personal – Joanna Maciejewska

4 Years in the USA

Among the (not too) chilly aura of Virginia’s winter, among the business of my writing and freelancing, quietly passed four years since I moved to the United States and over twelve years since I immigrated from my own country. And nothing tells me clearer that I settled in my new home than the fact that I had to do math to figure out both numbers.

It’s hard to believe that 4 years ago I packed all the essential things (many of them being books, of course), gave or threw away over 8-years worth of living stuff, and embarked on a plane to carry me over the ocean to start a new life. (You can read more about it in my Of the Endings post.)

Now, after all that time, I can look back and see how that “starting went”.

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March 9, 2020

Personal Rants

Of The Endings

For the last several weeks I’ve been quite literally sorting out my life. My one bedroom apartment, full of things I needed, loved, or forgot I have, became a game of choice. Items went into boxes, trash bags, or into hands of my friends. I sorted them as necessities that would stay with me till the very end, and as things that could be shipped early, to await for my arrival in the new place. I found old notes for stories and rediscovered some of the earrings I haven’t worn for a while. I made decisions of what I need, and what can be bought again if necessary. And my brain constantly re-listed the things I still needed to do before leaving Ireland “forever”.

For the last several weeks I swung in a triangle of stress, excitement, and nostalgia. (more…)

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February 22, 2016