We moved to Australia on 18 April 2022. This is the start of the rest of my life, all over again. I’ve lived in Australia now for two months.
I’ve accepted a new senior software engineering role with a Rails-oriented Australian software company. I couldn’t be happier to be working for this company. When we still lived in the USA, I did a first-look at ruby positions in Australia. One Australian company stood out to me, so I emailed them. The company and I kept in contact for over a year. After many interviews, it’s the first company I found a year and a half ago. When you go looking for a good company and find one, trust your gut. I started my new position in mid-July 2022.
We live in the central business district (CBD) of Adelaide, South Australia. My wife and I always wanted to live in a vibrant metropolitan downtown, but most American cities aren’t built for that. Adelaide is the perfect place to fulfil a good life wish-list item.
Getting used to Life in Australia has been interesting. We finally bought a television for the living room of our apartment. I like Australian TV so far. :) We need a car where we live so then “downtown life” has been amazing. Two or three times a week we walk our shopping trolley to the grocery store 300 metres away, shop, and bring it home. Hearing the city noises each weekend is wonderful. Sirens are rare. Mostly I hear joy when I sit on our balcony.
There are millions of shops and restaurants within a 5 - 10 minute walk from our apartment building. I can’t wait to start going out to them more. City life does not disappoint.
Of course, I miss my family and friends. Talking to family and friends is hard in my new timezone. It’s 5 PM for them when I wake up. In my day, I have American evenings and mornings later. We talk enough, but the “off hours” are lonely when it’s prime time. But that’s okay. I’ve made friends here. Good people are nice when getting comfortable. I don’t have to tell you that. Relax the shoulders, release the tension the back, breathe deeply through the nose and be grateful.
My wife’s family has been a huge help in getting us settled in Adelaide. We couldn’t have done it without them. They pitched in and really saved us energy, money, time, and some of our sanity. Big thank you to them.
To the readers of this, I hope you are well.