10 weeks ago  we started to build our new home base in Cambridge. The first weeks we were excited about discovering the surrounding, the stores and all the new things England has to offer. Soon work and school started and we were back to daily life. Therewith the nerve racking and sometimes annoying part began. Easy things like buing an ironing board can take a couple of days, opening a bank account two month, adjusting the heating system costed us some hours with the manual and perceived one hundred phone calls, get used to the narrow roads two flat tires until now, and and and…

Only because we already did it once and this time without language issues actually (although I’m not really sure if everyone is talking English here) doesn’t means that it’s easier. It takes time, nerves and a good portion of humor. Slowly but surely we can recognize the light after the tunnel. The first play dates are made, the first phone numbers exchanged, some new Facebook friends added, the baker knows my name and we know that Gin basically is Wodka enriched with some botanicals…

Now I can almost hear the question “and why are you doing this?” Good one, to be honest sometimes I ask this myself. The pride when you managed to change a tire in the middle of Tottenham, surrounded with creatures you don’t really like to meet alone at night lasts forever. To see how easy your kids switches between languages and how easy they handle new situations gives you recognition. And the good feeling when you started with a course you always thought that you’re not qualified enough shows that sometimes something has to change first before you start believing in yourself. I became more self confident over the last years: I’m doing things I would never have done before (or at least not without sweaty hands and a red head), I can laugh about situations and about myself that would have made my angry or insecure some years ago and I started to trust myself and my values. I think we all turned into more open minded, cosmopolitan human beings. And if you would have asked me five years ago if I would spend my holidays in the UK, I would have answered “never”. And now I can’t wait to travel through this beautiful country and start discovering all its treasures.

All this is more than worth for me to get pushed out of the comfort zone. “You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That’s the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place”. I’d be glad to!!