A couple of things off the top of my head:
- the first 6 months is BUSY - I find there is so much we want to see and do, every weekend we are out and about doing stuff. I have a feeling that after the first year this may settle a bit, but for now we are loving it.
- it has been EXPENSIVE - other than the obvious things like paying a rental deposit and buying a car, there have been a load of other expenses - having to set up our grocery cupboard from scratch was just the start of it. It has slowed down somewhat, but for the first 3 months or so we kept having to buy odds and ends for our flat - this week a sieve, the next week, a storage container, the following week a peg bag.... and so on and so on - countless silly little things that we never really budgeted for. (Yesterday it was a cooler box!)
- being here is EXCITING - everything is so fresh and new and interesting. I have absolutely loved the experience. I think maybe I was born to emigrate!! (and as someone who usually hates change, I find that surprising in the extreme!) Honestly, I feel almost embarrassed when people ask me how I'm coping and whether I miss South Africa dreadfully..... The truth is I don't and I almost feel guilty about that. I'm not saying I haven't had any "down" moments - when we came back from Paula's wedding and I was battling a tooth abscess and a sinus infection, I had a couple of very miserable weeks, but generally speaking, I honestly love it here and don't miss South Africa much at all.
- it can be EXHAUSTING - I think because there is so much to adapt to and to take in, things to learn, things to see, places to go... There have been some periods of utter exhaustion. I have found it quite difficult to find the time to simply rest. Grant and I keep saying "this weekend we are just going to chill" and then somehow we end up attending an event or going somewhere new.
- in the first 6 months your immune system takes a beating. We have all been sick. The grandkids particularly have had one cold after another, with some tonsillitis, an ear infection and a tummy bug in the mix as well. I think our immune systems were set up for South African germs and not the UK ones and they are taking a while to adapt.
- this country is far from perfect. The UK isn't perfect, so don't expect perfection. No country in the world is going to tick every single box... if there was such a place it would be mighty over-crowded. If you look for faults, trust me, you are going to find them and if you focus on those faults you are going to be miserable. It's your choice. I find some things here hugely irritating - I've kind of made a deal with myself whereby I see those things, I acknowledge they are annoying, I might even have a little moan, and then I move on and focus on the many, MANY things that I absolutely love about this place that I am fortunate enough to call home.
- Family and friends make all the difference. We are SO lucky in that we have family and friends here. We see our children and grandchildren daily and we probably have a busier social life here than we did in South Africa. I really believe that has played a huge part in our happy transition.
- Choosing the right place to live is HUGE. Having seen a fair amount of the surrounding area, I am SO happy that we chose to live where we live. I strongly believe that to be happy you need to live in a place that MAKES you happy. We have been to some places here in the UK that I genuinely could not live in. If you are planning to move over, I think you really need to figure out what kind of place you want to live in, research, make a short list of places that match your expectations and then try to find work near one of those places. I would definitely not recommend taking a job just anywhere. If cities are not your thing, for goodness sake, don't move to one! If you want a coffee shop on every corner and a constant buzz, don't choose to live in the sticks. I have heard people moan endlessly about life in the UK, when questioned they say something along the lines of "I really, really miss my life in Fish Hoek, I hate London." No surprises there cherub! If you are a country gal, and country life is important to you, why on EARTH would you think that you are going to be happy in the middle of a great big city??? I did a couple of blog posts on my personal blog about how we came to live where we are - you can find them here and here.
- Not all schools in the UK are created equal. If you have kids you really need to consider carefully what school to send them to. I mean it's logical - back in South Africa you wouldn't put your kids in just any old school, you'd do some research, so my advice is to do likewise here. There are lovely schools here, you just need to do your homework and find the right one for your child. The horror stories of schools with not a grass playing field in sight, and badly behaved children are true in some areas, but they are by no means the only schools available here. We live next door to a government primary school with a huge grass playing field and the children are no different to the children at your average South African school.
The bottom line in all of this is that research and attitude are key.
I often get asked whether the UK feels like home now. It does. It really, really does. I can't imagine living anywhere else.
