Living in a non-english speaking country when you don't speak the native language very well can be quite hard at times. It is nothing like being a tourist. Day-to-day tasks that you might take for granted at home can take a lot of effort and time. Everyday there is something new to learn - a new word, a new system, something you could not have anticipated, and sometimes things you just can't understand. This is all part of the adventure, but it can be pretty tiring, so sometimes it's nice to have a break and go somewhere that is just familiar and easy.
I'm not sure I could live in London (it is VERY busy), but I love visiting. I love the food, the fact that every third person is Australian, the fact that most Brits love Australians, that I feel like I have some sort of connection to this country (albeit generations ago), the history, the solidity.
We think it's great that our son can enjoy this place too. He's currently obsessed with knights after we took him to London Tower a few visits ago. He is so lucky to be learning the history that I learnt from books, first hand. He's at the age where everything seems completely normal and is not really phased by the enormity of what we ask of him and ourselves at times - he keeps us grounded.
So that's been my couple of days. I didn't really mean to blab on forever, and I hope you don't think that I am ungrateful for this experience in any way. I am very grateful, but I think it's good to put some reality around these things ~ managing work, life and families is tricky no mater where in the world you live.
Normal crafty programming will resume tomorrow!
Have a cracker of a day!
9 comments:
Great post Nic.
Reality and a good dose of London.xx
After having just been overseas with my five kids I totally get what you mean, and we were only tourists! Travelling in any capacity is challenging and not always picture postcard perfect. Glad you had some fun in London, it sounds like a much needed break. I'm still in the dark as to why you are in Spain, is it work related? How fun to be seeing the world through your son's eyes, and how lovely that you can all be together. Take care Nic,xo
I lived in Paris with my partner for a year back in 2009 and some days I really had to gee myself up to leave the apartment, knowing that at any moment someone will talk to me in French and the effort required to compute that was enormous sometimes. And I know what you mean about the simplest things being the hardest. The whole time we were there we didn't manage to get the phone connected. A relatively simple task here, even when it doesn't go smoothly, but you can't just ring someone up and find out what's going on if you don't speak the language very well. All that said, it was the most amazing thing I've ever done. It challenged me on so many levels and made me so much stronger! And now I can cobble together a bit of French too :) good luck! Enjoy, and keep letting yourself off the hook occasionally.
Thanks everyone. Em ~ you have articulated it perfectly ~ I am aware (even now) that that this is both the most amazing and most difficult thing we've ever done ~ on so many levels! Letting myself off the hook today ;o)
I am in awe of you Ma'am. True.
You will remember this forever; & smile. ;)
Great post Nic, and great photos too! Brings back memories of my time in London - I agree with you, London is a fabulous place to visit but living there is tough. Three months was enough for me before I moved north and became completely besotted with Scotland which became home for two years.
Enjoy the adventure!
Oh I can soo relate to this post. I've lived and worked in both Holland and Belgium - talk about steep learning curve! I agree totally worth it in terms of your self development, but there were also times I just wanted to throw a fit because it was all so hard and incomprehensible. I am lucky that my husband is European and multi-lingual so he managed to save the day on more than one occasion! So enjoying reading your posts from abroad - keep it up. xx
Lovely photos. Sometimes it can be hard making London look attractive!
I am very jealous - I lived for four years in London and absolutely loved it. I miss it very much and just found London to be so very vibrant and alive. I also lived in Amsterdam for a year and agree that language difficulties can add stress and frustration to your life. But on the days I managed to ride my bike to the store and buy my groceries in Dutch I had such a wonderful sense of achievement. Enjoy this time - you will forever look back on the memories and smile!
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