Why I chose to live in Australia

In light of recent depressing incidents in Australia (i.e. the murder of Courtney Herron and the election results), I thought it timely to reflect on why I am here in the first place. It’s also a good opportunity for setting the scene for my blog and introducing myself.

Born and raised in Israel, I never thought of Australia as an interesting destination to travel. There were no exciting or exotic stories about the place, unlike other destinations I heard of. The movies and TV I watched were set in the U.S. and that was the home of English-speaking culture that I knew. In fact, there were no stories at all, so as far as I could tell, Australia was on another planet.

Here are a few of the reasons I decided to move here;

1. The food – I love being transported into Thailand, India, Ethiopia, or anywhere else on the globe simply by tasting a traditional meal in Melbourne.
2. The people -You can be anything and anyone you want here, and that is freeing in a way that’s hard to explain to those who know nothing else. People respect each other’s privacy in a way I haven’t experienced before, which allows you to just be. There are way less cultural expectations here which means I need to explain myself so much less. In fact I rarely have to explain my decisions to others in Melbourne, people mostly accept my decisions as they are, mine.
3. The roads- some of you might be tempted to leave this blog right now thinking I have no idea what I’m talking about (road rage right?). But hear me out. I used to live in Tel Aviv and finding a park there is literally impossible. I’m not talking about a need to walk 10 minutes to get home. I’m talking about no where to park. I would often spend 40 minutes or more after an evening shift trying to find a park and resorted to parking on the sidewalk, while blocking a pedestrian crossing. This means I had to get up at 6am to move the car before getting a fine. So the Melbourne driving situation is a huge improvement, and besides, public transport here is awesome (see the next point!).
4. Public transport- again you might be thinking how terrible our system is and we don’t even have a train to the airport (I’m with you on that!), but hear me out. In Tel Aviv there are no trams, zero. There are only four train stations across the city and the rest you need to manage by bus. Growing up in the 1990s means I still get anxious on the bus (they used to explode in Tel Aviv regularly) but it was my only option. So the tram five minute walk from home in Melbourne, or the train station which takes you anywhere, is AMAZING.
5. Cost of living- only when you compare how much you earn to how much basic needs cost, you can truly appreciate how easy we have it here in Melbourne. Another way is to live in Tel Aviv, work two jobs and realise you can barely cover the bills. No such thing in Melbourne, where even working for non-for-profit gives me a salary which is nearly four times what I earned in Israel.
6. Workplace culture- being able to leave work on time, or even having a set end time to your workday, are things you should not take for granted. Back in my home country most people don’t have a time they finish working, and if they do it’s considered unprofessional to leave at that time. You are expected to stay late and is seen as slack or uncommitted if you do otherwise.
7. Families support- I knew I wanted to have a family in the future, and the organised support system in Australia is better. I’m not saying the best in the world, just better from what I would have got elsewhere. Firstly, new Mothers’ group which we all heard of, is unheard of in Israel. This is one of the most helpful thing a community can offer to new parents. Secondly, the acceptance that women take about 12 months of maternity leave is incredible compared to some countries like to U.S. and Israel, where many women are expected to return to paid employment within several months at the latest. Of course, this is an individual choice, but I am grateful to be living in a country where either choice is fraud upon and women can keep their jobs for longer after having children.

These points are not to say there are no problems in Australia or Melbourne, there are many (which I will get into in future posts!). I do believe that being grateful is important, and also taking things into perspective is critical for our society’s improvement. Once we realise the good we do have, we can focus on what matters and what issues we need to tackle next in our community.

L. K. Bridgford