I agree that using a Substack to bash a new home isn’t helpful. On the other hand, many writers are here just trying to sort things out for themselves. The writing itself is a way of putting our thoughts out for ourselves to see. I’ve read the articles and writers you’re talking about. Some are clearly culture shock that someone didn’t fully appreciate going in. Others, I’d be willing to bet, are using writing to adapt. They’ll sound unappreciative but they’re just doing what they know how to do to get through it, and it takes courage to put it out there.
If we find a space in Europe with the markets and walking that I crave, you can bet I’ll use this space to work out the moments when I worry I made a mistake.
But I think the problem isn't with individuals as much as it with the collective environment all of these individuals combine to produce. I feel like I go out of my way to make that point.
And, amid that environment, there are loads of flat out falsehoods and misperceptions created that actually ends up making things more difficult for people like yourself who might want to move one day.
Heck, even I arrived with fear over bureaucracy and such because of what I read beforehand. It's hard to avoid the echo chamber and not be impacted by it. So I see a needed role in saying a lot of that stuff is bullshit and not helpful. And I'm calling it out because my experience has been, almost across the board, the complete opposite. In part because I knew what I wanted and what to expect and because I've lived most of life in places many Americans brand as inconvenient because they've been sold a product called suburbia and rarely, if ever truly question it.
I get it. That's the worst thing about goals. Your timeline makes real that you'll be older (when you're already sort of, basically old) when you reach them.
I love this. We have had a variety of "laundry experiences" down the years.
Until recently, in Swiitzerland it was just normal that in a block of flats, which is most people's accommodation, there was laundry room. With a schedule and fixed hours of 0800 to 1800. Basically, all working on the assumption that somebody was home all day an never more then three metres from the kitchen sink.
When we got an apartment with a washer and a tumbler, mates used to come to diner and call and ask if they could bring laundry.
When we lived in New York, it was back to a common laundry room, with Nanny's and cleaners, fighting like cats over the washers and dryers.
Here in South Africa, in our small, 85 sq metre, apartment, we have a small washer. We deal with it and take out what does not work readily like bedding.
I agree that using a Substack to bash a new home isn’t helpful. On the other hand, many writers are here just trying to sort things out for themselves. The writing itself is a way of putting our thoughts out for ourselves to see. I’ve read the articles and writers you’re talking about. Some are clearly culture shock that someone didn’t fully appreciate going in. Others, I’d be willing to bet, are using writing to adapt. They’ll sound unappreciative but they’re just doing what they know how to do to get through it, and it takes courage to put it out there.
If we find a space in Europe with the markets and walking that I crave, you can bet I’ll use this space to work out the moments when I worry I made a mistake.
Point well taken.
But I think the problem isn't with individuals as much as it with the collective environment all of these individuals combine to produce. I feel like I go out of my way to make that point.
And, amid that environment, there are loads of flat out falsehoods and misperceptions created that actually ends up making things more difficult for people like yourself who might want to move one day.
Heck, even I arrived with fear over bureaucracy and such because of what I read beforehand. It's hard to avoid the echo chamber and not be impacted by it. So I see a needed role in saying a lot of that stuff is bullshit and not helpful. And I'm calling it out because my experience has been, almost across the board, the complete opposite. In part because I knew what I wanted and what to expect and because I've lived most of life in places many Americans brand as inconvenient because they've been sold a product called suburbia and rarely, if ever truly question it.
100%. I want to understand the different experiences so that, should we seize an opportunity, we go in eyes wide open.
And no freakin joke about the echo chamber. 😂
I agree.
I took what you said to heart. I appreciate it, and how you presented it.
So much so I'm writing something to address it probably for Saturday.
I'm in zero hurry to get older (or have my youngest move out), but I also can't wait to downsize into a smaller place.
I get it. That's the worst thing about goals. Your timeline makes real that you'll be older (when you're already sort of, basically old) when you reach them.
So weird how fast that whole conception changes.
I love this. We have had a variety of "laundry experiences" down the years.
Until recently, in Swiitzerland it was just normal that in a block of flats, which is most people's accommodation, there was laundry room. With a schedule and fixed hours of 0800 to 1800. Basically, all working on the assumption that somebody was home all day an never more then three metres from the kitchen sink.
When we got an apartment with a washer and a tumbler, mates used to come to diner and call and ask if they could bring laundry.
When we lived in New York, it was back to a common laundry room, with Nanny's and cleaners, fighting like cats over the washers and dryers.
Here in South Africa, in our small, 85 sq metre, apartment, we have a small washer. We deal with it and take out what does not work readily like bedding.
As Rocco said, we adapted. We are not comparing.