Good Morning Vietnammmmm.
Well, 'good afternoon' as its currently, 12:00pm.
So, we moved. House, Country, Job, Schools. A complete change to life has happened and so far ... it's the best thing we've ever done.
We're happy, my kids are happy and I'm happy. Quite frankly, the happiest I can remember being for a long time.
I feel 'at home', comfortable and relaxed. Which is a strange thing to say when thinking back to being stood in the middle of a busy city at the weekend.
The move was stressful, and I covered a lot of that stress in my last post I think. Packing up 2 years of our lives into only a small amount of luggage in comparison, to take on a flight back to the UK and then re-sorting, re-packing and shipping ourselves back out to a new country was tough.
The summer was nice, as it always is being 'home'. It's always the best seeing friends & family after so long, even if it was such a short visit this time round.
We laughed, we drank, we cried, we hugged, we loved every moment we had with those we love most.
However ... being back in the UK just made us realise how much being in the UK, just isn't for us anymore.
It's a confusing one. There was a lot that wasn't right about our last living situation, a lot that almost messed up our lives, our relationships and our sanity but the thought of losing the expat lifestyle just wasn't something we were ready to give up on.
As much as we love and miss our friends & family, the UK no longer feels like home for us. We still always refer to it as such, but the homely feeling has long gone in that respect and the thought of new adventures and a home of our own is what we craved most.
So far, so good.
Like, really good.
We have a lovely home, it's a nightmare to clean as its so huge but I'm not complaining. We live in what I would describe as the 'suburbs' of Hanoi. We're over the bridge from the main city in a peaceful residential area.
Surrounded by water, greenery, parks and pools with the school just a 10 minute walk from our front door.
The boys are loving school. We're early every morning because they can't wait to get out of the door. They're chatting away the whole way home about what they've done with their days and are excited to know what's on the agenda the following day.
They've made friends, my 3 year old claims he has a girlfriend and the bonus is being able to walk together instead of a stressful, traffic filled school run.
In all honesty, I'm in love with the school. They're so on the ball, the communication is incredible and I feel that my happiness with the way its run, really helps the kids in staying positive.
We're already set up with everything we need to be living here, which of course took a 'few' more months in our last settlement. Already, we feel accepted plus feel that we have been and are being looked after on a professional level.
We feel safe, content and happy.
We've already done a fair amount of exploring within the city, trying our local stores, seeing parks & lakes, playing with the crazy traffic, near death experiences with trains in tiny streets. It's been crazy and incredible all rolled into one.
I think I had a lot of reservations before moving here. I was scared and I was basing my knowledge on previous experiences.
I was wrong to do this.
I was right to be scared, moving anywhere is scary but I didn't need to be worried about the set-up, the professionalism, or how well we'd settle because ... we have settled. Quicker than I could ever imagine.
Of course, I don't expect it to be all butterflies and sunshine from now on. The downs will be just around the corner I'm sure and they'll be just as unexpected as they always are for me but right now ... in this moment, I can actually say that I'm happy and I'm holding onto that for a little while.
Until next time.
The Anxious Mother x
