Coulda Woulda Shoulda

I have had quite a few people surrounding me - online and offline - who are in need of a whack of positive energy. I figured I'd throw it out to the Internet-verse to see if I could muster up as much as I possibly could to help them along the paths that they are currently facing. I've been going through a bit of a transition myself lately, one that I'm quite familiar with and one that is not all that great to weed through but always leaves me feeling much stronger as I get out the other side. I've talked about the 3 month hump before - the strange period that seems to hit after I've lived somewhere for 3 months where I feel just at a bit of a loss - missing those things I left behind, perhaps eager to discover more about the place I am currently and the general sense of uncertainty, unknown, insecurity. I find it painfully hard, mostly because I AM a very confident, outgoing person and feeling hesitant makes me irritable. I think it also stems from coming fr...

It has now been over a year since we got back. We left London on January 17, 2008 and arrived the same day back to a world unknown - Canada. We had no idea - nor did we speculate - what was in store for us when we got home. What we knew for sure was that we needed rest, calm, stability, quiet, same old same old for a good period of reflection. We didn't need adventure or escape or incomprehensible challenges. We knew we needed to be able to sleep in a bed for more than 3 nights, to not have food dictate our daily itinerary, to not have to wonder whether we would be understood. Home gave that to us. We were surrounded by wonderful friends and supportive families that were willing to help us in any way they could reintegrate back into this world that seemed very far from home. I think I've always called it home. This year has taught me that it is, in fact, home and that even though lots of places around the world felt like home, this is the one place that really defined that word...

The best part about being back in Toronto is how easily I can get access to all of the things I love about the places that are NOT Toronto. Like, thanks to David's Tea , I'm able to have authentic, Chinese green tea, as referenced in this entry , any time I want. I can bring myself back to that afternoon in the tea museum, pretty much every time I pour a cup of tea. I was able to have some delicious kimchi jigae a few weeks ago with a vegetarian friend I introduced to Korean food. The restaurant looked exactly the the ones in Oe Dong D and I used to frequent - tons of tables crammed into a tiny space, full of Koreans enjoying their food. They even had the cutlery boxes on the table AND the napkin boxes as well. There's an Irish pub right around the corner. It has the old wooden booths, the Irish beers on tap and (although a little OTT) the girls all dressed in kilts (also because kilts are kinda Scottish and..well..you ge the picture) The beauty of all these experiences is ...

THE ECONOMY SUCKS RIGHT NOW!!! And do you know what else sucks? THE FACT THAT NOTHING ELSE IS IN THE NEWSPAPER. OR ON THE RADIO. OR ON THE INTERNET. And now I'm helping to perpetuate that problem but BLOGGING about it but mostly I wanted to blog this. That I'm not sure whether being away for 6 years has sheltered me from all the bad=ness that seems to happy ONLY in North America or whether this is really bigger than all the headlines about Afghanistan or Iraq or the Tsunami or global warming. Because I remember talking to my family when I was away wondering why they were getting so obsessed with one thing or another and now maybe I realize that maybe JUST MAYBE the MEDIA WAS OBSESSING THEM. Because I'm being bombarded with this information that is only about ONE THING. A thing that I suppose is really important but is potentially being dealt with EXTREMELY BETTER in parts of the world where they have actually had real problems like droughts and bombs and fear of N. Korea th...

I think I may have been out of the North America too long because when I saw this commercial, I was certain it must have been 11:33 on a Saturday night and I was about to watch SNL on Global TV. Something was building... I've just watched this commercial again and can't tell you if it gets funnier after the second line because I can't stop myself from laughing ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE REST. People, really, is this how far we're come in advertising? One step away from a SNL skit? MasterCard, here is another priceless.

We've had some new exciting news in the A-D team. I've shared with many people personally but thought it does need a spot here as well. I've recently taking a job as a technical writer and could not be more excited about this opportunity. I will be able to flex my writing muscle in this new way, mostly in writing, but also in the creation of a product, which is also exciting for me. In an effort not to dooce myself, I won't be writing about it here. Just wanted you to know the next phase of the re-entry plan seems to be coming together. I also wanted to share some wonderful words my good high school friend K shared with me. Her and I used to swing on swings at Lion's Park in the early years of high school, talking about boys and thinking about our futures. "It is soooo nice to have you back in the province. Isn't it crazy how some of our most cherished friends are those who knew us before boyfriends, husbands, kids...before half of our adventures even exis...

I've been doing a lot of writing but not so much here. I've been doing a lot of thinking but not so much expressing. I've been doing a lot of laughing right out loud. I've been doing a lot of visiting. I have actually been DOING a lot, and yet sometimes, it feels like I've not yet done anything at all. And I couldn't feel any better about that.

I do realise that when we first left Canada, it was the 21st century. It was actually a couple of years into the 21st century. But it is only NOW that I'm learning of all these new fandangle things that use technology to make life easier. Over the past 5 years, we have not really been 'consumers' in the true sense. We became sticklers for NOT buying stuff because any money we made was meant to go into savings. You can be an adventurous travelling nomad but ONLY if you don't spend all your money on the latest Blackberry or that designer bag that would look just..so..good with those new shoes. Plus, there's the not having-the-internet-at-home thing, which changes your world in ways well, that all of you can imagine. So, since we've been home, it's taking a little getting use to all this consumer luxury, and the advances that they bring. I feel a bit like an alien from outer space sometimes when I'm being shown how to use technology by people 20 YEARS OLDER...

Peaks and troughs as my Korea E friend says. I'd say I'm definitely in a trough. A deep, hollow, Grand Caynon-like trough. I was chatting away to Korea E last night, about various frustrations going on in our current state here, just discussing the roller coaster ride that is living away from home. Your emotions are so very exaggerated. When things are great and you're happy, you're very very happy. But when things get low, they just seem insurmountable. It's so very hard to overcome, to understand, why certain cultures act the way they do. There was a disagreement at work on Monday. In the end, we got what we wanted. But the price was yet again a loss of trust for us in our employers and a lack of understanding why, for something so small, our employers would risk so much. I realise I'm being vague but I'm not sure details would make it any clearer. We also had a strange altercation with a taxi driver this morning. He almost ran us over. We almost kicked hi...