Year One

It's been a full year since I've made the huge step of moving here. I left behind my loving family, wonderful friends, loyal cats, rewarding job and a peaceful home to join my husband here, where I start with nothing. I have to learn a whole new language, adapt to the culture and literally find my bearings here.

Was it easy? I have to say "Yes" and "No". The first few weeks I took it easy. I left everything to Pete. He brought me around. I simply followed, opening my eyes wide to take in everything - the people, the places, the culture. Observing. That was the easy part. What made it easy was Pete. We are so lucky that we both speak a common language ( English, of course) very well and so it was easy to understand each other. He was always with me, explaining in detail every question that I had.

Also, since we established our relationship while we both were 9,000km apart for most of the time, being able to finally live together was wonderful. We stayed close to each other all the time and we held hands everywhere we go. We still do, so I guess the honeymoon period is still not over for us.

But after awhile, it started getting harder for me. From sharing a home with my parents, siblings and cats, I now share it with just one other person. The quiet was a bit hard to adjust to. I only have him to talk to when previously I would chat with my sister, be nagged at by my mum and fend off some attention seeking cats. But on the up side, the remote's all mine! I can watch whatever I wanted but the problem is the programs are all different. I missed all my food shows and they kept showing reruns of programs from way back in 2005. I missed MY cable tv!

I would listen to the radio in the kitchen as I cook. That's another big difference. Pete helped me set it to the Gold channel. Just like back home, they would play the oldies from the 60s - 90s. However, again here, they kept playing the same songs several times a day! I miss the radio channels back home.

Apart from having to adjust to this country, I also had an added stress - adjusting to married life. We had to adjust to living together. Just as how I had to adjust to living with just one other person, Pete had to adjust to sharing his apartment with me. He has been living alone for many years so it wasn't easy for him either. It was a bit rough in the beginning, but we have a lot of respect, patience and understanding for each other, not to mention that we love each other to bits. Whenever we faced issues, we would talk about them calmly. Sometimes we would talk about it over a couple of days until we finally work things out. That makes us understand and love each other even more.

Also, back home, I have lots of friends and I would hang out with them very often. Sometimes we would hang out until late, even. Ad no matter which of my friends I hang out with, we would have a lot of laughs. I'm not saying that Pete isn't fun. On the contrary. We share the same kind of humor and we would make each other laugh all the time. But it's not the same here since it's costly to go out to eat or watch movies. Pete is also the kind of guy who is happier staying at home than being out and he hates crowd. He does bring me out sometimes so that's fun but I have become more used to staying home now. It's fine by me since it is very comfortable at home. The weather outside could be too cold.

The weather! Another thing to adjust to. It was spring when I first moved here. I found it a bit chilly sometimes but I enjoyed spring and summer immensely. I also enjoyed the fall since I got to layer my clothes. Winter was awesome when it snowed but when the low temperatures felt like it was going on and on and I kept falling sick, I wished for the warmer weather back home.

On the whole though, it hasn't been too bad. Sometimes I would have bouts of homesickness. Then, I would either chat with my family or friends or just send them messages. I also enjoy meeting up with Pete's sisters and friends so we have been relatively social here. I also enjoy learning Swedish. My eyes light up when I learn new words and I feel a sense of satisfaction whenever I speak proper Swedish and am understood. That always surprises me since I think my accent prevents people of understanding me.

All in all, it has been a great first year. As I sit here and think about what I had gone through, I think about what was it that made me do it. How could I have simply left my old life? What was I thinking? Well, for me, the answer is simple - nothing. Just as how I worked out in the gym for hours everyday when I wanted to lose weight, or how I would wake up at 4am every weekend to train for a marathon. I would not think about it because the more I think, the more the doubts would creep in. I didn't allow the what-ifs to sneak into my head. After I decided that this would be the best thing for me, I summoned every ounce of courage I had and said goodbye to my old life.

Courage and faith. I had faith that things would be ok. And they are. I love it here and best of all, I am loved here too.