Moving?

My husband came home last night talking about a possibility which has us staying over this side of the world for a few years longer and, whilst I can see the logic of this, when he was talking about it, one part of me wanted to jump up and say "NO!!!"

Staying here feels a bit like I am missing out on some fundamental enjoyment of life. Things are just different and often , I don't know if it is a difference that I like.

Positives?

1. Safe environment to raise a family
2. Health environment - no birds flu or SARs to worry about. When we left Asia we had gone throuh SARs and two of the chidlren had also been hospitalised with Beijing Flu.
   
3. Easy life. I can be wherever I need to be in about ten minutes. No traffic worries, parking issues or late night transport problems.
4. Continuity for the children with friends and a stable environment.
   
5. Fabulous education system. They will be set up for life - this is a huge plus.
   
6. We have friends here - although as many of my friends are expats - that is a worry as in a few years they will have all moved on.
7. The possible job will be more lucrative.
8. We know our way around here - we ahve done the hard legwork finding doctors, dentists etc.
9. We will probably buy a property over this side of the world - perhaps France so we have a base of our own.
   

Negatives?

1. The weather. Grim, grim and grim.
2. The cold and wet - 6 months of the year this place is crap.
3. Living in this current house. I like the convenience - hate the carpeting, lighting, space issues.
4. I miss swimming and the sun.
   
5. Small island life - boring.
6. I hate the way people socialise here- always girls night out. Never couples doing things together. Such a weird way to have a social life when it is only single sex entertainment.
7. It is hard for me to work here - and I want a fulltime job - maybe this can be negotiated though.
   

Time will reveal all.

Boarding School?

So now we are caught between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, my son is about to graduate. On the other hand, there are no school places available for him where we live. So what to do? I lie in bed thinking through various scenarios till my head spins or I chew the side of my mouth to pieces.

The thing is, for us, boarding school has never been an option. My head is full of Dickensian images. Children begging for more gruel. Caning. Iron beds. Fagging. Prefects. Strange boys who grow up to become seriously strange men with a penchant for wearing suspenders and ladies silk stockings under their three pieces suits.

And now I find myself in the same situation.

I have imagined relocating. Moving back to Asia. Moving close to a UK based school. Returning to Australia. Boarding next to grandparents. Day boarding. Home schooling. Even setting up my own school - if I am having these thought surely other parents must be having similar thoughts?

So last week I headed off on the Great UK Boarding School Expedition.

And I am impressed. Seriously impressed.

But I didn't want to be. I really didn't want boarding school to be an option for us. I wanted to shake my head smugly and say "boarding school may be ok for some... but not for us!"

Instead I can home in a lather of excitement. The facilities are superb. Teachers? Kind. Food? Delicious. Academic achievements? Brilliant. There was simply nothing to fault the school on. The best thing though were the boys. Scruffy, long haired, smiling, happy, well spoken, calm, friendly boys. The kind of boys that you would want your son to grow up to become. They spoke confidently about their work. They made eye contact and they smiled. They laughed a lot. They were motivated to read and study for the sheer enjoyment of learning something. They were creative - the school has a strong design bent - and they all knew two languages. Their bedrooms were clean but a bit messy. No anally retentive housemasters ordering them to make hospital corners on their beds - most of them had duvets on them.

I want to go!