Are We Crazy?

Just gave myself  bit of a fright today when I stopped and thought what we are planning on doing.

We are going to uproot our lives and those of our children to move to another country where we don’t speak the language, can’t drink the water, don’t know anyone, and live there for a year. Furthermore take our kids away from their friends and family and put them in a new school without knowing anyone. How could we really be contemplating such a thing?

It took me a while to calm down and realise that in the greater scheme of things these are not fears, barriers or problems but rather opportunities, adventures and life long memories.

Not knowing the language gives us an incentive and opportunity to learn a new language. The kids will have language lessons at school and can practice it within an environment where they can practice it every day.  I am sure they will be teaching us too!

We will be forced to get out of our comfort zone and meet new people. At home in Sydney we, like many people, have our established set of friends and enjoy their company immensely. Yet we meet new people occasionally, such as parents of our children’s school friends, but we are not ‘forced’ to go out and meet new people. The idea feels scary in some ways, but I know that for all of us it will be a wonderful experience.

Uprooting our lives is going to be a big deal, and in some ways I don’t think I have fully fathomed the enormity of the many tasks involved in packing up and moving for a year. This is the start of many posts that will show how this opportunity is rather special and good challenges are to come….