You really don't know what you have and it's value until you try to collect it all in one place and take a good look at it. That was the lesson of the past month.
Firstly, in packing up my worldly goods for this trip, I packed so many cardboard boxes at my flat that it looked like I was building a fort. My friends, Steph and Tauri who I will be seeing in Sth Korea in about a year had a coffee with me recently during the Christmas packing rush. They informed me that when they moved into their apartment in Soeul, the Korean movers had shifted everything, unpacked it, situated it and removed the packing materials in under an hour. An Hour! And nothing was broken. Amazing !! Over the week leading up to Christmas and the one up to New Years I wished many times for some fairy god-Koreans to whisk in with the same kind of efficiency while I slogged it out alone with my Ray Charles CD, T shirt, cargo shorts and enough packing tape to cordon off a crime scene.
However, there is some satisfaction in a job done, if not well done. Given that I was just moving me and a 1 bedroom flat, here are the three lessons I have learnt.
1) Spring Clean
2) Spring Clean
3) Even if it's not Spring- Spring Clean
Next, after 16 years of living apart from my family, it is good sustenance for the heart to be reminded that you are part of something bigger than yourself. I've spent the past week on what will end up a 10 hour round trip in the country visiting extended family, swapping stories from the past year and saying goodbye. It's a strangely comforting experience to have the same- shaped face as about 4 of 12 other people and to speak to them all in the same afternoon. It's also a measure of their generosity that they can overlook the fact that I have lived for the past 11 years in the coldest-hearted city in the country in the coldest hearted profession and that they will offer me a coffee and give me the benefit of the doubt. The best and kindest words were from my grandmother- "You're one of us".
So hand me a fishing line and tell me how to pitch a tent, Brett and Scott. I'll be back, if not in time for next January then definitely the year after.
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2 comments:
Hey Lisa, wonderful read - a new profession in the making! But I am saddened to know you think Canberra is the coldest-hearted city in the country. Having lived in Canberra on and off for most of my adult life, and in other cities in Australia and overseas, I do not agree. Fondest wishes for your travels, Ros
Hi Ros,
Thanks for your comment and I do agree that I should have been a bit more specific. My comment was a little misleading.
I should have clarified- Canberra has a reputation for being the coldest hearted city in Australia. That has not been my personal experience. it will be nothing short of a wrench to leave you all.
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