Living oceans apart from your best friend may sound like a difficult feat – but littleWren had a chat to gal pals Audrey and Skyler, who are proving that distance means little when you’re as thick as thieves. These clever clogs even manage to run a blog together: Gracie & Lulu. Here’s what these wandering young women told us.
My name is Audrey Luella Timson, I’m 13 years old and I live in Bali, Indonesia. I’ve lived in Bali for more than three years now. I live with my mum, my dad, my dog, Leda, and my cat, Pixie. We moved here because we came for a holiday and my mum loved it so much she said, ‘guys, pack up because we’re moving to Bali!’What do you love most about living in Bali?
The best thing about living in Bali is all of my friends and my amazing pets, I could never leave them behind! Another awesome thing is all the places I’ve been to that I may have never seen if I was still living in Australia! So far I’ve been to Borneo, Singapore, Japan, Cambodia, Kuala Lumpur and I am sure there are many more awesome places to come!What’s the most challenging thing about life in Bali?
The most challenging thing about living in Bali is missing Australia and feeling homesick. When I visit Australia, seeing all my old friends and my family, going to air conditioned shopping malls… It makes me really want to move back.What have you discovered from living abroad?
An interesting thing about this country is even though the people have so little they are so happy and content. In some countries we have visited that wasn’t the case, like Singapore for example. The people there are generally wealthier compared to the Balinese but are not nearly as happy. That does not go for all Singaporeans of course, it’s just something we noticed when we were there with some of the people we met.
Do you go to school? And how do you deal with the language difference?
I used to go to the Green School. Green School has people from all around the world and most people speak English. We left Green School in June and I’m now homeschooled. I go to a homeschool group three days a week and the other two days I work online at home. When you travel in Bali, out of the tourist places to the smaller villages, less people speak English. I speak a little bit of Bahasa which is the local language, enough to have a very simple conversation or ask the price of something so it’s okay.
Have you made friends in Bali?
I have so many wonderful friends here in Bali as well as my friends back at home. I made so many friends from being at Green School 2 and a half years and the best part is that they are all from different parts of the world! I’ve got a friend who is half Javanese, half Irish, another friend that’s Polish, a Dutch friend too!
How did you meet your best friend, Skyler, and what do you like best about one another?
Our mums are friends. They are both photographers. Skylar and I met in 2013 when my family went on a little holiday to Japan and decided to meet up! We only saw each other for one day but after that we kept in touch via Instagram and iMessage and we have become close friends. In 2015 Skylar and her family visited us in July and stayed with us for a couple of weeks and that holiday was when we started our blog! We all had the best time, so much so they came back to see us again in September! I think they’ll be coming back to Bali again soon and we are dreaming of visiting India together this year.The thing I like most about Skyler is her funny personality, she is so fun to have around and she’ll try pretty much anything! Another awesome thing about Skyler is how kind she is to animals. She loves animals and is so caring to them.
How do you maintain a successful long-distance friendship with Skyler? How do you keep in touch?
It’s hard sometimes having friends so far away because you miss them and you can’t visit them whenever you like because they are a flight away! With the technology these days it’s easy to keep in touch! We’re always texting on iMessage with each other and we can do that no matter where we are! We also get to see each other quite a bit so we are really lucky! Having the blog together means we can keep up with what the other is doing too!
How do you keep track of your blog together?
We have a system where I post Mondays, we do a shared post Wednesday and Skyler posts Friday but we are relaxed about it, with all the travelling and what not, at times its been a bit hard to stick to it! Whenever someone wants to make a change to the blog, we also ask the other person if it’s ok.
What would you say to someone whose best friend is about to move away?
I’d say, Don’t worry! We’re in the 21st century, I mean come on… there’s so many ways to keep in touch! You can text, FaceTime or even meet up on your travels!
My name is Skyler Grace Schwedhelm. I’m 13 years old and I live in Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan. I’ve lived in Japan for more than two years now. I live with my mom, dad, brother, and pet dog, Charley. We moved to Japan because my dad is in the U.S. Navy and his job required us to move to Japan. Our tour is for three years and then we will move back to somewhere in the U.S.What do you love most about living in Japan?
The best thing about living in Japan is getting to travel this side of the world, and a whole lot more than we did when we lived in the U.S.What’s the most challenging thing about living in Japan?
The most challenging thing about living in Japan is not being able to talk to anybody around us, and not being able to make (Japanese) friends very easily.What have you discovered from living abroad?
An interesting thing about this country is how tiny everything is, for example, houses, cars, trucks. Japan is a small country with a large population, so they must be smart and creative with how they use their space.
Do you go to school? And how do you deal with the language difference?
And how do you deal with the language difference?
No, I’m homeschooled so that we can travel more often than what the public (Department of Defense) school system would allow. When out and about in Japan, we use a lot of hand signals and Google translate to communicate with the Japanese locals.
Have you made friends in Japan?
Yes, I’ve made quite a few friends, but they are all American and either live in our neighbourhood or on the military base.
How did you meet each other, and what do you like best about one another?
Audrey and I met each other when Audrey came on a holiday trip to Japan. Our moms are both photographers and planned a to meet-up in Tokyo. It was really funny because everyone ended up getting lost in the train station, but it all worked out and we finally found each other. We began walking around Tokyo and Audrey and I started chatting with one another, like longtime friends! We only saw each other for the one day but immediately became close friends. What I like the most about Audrey is her sense of humor. Audrey is super funny and she makes me laugh all the time. I really enjoy hanging out with her.
How do you maintain a successful long-distance friendship with Lulu? How do you keep in touch?
Well we mainly keep in touch through texting and through Instagram, but we try to visit Bali a couple times a year.
How do you keep track of your blog together?
We keep track of our blog by assigning certain days for each of us to do a post (Audrey’s posts are on Monday, joint post on Wednesday and I post on Friday). Sometimes our posting varies though during times of travel or when we are really busy with something.
What would you say to someone whose best friend is about to move away?
It’s okay, don’t worry! You two can still keep in touch and keep being good friends, even through the distance! We are so lucky to grow up during a time when communication and staying in touch is so easy. And you never know…you could always travel to visit one another.
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