at this point, but I am going to do my best this year!
Much Love, Amanda
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