This is not the post I intended to write, but things rarely turn out to be exactly as expected.
It's been a challenging couple of days for the family. The full impact of the move is sinking in. This morning I woke up again and for that split second before the brain can distinguish between dream and reality, I thought I was back home and we were running late for nursery. It's such a strange sensation that I haven't felt in a long time, and the realisation that we're really here hit me like a freight train. There's also this familiar sense of urgency to see and do everything all at once that overcomes me whenever I visit a new place, making me restless and impatient. Now more than ever I have to remember to take a step back, slow down, focus on what's around us and try to be present. Not as easy as it sounds with two small children! So I ground myself by sticking to my immediate to-do list. Here's what we ticked off so far, and a glimpse of what's yet to be taken care of.
Husband has a lot on his plate, and managing the workload in the office with the chaos at home has not been easy on him. He still managed to get our iqamas sorted, run errands and drive us to a playground most days.
My resignation was finalised after seven years with the same company. Husband and I agreed it's probably best to stick to the original plan of taking a full maternity leave until baby turns one at the end of the year and take a step back from my career. It's discomforting to think I don't have my job to return to, or the faintest idea what comes next. On the other hand, it's a rare opportunity for someone (almost) in their mid-thirties to take time off to find out what they want to do and to focus on growing as a person without any external pressure.
Contrary to our plans, we're not moving into a beautiful villa in one of the largest compounds in Riyadh today. Our things are all over the place, somehow it looks like we have a lot more of them than we did a month ago. I've been procrastinating the packing, and for once it was a good thing, since we have to stay in our temporary accommodation indefinitely. When we finally get to move in, it will be a lovely project to turn the new house into our home, meet more new friends and become a part of the local community.
Toddler has been a little more irritable lately. He's a typical energetic, albeit erratic two-year old, so spending most of his time alone with me and the baby has not been sufficiently stimulating for him. He must still miss his old life, because he frequently talks about his friends back in London. Luckily the nursery enrolment is complete and he starts attending as soon as we're able to move into the new house, which I really hope isn't delayed for much longer. I'm sure once he's around his peers, he'll settle in quickly and will return to his usual self soon enough.
Baby is teething. Otherwise, he actually sleeps so much better here. Maybe it's the controlled temperature? Or having his own room? Who knows, but it makes us happy whenever he actually sleeps solid 7-8 hours stretches. He also seems to enjoy the climate - the heat doesn't appear to bother him at all during our evening strolls when it's still well above 30°C.
On Thursday we received the news of the Queen's passing, which shook me more than I could've anticipated. The sentiment of Her Majesty's death signalling the end of an era resonates so deeply and I have obsessively been following the news from home whenever I have a moment.
This post has turned out to be more sombre than I expected, but it has been such a tumultuous four weeks. No matter how adaptable, how resilient we believe ourselves to be, or how prepared we are, moving to a new country is always a lifechanging event that comes with unique challenges every time.
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