Things however were not the same as what we expected. Originally, we planned to settle in Newcastle, a coastal town not far from Sydney. However, because we could not find a proper house to rent we returned to my husband’s hometown in central NSW. It was difficult as I couldn't find a job for a while. So we put our savings and effort towards starting a new business in pet grooming. It took quite a while for us to settle and it was only after receiving help from my parents-in-law, that our lives got back on-track.
Running the new business has not been easy. One day I received a
phone call from one of my clients. I could not hear her very well and she could
not understand my English. She began saying something very rude to me
over the phone. I felt both sad and angry at the same time. So I became scared of talking
to people on the phone. Slowly I stopped answering phone calls and left all the
communication jobs to my husband. I was so disappointed.
What helped me was a phone call from the Distance Learning Centre saying that I was able to
start my English lessons online. After starting DL I've come
to see that all new migrants encounter some kind of problems. Also life is often not what we expect.
With the help from my DL teacher, Lorinda, I have slowly started talking to my clients. Surprisingly, I am actually able to communicate with them very well. Although there are still times when I have to repeat myself, I feel good about answering phone calls these days.
With the help from my DL teacher, Lorinda, I have slowly started talking to my clients. Surprisingly, I am actually able to communicate with them very well. Although there are still times when I have to repeat myself, I feel good about answering phone calls these days.
I still need to work on my English skills and learn more about Australian
culture, but I'm sure I will soon build up enough confidence to communicate with all my clients. When that happens, I believe I'll find life in Australia more like what I expected.
Thank you Elizabeth for sharing your feelings and how your DL lessons helped you build up your confidence and overcome your disappointments. Life is often different to what we expect and when things turn out differently it's natural to feel disappointed.
- What is something you expected which led to a disappointment? What did you do to overcome this disappointment?
- What was a positive thing that resulted from this situation?
- Talking on the phone is tricky. What tips can you give for communicating on the phone?
Good on you Elizabeth! Don't let people like that get you down. I hope your business does well, and you enjoy life here.
ReplyDeleteHi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteSo glad to read the blog you wrote because I have the similar experience like you. I have been running dog grooming business Brisbane since 2013. I couldn't pick up phone call and communicate with clients until at the end of 2015. I was ever told "Do you speak English?" and even some bad words. What l like to share with you is to ignore the experience and enjoy more our work and good customers.
Since my DL tutor, Linda, has been teaching me English last year, I have been confident with talk on the phone or face to face. She works out what kind of points I need to be improved after I stated my situation regarding the language. So far, I got more and more chance to accumulate the cultural experiences.
As long as we insist with our dream, everything will be getting better and better.
By the way, if you like to share your more experience for grooming business, we can keep in touch by WeChat.
Thanks.
Chen
It's great to meet you. My Wechat is xueqinelizabeth. :)
DeleteHi Elizabeth, I am glad that you have started to communicate over the phone and gained your confidence because it is easy to give up and block the reality. I believe that you will only move forward and reach your dreams.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your story Elizabeth! There is so many different people around us and sometimes they act different then we expect. I'm glad you didn't give up and found strength to move on and keep your business up!
ReplyDeleteHello Elizabeth, that was too bad but still good to know that you had overcome this kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, we can't avoid dealing with some people like you had encountered. He/she would have probably expected you to have a good communication skills by running a business here in Australia. Talking over the phone with english speakers is not that easy especially for ESL people like us, we have to make sure we understand each other otherwise things like that will happen. Anyhow, we cannot please everyone and we can't afford to let people like them put us down. If dissapointment comes along in our life, we can make them as a challenge instead and strive harder to achieve our goals. It's really good to improve ourselves in a positive way which I believe you are doing.
Thanks for sharing story Elizabeth, good luck with your business and study as well. Keep up the good work!
Thanks everyone. The grooming business was a bit slow to start but has been picking up all the time. That client was just one little thing that happened. I am glad that most of the others are all nice people and have kept coming back to me for grooming work on their pets. I'll keep doing the best I can on the job.
ReplyDeleteWe all have difficult times in our life, but more so for new migrants. I particularly like the second discussion question posted by the Editor this week: a positive thing might come out from a situation of disappointment where things all fall out of expectations. Surely, it is not easy to overcome disappointment, especially when there are these people who try to make you feel belittled. The positive thing is, however, we learn to be strong and work on what we are not good at through these negative experiences. Elizabeth has shown both courage and persistence in overcoming a very difficult time of her life.
ReplyDeleteI'm so proud of our DL students and teachers this week. I love how this blog helps to share wisdom, life experiences and how you all encourage each other. Maree from Navitas DL
ReplyDeleteAfter reading " Elizabeth overcomes disappointment ",I would like to share my story.
ReplyDeleteI've been in Australia for over three years now. Buying a house is always my dream. Before buying a house my husband and I did a lot of preparation. In the beginning we planned to buy land and build our own house. But we faced a lot of hassles, and then we chose to give up building the house.
Because I have really high expectations, I felt so sad about what we've been through. We lost one thousand dollars for this time. But we learned a good life lesson.
After the disappointment I discussed with my husband again and we made up our mind to buy a second-hand house which is easier for us. In the end we bought our own house and we'll move in the middle of June
Hi Elizabeth thanks for sharing your story . As you mentioned things might not the same as we expected, but if we work hard and try our best for what we want we could achieve our goal. After all I'm glad that you able to communicate with others and understand them. I hope your business doing well
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the detailed article.Thanks again.
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