Living Abroad
Recently My Handsome Man got together with some friends from school and played football. I sat, my back leaning against the fence, surrounded by bags and belongings, watching them play. I had my camera with me, and as I snapped away I realised there were mountains in the background.
Mountains.
In that moment there was this buzz of excitement in me. I am looking at mountains right now because we’re in Vancouver. We’re in Canada!
I know this already, of course. I did get on an aeroplane and fly halfway round the world, but living abroad is strange. It’s kind of hard to explain how it feels to someone who has never lived abroad. The moments in between the new routine where I realise again that I’m in another country.
Those are the sweet surreal moments.
The not so sweet moments are the instances where the phone rings, or a message comes through saying a family member has been taken to the hospital. In those moments, the distance feels so much greater. It was hard to await further news, knowing that if it was bad there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t race across the country to be with family. I couldn’t visit in hospital if he took a turn for the worse. I would remain eight hours behind, regardless.
Then of course, there are the happy moments that we miss out on. Since being in Vancouver, my family has welcomed three new baby boys. I know if I was home I’d be sharing cuddles and have spent the last few months editing photographs of little hands and feet - my favourite type of photography.
There have been days where the rest of my family are in one place, gathered together, laughing and joking; days where I wish myself across the ocean to be with them. We use technology and still manage to catch up and share in the day in our own way. It isn’t quite the same, though.
"How are you finding Vancouver?"
I hear that question a lot, from both sides of the pond. It’s hard to summarise all the emotions in one simple sentence. Some weeks are more difficult than others.
Most of the time it’s easy to forget. We live our lives, get stuck in to our routine and wait for the next moment of surreality when it dawns on us again.
We’re in Vancouver. We’re living abroad.
