Words and webs

Moving overseas there's a few things I'm not looking forward to - feeling like an idiot when everyone laughs at a joke you don't get, feeling like an idiot when you can't say what's on your mind, feeling like an idiot when you don't know how to buy a train ticket or where to dry your clothes... you get the idea. Then there's the heartbreak of leaving behind all the people you love, and the disappointment of being unable to be productive. And there are a couple more things on my mind...

I love the English language, love choosing a word only narrowly different to another and answering peoples' questions exactly. And I'm afraid that the loss of these things will be traumatic for me, and will make me feel I have lost my creativity.

I also worry that I'm going to miss the web of relationships here in Hobart. The other day I joined 3000 people at the opening night of MONA FOMA. I'm pretty sure a lot of them had flown down from Melbourne (a bit too funky-beautiful to be from here), but I still saw eight or so people I know. And as I walk down the street, I'll always bump into friends and friends-of-friends and see people I don't exactly know but could still tell you something about. And when two strangers meet, it's pretty rare not to discover a friend in common. All this makes me feel deeply connected and at home. It won't be like that in a city of eight million.

So much for the yucky stuff, but, boy, is there going to be a lot of good!