- April 2020
As some of you know I am Icelandic but live in Portugal and before Portugal I lived in China for a while.
Some friends in Iceland don´t understand that I do not call Iceland home, and I don´t talk about going home to Iceland.
First of all,
I am never going back to Iceland, there is nothing there for me and I left the country many years ago.
Secondly
I live in Portugal, I have lived there more than 9 years now and that is my home.
When I talk about going home I am talking about going to my little land, my Portugal, where my home is.
I have never understood why people live in a country for decades and still talk about the country they were born in as their home. I simply don´t understand it.
Portugal has fostered me. Here are my friends and here is my everyday live. From day one I was welcome in Portugal, which I was never in Iceland.
In Iceland I was the outsider from birth and that never changed. It never felt home or welcoming to be there. It felt strange and I wanted to escape from a very young age.
So, now my dream has come true and I live in a little land in a little village where everything is just as it should be and I go home every night if I leave the apartment.
My home is wonderful. My little land is wonderful, it is in many ways old fashioned and there are some things to adjust but I have learned.
My goal is to become a Portuguese citizen when this entire pandemic is over.
I am grateful every day for how my little land takes care of me. I am grateful for my friends and for those who took me in as a part of their families. I am grateful for everything even though I have moved away from some of those who took care of me before. Something changed and that is ok, but I am still grateful for you all.
Today is a strange day. It has been raining and the wind has been blowing. It has been sunshine and the clouds have retreated for a moment just to appear more powerful and dark.
I have not been out today but that might change if the weather decides to be calm for an hour or so.
Today feels a bit like a Sunday, like any other day, this pandemic period we are going through.
Tomorrow I get my fruit and veggie basket and tomorrow I have to go to the church registration to have it certified I’m not dead. They are open tomorrow morning and they know that I am for real.
This certification is because I get my pension from Iceland since I have saved during my working years and payed taxes there for decades. Strange but in a way understandable that they want to know that I am still ticking here on the earth and have not left for heaven.
This is just a thought for today shared with you and we might be together again tomorrow.
Hulda Björnsdóttir
My thoughts shared with you 