How We Got Here - Mental State

In the four years of planning, did we learn Italian or any other language in that time? Nope, not properly. We were on a roll at one short point. But alas, we all became lazy. Hadrian and I learned as much Italian through Duolingo as we could (420 day streak baby!) but I struggled to maintain the day to day language. Duolingo was teaching me things I wouldn’t need to learn e.g. “There’s a snake in my boot”. And unless I’m quoting Toy Story or at some cowboy hoedown Italian style and a snake is literally in my boot, why would I need to learn that?

I feel like we learned just enough to get the basics while still deeply depending on Google Translate. Good enough! Nothing like being thrown in the deep end and being mentally ok with it!

But besides language, we needed a motto. Be open minded, be respectful, try new things.

It's not gonna be smooth sailing the entire time. We will have trials. We will miss home. We will miss food from home. Humour from home. And at times, the English language. But if we stick to this motto, we will hopefully carry the trials better.

I don't think it was a coincidence that for the last 18 months, the three of us have been in each other's faces constantly. Nathan and I were called as Hadrian's primary teachers and Faith in God leaders at Church. We were in each other's spaces every single day, including Sunday. It wasn't easy at first because... obvious... but things became easier and we didn't divorce (or murder... or muckduck) so... bonus! Had we left two years ago directly to Europe, I feel like we would have had more struggles than what I think we will have now.

Next: Schooling

Spiritually

Visas

Finances

Accommodation

Transportation