Home sweet home

I've been living outside my own country just for more than a decade. Depends on how you see it. For some it might be a long time but 11 years can be consider a short time as well.

Through Facebook, I've meet many of my friends that I 've known from this past 10 years and some are even from my childhood, primary through high school and college friends.

For the last 10 years, specially the years that we've spent in China, I've met many the so called " expatriate families" . I known and be friends with a few Indonesian ladies that are married to men from other countries. We got that special bonding, not just for our mixed marriages but mostly because for living far from our home, and our family. We practically learned on how to become a wife and mom together. We learn how to cook our Indonesian dishes together ( so many funny stories here...I burned my potato, my friend's pressure cooker exploded, a rice cooker mishap and many many more!). And best of all we learned how to be a friend together. I think God had plan it for us to meet there and be there for each other.

Through our ups and downs, jumps and falls, to our farewell when we left China for good, we have learned something together and we inspired each other with our stories, with our failures, with our success, with our stories and with our life.

During this time or even lately , often someone came to me and asked me : Do you like to live here? Do you like it to move around so much? or oooh poor children, they must move a lot and it must be hard for them and for you.

I just can smile and said : ya it can be hard for us sometimes, but we are family. We rather be moved together than be in 2 different places. But I always try to get the best of it and try....we will never know if we gonna like the place if we never give it a try....

Or for other it might look easy and nice to live far from home . They said to me : oh how nice, you always move , see new places, meet new people... nice life ! But beneath that , we need to have certain skills to "survive".When people ask me : do you like to live here?
I always tell them that when I move to one place , I don't allow my self to think : What if I dont like to stay /live here?
Because , like or not, I NEED to be here with my husband and kids. So for me the IF I DON'T LIKE IT HERE doesn't exist in my book.
I WILL MAKE MYSELF TO LIKE IT! I will make friends every where I go... I don't care if we gonna be in one place for 3 months, 6 months, 4 years or 5 years. A true friend is forever. I don't want just because we will not live in one place forever makes me feel that I don't need to bother to make friends.

I believe , everywhere in the world , there is always a good and bad thing about it right? It is about how we see our life and how we live it. NOT where we live it.During my 10 years of living overseas , I found a numbers of ignorant people too. They never offer help to me who is new in town, for me that's fine, but it made me think about them , for sure they never live far from home, they took everything for granted. They got their parents' help all the time,speak their own language, live in their hometown . They are the people that is just too comfortable with their life and they overlooked something and take their life for granted.

The truth is....nothing is for granted.... we don't know how long we will live in this world. I don't know when we will move to other place. But time is just too precious.

A funny thing is , after we went back to my hometown or to my husband hometown and come back to our home , whenever it is...we feel aaah at last home sweet home....

So I believe that home is where ever our heart and family is. No matter WHERE is it.... my home will be always here with me as well as my husband and 2 girls :)

To my dear friends that I known in Shanghai ....This one is for you!

(R. G... you are an amazing woman, a true artistic lady, a great gardener, wonderful wife and mom, and now you are an ARTIST!!!! Oh my , Is there is something you can't do??? I know you can cook too!! And you speak perfect Mandarin and write and read Chinese ,and you speak German dialect too!!! And now you even drive in Shanghai....you made me feel like a complete idiot!! LOL )

(D.B.P.....you are just a woman of strength! Love your notes, love your recipes, best of all love your courage!!! Damn..if just every woman have your courage ! I know you've been through a lot ! But you made it with grace,girl!)

(S. Hui...Don't know if you will read this... :) I know you are busy with your lil angel now. You are one true friend, always be there for me ( remember when I locked my self in my apartment? hahaha...you came to rescue me! You are smart, sophisticated, so organized ( a total opposite from me), and you are just a great woman)

And best of all...These 3 amazing ladies are so humble , down to earth and just lovely and they are hilarious too!!!....they have taught me a great deal about life and best of all we are friends!
A true friend doesn't mean that we need to know each other for all our life, a true friend is someone who can touched your life and inspire you to be a better person.
LUV YA!

**part of this post is taken from my comment to D.B P 's notes about Cultural shock.