Friday 14 February 2014

Little update...

Hi, today I wanted to write about how I've been getting on on a personal level. Our days here are filled with things to do and sometimes it's good to stop and think about the stuff going on below the surface.

The past few weeks have marked a big change in my attitude to my surroundings, I feel much less nervous about venturing out on my own. Last week I went on a shopping trip to Pondy for work and was left alone at one point waiting for a taxi to take me and some of our purchases to the next shop. When I first arrived, this would have been too much for me but finally I was totally at ease, as I would have been in the UK getting a taxi. I can now drive down the main Auroville road to Kuilyapalyam where the old Pour Tous, Bakery and original post office are and I even feel ready to tackle Pondy on my own (by bus, not driving!).

It's been quite a turning point and ties in with making new (old in some ways - I've known some people since my first time here) friends and making time to visit them. I even got invited to a girls evening with a pot luck dinner last week. After 5 months of missing my few treasured friends it was so nice to have a laugh, a little drink and lots of cake. I really felt like part of the gang and also pleased that I was finally in a position to leave C at home for the evening with K and go off by myself (well, I got a lift with someone as it's not so safe to travel alone at night for a female).

It may seem like something that shouldn't take 5 months to some people but it feels like the right time for me. There's no hurry. On some level we're still settling in. Our papers are still in the system so we're not yet officially recognised as members of the community. It's a big lesson in patience as there's nothing we can do to speed the process up. Been waiting 5 months now!

Tourist season is in full swing here now, interesting to view from the otherside. It does mean we get groups of them wielding cameras walking through our community, snapping everything in sight and sometimes even asking to look inside the house. The traffic is much busier and due to the poor monsoon the roads are very dusty. Not everyone living here appreciates tourist season but I want to try to keep in mind that their revenue, input in the form of volunteering and positive energy really helps the community at large and that nearly everyone was a tourist here at some point.

It's been a good start to the year and I hope that it just gets better as things unfold, opportunities arise and we become more settled in our lives here. It's not been easy and there's still some work to be done but so far, thanks in part to my link to home via the internet, I've felt good about our move and homesickness has been kept to a minimum. I've found that rediscovering albums from my past has been helpful too. Being removed from the place I lived those times has given me perspective and helped me to really appreciate my history and identity. It can be a comfort in a place where you have yet to carve a niche for yourself.

Anyway, love to all those suffering in the UK with all the flooding, espcially my nearest and dearest in Somerset. You're in my thoughts, stay safe. xx

More soon, Laura.

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