No Reason to Stay Is a Good Reason To Go...: Happy Christmas

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been getting pretty homesick lately with the holidays coming and going. Thanksgiving was hard, seeing as it’s not even celebrated here in Australia, but Christmas has been even worse. I’ve been a bit moody lately, which I know hasn’t been any fun for either of my roommates…but I’d rather be mad than cry in front of them.

Sometimes it’s hard for me to even wrap my head around the fact that it’s Christmas right now since it’s summer here, and generally one hundred degrees! I’m not a fan of cold weather, but I do prefer a white Christmas. When I’m driving down the street, I might see one house with Christmas lights and decorations for every fifteen or twenty that I pass. And then there’s the fact that I’m about eight thousand miles away from my family! And trust me, that doesn’t make it any easier. I can’t tell you the last time anyone has missed Christmas in my family.

Little back story:

Growing up, and especially once we were all off in college, my dad has always tried to surprise us kids when he hadn’t seen us for a while. He loves driving, or at least doesn’t mind getting away from work for a couple days to come see us, but he always gives himself away when he starts asking too many questions about where we’re going to be or what are plans are for that particular period of time. You see, I’ve learned from the best, and I had this grand plan of flying home from Australia for a week to surprise my family for Christmas. I mean, who would’ve really expected that!? No one. Only my brother knew about my ‘potential’ surprise, I had to have somebody ask all the questions that I couldn’t!

I set up a Kayak alert to email me daily price changes in flights so that I could get the best possible fare home. Six weeks ago when I set the alert, prices were around $2700, a bit out of the price range I was willing to pay (not that I didn’t think seeing my family was worth that). Prices slowly started dropping, and would rise, and would drop again, but still they were a bit too high. So when my boss asked a month or so ago if I would be here over the holidays to work, I told her most likely yes.

First I want to say that I am EXTREMELY lucky to have the job that I have. I make way more than I expected to be making when I thought about working in Australia. Where I’m employed, if you work on a public holiday you get paid three times the normal rate, which is a big deal (especially for me since it’s pretty expensive living in Australia). And again, when my boss asked if I was going home for the holidays I told her I didn’t think I would be because it was still too expensive. She seemed relieved, so I was under the impression that I was going to be getting A LOT of work this week with it being Christmas (and Boxing Day) and knowing that most of the other people who work in the same program have families here to celebrate with.

Well, the roster came out for the week of Christmas and I only work TWO DAYS; not to mention only a couple hours on one of the public holiday days! I was particularly discouraged after seeing the roster because last week flight prices had been cut in half, and I was more than willing to pay that price to go home (with Aussie gifts in tow) but I had already committed to working by this point, and I’m not one who likes to go back on my word.

So instead, I’ll be spending Christmas here in Maitland, waking up at 2am to FaceTime my family while they open presents around the tree in Amarillo. It’s sad…but then again, who gets the chance to live in Australia for a year? Not many people. I just have to keep reminding myself to be thankful for this opportunity, and remember that I’ll be seeing my family in March :)

But until then, I’ll keep hanging out with this super cute Christmas pup: