Modern Technology amazes me. As I write this on my netbook I am listening to Radio 2. I've checked my emails and sent one to The Big man at work via his UK email address. I've been on Facebook to upload a status and have a quick game of song pop with my Dad, and I've been Tweeting a friend who was at Glasgow airport about to head off on a business trip. Last night I ordered flowers to be delivered to a friend back home, while watching an episode of a favourite TV programme on You Tube which we had hooked up to the TV. So you see, we are thousands of miles away but really with all this technology I don't feel that far away at all.
When I was little and we went on holiday you phoned your Gran and Nana once while you were away and it usually was from a phone box which had a queue and was outside the restaurant you'd just eaten in. It took a good few attempts to get through and the call lasted minutes as you spent the credit from your phone card. I have communicated with my parents every day since we've left the UK. We text, we email, we Facebook and we Skype. My children take this technology for granted. My 4 year old logs on to our laptop and is video calling his Papa at a minutes notice. He thinks nothing of this. He also sits on the Cbeebies website playing his favourite games, although can't understand why we can't get i-Player. If something fun happens I've taken a photo, uploaded it and the folks back home are enjoying it before my coffee gets cold.
Technology is also allowing me to keep up with what is going on back home. I've got BBC Breaking tweets coming through for news, as well as a variety of celeb tweets which keep me up to speed with what is going on (my husband loves that I can tell him which football manager has been sacked, who is through to the next round of Wimbledon and which celebrity couple are to divorce.) I've got the radio online for news, weather and up to date songs, and I've got my blogs and online papers which I catch up with most days.
When I was interviewed for my job as Modern Languages teacher I was asked why I thought Modern Languages are important. I gave some long winded answer detailing of technology making the world smaller and how we now live in a global society, where other countries and cultures are in our lives everyday, and that Modern Languages helps us understand other cultures and enables us to be global citizens.
Moving out here has allowed my children to become global citizens. They use Skype to video call friends and family. My son has emailed his nursery and his little friend and has attached photos for them to see. They are experiencing a different culture and learning new ways to live, while staying very firmly connected with where they have come from. I want my children to grow up knowing that distance doesn't mean they are far from home (wherever that may be) and I want them to know that different doesn't mean scary. People have remarked that moving out here with a young family must be scary and what a brave thing it is to have done. When you have technology (email, skype, facebook....even the relative ease of long distance travel) you realise that whether you are 75 miles from home or a whole lot further, as long as you have technology and an ability to be understood, the world isn't so big or scary.
I so agree, do all of the above and at the weekend have breakfast with my 2 darling grandchildren via skype. Ok it's 3-00pm here but Daisy and Archie 20months and 3 1/2 don't realise this. It's so cool. The times every day on ipad, listening to Chris Evans, catching up on Great British Menu, I am so happy with all these things, makes us all seem closer.
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