[Update: 9th July 2013.]
Where do I begin?
I'm keeping this thread updated partly because I am realising more and more need a trace of the times I live in, the experiences I live through on a daily basis.
These experiences are so rich and are happening at such pace, that I unless I record things as and when they happen I will lose even the memory of them. And it would be a real waste.
The building work itself is a straightforward thing. Land and ground, diggers and cranes, bricks and mortar, walls and stairs, cables and pipes, walls and doors. We're still negotiating some changes with the building company, which I'm not taking lightly - instead, the stress levels are enormous. It's all still very slow, there is a long road ahead, but it's moving. The end is somewhere, in the foreseeable future.
But the people!
The people who helped us get where we are, those who are holding our hands now, those who will stand by us in the months to come. It's an overwhelming feeling to *know* that we are not alone an not just that - to know how wonderful they are, how they enriched our lives already, how they come - and keep coming - to our lives at the right time.
These people are quickly becoming friends. I think it's partly a privilege of the age. When you're young, you question yourself and others so much. Once you reach certain age, with all the happy and sad moments along the way which mould you into yourself, it's easier to give in to the voice of the heart which recognises the genuine contacts.
And so, this house is becoming so much more than just the walls.
I often remember things that were happening even 18-24 months ago. How my husband did not want to accept the job by a major employer because his potential boss did not sound supportive. We could not uproot ourselves for the prospect of the work without any appreciation from the key person in that job. How we believed that the right opportunity was out there - and it was. How it led to his current job, where he's happier than I've ever seen him.
How I became good friend, almost overnight, with my son's school friend's mum back in England, once we opened up to each other about our plans to move abroad, and how she became the main support figure in the preparations that were ahead of us - because they had already been through most of them. How her husband helped me with the advice to speed up the situation at my workplace, which was closing down anyway, but people were made redundant at certain schedule and I had no idea when my turn would be - which could affect my own family's move significantly.
And how, spontaneously, we ended up being the family that supported them in the last days of their life in England, how we provided logistic (driving services after they sold their car, taking kids for sleepover so they can pack in piece, etc.) and even that last bottle of wine for them to celebrate the move and say good bye to the old home came from us, only to enhance the feeling we wished we had meet sooner… but you can't change things, you can just take the most from what is happening at any given moment. I was the last person to see them off as they boarded the taxi to take them to the airport and their new life in Canada.
How we managed to sell our old house, our son's first home, in the struggling market, to the first couple who viewed it, although the other two houses on our own driveway had been on the market for months and struggling. How we sold, donated and then packed everything else, with less sleep than when we had a newborn baby, in less than one month.
How we came here and found ourselves amongst the bare walls in the new country, without even the kitchen sink, with dozens of boxes, not knowing the language… only to come across a guy from our homeland in the local Ikea who literally sorted us out within minutes.
How we met and within hours bonded here with a German couple, from whom we bought some furniture, as they were returning back to their permanent home after a 2-year contract. Sometimes the souls just speak to each other. And we had so little time together, but enough to have a dinner I prepared (she's a professional chef - I've never cooked for one) and share a fantastic wine… and to discover that one bottle I pulled out from our box is actually made at a winery next to their home in Western Australia. Of all places. On the planet.
The last box of their stuff was sealed with our duct tape, the one I had thrown in our 'random' box after our move - because their movers had run out of the tape and couldn't finish packing, it was 22:00 at night and their container was leaving the next morning.
They've brought light into our life, not just the ceiling fixtures from their old apartment! I will never forget how we hugged as we said good byes, me trepidant at the prospect of just practicalities everyday life, and they hugging me and saying "You will be fine. It will be hard, but you'll be fine." Something in those words was so genuine, not cliche, not a phrase they had to say, but true, lived in experience of their own, their firm belief. I took it as a blessing.
How we decided to see what's out there on the property market in our new surroundings, only to realise quickly that we should act as soon as the right thing comes along. And it did. We had put so many hours in learning what locals already knew, about the area, the project, the opportunities for the family lifestyle there, which makes our choice even sweeter. It's only these weeks and months that we realise the full scale of the opportunity that we came across, and the good luck we had, while we learn about the overall circumstances even more.
How we went through arduous process of mortgage chasing and purchase contract signing, which seriously affected my own peace of mind and I thought I could not take any more of stress.
Only to find myself under more stress in every new stage. The causes are numerous, from just tight deadlines, to financial implications, to simply different cultural norms.
Yet, miraculously, there is always someone who generously offers help, without even being asked. Locals whom we befriended, other immigrants who have been through the tough adaptation stage (we live in a very international town)… my husband had met wonderful people at work, but my playground hours have brought great friendships too.
And through a friend of a friend we have, by pure chance, met our future next door neighbours. The wonderful, generous couple.
And we also met a couple from our homeland, who happen to live just across the road, and who are also going through this exact same process of house building at another spot in town - and they are endless and generous source of information and support. Best of all, our contact is not forced in any way, we have never sought friendships purely on the basis of 'holding the same passport', but we simply enjoy being with likeminded, quality people. It's simple: the lady and I get along wonderfully, and hubbies have clicked straight away too. They even work at the same company.
It's strange and wonderful and tiring, all at the same time. Being very emotional, I do take it all to my heart, perhaps sometimes too much, but I can't nor don't want not to feel grateful for the experiences of meeting all these people in such turbulent times. But, with the obligations and continuos decision making on a grand scale (following two unsettling years prior to the move and one year of transitional life that's just passed), I am pushed to my limits and as I type I'm in bed with very sore throat, bad headache and joints pain - I think my immune system simply shuts down when I reach certain stress levels and my body literally forces me to stop. I obviously need to find a way to manage stress differently, as I can't go on like this.
The best thing of all is that I often have these thought of our house being built by friends for friends. There is a background story which I didn't think mattered before, but I'll share it now. Initially, we oped for the project of building a smaller version of the house, as we had a choice which one to go for. We did not want a big mortgage around our necks. We knew it was a choice with some compromises, the main one being accommodation of our guests (we travel a lot and get a lot of visits too, so hosting is part of our lifestyle). But, circumstances have led to upgrading the house to a more spacious future habitat and with that decision everything fell in place - we now have generous guest space without any need for compromises and growing guest waiting list too
That alone gives me a huge buzz, to know that some day that extra room will be a place to welcome all those dear people with whom there are never enough hours in a day once we sit down together...
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(To Be Continued... a lot of other details worth sharing, like the street name, the actual house number in the address, but I'll leave those for later.)
