I hate moving

Or how not to cope with pain

Photo by Kevin Fitzgerald on Unsplash

A string of fairy lights ties memories of my first baby to a night market in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We decorated our house with the lights, along with postcards and photos. Giving birth in a country we had never lived in was surreal.

I tried to make our room feel like home right away. I couldn’t invest too much though; we would only be there for three months.

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I tacked up, taped up, and tied up satiny scarves from the local market to begin my first year in Cambodia. Brown marks littered my bedroom walls from the last person’s posters. The ceiling was too low. Natural light and airflow did not exist.

I needed to make my room feel like home right away. I couldn’t invest too much though; I would only be there for ten months.

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To combat the dark months of a northeast Chinese winter, I populated my apartment with pot plants. I arranged photos and pictures above the radiator. The colourful doona cover I received from college friends brightened up my sofa. It was a challenge finding a place for the washing machine that still allowed me to use the kitchen.

I needed to make my room feel like home right away. I couldn’t invest too much though; I would only be there for eighteen months.

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You can read the rest over here on A Life Overseas.