My life-changing experience

PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY that a person can cope with only one of the following within a twelve-month period: moving to a new country, marriage or having a baby. I experienced all three of these in less than a year, from the day I jumped on a plane on a hot Ukrainian summer afternoon and landed half a world away in the middle of an Australian winter.

From early childhood what I imagined about Australia was everlasting summer, swimming, surfing and lying in the sun. Can you imagine my disappointment when I stepped off the plane and was nearly blown away by a strong Tasmanian wind? I couldn’t understand why everybody on the plane was looking at me with astonishment. Soon I realised I was the only one dressed in a light summer skirt and t-shirt, whereas the rest of the passengers were wearing warm jackets, hats and gloves.

Moving from one country to another is a life-changing experience. All kinds of emotions are involved: fear, excitement, sadness, hope, disappointment and happiness. I feared that having been brought up in an eastern country I wouldn’t be able to adjust to a western lifestyle. I discovered my disappointment that after five years of studying English at University I was not able to understand a single sentence. I cried tears of sadness when I waved goodbye to my family and friends in Ukraine. When would I see them again? Leaving my whole previous life behind was the hardest part; it was more than just moving countries, it was moving lives. But despite my sadness I was bursting with excitement, looking forward to meeting my new homeland. I was full of hope that I would be welcomed in my new home country and I was extremely happy to discover that my hopes had come true — every person I met was kind and friendly. They helped me to forget about my homesickness and create my new life in a new country.

Everything was different

My first days in Australia were very hard but also very interesting. Everything was different: food, water, air and even light. I fell in love with Tasmanian air. It was clean and clear. In Kharkov, a big industrial city where I had lived my whole life, you could literally see the air. Little particles of dust, dirt and smoke flew everywhere, landing on your body and clothes and you could even feel them in your lungs. After a day spent outside, your face was covered in small dots which looked like tiny black freckles. Breathing there was a real effort. Now after taking a few breaths of fresh, clean, Tasmanian air, I felt light-headed. I closed my eyes and breathed like a child enjoying some sweet treat for dessert. The air actually smelled of sea, mountains and forests instead of dirt, dust, smoke and machinery.

It wasn’t only the pure air that impressed me. Bright shining Aussie light — I have never seen such beautiful light in my life. Was I in paradise? Another Australian wonder was the sky. Deep blue and so close you could almost touch it with your hand. It looked like I was to live a life in the Garden of Eden.

Unfortunately this wasn’t the case. The first thing I saw when I entered my new Australian house, on the outskirts of Hobart, was a huge spider on the wall. The next day I nearly stepped on a little brown scorpion on the carpet. There were huge ants that looked like cartoon monsters, caterpillars, bugs and lizards — a variety of unexpected life in our own garden. I never knew that creatures like these even existed. I can’t be blamed for my ignorance. I had lived my whole life on the third floor of a five-storey apartment block in the middle of a large metropolis.

I always considered myself to be the perfect city girl until I was nearly run over by a car travelling on the “wrong side” of the road. Cars on the left-hand side — isn’t that wrong? I had to study traffic and road rules right from the very beginning, to feel confident when crossing the street.

The crowning moment of this mountain of new experiences and mixed emotions was that I had become pregnant. It was both the happiest and most difficult time of my whole life. Moving to a foreign country is hard by itself, but having a baby in a foreign country is twice as hard. I was lucky to have a loving, caring husband and supportive friends. My new baby is my joy and blessing, my gift from God and my source of inspiration. She has made me complete and happy as I had never been before. Her smile makes me forget about all the hardships I had to endure adjusting to a new life in a new country. On the other hand, does it really matter where you live? Moving to Australia made me realise that there is nothing more important than family, friends and people who care about you. No matter if they live next door, across the road, in the next town, or half a world away.