With
less than a month until I embark on an exciting new adventure, I have decided
to start a blog of the run-up and the actual event.
What is this all about you may ask? My boyfriend of 5 years (Gordon)
and I have been mumbling about travelling for the last 2 years or so and the
discussion was always brief and ended with the words "in 2013". Then
suddenly we found ourselves in 2013. We had set ourselves a challenge and now
we had to act.
First question: Where? Neither of us had any desire to go to
London which is where many young South Africans go for a few years with dreams
of earning numerous Pounds and travelling Europe. To me, London (specifically
Wimbledon) was like my local suburb of Westville except colder and wetter. I
think if you are going to take the step of trying something new, you may as
well go the whole hog and try a new culture. Besides the fact that the London
"Saffas" all tend to hang out together (from what I've heard from
friends living there - don't quote me on that!), the British culture is quite
similar to some of the South African English-speaking white culture so London
was definitely not on my list. I'm more than happy to visit there but I'd
rather live somewhere else. Gordon has his own reasons for not wanting to go to
London.
So we looked at the Far East - specifically Singapore. At first it
sounded like an excellent option. They speak English due to the English
colonial history and they have a negative population growth rate so they
encourage foreigners. But then we realised that (Warning!
Huge generalization coming! Warning!) Asians work too hard and if we
want to travel in the region it might be a problem.
We looked at a few other countries and decided that we may as well
use my EU passport and go to Europe. Europe's economy definitely has highs and
lows. Beautiful Spain (my country of choice if South Africa sank) has serious
economic issues as do some of the other warmer EU nations. So, by process of
elimination, we have decided on the Netherlands.
Very good friends of ours (Nikki and Conway) have been living
there for a few years and are very happy. The economy seems to be alright and
the language is not too much of an issue. Whilst most people who live in my
area do not speak much Afrikaans, all South Africans have to learn a second
language at school and most white English-speakers choose Afrikaans over the
African languages. The written language has many similarities to Dutch but the
pronunciation is quite different. But overall it wouldn't be a huge change from
what I already know. The Dutch, however, are renowned linguists and
many of the job applications that I have looked at state that English is fine -
Dutch is a bonus. So overall, Netherlands seems like an excellent place to live
for 2 or 3 years.
Second question: Where exactly? Nikki and Conway live in a town
called Ede which is an hour by train from Amsterdam and close to the city of
Arnhem. They very kindly have offered us a room until we settle in and find our
own place. Which city we will be in all depends on where I find work. Note the
"I" and not "we". Gordon is on an SA passport so he will
apply for residency through me once we get there. But that takes 3 months once
I have a signed employment contract and his Schengen visa (to get him into the
country to start with) is only valid for 3 months. This is going to be a fun
game to play...
Third
question: What about all our stuff? I own a townhouse in a complex which means
I have a bond and a whole lot of junk inside those 4 walls. Gordon and I both
have cars and between us we have 3 bicycles. The to-do list can get a bit
daunting! I eventually resorted to using a letting agent as my personal networks
weren't working and I have now signed a lease with a lovely older couple who
will rent it fully furnished. Relief! I sold my car within 16 hours of listing
it on Gumtree. Relief! I sold my mountain bike fairly quickly. Relief! Now I need
to try get rid of my road bike. Gordon, on the other hand, is battling to get
rid of his things. His car seems to be too new to sell as he’s had no inquiries
but many views of the advert and the sale of his bicycle fell through. You can’t
win them all...
So
for now I can relax about our big move and concentrate on studying for an exam
on Friday. And the Skype job interview I have tomorrow. And the handing over of work
to colleagues. And the Rand/Euro exchange rate. And the expensive month of
Social September (birthdays, goodbyes and general social activity). It never
ends...
