Into the unknown...

Today I am going into hospital for an operation. As instructed by the hospital I was up early this morning for my last meal - a light breakfast of toast and a cup of tea - and now I can't stop thinking about how nice it would be to have a cup of coffee!

I've never been in hospital before so in many ways I don't know what to expect. Like going to live and work in a new country my knowledge and understanding is based on what I have been told by those who I will be 'working' with, other people's experiences in the same situation and the information I can gather from the media.

And like travelling to a new country by this evening my world will seem a very different place. I have woken up in my own bed, feeling 'normal' but tonight I will sleep in a different bed and will have to adjust to the unfamiliar surroundings.

Maybe moving between countries and cultures has prepared me well for the unknown world ahead of me now.

The boot is on the other foot

I seem to have got out of the habit of blogging since being back in the UK. Something about the familiarity of my 'home' country seems to make the day-to-day occurrences of life seem less blog-worthy than the day-to-day occurrences of life when I am in another country. Driving into town or buying the week's groceries just haven't seemed interesting enough to write about.

This week we have been hosting some friends who have just arrived in the UK from South Africa. I have spent quite a bit of time showing them around and trying to explain something of the British culture and lifestyle. Having experienced what it is like to transition to another country I hope I understand a little of what they are now going through as they adjust to a whole different way of life.

Weather, food, driving, public transport, rubbish disposal, personal security, shopping, banking, the postal service, health care (and many other things) all vary from one country to another and are just some of the things we have talked about this week.

They are the things that make up our day-to-day lives and in our home country they are so familiar that we barely give them a second thought. Having had to explain them to someone from another country I am starting to see that maybe some of these things could be worth blogging about after all...