Three months in our new home, two months since my last update. It’s been two months of some great highs, and some pretty terrible lows too. I don’t want to dwell on the latter too much - it’s a normal part of starting from scratch somewhere new. Suffice to say that bureaucrats and the boxes they attempt to fit you in are as stretched, beleaguered and cantankerous the world over. Harrumph.
In between the highs and lows things have just been ticking along. And that’s rather nice. I think when you move abroad people expect you to be off adventuring and discovering at every opportunity, but after the physical and emotional upheaval of shifting our entire lives across Europe, ticking along is good. Ordinary, safe, just nice.
And in other news...
In between the highs and lows things have just been ticking along. And that’s rather nice. I think when you move abroad people expect you to be off adventuring and discovering at every opportunity, but after the physical and emotional upheaval of shifting our entire lives across Europe, ticking along is good. Ordinary, safe, just nice.
And in other news...
LIFESTYLE
In a word: outdoorsy! It’s one of the main reasons why we moved here and, my goodness, autumn has not disappointed. Brief, yes, but stunningly beautiful. And so our ordinary rhythm, when we’re not working or at school, is to head out and just walk.
In a word: outdoorsy! It’s one of the main reasons why we moved here and, my goodness, autumn has not disappointed. Brief, yes, but stunningly beautiful. And so our ordinary rhythm, when we’re not working or at school, is to head out and just walk.
On the (many) days it rains and we’re just not quite Swedish enough yet to brave it, we laze, code, bake cheese scones (Bean’s current obsession) and make hats and scarves and things for the months ahead.
Uneventful but, as I said, nice.
Uneventful but, as I said, nice.
HOME
We’re down to just 7 unpacked boxes! Perhaps destined to stay that way forever unless I really need something at the bottom of one of them, because let me tell you: I am done with unpacking boxes.
But despite the box fort in the master bedroom it does feel like home. The layout feels right, as does Swedish insulation. Bar curtains and wall decorations, the Bean’s bedroom is finished and super-cosy. The kitchen table by the window is my favourite spot from which to crochet and cheer on the plants braving the autumn chill on the balcony. It feels right.
We’re down to just 7 unpacked boxes! Perhaps destined to stay that way forever unless I really need something at the bottom of one of them, because let me tell you: I am done with unpacking boxes.
But despite the box fort in the master bedroom it does feel like home. The layout feels right, as does Swedish insulation. Bar curtains and wall decorations, the Bean’s bedroom is finished and super-cosy. The kitchen table by the window is my favourite spot from which to crochet and cheer on the plants braving the autumn chill on the balcony. It feels right.
WORK
Lots of it! Bean started preschool in mid-September (more on that below) and as soon as the settling-in period was over, it was nose to the grindstone for me. A good thing too, as I haven´t earned a thing for 3 months. It’s been reassuring to get back into it, and now the next milestone will be to officially shift my accounts from Italy to Sweden in the New Year. Oh the excitement!
THE BEAN
Ups, downs and roundabouts with this one. The great big up that really needs celebrating is that HE LIKES HIS PRESCHOOL. Oh the relief… We like it too - it’s light and cheerful and safe, the staff are kind, the kids go traipsing round the woods nearby and eat like pint-sized kings. He is happy there, and comes home singing Swedish songs about purple lions (I think).
Lots of it! Bean started preschool in mid-September (more on that below) and as soon as the settling-in period was over, it was nose to the grindstone for me. A good thing too, as I haven´t earned a thing for 3 months. It’s been reassuring to get back into it, and now the next milestone will be to officially shift my accounts from Italy to Sweden in the New Year. Oh the excitement!
THE BEAN
Ups, downs and roundabouts with this one. The great big up that really needs celebrating is that HE LIKES HIS PRESCHOOL. Oh the relief… We like it too - it’s light and cheerful and safe, the staff are kind, the kids go traipsing round the woods nearby and eat like pint-sized kings. He is happy there, and comes home singing Swedish songs about purple lions (I think).
Being two (nearly three!) is complicated though. When we first announced we were moving many people said that he would “be fine, kids are adaptable”. And he IS fine, in general, but then there are days when he is really not. Daddy went away for work for a few days in October and that was absolutely not fine. He still remembers what came before, he still struggles with the idea that he can’t just go back. Perhaps he still worries that one of us might just go and not come back, one day. So he is fine, he is adapting and becoming less of a little Italian and more of a little Swede by the day, but he reserves the right to feel crap and anxious about it all sometimes. As we all do, I think.
CULTURE SHOCK
More like weather shock, predictably! We have become wimps after 5 winters in Milan, especially when it comes to wind. And then there’s the fact that cowering indoors is not an option - it’s neither healthy nor realistic (unless you want to become a fuzzy-haired, barely intelligible hermit for 6 months of the year). Becoming braver and understanding what is meant by “appropriate clothing”, as preschool so helpfully put it, has been quite the education. It’s an excellent excuse for making woollie things though, as I said, and for buying a lovely new coat that is warm, windproof, waterproof AND stylish. As soon as I find one, that is (suggestions??).
SOCIAL LIFE
Kind of okay. No real friendships yet because these things take time, and so there are definitely days when we feel lonely. A few visitors (and more coming every month for the next three months!) have helped lift the mood greatly though. As has Instagram for me. No, seriously - it turns out there are some truly lovely people on there, and every now and then you get to meet up in person and talk yarn or food, and always pretty pictures. It’s a godsend, I tell you!
More like weather shock, predictably! We have become wimps after 5 winters in Milan, especially when it comes to wind. And then there’s the fact that cowering indoors is not an option - it’s neither healthy nor realistic (unless you want to become a fuzzy-haired, barely intelligible hermit for 6 months of the year). Becoming braver and understanding what is meant by “appropriate clothing”, as preschool so helpfully put it, has been quite the education. It’s an excellent excuse for making woollie things though, as I said, and for buying a lovely new coat that is warm, windproof, waterproof AND stylish. As soon as I find one, that is (suggestions??).
SOCIAL LIFE
Kind of okay. No real friendships yet because these things take time, and so there are definitely days when we feel lonely. A few visitors (and more coming every month for the next three months!) have helped lift the mood greatly though. As has Instagram for me. No, seriously - it turns out there are some truly lovely people on there, and every now and then you get to meet up in person and talk yarn or food, and always pretty pictures. It’s a godsend, I tell you!
Come say hello:
