I guess there is something about this holiday that I have to reflect on. Like it has been two weeks since I have left the comfort of my home, colleagues, activity groups and friends to embark on this adventure with my dad. And I will have to say, that at the moment, meeting the side of my relatives that I have hardly seen, the only remark of knowing that when I was young to be able to see them but not remember them… It has been quite the ride.
I will be honest. The life that I am living at the other side of the world is really quite different here. People wanting to respond to each other each and everyday, either asking for help or reminiscing the old life that it was, and how people have grown older, wiser and in some ways different than to what it once was.
It is a different life, an interesting one, and… A completely different atmosphere than what I would expect so far, at least In the Eastern part of the world. It’s a place that seem more relaxed with the rules that they possess, the customs that they have is more oriented towards the sight of family over the work and the constant pressure to fulfil the next Key Performance Indicator (KPI) and most of all… In some shape or form, there’s the point of feeling like time flies by in the sense of there’s plenty of time in the world, but it’s almost in the sense that it is calming and that there is plenty of time in the world to the point that when you next look at it, it all goes by so fast that is seem almost unfathomable to witness.
It’s a nice feeling, yet it’s this calming feeling that I haven’t really felt in a while, almost as if I could let myself be for a little while without the stressors of work or overgrown projects bothering me, but it also gives a sense like… Maybe even a permission to allow myself to take it easy for a little while without all of the troubles and worries of when the next paycheck will be, what the work will be like or even just the general sense of what the grind and monotonity will be like. And it’s not like it was the most monotonous weeks of my life leading up to the holiday that I am currently in, but at the same time, it is the stressors in my life of holidays that made it nerve wracking. Would I be able to get back to the work that I once was in for the past few years or I would be inevidibly kicked out and unwanted, because of the fact that I seem to be more often than not in the lower end of the spectrum in terms of the KPI, so there is always the increased chance of me getting kicked out if they decided that they didn’t think I did a great job.
But I won’t say that it’s like I am laying down in a sun shined resort with no issues happening whatsoever. I would say so far, it has been eventful couple of weeks. From the first time of going on the planes, which really does include to not overindulge yourself in water to the fact of facing the different ways of life which seem bothering at best, but at its worst, seems dangerous and in some cases, inexcusable to do.
Of course, thinking in terms of each place, there are some rules that makes sense when you really think about what would make a nation behold those sets of rules, but in other cases, there are certain places where there is rules that makes me question its validity in terms of protecting the people that lives in the area and it makes me wonder how it serves their people within that country. At least it is what I would think about it all.
But to also find myself awfully quiet with the frequent greetings, the long silences as I am standing trying to listen and understand at what they are saying and most of the time trying to give a smile, try to take part in this life that I am temporarily in, and trying to make the most of it.
It’s one of those learning curves that I am trying to handle, but at the same time, I am taking each day at a time, where it is an experience where I would learn something new about the world, try to take what I have learnt with me to the next, and see where it would all unfold to.
So as with anything, I hope you have enjoyed this read. Here is a bit of a picture of the views that it brings, especially when it’s in comparison to the other side of the world, where it feels like you would only get the view of it in certain days, and… I hope to see you all next week for the next post.