Wow, has it really been 20 days?
I’m sorry for being this terrible at updating the website. Since last I wrote, the days have sort of blurred together and I have been on the roller coaster that is working as a door knocker in a foreign country.
My life right now is basically my job, as I am gone from home about 10-11 hours per day, although I only get 5-6 actual hours “on turf”, knocking doors. Working on comission can be tough as was proven to me last week when I got the feared donut, meaning a day without sales. Meaning a day without any income.
This was however the day after I recovered from the flu, spending four days in bed, using up two rolls of TP blowing my nose, as well as quite a few ibuprofens, a few doses of nasal spray and a couple of strepfens for my throat. I didn’t really mind spending a few days in bed, going through Band of Brothers, The Pacific and House of Cards in one go. I don’t know what I would do without my laptop down here. It does however feel really good to be back up and about.
After coming back from the flu, the days have gone better and better, but I still don’t know where the time has gone. I spent about 20 days in Orange, and that seemed an eternity – hunting rabbits, fencing, driving the quadbike, playing table tennis and going for joy rides. These 20 days seem more like a week, if that.
I guess it is time for me to stop pushing things into the future, such as cleaning my bike, going on joy rides, catching a movie and doing that backpacker stuff that isn’t work related. That being said, I’m still going to spend this (my one day of this week) in my bed/kitchen/tv-lounge/office.
One thing that might be interesting for you guys back home to hear about is how blind to the new environment you become after spending a few months overseas in a completely different climate. I get to talk to quite a few people in my job and everybody seems to have this idea that a backpackers greatest wish should be to see as much as possible of the country, and that this and that is so amazing. And you must see everything, or else you have basically failed.
Let me tell you though that after a month or two, you stop noticing the previously oh so cool gum trees, the huge bugs, the incredibly wide roads and other differences that at first were kind of baffling, and it all becomes pretty mundane. I can no longer tell if I really wish to go to Cairns or Perth or anywhere really. Mostly nowadays, I am just fed up with the UTE’s that 60% of the population seems do be driving and the brown dry grass that is everywhere on this dry island. I miss home, allemansrätt, proper food and middle class Sweden.
The way I’m reasoning now is mostly that as I am already here, I should make the most of it and go diving by the great barrier reef and/or take a trip to New Zealand but that’s mostly just because it’s so close. In my mind, I’d just as much enjoy taking a bike ride on our fantastic winding roads in Sweden as doing it down here.. But I’m wondering if I really would take the time if I was back home. In a way, I guess that back home, I’d quickly get just as blind to my surroundings, not realising how green the grass is, how fresh the air is, how little like chlorine the water tastes, nor how beautiful our forrests are. I’d just go about everyday life, same as here once I get into a routine and the times of adventure would become scarcer for each day.
At least down here, there’s still that part of me that knows I’m supposed to be a backpacker, and do those things that I wouldn’t do at home. But then there’s a question of how you define adventure; as I started this journey everything was an adventure, and because the basket of free time was huge, I filled it with hikes, work out sessions, joy rides and whatever opportunities were provided.
Everything was an adventure, and from the perspective of a Swedish security addict with a rather small zone of comfort, I guess it still is in a way. Just going to the supermarket for groceries is different from home, as it is all in English, each time you cross the road on the way there, the cars are coming from the wrong side. And the pedestrian crossing thingies don’t go “PFJOING PUTUTUTUTU” back home.
How much more proper adventure-adventures do I need to go on, to avoid failing at backpacking?
All of this being said, I do enjoy big parts of my life down here. I have not slept this well in years, and I suppose it is kind of nice not having any bills that needs to be paid regularly, nor any commitments other than work that I need to tend to.
I’m really curious as to if my new way of life down here will have an effect on how I’ll live my life when I get back, which will most definitely be some time this year.
Sorry for the novel like post, but I needed to compensate for the 20 days..
Spotify Song of the Day: Clean Bandit – Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne)