Dipping my toe in...
Hi everyone! We are 2.5 months into our move here and I feel like things are starting to move in the right direction. Even so, it’s all still so new and it feels like 1 step forward and 1.5/2 steps back.
Luckily I’ve been able to start building a community bit by bit. I get introduced to one person and then another and then another. I’ve been on a lot of coffee dates :) The people I’m meeting are so very kind and generous with their time. A lot are expats, but not all. And I’ve even managed to organize a couple of double blind dates! So I’m working the social angle for me and the hubs. That’s definitely a new muscle I’m building. Having to constantly reach out and ask people out is a lot of effort and a lot of time spent outside of my comfort zone. But it’s a must, so there’s no way around that. I also choose to look at it like growing a muscle in addition to growing a network.
Another positive is the traveling component of this overseas thing. That has been very enjoyable! More of the world is so much closer and easier to get to. In the last month we’ve been to Puglia for a wedding and Paris for a weekend (wah, tough life, yeah I know). And if you follow me on IG you’ll know that Paris was a big first for me. It was the first time I traveled by myself. My hubs was there for a work trip and I joined him. Which means I had to do all my own packing (my hubby is an exceptional packer so I’ve been very spoiled), fly in on my own, get to the hotel on my own, and spend 2 days touring Paris on my own. This may not seem like a big deal to some, but for me it was. It was a lot of firsts. But I pushed through all the fears and made myself do it anyway. Honestly, it was scary. And I was nervous. But you know what else? It was also so freaking empowering! It felt so good to push through all those fears and do it anyway. Do it even though it scared me. I’ve been doing a lot of walking-towards-my-fears things lately. And coming out on the other side of that feels really good. It’s kinda like knowing you need some help figuring out how to manage your money, but you’re scared to look at it. Yet once you do, you realize it really is not that hard or scary. And then there’s so much excitement about building your wealth because you see it’s completely doable. :) If this rings a bell, email me for a consult! fincoachjulia@gmail.com
So yes, the travel piece is just amazing. Next up on the horizon we’re heading to Norway, Switzerland, and Istanbul! All will be on IG as well, follow me if you’re interested!
On the flip side…the language barrier is very hard. For example, just this morning we lost all hot water. I was like, ok, now what. Who do I call? What do I say? How do I ask my neighbors if it’s just me or a building issue. It’s bad enough dealing with utilities in the States knowing the language. I reached out to our landlord and he didn’t even know what the issue was. It turns out, it’s a building problem. Ok…. so when does this get fixed? Well, here’s what I received from the building administrator:
So yeah….I hope we get hot water back before the weekend (today is Thursday)….
What else can I share? Ah yes, all bills are mandated to be direct deposit. So we were going through our charges during our money date (I’m still a money coach :)) and noticed we were charged by the electric company for May 11- June 12. Except…our lease started June 15. So yeah, we’re getting some help trying to get that money back. We shall see what happens.
Thank you for staying until the end of this post! I hope you’re enjoying reading about my journey and perhaps can relate to some or all of it. If it helps you in any way, then that makes me very happy! Ciao for now.