First of all - sorry for the lack of blogposts. I was quite busy and didn't find the time to actually sit down and write something worth reading. But here I am: Sitting in the 40 degree hot
Parkes (5 hours westerly from Sydney, where the grandma of my host family lives) while eating some german chocolate that my family sent me over.
What should I say: As you can imagine, Australian Christmas is quite different to the one I used to know from Germany. Despite the fact, that the difference in temperature is 35 degrees, there
are some other weird things that sound not very chrismassy to me. Let’s start with the perhaps strangest thing: Christmas is NOT on the 24th of December, but on the 25th. So instead of getting
ready, doing your hair and dressing up for Christmas Eve, Australian people would just go straight out of bed (IN THEIR PYJAMAS), hair as messy as the night before, and open their christmas
stockings. Yep, stockings. They don't celebrate the 6th of December (that we know as Nikolaus) where kids have to clean their shoes to get some sweets, but have it on the SAME day as christmas -
weird, isn’t it? But honestly it was really cool to unpack a stocking. Because you’re putting your hand inside and you get out lots and lots of little presents and every time you get your hand
out again it is a new little surprise. Each stocking is filled with personalized presents for each person. But one thing they all had in common (and I am not speaking of chocolate): Everyone had
some underwear in their stocking.
Okay, enough of stockings and undies. Of course they get other presents, too. Well, all the things that are too big for a stocking I guess. And that process is pretty similar to the german one.
All the kids are super excited and just rip the wrapping paper apart, look at their new toy with bright shiny eyes, press it against their chest, tell their parents that „this is what they always
wanted!!!“ and then put it away to unpack another present. (Admit it, we all were like this). After unboxing it’s time for the kids to play with their new toys and to eat breakfast. Or to eat
breakfast while playing with their new toys and dipping their new toy truck into their cereal.
After the the rest of the family has arrived, there are more presents to open and of course more food to be eaten. You could say, that after breakfast starts a non-stop-eating-marathon for the
next few days. And whenever it’s time for the next meal you’ll still feel full from the day before. But I guess this is a universal thing.
In Germany there is no standard christmas meal, it depends in the family tradition. It’s the same in Australia. My host family decided to have some hot things as well as some cold things on the
buffet (the picture) and even though there were a lot of salads I found some nice things to eat and I was really full afterwards. (Or should I say the next two days?)
I guess the rest of the day was (besides eating) meeting the other family members, playing some games, telling old stories and just having a good time. We didn't spend a lot of time outside
because it was just too hot and we were very thankful for the air conditioning inside. But around 8pm, when the sun slowly set and it got a bit cooler, my host dad took me out to look for some
kangaroos. And what should I say. They were literally almost in our backyard! We walked like 5 minutes before we could see them. And a few actually had Joeys (name for baby kangaroos) and their
pouch - how cute is that??? (see pictures!)
When it came to nighttime and it got dark outside I could not believe my eyes: Due to the flatness of the Outback and that there are no mountains, the sky seems ENDLESS and the stars were so
bright and clear, there were no city lights to reduce their beauty. It was stunning. You could actually see the Milky Way! But you can’t spend a long time outside at night, because mozzies will
eat you and you can’t see where you’re going. And around here you should be very aware on what you stepping, because there are things on the ground called „catheads“. They are tiny and wooden
with lots of long spikes and if you step on them without shoes, their spikes will break off IN your foot and you’ll have the pain of your life (no I am not overdramatic).
The next two days we mostly spent in the pool, because that was actually the only place outside where you could be alive in this heat. Beside learning a new card game called Canasta, I got to
play Cricket - a typical Australian sport. It is on television the next days after Christmas and the people who don’t sit there and watch it are probably out in their backyard and play it
themselves. And even though I said before, that Cricket looks like a cheap copy of Baseball, I really got into it! But although it is fun playing it, I couldn't imagine sitting two days in a row
in front of the TV watching it!!
What can I assume? My first Australian Christmas was pretty good and I got to experience the whole (Outback-) Aussie lifestyle: I saw kangaroos near our backyard, it was hot, I watched a pretty
iconic Australian movie called ‘The Castle’, I played Cricket, saw the biggest telescope in the southern hemisphere (which is in Parkes), it was HOT, I celebrated christmas on the 25th of
December, I took a ride in the car to look at (crazyyyyyy) christmas lights on houses and I ate way too much.
Beside all that incredible things I got to experience, of course I was homesick. Everyone told me beforehand that I’m gonna be „SO HOMESICK“ and that it will be „THE WORST TIME OF YOUR STAY“ and
stuff like this. I can partly agree on that. YES, I missed my family. Especially when I talked to them on FaceTime and when I saw all of them united, under OUR real christmas tree (in Australia
everyone has fake ones!!!! ): ), doing OUR traditions. But it’s okay to miss your family. I would even say, you’re crazy if you wouldn’t. As long as you have someone to give you a hug, distract
you and make you feel better. I have them. My host family was so lovely and tried their best to make me feel good and comfortable and a part of their family. This was exactly what I needed and
due to that I could overcome my homesickness and enjoy my Australian Christmas to the fullest!
See you next time!
xo, Greta
