familj

Swedish entry word

familj [fam'il:j] familjen familjer noun

föräldrar och barn; hushåll 

English translation

family

 

Compounds

• trebarnsfamilj---family with three children
• familje|medlem -men---member of the family
• familje|bil---family car
• familje|terapi---family therapy

I remember the day when I left Kuala Lumpur.

I had a mixed feeling of emotions, first of all because I was very excited to live in a new country. I have never
lived abroad before in my life. My dream of studying in another country was not established as I did not work
towards the dream so much. And was accepted to a local university, so back then that was enough for me.

Everyone else around me was always telling me of how sad they are that I am leaving, that they don't know when they're ever going to see me again, if they are going to see me again, ever. I didn't get this. I mean, in my mind, I know that I am coming back to Malaysia again. I will get a job to support myself and buy flight tickets back to Kuala Lumpur, maybe twice in a year, if I could afford that.

Often, whenever I am telling a relative or a friend or a family's friend that I am moving to Sweden, I noticed that my mother would look at me teary eyed and I felt really bad. I felt bad because it made me feel like I have done something wrong to her; like I have hurt her feelings. And I don't want to do that. Because that is not what I want to go out in the world for. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, offend anyone, or break anyone's heart; especially my mother's.

I tried to spend as much time as I could with my family. I get help from my two younger sisters to help me babysit our nephew. He is our darling, the little boy is such a charmer at such a young age.

In fact, he was the reason why I come to Sweden in January. Had it not been him, I would have got on the plane two months earlier. I stayed because I wanted to celebrate our little hero's birthday for the first time together with the whole family.

Every time I get off from work, I look forward to go home and relax at home with mother and sisters. The best time to gather is when mother is laying on the bed, usually after her prayer or perhaps just woken up from her usual afternoon or evening nap. When we are chatting, one of my sisters would be curious to the topic of our conversation and tries to join in, by relating herself in. After that it would be a company and soon one of my brothers would come home and he heard us in the master bedroom and became curious as to what we are discussing that particular evening. And he too, would come in to the room and finds a comfortable spot to sit on and finds a gap in between our conversations which he could join in.

The last few weeks I was still in Kuala Lumpur, I tried to imagine how I would be feeling when I start settling down in Sweden. Would it be great to live in another country? Would I ever get homesick? Is it easy to get a job there with the economic situation still recovering? Would I be happy with my decision to move to Sweden?

And more than ever before in my life, I have missed my family so much like now.