Moving to a ‘far away’ country is fun, exciting, … but also a bit lonely sometimes. So you go out to make friends! I like meeting new people, it challenges you to revise/improve your thoughts, your view on certain things. But meeting new people can also be exhausting. Especially when you’re interested in real friendship and not - just - a good time in the downtown bar. Back home, you don’t always have to explain everything. Every action or thought or silence … cause your family and friends KNOW you. They know where you come from and why you do or don’t do certain things. Therefore being around them is easy, and never exhausting. The older i get, the harder it is for me to explain myself to other people. And i also feel that i don’t have to anymore. Let them figure out who i am, and the baggage i carry with me.
This reminds me of the chorus of a song i heard recently:
“todo lo que fui es todo lo que soy
con lo que vine ayer, es con lo que me voy”
could be translated as (pardon my english):
“all that i was is all that i am. with what i came yesterday, is with what i will leave again”
It sounds way better in spanish, but i absolutely agree with the message. I also think that the part which you are leaving with simply becomes bigger and bigger, and therefore more difficult to explain …
Moving to another country also makes you realize who your real friends back home are.
Some people simply disappear. Others are all over your (e-)mailbox and pop up your screen every time you open iChat, messenger or skype. Then there are the silent ones. You don’t hear them very often, but once and a while they (virtually) stop by to let you know they’re thinking about you and how you are doing in that far away country. They tell you they always look forward to all of your calls, emails and blogposts. You know they will always be around.
I thank all my friends. The ones i made here, the active ones and the silent ones. You keep me going!
I also apologize to all my friends for whom i appear to be invisible. I know i tend to be of the silent kind for which i don’t really have an explanation. But if you know me, you also know this certainly doesn’t mean i have forgotten about you !!!
Another thanks if you made it to the bottom of this post! While reading it over i realized it isn’t the clearest and best written one … :-)
big kiss and hug to you all!
ties x
UPDATE: This post is actually the perfect opportunity to direct you to my friends’n family flickr set. Not all friends are there, but you can catch a glimpse of some of them …
(no link to T'NK just yet)
7 Comments
:), nice post! Sometimes I feel like I know you a little bit, very strange.
vriendschap in combinatie met ver weg zijn kan vreemde gewaarwordingen teweeg brengen. ewel ik vind dat dus wel de helderste en mooiste blogpost dat je ooit geschreven hebt. Ik denk dat je dat aan één stuk hebt geschreven en dat merk je. Komt van diep vanbinnen en de woorden zijn gemeend en zinvol. Nog veel succes en probeer (nog maar eens) geen zwart gat tegen te komen. Er ver van weg lopen dus, en de andere richting uit kijken.
@Mick: grappig :)!
ik heb trouwens op jullie blog wat videootjes bekeken en ben er zeker van dat ik jou ergens van ken … maar vraag me absoluut niet van waar! ik ben zo iemand die elk gezicht onthoudt, maar er geen touw aan vast weet te knopen!
@A01: dat zwart gat zal wel meevallen, daar hebben we onze vrienden voor! om ons daarvoor te behoeden! ;-)
I like to think of myself as one of your *new* friends, even if we’ve never met in person. :-)
maybe we will meet someday Javier! Next time i’m passing D.F. (not sure if that will happen any time soon), i will let you know in advance so we can meet up for a coffee or a ‘copa’! :-)
Heel mooie tekst!
Zijn jullie binnenkort terug in ‘t land? Dan kunnen we nog eens met z’n allen een weekendje weg! (Cadzand ofzo… is voor Eve en Hans wat makkelijker)
oo, dat zou fijn zijn Kristel! Helaas weten wij nog steeds niets over de nabije toekomst … lastig plannen zo! maar ik laat je iets weten als het mogelijk zou zijn! x