When I turned 32 late last year I adopted a rhyming motto for myself: thirty-two, a new you and an updated blog design and logo were just part of the changes.
After years of brushing off social media, I have sneakily joined in. To celebrate, I’m giving you three chances to win awesome prizes from some of the most talented SLP’s around (each pack is valued at nearly $50!) just by liking or following my new Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TpT pages – and if you already have, then entering is even easier!
I’ve had quite a crazy and unique SLP journey, so I thought I’d share where I’ve come from and shed a little bit of light about my “Adventures in Speech Pathology”.
- I am an Aussie and currently living back home, but have lived in 4 different countries.
- I moved to Manchester, England when I was 19 for a one year university exchange. People called me ‘Rachael’ instead of ‘Rebecca’ and I felt too rude to correct them so I wasn’t known by my real name (I am much more assertive now!). I had a goal to go to at least 1 new country every month… Goal completed!
- I took a year off after completing my Masters degree to go backpacking around Asia and Europe. The most beautiful language I heard on my travels was Mongolian, my favourite place was Tibet, the biggest challenge was doing a 10 day meditation course where I wasn’t allowed to speak or communicate to anyone and the most life-changing moment was a 14 day trek in the Nepalese Himalayas.
- I accepted my first job as a sole clinician in a little outback Australian town. I was actually so keen to get a job that I didn’t even know the place I was going, I just said ‘yes’ and looked it up on Google maps later! I didn’t have a car so rode a glorious bike (with streamers and a big horn) everywhere.
- I had a toss up between working in Bangladesh or Samoa on a year-long volunteer assignment with the Australian government and was thankful that I chose Samoa as I fell in love with an American Peace Corp Volunteer. I had no TV and accessed the internet for 30 minutes every two weeks. It was a simple, but beautiful life working in a school for people with disabilities.
- I made the decision to move to the USA to follow my island romance and once again was happy to accept a job ANYWHERE to get into the country. I ended up being a school-based SLP near Tacoma in Washington State for two years. I made it a mission to say “G’day” to everyone and teach some Aussie slang. I started this blog because I didn’t know anyone and was bored! I got engaged on my Mt. Rainier, my favourite place in the US.
- I went back to Samoa to get married with 40 friends and family for a few weeks and pretty much organised the whole wedding in the four days leading up to the big day. I took a break from blogging (as some of you already know) as my life was going in a million different directions.
- I moved 5 times in 18 months before I put my foot down and bought a house in Newcastle (a few hours north of Sydney), Australia. I had a little girl called Adelaide in 2015 who I call my ‘Ausmerican’. I was supposed to get my blog up and running while on maternity leave… but it took longer than expected.
- I now work at a lovely private practice that is a mixture of clinic and school visits. I have a huuuuge passion for articulation, phonology and Social Thinking®. My goal is to create year round resources that you can use in whatever country you find yourself in and despite the season!
