Between two worlds
I have recently returned from a wonderful month in Australia. I had a great week with my lovely family in Sydney and spent precious time with our children in Melbourne.
For the first time in over 12 months I didn’t cry when the time came for me to leave. Normally parting from the children is a huge wrench for me and I feel completely torn between the two worlds I currently live in. This time however, while I felt sad leaving, a part of me was also looking forward to returning to Hong Kong. On the plane on the way home I tried to decipher why I felt different. Was it because I had been apart from my husband for two weeks and was missing him? Or could it be that it was damn freezing in Melbourne and I don’t do cold very well? (You should have seen how many layers I had on when I went for a run; I’m amazed I could move!)
While both the above points were factors, I think the main reason is because I feel like I finally have a home.
While we were in Melbourne we moved into the house we had recently purchased. After eight years in storage we were reunited with the possessions that had been packed away when we first relocated to Vietnam. In our briefing we were advised by the company not to take any of our goods with us overseas. Being naive first time expats, we heeded their advice and left every thing in Australia. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and I know now that it was a mistake to leave our life behind so completely.
When our container of goods arrived at the new place it felt like Christmas. All the baby photo albums emerged; videos of the children were discovered (VHS of course) along with Rosie the huge rocking horse that doesn’t look so huge any more! Boxes of lego and Barbie dolls were exclaimed over then carefully stacked in the storeroom ready for the grandchildren. (No pressure kids!). We found enough stuffed animals to fill a toyshop, and enough boxes of books to set up a second hand bookstore!
My husband was delighted to uncover a stash of wine he had forgotten about and very quickly set about tasting bottles to make sure they were still ok. There were definitely a few items we shook our heads over and couldn’t work out why we had kept them and some very odd items that had been stored that shouldn’t have been, such as a rubbish bin with rubbish still in it! We had a few tense discussions about getting rid of furniture that was bought in the dark ages (I won that one) and parting with a collection of hundreds of miniature bottles of alcohol (I lost that one), but for the most part it was a journey of discovery, a bit like opening a time capsule
It’s amazing how important all that stuff becomes when you don’t have access to it. I remember one of the girls coming home from school in Vietnam and needing a baby photo for a project they were doing. I felt awful that I didn’t have one to give her. Luckily my older sister has almost as many photos of my children as she has of hers, so she sent one across for me.
The big difference in leaving Australia this time is that I know I have a home to go back to. It is a home filled with the precious memorabilia from our children growing up and memories of our life before we moved overseas. I love that our children have a base to use when they need it, and Christmas this year wont be in a rented apartment.
For some expats home is where ever they are living at the time. For me home is, and always will be, Australia where my family and children are. By having a house there I feel I will now be able to negotiate between my two worlds a little easier.