As anyone who has executed an international move knows, the process is as much excitement as pure terror. In addition to the myriad concerns flying through your head about never seeing your cherished belongings again, there is the fear of the unknown. Where will I buy milk? Will I find a circle of friends? Will I be able to learn the language? What on earth have we signed ourselves up for?As I make the final preparations and move onto my final five fingers to count the days until we move to Tunis, I have found a way to categorize, if not altogether deal with my fears. I’m a compulsive organizer…what can I say! If I can’t solve a problem, it is at least sitting in the right pile.
As a wife, I fear for the demands that this move will place on my husband’s time. This fear is mitigated by the fact that since we found out about this move, he has been as giddy as a school boy… more excited by his chosen profession than he has been in a long while.
As a mother, I fear for my 18 month old’s fragile understanding of his little world and how we are about to shatter it. He won’t be waking up in the same room, his little friends will all change, and people will be speaking to him in strange tongues, just as he was getting the hang of this English nonsense. But I take comfort in the fact that, although he may not remember this year, it will permanently lodge itself in his psyche, and that I will love discovering this new world through his eyes.
As an entrepreneur, I fear that I won’t be able to accomplish all that I have set out for myself in this upcoming year. While this move is offering me numerous opportunities, I doubt my ability to seize them and to properly maintain my control over the business I have so carefully built over the past year. But as with all things in business, the reward is in the risk….and if nothing else, I will blog my little heart out!
As a woman, I fear the changing political climate in Tunisia. As the country struggles to find its footing after the Jasmine Revolution and the ouster of long-time dictator Ben Ali, a long repressed undercurrent of conservative Islamism is attempting to take hold. What implication this holds for the women of Tunisia, no one can yet say. The nation seems, to this outside observer, to be so fiercely proud of its moderate stance on women’s rights that a curtailing of their ability to work outside the home or a mandatory enforcement of the hijab seems unlikely. But I am excited to be able to come to know these women and experience first hand how they will play a role in determining their country’s future.
As a traveler, and especially as a traveler with a small child in tow, I fear the baggage, and the train schedules, and the changing of diapers in public restrooms. But I am also happy to infuse my tourist dollars into the many Tunisian communities desperately missing their visitors since they launched the Arab spring and to discover the vast historical, cultural and culinary treasures my new home has to offer. I can’t wait to introduce you all to my new home as I get to know it thoroughly.
Have you endured the stresses an thrills of an international move? What coping measures have you used to get through it?
This is an original post to World Moms Blog by our new writer and newly exported “Tunisian,” Natalia Rankine-Galloway of Culture Baby.
The image used in this post is credited to ReeccaLeeP. It holds a Flickr Creative Commons attribution license.
I’m so excited for you, Natalie! I’ve been to Tunisia once, way back in 1997 as a student and I remember loving it as a tourist 🙂
May you have a smooth move!
I bet you will find it fascinating! I visited nearby Morocoo and loved it. When I lived in France I met plenty of Tunisians and found hem warm and welcoming. Enjoy and embrace it!
Best of luck with the move! We packed up and moved across the world with three cats and one dog when I was 32 weeks pregnant and I thought that was rough. Now that I have a 14 month old baby I realize it was much easier to move with him inside my belly rather than outside of it. I do not envy you the trip with an 18-month but I am sending some good moving mojo your way and hoping you a safe journey and a smooth transition into your new home. What an adventure!
Don’t worry! I moved to Kenya with my 20 month old boy and i think it was actually a terrific age. A lot of the things we thought he would miss, he didn’t seem to and he adjusted to the language and culture quicker and better than we did. All kids are different, but I think it’s a lot easier at least when they are young adn aren’t missing close friends and the creature comforts that have become so familiar to them. Good luck and I’m looking forward to hearing more about your time there!
When I was 9 we moved from Toronto Ontario to Curacao, Netherlands Antilles. It was hard – I missed my friends. But I am So GLAD we went. It woke me up, made me more aware of the world, and I appreciated my life in a new way.
we moved to Lagos, Nigeria in july 2009 with my then 3 year old son and my 15 month old daughter. it’s funny because the kids always adapt better than the adults. I was so worried about them, and it turned out it was harder on me to adapt. I did bring some of their toys (of course) but I found that as long as my husband and I were with them and their sense of family was intact, they did great and many other expats who have moved with small children have said the same thing. Good luck and have a wonderful time on this new adventure for your family!:)
My parents emigrated from Italy to South Africa the year I turned 8 and my sister was 4. I have to agree with all the other Mamas who said the younger the child the easier (for him) the move! I couldn’t speak or understand any English or Afrikaans (the official languages at the time) and was put straight into 3rd grade. Despite having to look up everything the teachers and kids said in my pocket dictionary, by the end of the year I’d passed both languages. Best of luck with your move!
Your posts reminds me that there always many reasons not to do something, but also many more reasons to do it! I am really looking forward to sharing your Tunisian journey with you here!
Jen 🙂
I hope you and your family have safe travels on your way to Tunisia, Nathalia! I have never moved internationally (at least not since I was a few months old when my parents came to NY), but I do love to travel, and try to get my kids traveling as much as possible (never enough in my mind though) :-).