I was chatting to a friend last weekend and she was saying how amazing she thought I was that I could just pack up things and arrive here with one suitcase and make a life for myself ( like a lot of us have). She asked if I had always been like that, just having the guts to do things.
So... it got me thinking. I don't think of myself as a particularly "go getter" type of person, but also not a doormat for anyone. Then thought back to my childhood. On school holidays I actually asked my parents to send me on camps to Hobbiton on Hogsback (anyone else go there?). If I could not go there I went off to my Nan's house or to my cousins, for whatever reason I chose to be away from home. Then at 20 I went to Durban on holiday (having been born in East London), went back to EL and moved to Durban. And now I find myself in the UK.
So now I find myself pondering on this - what has made me this "wanderer" this person who feels she is not really settled. My parents were not the type to move around ,they never went further than Cape Town or Joburg on holiday, so where has this come from?
Anyone thought back to things they do that seem to stem from their childhood?
Maybe I just have too much time on my hands and think too much :p
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That is interesting, Tracy ... my Stepfather was a bank manager and so every 4 or so years we moved to a new town, and I've always attributed my wanderlust to my childhood and having to move so often. But then I wasn't the type of person who hated moving... I loved going to new places, meeting new people etc, and still do.
I don't remember asking my parents to leave home, but I did go to boarding school in standard 9 and 10, and left home straight after leaving school.
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I also find this very interesting Tracy and reading your 'story' had me thinking - when I emigrated to SA from Renfrew in Scotland with my folks when I was six we went to Welkom, then onto Vereeniging and then onto Maritzburg, so is it any surprising that I have moved around as well to Bulawayo, then onto Umtata, to Stockton-On-Tees and now Doncaster - but within those moves from place to place I have also moved house within the period since leaving Maritzburg thirteen times! It is now 7 years since we moved into our present home, the longest I have been in any one home and do hope that there will be no more.
Always enjoy life - and remember there is always someone worse off than yourself - treat others as you yourself would want to be treated.
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Wow! Seems we're a bunch of nomads. :haha: I was born with wanderlust. I've lived in Jo'burg, Scottburgh, Durban, Jo'burg again, Pretoria, Alberton, Henley-On-Klip, London, Sidcup, Sheffield, Devizes, and now near Ã…rhus. I've lived in several different areas in each of these places & visited many other places around the world. I've lost count of the number of times I've started over with just one suitcase. Fortunately, I'm not very attached to "things". My mother has always said that I was a butterfly unable to settle. I just think life is too short to spend in just one place. I think of myself as living several different lives in one lifetime.
>>~V~ę~ñ~ů~Ş~<<
Hey Venus
I like the line " Butterfly unable to settle". Sounds just like me.
Do we think twice about moving or do we just take it in our stride?
I know I had some fears of coming to the UK, but that was more about getting work, using the underground, things like that, not the fact that I would be miles from my family and friends.
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I didn't think twice about moving to the UK, but I would have been more hesitant if the country were not English-speaking. Also, my children are that much older now, and schooling is more of a consideration.
But if it were only me, I would move to a new country in a shot! I'd love to try the Far East now... :mmm:
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totally love the butterfly similie venus
mmm we left the uk when i was 6 years old and emmigrated to sa. lookign back, it must have been a hectic decision as apartheid was alive and there wasnt much press about SA back then
ive moved back to the uk and it was hard at first - i had no friends, no job, no where to live but slowly built it up (as we all did)
im nto sure i would move again though and still miss SA very much
you have all been quite big travellers
))
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My parents travelled a lot until they started a family, their parents likewise, so moving around is in the blood I guess.
It never struck me as being particularly courageous on my part to pack up and move abroad - it was just what needed to be done (in my estimation) to continue developing in a positive way - staying in SA at that time would only have led to frustration and stagnation.
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I'm not a wonderer at all ... I like to stay near my home. My parents took us kids every year to Durban beach front from Zambia .. then dragged us to New Zealand to live as teens .. then back to SA ... yet as an adult I never travelled anywhere away from Durban until coming here. The reason I got myself over to the UK was out of desperation ... or I'd have never made the move. Now I expect to stay put here till I die
