Part time expat: this is what I want to become
This is a period of big changes for me. Here is my reflection about it.
I practice Linguistic Empathy and I expect you to do the same. Please bear with me if my English is not perfect.
Leaving Jakarta before the end of my husband’s contract has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I do not want to sound scornful towards the city that has lovingly welcomed me for four years. But it has been only going back to Italy and regaining control of my existence under many aspects, that I deeply realized how in stand-by my life was down there.
Since I arrived in the Bel Paese, at the beginning of May, I have not stopped enjoying friends, trips, wonderful landscapes, clever conversations, work and delicious food. And I have realized that all this is very important in this specific phase of my life.
When I was younger I did not mind to give up on this because I had different interests and other things filled my life. My children, for instance. I lived in countries where there were no cinemas, where it was dangerous to move around, and where risks for the health abounded. I do not want to do this any more.
What do I want to do then? Certainly I do not want to give up living abroad! This is clear, and to all those who ask me if I am happy to be back in Italy, I feel compelled to answer that I have only temporarily come back. I would suffocate to the idea of having to live in Italy forever. I love to constantly be tried in different situations, and the discovery of new cultures has become the leitmotif of my life, besides having given me the chance to do the work I most love in the world.
And it was exactly the work that I was afraid of losing when leaving Jakarta. In the Indonesian capital I was asked to give lots of intercultural training. I was convinced that in Italy, I would have had to put this wonderful profession in stand-by. I thought that going back to a place where so many good professionals already do what I do would send me at the bottom of the ladder.
In fact it did not 🙂 As soon as I arrived, I was called for a training in Rome, and now I start having offers in other Italian cities as well. Italy. I don’t want to be tight exclusively to Italy, though. At the same time, I don’t want to miss working opportunities.
In all this, there is my husband 🙂 It is still not clear how his professional life will take shape. Maybe he will be offered short-term assignments and consultancies, or maybe a long-term position somewhere. For me to go with him, though, the destination will have to be risk-free for my health and have a fast and efficient health assistance system. I also do not want it to be too far from my sons and mother. All this narrows down the chances.
Amidst the professional uncertainty for my husband, a lively working life for me, the joy of finally being able to enjoy my beloved Tuscany house and the fulfillment for being back in control of my life, another reality takes shape: my heart is linked to too many places and people for me to ever become a sedentary person.
My youngest son lives in London, the city where I have the biggest number of friends at the moment, and that I love with all of my heart; the eldest lives in Paris, which I do not particularly love (but I love him :-)), and I have tons of very dear friends all over the world – Amsterdam, Lima, Jerusalem, Berlin, to name just a few. My work as a coach allows me to move around with easiness.
Therefore I have decided: from now on I will be a part-time expat. This means that I will keep my Italian basis, with the immense luck of having a house in the most beautiful place in the world, and another place in Milan, I will move for short or longer periods, following my heart, my work as an intercultural trainer, and my husband’s work.
And alongside the enthusiasm for this idea, there is also the joy in realising that this wonderful journey that started 29 years ago, does not stop surprising me and opening up always new scenarios.