Week 16 Personal

Last week I was looking forward to my first visitor. I had been thinking about all the things I wanted to share with my sister and the places we should visit so she could see what it has been like for us during our stay here. I was eager for her to see what it is we like about Sweden and why I will never forget the time we have spent here. I decided that we should visit the glass museum because the glass production is something which I have been told makes the people of this area very proud. It was interesting for us to visit the museum and I discovered that the iconic Coke bottle was actually designed by a Swede. I also felt that a walk round one of the lakes would allow her to see the beauty of this town.  This has made me aware that while I have become more proud of Northern Ireland I also have embraced my new home and am proud to show it of too.

This led me to dwell on an exercise we performed during my popular culture module. The teacher asked us to think about home and what it meant to us. There were a range of responses to this question but for me it helped with the realisation that home is not a house, a city or a country; it is being together with my family and enjoying each other’s company in a place that makes us all happy. This is a particularly important realisation for me because with the job situation in Northern Ireland not at its best I plan to also explore the option of working in an international school. I now know that we can survive away from our normal environment and without the constant support of our extended families. I can, however, recognise that some sort of support network is also essential; an incident where my daughter cut her head meant a swift ‘help’ phone call to Michael as I discovered the sight of blood makes me feel very sick and faint. Thankfully it was nothing serious and he managed to have her (and me) feeling better in a few minutes but I’m not sure how I would have managed if he had not been available.

During this discussion there was a student from Hong Kong in my group. I had stated that occasionally coming from Northern Ireland can be a little confusing; whilst our nationality is officially British, many people associate us with the Republic of Ireland and are surprised to learn that it is two different countries. He said that coming from Hong Kong he can identify with this because while he is Chinese he feels it is a different Chinese than those who live on the mainland. I found it both interesting and amazing that someone from a country I would assume is totally different than ours can identify with this.