It has been over a month since we posted a new blog, and I have to admit to having enormous trouble getting motivated to write anything. What I think has been the difficulty are all of the “problems” we have had in making this transition to London. It hasn’t been anything major, but instead a long succession of constant, nagging little details. Things that should be easy to get done and settled here, instead take time after time of maneuvering and tweaking to get done… things that just take a ridiculous amount of time and energy.
This blog won’t be long, I still don’t feel like dwelling on these little “annoyances” even yet. I just want to get started writing… to start the flow of words and ideas again. Suffice to say, that we are getting settled in our new home in London, but that it has not been an easy process. When we moved to Japan, we had more support from our employer, we kept our house and cars and belongings and pets in Atlanta (well cared for by our family), and we knew that after a set amount of time we would return to all of it. It turns out that when you get rid of stuff and belongings and *really* move internationally (including the pets) that it is all the more complicated and… at times… extremely frustrating.
Some of the things we have been dealing with:
Banking. It took over three months for us to establish a bank account (we started the process even before we moved). Why? I still have no idea. Yes, it is a different kind of account for expats, but still…? Why? And… even yet, I am confused by a lot of the *process* it takes to get any banking done. I know that UK has a lot of bureaucracy… just as the US does… but here it all moves at a snail’s pace.
Health Care. When we were living in Japan, we were covered by the Japanese national health insurance, but we still had health insurance through our US employer as well. Here in UK we have the NHS — National Health Service. My husband is also covered by a supplemental insurance provided by his employer… I am not. I can get supplemental coverage for an additional cost, but there are many options. We are looking into those options, and for now, I am still covered by a policy from our previous employer… which is very expensive. We are still learning how to maneuver through the NHS system. The healthcare system in the US is complicated, but we have had years of experience with it. This system is a whole new level of complication… a whole new set of hoops to jump through, and again… moves at a snail’s pace. We are learning…
About a month ago our landlord called to see if we could allow a prospective “buyer” to look at our apartment. What? Are they going to sell the apartment and make us move? We have a lease… with a 15-month “break clause”… they can’t make us move for another year (I hope)! I don’t want to move again. We are just getting settled! Just another thing to worry about…
Oh… and we finally got our sea shipment from the US. Yay! Except… our packers/movers made a few mistakes with what they ended up shipping to us. We got most of what we wanted, but there are quite a few things that they didn’t ship to us, that ended up in storage… and about six boxes of things that should have gone to storage, that are now taking up space in our small London apartment. For example… we had a china cabinet that we sent to storage. This china cabinet has an interior glass display shelf that is about 3 feet long. Our movers very carefully removed and packed up that glass shelf… and sent it to us here in London, along with part of the china and many, many fragile mementos from the china cabinet. I have no space for these items here. We are still conferring with the moving company about how to get these things packed and safely shipped back to join the rest of our belongings in storage.
Not everything has been difficult or bad. We have really enjoyed our first few weeks as Londoners. We have done and seen a lot of interesting things (see future blog posts). We are enjoying our high-rise apartment, and we are enjoying the perks and amenities… a nice gym/pool, and rooftop terrace. We have had one (business) trip to Japan, and have more travel planned in the fall. Our three kitties have settled in nicely, and seem to be happy enough. They no longer have an outdoor deck to go out on and lie in the sunshine, but they enjoy watching out the windows here, and all three are currently asleep in front of the floor to ceiling windows in our living room. And, we have met a very nice couple nearby who are willing to petsit for us when we are away.
All in all things are going OK. We have had some annoying issues, but we are managing them. Do we regret this move to London? Uh… no… we don’t. I still occasionally wake up in the middle of the night worrying about things… missing things about our home and our life in Georgia… missing my car, or random belongings that we sold or gave away before we left. But this is a wonderful opportunity for us, and it has been an amazing experience. And, that is something we will never regret. At the end of it all, stuff is just stuff, but the life experiences become part of who we are. Yes… we are slowly… slowly settling into our new life in London.
Four Years in Japan ... and now Three Years in London 