Funny how distance works. Lately I have been busier than normal (yes that accounts for the lack of posting): trying to tutor to earn some extra money and experience, spending time gallivanting around Shanghai, trying to study Chinese, and, well, recently searching for and buying lots of $1.75 DVDs of my favorite TV shows and movies. (Speaking of, I just bought the third season of Heroes, somehow. Yup, I know, it IS the third season, but apparently they released - illegally - all the episodes here. Gotta love China and their negligence of copyright laws!)
And so when life starts picking up the pace, I realize, sadly, just how easy it is to lose touch with friends - even family - back home. And when life in the States get busy, it's harder to remember your friends that live halfway across the world. How do people who go abroad deal with this (ahem, enter Julie, Daniel, Missy??) I think the thing that makes keeping in touch over long distances difficult is this: people get busy at different times, so right when someone is thinking about you and tries to get in touch, you don't have the time to think about them, and vice versa. You know I haven't even gotten around to sending postcards back home?? What a flake, right? I guess all this is a direct result of moving 7,000 miles away from home. Ha. It's certainly a learning experience though.
P.S. How was Halloween? Due to the lack of celebration here, I was able to forget about it, refusing to plan any cultural lessons for my college students. Yes, I'm that kinda teacher, but you knew that. To hell with celebrations and holidays and colors, haha. I have bigger fish to fry! :) C and I hung out at a Japanese-owned bar down the road from my apartment on Halloween night. They were having a Halloween party, with open bar, food, and people making fools of themselves. Entertaining, to say the least. Let's just say I'm grateful for the ONE bar in the area that is chill and cheap, usually with good company.
Friday, October 31, 2008
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5 comments:
aww thanks for the shout-out or for thinking of soliciting advice from the likes of me!
all i can say is...it's hard. it's a trade-off. going abroad you see new things and go to new places, carrying always the friends and loved ones and past experiences with you...
sometimes it's a matter of letting those be as they are--past experiences that have helped influence you in formative years, and to appreciate them as such. and i think true friends will understand your need to fly out of your comfort zone to realize or fulfill certain personal goals and desires, and will understand the difficulty of balancing this new parallel life with the world that continues to go on back at home. for me, i don't take offense to not being written to or contacted but any time i do receive something i am extremely touched and thankful. like this little shout-out :) and it also is on the others at home to reach out and keep in touch with you as well. keeping a blog is an amazing way for you to maintain a dialogue with loved ones at home, it's much more than i was able to do (granted in s.a. i didn't have internet and my laptop was stolen...).
so this isn't very helpful, i suppose, and i'm pretty much telling you to accept that you will lose track of certain people. but the important ones will remain pillars in your life regardless, and the more peripheral ones you will have to appreciate almost in context to a particular point of time in your life. not everyone who walks into your life is meant to stay in it forever. but hopefully they are open enough to being able to strike up random conversations like these even after such a long period of silence. it can also be a beautiful thing :)
so there you asked for it, and there you have it -- my ramblings. take care and keep the posts coming!
p.s. i guess i had at some point logged on to this because i have a name! anyway, it's julie in case you didn't make the connection ;)
look at that. reaching out! yaaay. i suppose i knew the answer before you even said it huh? it appears others share the same sentiments. thanks huliomofulio you silly goose.
of course, it's the way it goes. you might know something...but it helps to hear it from someone else before you can accept it. you're doing just fine, ms. kimberly tan :) xxx
give up to gain, babe.. give up to gain... :-)
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