No, though I would never doubt the importance of good support when it comes to shoes, essential when we are talking about high heels more than anything, I am not referring to those in this blog post... No, this time I want to talk about the importance of a circle of support amongst friends living abroad which is, surely, better than shoes!
Living in a foreign country is hard... purely and simply hard! No matter how much money you make, no matter how much comfort and security a good salary can give you, and, remember, not everyone grabs one of those anyway, the fact remains: when sick, when troubled, when lonely, the difficulty multiplies by at least one hundred when you find yourself in a foreign land! And those of you who are away from home know exactly what I mean! Moreover, those of you who live in this part of the world know that the NL presents you with an additional bonus of...well, how can I say it... a charming mentality of "I could not give a fuck if you are in need of anything because basically it is not my problem"! Yes, yes, you all can object to that but after almost 11 years here I have the right to my opinion (and many reasons to support it)!
So what we, the expats, are left with is the circle of support! Being there for each other, sharing the knowledge of a good doctor, a good shop to buy bread, sharing thoughts and fears and problems over a cup of coffee or a plate of home cooked pasta and a glass of wine, sharing insecurities, loneliness, homesickness, and very often as well happiness and good news! The point is that being alone in one's home country is nothing compared to being alone thousands of kilometres away from it! And the solution to that is the circle of support! The group of friends! Picking up the phone and asking for help! Offering it to the next person when they need it! That's what works :) and better than shoes!
PS. For V... remember, you are not alone ;)
Living in a foreign country is hard... purely and simply hard! No matter how much money you make, no matter how much comfort and security a good salary can give you, and, remember, not everyone grabs one of those anyway, the fact remains: when sick, when troubled, when lonely, the difficulty multiplies by at least one hundred when you find yourself in a foreign land! And those of you who are away from home know exactly what I mean! Moreover, those of you who live in this part of the world know that the NL presents you with an additional bonus of...well, how can I say it... a charming mentality of "I could not give a fuck if you are in need of anything because basically it is not my problem"! Yes, yes, you all can object to that but after almost 11 years here I have the right to my opinion (and many reasons to support it)!
So what we, the expats, are left with is the circle of support! Being there for each other, sharing the knowledge of a good doctor, a good shop to buy bread, sharing thoughts and fears and problems over a cup of coffee or a plate of home cooked pasta and a glass of wine, sharing insecurities, loneliness, homesickness, and very often as well happiness and good news! The point is that being alone in one's home country is nothing compared to being alone thousands of kilometres away from it! And the solution to that is the circle of support! The group of friends! Picking up the phone and asking for help! Offering it to the next person when they need it! That's what works :) and better than shoes!
PS. For V... remember, you are not alone ;)
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