Differences

I don't have much to write about, after all I'm in Australia for work and not for cycling. My good bike is still on its way, has been stuck at some airport for days, but should have arrived in Australia by now. I'm looking forward to it. I haven't quite arrived yet, at the moment I'm still living in an AirBnB with Bime, a really nice hostess from Nigeria who has also lived in the USA. It's nice with her in the evenings when I come back from work or training or dinner with colleagues and she's still awake. But I'm slowly having to find something of my own. But one thing at a time, first I have to take an English test. Yes, it just doesn't stop. Anyway, tick, tick, tick, emigrating is not for the lazy. Of course, what is playing a role in my head right now are the differences to Germany (I don't want to write at home because I no longer have a home, at home). Besides the left-hand traffic? Of course the waste separation, only 2 garbage cans outside the door, one for household waste, the other for recycling, maybe paper, no deposit system, no glass, no organic waste, that's simple. What else? Fruit and vegetables are packed in plastic bags and taken to the scales, well I really wasn't used to that anymore and not arriving without a bag, they get weird.  A massive difference, at least for me, I haven't paid anything with cash for a long time, everything with my phone, really everything and everywhere, even the café van that comes to the company every day at 11am, really everywhere. And everyone says hello in a friendly way and everyone is doing fantastic, so much for that. I've also slowly gotten used to driving on the left, I rarely make a wrong turn, sometimes I'm still confused and only sometimes do I forget to look to the right first when I cross a road. What is really difficult is my orientation, as I was used to the sun being south at midday in the northern celestial sphere. That's not the case here, it's in the north. It confuses me massively, but I can now find my way again without a navigation app, at least when I've been there before. Yesterday I actually went for a longer bike ride on the cheap thing with two wheels (The Klepper). The Klepper is so cheap that I don't even lock it when I leave it somewhere, another difference, I can't imagine anyone stealing a bike here, they're so fixated on their car. No wonder, given the distances. I was warned that everything would be stolen here. So far it's always been just as I left it, with helmet and gloves hanging from the handlebars. Even Australian thieves have their pride, I say. So it was a short bike ride to the Gateway Point bridge, the last one over the Brisbane River before the sea, then I didn't feel like it any more, the bike was causing me knee pain and all the power was going somewhere else, but not into the drive. And the headwind and anyway, mimimieeee. But it was a nice 40 km, a bike route through Brisbane along the river, via Kangaroo Point and the Botanical Gardens, quite nice. Of course I took the ferry back, the northern stop was nearby and the bike was no problem. 50 cents and then I was standing there at the bow of the CityCat, the spray splashing in my face and I was in my element. Anyone who knows me knows that although cycling is my favorite endurance sport, boating is my favorite way of getting around. At the other end of the city, about 1 hour later, out again and the rest by bike back over Mount Ommaney and the mall on it shopping and zack home, the Sunday I spent actually chilled in the gym and on the market in Inala and in bed, watching movies (Nosferatu! What an end!!), is just not so hot outside so you can just relax. That was an easy week for me, I'm slowly realizing that I'm not coming back and that I'm staying here as a migrant, but more of that later, it's not without its problems in that sense.