We are Michael and Jolandi, two South Africans, living in the United Arab Emirates. Over many glasses of wine, we have dreamed of a life unencumbered by the demands and restrictions of corporate life, and as we grew older, realized that unless we make a decision to take the plunge, we will find ourselves stuck in the same rut, ten years from now. Not wanting to risk a life of regret, we have purchased a 3 ha piece of land in rural Portugal, and are planning to, over the next couple of years, set up our life, so that we can move there. We originally aimed for December 2019, but realised that a dream like this needed a lot more patience, time, and money than we initially expected. Throw in a pandemic, and things got even more messy. Despite all of this I (Jolandi) moved to Portugal on 9 October 2020, while Michael is still working in Abu Dhabi for the time being, as a regular income will allow us the freedom to build more infrastructure, pay off an apartment, and set up our life in a way that will provide us with a bit of financial freedom.
“Do I have a single identity – based on nationality, ethnicity, religion, class, gender or geography? Or am I essentially a mixture of multiple belongings, cultural allegiances and diverse inheritances, backgrounds and trajectories?”– Elif Shafak In her book How to Stay Sane in an Age of Division, Elif Shafak urges the reader to ask the […]
“We are all driven to belong. To be part of the tribe, but not everybody fits in the same way. We want a life rich with purpose and meaning. That too is in our DNA, but that meaning can’t be prescribed. It must be sought, and found, and sometimes wrestled with, and fought for.”– Aaron […]
“Memory lies at the heart of human experience. It guides our ability to conjure up long-gone, but specific episodes in our lives to make sense of the continuity of self, of the relation between mind and body, and our experience of time. Our memories determine our identity – they establish where we’ve been, who we […]
“We’re all aggregates, finding, recognizing, offering to others different strata of ourselves at different times in our live.” – Pamela Petro There is something interesting that happens when one stays in one place for a prolonged period of time, especially after one was used to a life more fluid and flexible. Like a pot plant, […]