A different perspective?

Bad weather – intense heat and humidity followed by storms and rain – has meant we’ve spent a lot of time in our flat this week. It’s reminded us that we have often spent days and weeks indoors at our home in the UK and perhaps made us a little homesick.

Our home in the UK is a small three-bedroom terrace. It’s not huge, but the perfect size for us. Here, our large studio flat has seemed a little small this week. I think it will be perfectly fine – there is enough space for the two of us and I’ve not felt cooped in – but it is different.

In a house you have the possibility of climbing the stairs and changing your perspective on the outside world. Both here and in the UK we live right on the road in a lively neighbourhood. Here we live on the ground floor, so when we look out on the world the world can look in on us.

It seems strange, but I do really miss the opportunity of choosing whether to watch the world go by from the first floor or step out of the front door and be part of the neighbourhood. Here, when the shutters are closed, you can hear what’s going on, but not see it. And at the moment I need both words and pictures to understand what is happening.

I’m finding that the different elements of living in a new home and in another country combine in unexpected ways. The challenges of getting through a day or carrying out a task are subtly different.

Today could be the first day I go and see a football match. In the UK, going to see the football would mean a trip to London, making sure I can get as near to the stadium as possible on public transport, getting away from the stadium afterwards and then taking a week to recover.

For anyone who’s been to a match with 60,000 other people and understands all the issues Crohn’s disease throws up, you’ll realise what a challenge this is and why I only do it once or twice a season.

Here, we live a short walk from the stadium which will have a crowd of around 1,000 for today’s reserve team game and a capacity of 20,000 for a top first-team match. I will be checking out routes and toilets, but the real challenge for me will be the language and hoping that I can make myself understood if anyone talks to me.

Of course, being able to speak to people and ask questions is an important part of managing my Crohn’s disease. Yet the need to focus so much time and energy on learning the language has somehow changed the way the stress of living with Crohn’s affects me. It’s a different perspective and, at the moment, it seems to be doing me good.