I am an emigrant. I lived 25 years of my life in the same country and then I migrated. I was born in a city, where I got my education, where I grew up, where I knew where to shop, where I knew where to go for a coffee and where for a lunch, where I made friends and all my memories. It was “my city”. I belonged to it.
Then suddenly everything changed. When I thought I knew it all, I suddenly knew nothing. And another city became “my city” but I was a stranger to it. I had to learn everything from the beginning – how to get from point A to point B, how much different things cost, how to get a job and keep it, where to do the groceries, how to vote, where to buy clothes and how does tax system works. After two years I am still working out many things
Every time we move, whether within a city, a country or to a completely different place on the planet, a change occurs. And it’s not only a change of a geographical location. We have to change our mind-set, readjust our approach, because we are not anymore from West but from East, not from South but from North. We’re not natives anymore. We leave a part of ourselves somewhere where it will stay forever and move to a new place where we are also new. We need to start things from the beginning. Being adults we need to learn like a child, though our learning abilities have slightly changed. Everything what we knew before migrating is natural; everything what comes after is not. It’s different than what we knew and what we believe is normal.
Then suddenly everything changed. When I thought I knew it all, I suddenly knew nothing. And another city became “my city” but I was a stranger to it. I had to learn everything from the beginning – how to get from point A to point B, how much different things cost, how to get a job and keep it, where to do the groceries, how to vote, where to buy clothes and how does tax system works. After two years I am still working out many things
Every time we move, whether within a city, a country or to a completely different place on the planet, a change occurs. And it’s not only a change of a geographical location. We have to change our mind-set, readjust our approach, because we are not anymore from West but from East, not from South but from North. We’re not natives anymore. We leave a part of ourselves somewhere where it will stay forever and move to a new place where we are also new. We need to start things from the beginning. Being adults we need to learn like a child, though our learning abilities have slightly changed. Everything what we knew before migrating is natural; everything what comes after is not. It’s different than what we knew and what we believe is normal.
For me changing the place of living was a choice but for many people it’s not – they migrate looking for food, education or a better life. Some people migrate more often, because they cannot stay in one place for too long, because they run away from something, because they want to know more. Every migration takes something away and gives us something new. Migration produces nostalgia. When you go back to your original place you feel like you don’t belong anymore but when you’re in your new place you don’t belong either. Moving from one place to another robs us of our identity and other things we were used to and forces us to learn new things and accept them as natural. That's on the outside but on the inside it helps us to find our real identity in our source. In God alone.
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