HOW DID WE END UP HERE.....

If you had told me 20 years ago, that in my 40's I would be happily living half way up a mountain at 1380 meters, above one of Europe's leading ski resorts..... I would have thought you were insane!

It probably would have been one of my last CHOICE destinations in the world to live. Given my dislike for skiing, sensitivity to the cold and my two left feet which slip over on the flat, never mind the steep, icy slopes.  I am a country girl at heart with a passion for the beach.  I love nothing more than my wellies and coat, searching for shells and driftwood on the British beaches...

So it was never part of my life-plan to live in the Alps, a land-locked country with no sea. 

I still to this day don't know how we ended up actually living here!  As four years ago we bought an old, rundown mountain lodge/guest house with the intention of renovating it and turning it into a family HOLIDAY home, not our permanent home.  As the rebuild progressed and our affection for the area grew, it seemed like a good idea to give it a try so we enrolled our children into the local Austrian  school and Kindergarten, of course being British they did not speak a word of German.... but this did not put us off.

 I have always considered myself to be very British, so for me it was a huge life decision to leave my family, friends and job behind and up-sticks and make a home in another country with my husband and children.  I also gave up my fabulous job in London in Fashion to become a full time mountain Hausfrau und Mutter.

I swapped my  Jimmy Choos for Ugg boots, sent boxes of Yorkshire tea-bags and cheddar cheese out, dragged a beautiful pale blue Aga from the UK to here. I filled my husband's stinky fish van full of every item that reminded me of home, union-jacks, my miss matched vintage china collection, my daughters Barbies and lots of family photos and drove it overseas.  Got our family dog Max a passport and shipped my beloved grey horse Dan out here too.

I have joined countless German evening classes and still struggle to speak the language properly, put my kids into the local German speaking schools, where they did not even know a word of the language but now are fluent.  Suffered through countless parents evenings, where I had not understood a word they were saying (sometimes a good thing).  I have also learnt to walk, ski, ride and drive in the snowy and icy conditions.

I have made some wonderful new friends, joined the local yoga group, the Ski Club Arlberg, target-shooting club and riding stables. I have volunteered for anything and everything, sometimes regretting things I've got roped into. I have learned a lot about mountain life, its beauty in the very different seasons, its traditions, its religion and its wonderful sense of camaraderie.

There have been times when I have laughed and cried, but have learnt to embrace the change and most of all have loved the challenge of trying something new and becoming a mountain girl!

My "tongue in cheek" style blog is the story of our journey and adjustment to our new life in the Alps becoming "a landlocked mermaid"....... I am sure many of you can relate to it and I hope you enjoy reading about the continuing journey.

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