First 48 Hours

The first 48 hours of my time in Byron Bay have been filled to the brim. I have tried so hard to soak it all in and remember every little detail, but of course that is impossible. I just don't want to forget a single moment of my time here. So here is a brief recounting of the past 48 hours.

I arrived in Sydney late at night and needed to take a shuttle from the airport to my hotel. I was waiting at the meeting point with another woman in her late 50’s. I remembered something about not tipping waiters at restaurants but didn’t know if that applied to other services like shuttle drivers. I decided to reach out and ask the woman if people tipped their drivers in Australia as I’m not from here. She told me they did not and continued to carry on a conversation with me the entire ride to the hotel. She explained she was an artist, so I told her I was here to teach art. We shared pictures of our artwork to each other and talked about our favorite mediums to work with. I even ate dinner with her once we arrived to the hotel. She told me that people in Australia love American’s and that Byron Bay is one of the most beautiful places to live in.

After dinner, I went upstairs to my room. This is when the shock began to set in.This had nothing to do with the people, as I mentioned earlier, Australians are quite friendly and willing to strike up conversation with just about anyone. I must have made conversation with at least four different people before going to bed. The feeling of being an outsider happened later, when I went to my hotel room, that I began to feel the panic set in. It started when I could not get the lights to turn on. I flipped every switch in the room, but the lights remained off. I called down to the front desk and the woman, who was very kind and helpful, explained that I needed to insert my hotel key into the slot to get electricity. Once I did get the lights on, I was overwhelmed by how the unfamiliarity of the hotel room affected my mind. Looking back, a hotel room is a hotel room, right? And each hotel I have visited in the US is different, but I guess they all have the same basic layout and amenities that I had grown accustomed to. I was taken aback by the smaller details: the light switches, the type of bed, the small bed stands, the little bedside lamps, the unfamiliar half corner pod for the bathroom, the toilet, the light switches, the mini fridge, the furniture, the decorations… None of it had the typical style that is familiar to me. And for some reason those small familiarities, that I suppose are comforting, were not there and I just started crying. I knew that this reaction was because I was extremely tired and jet-lagged in addition to being in an unfamiliar place, so I let myself cry for a moment and then went to sleep. I felt much better in the morning.

When I arrived in Byron Bay, I immediately felt welcomed by my host mom, Helen. Helen is in her 50’s and is originally from Sweden but has lived in Byron Bay for over 25 years. She lives in a condo on Beachcomber Drive. It is a beautiful home filled with art and collections from her travels. My room is on the second floor and faces towards the east.

Helen walked me through her neighborhood. The neighborhood is filled with beautiful homes. While the homes are beautiful, most have tall, cement walls covering their facade. Helen took me down the street to a short trail that led to the most massive, spectacular beach I've ever seen. The sandy stretch from the dunes to the ocean is wide and it spans even wider in its length. It is littered with these beautiful, purple shells (I've already collected 20). To the left you can make out the most eastern point of Australia and the lighthouse, to the right is a rocky cove. The beach break is also quite wide, spanning several yards. The waves are loud and violent, but soothing to listen to. Hardly anyone comes to this beach (I can't imagine why though). A few people and couples are spread out in the distance. I plan to come to this beach every single day.

As we walked the beach, she informed me that Chris Hemsworth’s house was just down the stretch. I started laughing and explained to her that so many of my students back in the states jokingly told me to say hi to Chris Hemsworth for them and the fact that he actually lived in the town I was staying was hysterically serendipitous. (Come to later find out he was spotted downtown that very day!)

After our walk on the beach, Helen drove me around town and pointed out shops and restaurants I might like to try. (I will take more pictures of the town late). She then drove me through the boujee part of town and we ogled at beautiful houses together, pointing out features we liked and disliked, scoffing at the prices of some of the houses for sale. We then made our way out to a town, Bangalow, in the countryside where her favorite boutique is located. I bought a pair of linen shorts and she bought some earrings she had been eyeing. She then took me for a happy hour drink before stopping at the store so I could buy some groceries.

She then cooked me a quiche for dinner which we ate outside. We heard a cicada and talked about how cicadas here sounded different from the ones in the US. Afterwards, we sat and drank wine while watching House Hunters on tv. I had been afraid that there wouldn’t be enough in common for us to have enough to talk about, but we talked the entire day. I felt extremely welcome and did not feel out of place at all.

The next day I met with Leanne, my supervising teacher. Leanne is also in her 50's and has a sweet little dog named Pepper. She has a great energy about her and seems to fit right in with Byron's hip, aesthetic and values. She drove me into town for coffee and a bite to eat. We exchanged what the typical art class in Australia and America looks like. She explained that years 7-9 are full of experimentation and are centered around themes. Talking with Leanne made me excited to start school. I find a lot of benefits in the way art courses are structured here that I would like to try back in the states. I am interested to learn more about the themes and how they explore artists with their students. I am excited to soak up as much as I can while I am there because their practices seem so smart. I am concerned about not being knowledgeable enough in art theory. Leanne made it clear that art theory is heavily explored and integral to their curriculum. I don’t have a lot of experience or knowledge in that area, so I am afraid of appearing stupid or under-qualified if she asks me questions or expects me to know certain things. I don’t think this will be the case, but it is just a small insecurity. I am also concerned that I won’t learn as much as I hope to since Leanne will be gone the first four weeks. I will be working with a casual teacher named Tarryn who is also young. I am excited to meet her as well!