Settling into Australia again

It's amazing to me to recognise that it's already a week since we left Japan! 

What has re-entry been like this time?

Very smooth. We have, in fact, been in Australia quite recently: three times in the last 18 months! Once for a wedding, once for a new granddaughter, and once for a holiday. So it doesn't feel much like we've been away since our last home assignment two years ago. When I remember what a stressful thing home assignments have been in the past, this seems very easy. 

We haven't had to buy new phones or sign up for internet, we haven't had to find and furnish a new house, we haven't had to enrol our kids in a new school or settle them into a land that they hardly know, and we haven't had to find a new car. We're very blessed, for about half of these 11 weeks, to be able to occupy part of the bottom floor of our friends' house and share the use of one of their cars.

Any shocks?

Not really, not yet...re-entry shocks mostly happen when you've been away a longer period. They usually comprise of: 

incremental changes within society and friends that add up over the years + 

incremental changes within ourselves while we're away that we don't notice +

big life changes (e.g. health changes, lifestyle changes, family changes).

Because we've been in Australia four times in the last three years, most of the changes are still incremental, not shocking. And none of our immediate family or closest friends have endured large changes since we saw them last.

Starting (and finishing) faster

The biggest difference is that we've had to charge into other home assignment jobs at a faster rate. We finished work on Tuesday and left on Wednesday. In the last three days we've already had our eyes checked and started on other medical checks. We've got our first speaking engagement this Sunday and an open "day" on Saturday. We had done some work on the former before we finished work in Japan and have been finessing that presentation these last couple of days. Which is a good thing, because June contains at least 12 more official or casual engagements.

Possibly the biggest challenge of this home assignment is making sure we take time to rest, especially because we don't have much transition time at the other end either: within 24 hours of our last speaking engagement we'll be on a plane and within a couple of days we'll both be back at work in Japan. 

It's definitely not what I would advise a younger colleague to do. 

While I'm in Australia I'm still carrying some responsibilities from Japan. This morning I was emailing with our magazine team and this afternoon I have a 90-minute meeting with a new OMF team in Japan and David's keeping his eye on school and OMF emails also, hoping that nothing major arises. 

We're used to a fairly regular 8–5, Monday to Friday routine. Home assignment always challenges that, with weekends and evenings being the most common time we're officially "on the job".

Thankfully we have two weeks of holiday organised in the middle of all this craziness, much needed breaks!

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying slower mornings (not up at 6 am most mornings like we are in Japan), more time with my husband, and more flexible time to spend with friends and family. And time to absorb the Australian ambiance on a front verandah!