Cultureshock

You need Adobe Flash installed to watch this movie.
Get Adobe Flash

Video transcript

      Are you a free spirit? Do you stray from place to place trying to catch the wind? I'm not. But the evidence of my adult life certainly suggests something different. I do seem to be living a bit like a nomad.  I grew up by a train line. While visitors would always complain about the noise and vibrations in the house, the eternal rumblings of wheels over tracks seemed to soothe and bring me comfort. Maybe this constant sense of movement and travel from my childhood, whizzing past my back garden, has etched itself into my being. Neither of my parents have been overseas, so its certainly not genetic.  I love my family but I'm not sentimental. I can still call them, email them. They don't need to see me all the time to know that I care. this is something which stops many people from moving half-way round the world - there is a certain sense of isolation you feel when you first move somewhere new. It does, however, make it easier when a special someone is always journeying with you.  One of the journeys I made early on was when I headed to a town six hours from all that I had known as a child and a student. It was remote but it had a train station (which somehow puts it on the map). I was to teach Humanities and Drama to secondary students. While I learnt a lot from this, my first full time job, I learnt so much more from the new people I was surrounded by: how to get a rowdy class' attention by simply letting out a hearty "oi!"; to travel seven hours to watch camels race then sit back and relax over a few 'Bundy Rums"; or to avoid swimming in dams and rivers when you haven't had rain...in case of brown snakes in the water.  The most recent train journey I have been on has delivered me here, to the North East of England. Fresh and Excited about this new chapter in my life, yet still anxious to settle in, I can only imagine what I will learn from the range of people I meet and if they will learn anything from me. Who knows, this might be the place where I take root, but only time will tell.