It turned out that I was able to stay in Australia for a year and a half.

When I was young, I heard the news of working holiday in Australia, and I thought about it for several years.

A lot of things happened that year, and I was exhausted physically and mentally. In order to find the reason to smile, I decided to do something crazy, and when I thought about it, the idea of a working holiday in Australia, which I always wanted to go to but didn’t dare to, suddenly flashed through my head. If I don’t apply, I can only give up.

I began to secretly carry out the "Australian Homeless Plan", applied for a visa, compared air ticket prices, inquired about news from friends who had completed working vacations, and attended the working vacation briefing held by my seniors. Finally, I finally chose the first stop of my stay. When I bought the one-way ticket that I set off after half a year, I started to let my family know about it.

"I'm going to go to Australia after the Chinese New Year next year!" "All the air tickets have been bought!" When my parents heard this, their expressions changed greatly, and they strongly objected, and said that no one in the family was as rebellious as me... .. and so on for words of dissuasion.

The voices of opposition continued, and my plan remained unchanged. I hope that with the daily intimate reminders, my parents will be willing to let me fly to a foreign country. I admit that the trick of cutting first and then playing is despicable, but it is the only way to start smoothly.

I traded my remaining savings for cameras, laptops, hearing aids, and a bunch of necessities that I didn't have. Even if the family objected, the pockets were shallow, the English was poor, and it was the first time to go abroad alone. No amount of obstruction and questioning can eliminate the determination to set out.

On the day of departure, I took my family's car to the airport. My outfit was not at all as handsome and neat as a backpacker's. My hiking bag, carry-on bag, and suitcase were all full of daily necessities. The leather bag contained 2 thousand-yuan banknotes and only 1,500 Australian dollars (more than 30,000 Taiwan dollars). The idea at that time was very simple, I would go back to Taiwan immediately after the money was spent. Unexpectedly, my mother suddenly put 1,500 Australian dollars in my hand when I was preparing to go through customs.

In addition to my surprise, my heart was filled with guilt. I began to regret the extreme way I used to express my determination. Although they disagreed, they silently accepted the child's willfulness and cared for me on the important timetable. Although the amount is not large, it is a warm and solid guarantee.

I passed the customs holding the stack of banknotes, stamped the exit stamp, turned around and waved goodbye to my family. Even though it was me who left, I felt sad for no reason. That parent must have a very complicated mood!

After waiting in the waiting room for an hour, I finally caught the low-cost flight to Singapore. In order to save money, I found a corner behind the seating area at the airport that night, put sleeping bags first, then used a luggage trolley to block the gap, and finally stuffed important items on my body before I dared to lie down and fall asleep. This is the first time I slept like this. In a place where many people come and go, to be honest, it is really unstable to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I found a white-haired foreigner lying next to me, and a young foreigner lying on the other side. It was the first time I was lying with so many men. It was very exciting! Seeing that it was still early for my flight, I entered downtown Singapore and wandered for a few hours before returning to the airport and continuing the second flight to Australia.

After arriving, I met some Taiwanese who are also working holiday visas, and after leaving each other's contact information, my heart became much more at ease.

For newcomers, most of the first stops in Australia will be to stay in a youth hostel, which is cheap and can also meet many new friends. In order to experience the local culture, some people will choose sofa surfing and live directly in the local people’s homes. .

I am not the same. I directly rented the small room that my classmates are currently renting, not because of the company, but because the classmates want to return to Taiwan, the room will be vacant for two to three weeks, and the accommodation fee is also cheaper than the youth hostel. In order to save money, Even without anyone I knew, I stayed in a Share House where no one could speak Chinese.

In the days when I first arrived in Australia, in addition to trying to adapt to the new environment, the local climate also made me suffer a lot. Within two days, I took the first pack of cold medicine, and I couldn’t help worrying that I would run out of ammunition so quickly. One hair, what to do next!

And "Life in English" has brought a lot of impact. I, who are very good at chatting, finally realized the pain of being clumsy in words!

I admit that my English is very broken, some very basic words, I can! But if that string of words came from someone else's mouth, I wouldn't understand most of them. If someone holds a backpacker English proficiency competition, I can definitely win the worst championship of the current period!

A few days after I arrived in Australia, I started looking for a job, went to every store to ask about job opportunities, and left a resume that was printed in Taiwan. Sweeping the streets for hours every day has become a routine. Two weeks later, I still haven't found a job.

When I was feeling anxious, a friend suddenly called me and asked me to rush to another small city as soon as possible. I heard that there was a shortage of people on the local farm. I struggled for a few hours and bought a ticket to leave in a few days, not sure if there would be a job, but wanted to take the chance.

After waving goodbye to the group of friends I just met, and the beautiful city, I jumped into the plane again. To be honest, I never thought that I arrived in Australia less than three weeks ago, and because of a possible job opportunity, I moved directly to Another city, and still alone, but I seem to be getting used to being alone.

After arriving in the new city, because of a friend's introduction, I was able to live in a Share House with more than 20 Koreans, all of whom were waiting for job opportunities on the farm. Luckily this time, besides me, there is also a Taiwanese.

After waiting for half a month at the Share House, I finally looked forward to working on the farm. What I didn't expect was that most of my colleagues on the farm were Koreans, and only me and the girl who introduced me were Taiwanese.

Later, because of something in Taiwan, I flew back to Taiwan immediately after finishing my work on the farm. After two weeks, I returned to Australia, but instead of returning to the farm, I stayed in the city to find other job opportunities.

I know that I want to stay longer in Australia, my English is not good, and there will be fewer job options. I can only specialize in jobs that don't require much English speaking, and most of these jobs are labor-based. So I started to lock and clean related work. In order to survive, only by facing the shortcomings can I find my own way of survival. If you think about it from another angle, it can be regarded as a clear positioning!

Later, I also successfully found a few jobs. I didn't have a lot of small steps, but it did increase the chances of interviewing a lot. Of course, I have to thank God for his help!

In addition to the daily routine street sweeping, I often go to the library to look through newspaper job advertisements. If I see a job that suits me, I will take the initiative to throw my resume, whether it is E-mail or text messages, I will throw away whatever I can. !

At the same time, I will treat my future employer as my kitchen. I will walk around when I have time and ask if there is a job opportunity recently. If I can let the other person know me, the opportunity will be even greater.

In addition, I have to meet new friends a lot. I occasionally chat with passersby. Bad English and body language are also a kind of communication. I also found a job because of the introduction of friends and locals!

My hearing is not very good, and every time I see a phone call, I have an inexplicable sense of fear. I couldn't see the other person's mouth, and I couldn't guess the other person's meaning through body language. The English on the phone sounded like an incomprehensible alien language. The bad thing is that I often lose many opportunities because I can't understand the other person's words.

To increase my chances of an interview, I started to take the initiative by asking the person for their name, interview date, time, and transportation. For me, I still try not to show any flaws, and it is more important to get the key information first.

As for the store name and address? To be honest, even if the other party said it, I couldn’t understand it. I had thrown out too many resumes, and I can’t remember which stores and companies I lost.

After the call is over, I will immediately look up the phone number of the other party on Google, and the store name and address will be at a glance. Naturally, I will not lose those hard-won interviews. At that time, I was really grateful for the existence of Google!

Although I got the opportunity for an interview, I couldn't pretend during the interview. Most bosses will soon find that my wife's English is so bad that I can't communicate, so I will especially emphasize the hard-working personality!

I don't know if it's because I seem to be very patient, or because I'm sincere and positive, I found two jobs within a month. I'm really lucky and happy. Later, because of the work experience in the cleaning company, I also found some jobs smoothly! Luckily, I found a few more jobs after that, and I was able to refer jobs to men and friends, which is amazing now that I think about it. By the way, don't misunderstand that I can speak good English, in fact, my English is still as bad as explosion.

During my stay in Australia, I was fortunate to meet many kind-hearted locals, as well as Taiwanese friends from all over the world, who helped to save those lonely and helpless moments. I would also like to thank the local bosses who were willing to give me a chance to let the original I only planned to stay for a month and a half of wandering, but luckily it was extended to a year and a half.

Although I have ended my working holiday in Australia for several years, I still feel grateful every time I think about it.

The rare experience of this overseas survival battle has made me realize that my strength is actually great. As long as I take the first step, I will know how to move forward. Although these are fond memories, the seeds of courage and determination have been planted in my heart.

Whenever I feel lost at certain moments in my life, I always think of the bravery at that time. I could have done it before, and I can definitely do it now. I'm still the same me, aren't I? Thinking like this, my heart will inexplicably become stronger!