Monday, March 11, 2013

Reconnected

(Cross posted from megangraff.com)

Last Thursday, I blogged about feeling "homesick" on my other this blog. (Homesick is in quotation marks because I usually miss people not places and I haven't even lived some of the places I miss.) Then I spent Thursday and Friday at an SGIS conference in Leysin, Switzerland (and I got to hear Stephen Krashen speak! But that's not what this post is about).

My school blocks Twitter (that could be another blog post as well) but the school where the conference was being held does not so I was able to spend two days on Twitter and connect with friends new and old along the way. It made me realize how much I miss that connectivity. At the conference there were only 3, yes 3, people tweeting. Me, my friend Kate and Glenn (a librarian at the host school). I realized pretty quickly that I was not in Asia anymore and it made me sad. At one point I sent out this tweet:
At a conference and there are only 3 people tweeting. #notinAsiaanymore Missing @librarianedge @klbeasley @colingally @louisephinney & more! — Megan Graff (@megangraff) March 8, 2013  
Within a few minutes I had heard back from both K-L and Colin and I missed them even more. However exchanging a few tweets with them and with others was good for my soul.

Today, back at home, I managed to catch up with several friends in Singapore via Facebook and Gmail chat. Combined with bright sunshine and having gone for coffee (in France) this morning with a friend here, I am feeling more connected. It made me realize I need to make an effort to catch people online and maybe even go so far as to set up chat "dates". When I lived in Singapore, I made sure I always had phone cards to call friends in N. America and Australia but when I was in Tanzania it was harder and  I got out of the habit and never got in the habit of regular contact with those still in Singapore. This carried over when I moved here. Now six months later I am realizing how much being connected is part of who I am.

 I haven't booked any flights as of yet and if I can catch my sister online perhaps I won't need to...
Photo Credit: HikingArtist.com via Compfight cc

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Homesick?

Sometimes when people find out that I live overseas, they ask if I get homesick. Homesick is tricky because there is no one place in North America (or the world) that I identify as home. My usual answer is no but that at times I really miss people but those people are in various places around the world.

Tonight however I am missing two places in addition to the people in those places.

I made a pan of brownies tonight and it sharpened a longing for the people I lived with at St. Jude's. Recently while walking home, I was thinking of the nightly gatherings at the Waterhole. I didn't go every night but anytime I felt like being a bit social between work and dinner it was an option. I miss that. I miss making a pan of brownies and leaving in in the kitchen for others to find or hiding pieces in the freezer and letting certain people who were in need of a pick-me up know about them or delivering warm pieces to colleagues working late or on a Saturday morning. I miss cooking dinner alongside others who are doing the same. Many of the people I miss are no longer there but others still are (and based on their comments on the brownie photo I posted on Facebook, they miss me - and my brownies!).



I am also missing Manila. Although I have never officially lived in Manila or even visited for much longer than a week at a time, it counts as one of my homes. When I lived in Singapore, it was easy to pop over for a weekend and by going every 4-6 weeks I was able to keep up with many (by no means all!) of the goings-on at Gentle Hands. I visited in August 2011 before I moved to Tanzania and said I wouldn't be back until I left Tanzania but I ended up visiting in April 2012. The changes in those 8 months were huge and I felt a bit funny while I was there. I didn't want to connect too deeply with those that had arrived since August as I knew it would be awhile before I made it back. Now it is coming up on a year since I visited. Many of the children I bonded with, including my good buddy Alex, have gone to live with their forever families. Many more children have arrived. Renovations have continued on the original building and the family living area has moved out of the new building. The pictures in my head are no longer accurate. This week, Tracey (Charity's brother's wife) has been posting each day about the goings on at Gentle Hands. There are links to the posts on the Gentle Hands Facebook page. These glimpses into the daily life have made my longing to visit more acute and reminded me of all the crazy things that can happen there each day.


Lastly (at least for tonight), I am missing my sister Skye's house in Lethbridge. I visited before Christmas and spent time with my 2.5 year old niece, Rachel and my 4 year old nephew, Grant. It had been two years since I has seen them which is a huge chunk of their lives! Skye and Trevor are expecting their third child later this month and although I told them I wouldn't be back until at least summer 2014, I'm starting to wonder if I'll make it that long. Especially after Skye posted the photo below on the weekend and I re-watched the video of Rachel that I filmed in December.


    


I suspect I may find myself booking some airplane tickets before too long... but to where?