Thursday 11 August 2016

When you just find out you’re a triangle

When we moved from Aberdeen to Singapore I was full of excitement.  We’d spent a month in beautiful accommodation in all my favourite parts of the city and shire, were embarking on a new adventure and were exciting people.
When we moved back we had to deal with downsizing living space drastically, finding roles and work, getting a car and a house as well as dealing with illness and family issues.  I was dog tired from what we physically needed to do, but exhausted from all of the emotional output required of me.  I probably would have done really well to read up on repatriation, but instead I went about things my own way and in hindsight this was a really bad idea. 
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Sometimes I do still raise my eyebrows when people I used to know through book group/walking club/meet ups tell me about things I already know (because I was there.  I did those things with you.  I still have those memories so….why have I been forgotten?!)  But I also still find it hard to talk about where we lived and got up to without worrying people will think I’m bragging or being obnoxious.  Unbeknownst to me these are really common problems.
However whilst reading one of my favourite blogs recently I noticed that they made a comment about ‘I am a Triangle’ which you can read up about here.  It explains some of the ways that being a repatriate changes you and totally hit the nail on the head for me….especially as I still think of Scotland as home.
The whole triangle thing goes a little bit deeper seeing as when we flew in to Hong Kong to start our new adventure I played Alt-J’s Tessellate on repeat.  We were on the plane, I saw Hong Kong coming into focus and I was just so full of excitement and awe.  Whenever I got homesick in Singapore I played this song and it brought me right back to the moment where I wanted nothing more than be away, doing something new, and making my own way in another part of the world.
So there you go…..my triangle has come full circle.
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Just so you know, when we travelled back to Singapore from a ‘holiday’ in the UK I played Mr Tembo non-stop, but when we moved back I watched The Judge to channel my inner Robert Downey Jr…