A year ago when we were making preparations to leave the United States for Vietnam, I found myself in a strange, surreal place. I knew that I was packing, I knew that I was putting stuff in storage, and I knew that we were moving to the other side of the world. And as I walked through the preparation, I also watched myself do it.
In the almost one year that we have been here, there has not been one day when I have woken up in the morning and my first though has not been, " OMG, I'm living in Vietnam!".
Now as we deconstruct the life we've built here, I am once again packing, selling the few items we purchased to make our life here more, well, livable, and we getting ready to once again move to the other side of the world. I am, again, stepping into that surreal place where I am watching myself do these things.
And, I am also watching myself watch myself.
O.
7 comments:
How long do you suppose it will take before you wake up in the morning without thinking, "Oh my God, I'm back in the States?"
my brain hurts thinking of the observation effect. What changes will the act of observation have on the phenomenon being observed.. too many layers...
Thinking of you.
Beth - yeah, my brain started to hurt thinking of the many selves looking on. Writing it was part of trying to let it go...not 100% effective.
Al - Time will tell.
I am in a slow start to divest myself of most of my belongings to start my own smaller adventures. I don't know how you guys did it, you must be pretty strong. I'm sure the trip back will be easier than the trip over, although what a lot of memories you will be carrying with you!
Mishifu - what changes are you making?
I want to move myself into my downstairs bedroom and rent out my master bedroom and office upstairs. Then I will retire and continue to write resumes ('cause I sure can't live on my retirement!).
My goal is to visit my dad, who I have not seen (except for Skype) in over 20 years. He lives in Kent, England.
The next step is to spend a good amount of time in the archives of Toulouse doing genealogy research.
Then check out Barcelona again to see if I still think I could retire there.
Just going through all my stuff has been a daunting task, which has hardly been started!
What's next for you?
Giselle (the Mishifu)
Giselle - Wow, you have some adventures in your near future too. I can share with you that, for me, the anticipation of the changes we have gone through - and are still going through- was far more stressful that the change itself. Somehow thinking about the change and trying to decipher its logical unfolding is thornier than the reality.
I wish you well and hope you'll keep me posted.
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