Lew, I'm excited that after all the waiting and suspense you know you'll be serving in Macedonia. Very different from Samoa but so exciting. I'm a bit jealous, actually.
Would like to exchange emails if you're willing. My address is nmagsig@yahoo.com.
So much for the personal message. On to the happenings of the week.
I was walking to exercise class last night, when I noticed 2 palagi women walking toward me. Hard to miss, since we were the only people on the road. I crossed the street to say hello. As I suspected, they are tourists, staying at the local resort.
We had a nice chat and I'll be joining them and their two sisters for some snorkeling on "my" beach this afternoon. They're interested in experiencing a "real" Samoan meal and I found a family who's happy to oblige, so will let them know about that.
They asked if I ever got lonely.
"You mean, lonely enough to stop strangers on the street to talk? Sometimes."
Friends at home will tell you that it's not so much lonely as just the way I am. I went to an antique store with a friend once. When we got back in the car, I'd bought a couple of things at a significant discount, had gotten a job offer from the owner and an invitation to his home for dinner to meet his wife. My friend said she'd been to that store a dozen times and had never gotten anything but good service and some nice antiques.
My view is, you just have to say hello. You never know if a new friend is waiting to say hello back. If you'd like to email, I'd love to hear from you. Can't promise a quick response, but we tend to be a bit slow here in the tropics.
You simply have never met a stranger! I recall what it's like to go to an art show with you! By the end of he day, you knew the life story of many folks.
ReplyDeleteNancy, yes!
ReplyDeleteI will appreciate corresponding with you while we serve on opposite sides of the world. I will send you an e-mail message at the addy you provided and you will have mine in return. In the meantime, if you want something to add to your diversion activities, you might like seeing the Facebook Group I created for everyone serving in Macedonia. The addy for that is:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_182678295117094
You will have to copy and paste that into your browser. That site will also give you access to my personal FB site.
I understand that Macedonia has a high proportion of 'seasoned' volunteers, however, I doubt I will find anyone with your particular perspective. Therefore, I will enjoy maintaining direct contact with you.
I am touched by your feelings toward my country assignment. I have been going through some self-CBT and getting my envy of your assignment under control. I have come to realize that most of my envy has been due to the wonderful way that you describe and explore your experiences. I hope I will be able to do similarly in Macedonia.
Lastly, your description of your encounter with those tourists reminded me of a favorite quote and one I try to live by:
"There are no such things as strangers, only friends we haven't met yet."
(Source not truly known, but generally attributed to William Butler Yeats, and also sometimes to Will Rogers).
Continued best wishes.
I forgot to caution you about how you displayed your e-mail address in your blog. It has been reported that some hackers have devised ways to search blogs, Facebook, etc to pick up e-mail addresses for whatever annoying (and nasty?) purposes they might have in mind. Therefore, I have been informed by others to use the following way of thwarting such activities:
ReplyDeleteexample - nmagsigATyahooDOTcom
Might be good to pass along to others, as well.