New food, a different language, a city you don’t know how to get around, the possible misadventures: these are the fun things about moving abroad.
The hardest thing is figuring out all of the little things, the details of day to day living:
How do I use the bus?
How do I get a cell phone?
Where do I buy (insert item here)?
I need to mail something, what do I do?
What are these store hours anyway?
Where do I get my hair cut…and how might I explain what I want in a different language?
How do I do laundry?
How do I find a place to live?
Why is there no Target here?
OK, maybe not the last one…but that would be nice.
In the same way, one of the most satisfying things once you’ve moved to a new place is having figured all of the above things out and feeling like you’ve cracked the seemingly impenetrable code of local logistics. Last night I went to my local wine specialty shop where the owner asked me how I liked the wines he previously recommended followed by a stop into an ice cream shop in my neighborhood I’ve had my eye on followed by takeout from a place I walked by that looked good. It was the perfect mix of knowing where things are in my neighborhood (my local wine shop) to trying new things (new ice cream place) and discovering others (new takeout restaurant).
