Home, but not Home
The plane touches down, and you’re no longer a traveler.
So this is home, you think.
Home, but not home: the foremost paradox of expat life.
You’re tired in body and mind and spirit, because you’ve been awake for umpteen hours, trying to get little ones to sleep on the plane or at least keep them occupied…so you haven’t had a quiet moment to ponder the hugeness of moving abroad.
You’ll ponder later. Now is time to experience.
You want to take in everything around you, but it’s too overwhelming to process. You’re excited and apprehensive and drained. So at first, all you can do is sleep, waking up hungry at odd times.
When you’re rested and fed, you regret that the practical stuff took up most of your last few weeks; the goodbyes were rushed, buried in a flurry of decisions and packing. You tell yourself to be sad later. It’s time to push on and find out what you’ve gotten yourself into.