by Dina Zavrski-Makaric

My husband and I came to Australia as independent skilled migrants to pursue opportunities we heard this country had to offer. The climate was also appealing, although 18 years later I can see the insignificance of it. Deciding on relocating our life to Australia from Croatia was a no brainer (it was a couple of years before the war, so not influenced by it). America had too much crime, and Canada was too cold.

Once a decision was made, we got some books on Australia and a nice glossy brochure of Sydney. We wanted to learn more about our future home. It makes sense, doesn't it? We didn't have a problem speaking English. In Croatia, English was a compulsory subject from year 4. Besides, speaking more than one language is quite common in Europe, being so densely populated by people speaking different languages.

My first impression of Sydney was not as I imagined it from the glossy brochure. It was unbearably hot, with millions of flies, humid, sticky… argh. Other than a few friendly home-country friends, the rest of the crowd didn't seem very friendly. The neighbours at our Manly Vale apartment were looking at us suspiciously, and certainly no one greeted us or asked 'Hey, new neighbours, how is life?' My husband couldn't get a job because everyone asked him for 'local experience' knowing well that we only just arrived, and to get a lease on our apartment we had to name someone locally who had known us for a year (!) - I mean, ridiculous! Why did they give us permanent residency only to put up all these barriers once we arrived? This was the time when I realised my life had just been split into 'before' and 'after' the move.

Three months into our arriving I started working at a Swiss global company. I was very homesick, and felt terribly displaced in my new surroundings, so working for a European company was my connection with my life before the move, which, by the way, was a very normal life of a 30 year old middle-class European woman.

One thing that really excited me about Australia was the diversity of its people. In a matter of weeks of starting work I met people from Portugal, Greece, South Africa, Scotland, Ireland, America, India and New Zealand. Unbelievable! I instantly made friends with most of them. There were some who were less friendly. One day I was chatting with a Portuguese colleague about salad dressing, and this girl who was passing by overheard our conversation and said 'bloody wogs'. At the time I had no idea what 'wogs' meant (wasn't in the history book on Australia), and 'bloody' was something out of a movie, so I didn't pay much attention to it. The Portuguese girl (who was born in Australia) became really angry and explained that this comment was very rude.

My boss one day made a 'smart' comment about me talking with my hands more than with my words. This kind of got to me, because for 30 years I was communicating successfully with a lot of people and never did anyone think that I was lacking in words. Besides, I was communicating in my second language, so maybe I did need some help from my hands and my boss' understanding of my cultural background.