Yep. I'm a slacker blogger. Sorry. I've got things to say, but since I sit in front of a computer most of my work day, I'm loathe to open the computer at home. Another funny consequence of spending time on a computer at work is that our home dial-up connection now seems unreasonably slow, whereas it used to seem perfectly fine.
When my sister was here we had a great time, and I've hardly shared any of it at all. I think I may have to give up on any notion of "catching up" the blog. If you too have a box of second-half-blank journals in a closet somewhere, you're been here before. My notion of this blog was something more akin to a series of form letters than to a personal diary, but my momentum has definitely waned. Writing about every outing, every barbecue, every midnight swim in the optimistically-named Hot Springs, every single bloody beautiful day has become a bit tiresome, and I'm sure reading about them has lost its shine.
Never fear, I won't abandon you to a box in the closet; I'll just need to figure out what to write about now. Thanks for reading!
Bittersweet
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Eyal and I always knew that it would be difficult building a family from
two different countries. It is just now, however, that we have to really
put that ...
12 years ago
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4 comments:
It's funny how our need as new arrivals to report on our experiences wanes as we grow accustomed to the new surrounds.
I used to write email newsletters when I first arrived in Katherine - there was so much to explain about my new life and experiences to people at home. But eventually it became a chore to put into words the minutae of my days. I feel like the process initially is a need to externalise your experiences as a way of explaining them to yourself as much as others. But as you settle in and adapt, you internalise your experiences much more, or understand them on a more complex level. This usually co-occurs with becoming part of a local network with whom you can debrief about your experiences at a level which is more appropriate than you could achieve with outsiders. The need to externalise your experiences wanes.
To use a linguistic metaphor, initially you've arrived in a situation where you have to learn a new language and you begin by translating everything into your own language. Eventually your competence in the new language improves such that you don't need to translate everything and you are living and working and thinking in the new language monolingually. You meet others who are also learning the language, and you have meta-conversations about the language as you encounter new features or difficulties with it, but these conversation take place in the new language. Now that you are operating in the new language, translation (for the sake of old language speakers from home) becomes difficult because the old language is inadequate for discussing the cultural context of the new language.
And back to internalising it all, have you noticed that those who have been in the territory the longest, or seem most adapted to the place, say the least about it?
I would like to hear about your job[s]. Daily trivia [e.g. the cost of a mango] does become dull after a while.
Bill
Catalin! I haven't looked at your blog for so long and then at a recent outing to Lyndi and Anthony's it came up about how fabulous your blog is. So I felt compelled to check in. But of course now I feel overwhelmed by all of the events I haven't read about. I looked at all the pictures and from what I can see it all looks amazing. Patrick and I really hope we'll be able to come and visit while you two are still down there. We are really looking forward to seeing you when you come home next month and I hope we'll get to hear some of your stories first hand then! In the meantime enjoy life!
Love, Aimee
Bulanjan,
Your language-learning metaphor is interesting and no doubt apt for some situations. I myself have not mastered a second language to the level of being able to have meta-conversations in the new language, so I can't say whether it fits my current headspace.
I think the shift in audience has thrown me off balance. I was initially writing for a small group of family and friends mostly in the US wall of whom know me really well. As I became aware that I was being read by new friends here in Katherine, friends of friends in places I've never been, and even absolute strangers, I started feeling a different sense of relationship with my readership, almost a responsibility.
In linguistics lingo, I need to figure out what register to use because I'm speaking to intimates and strangers at the same time.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
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