This town is old. This country is old, the dominant cultural group has a thousand years of history Most of the rest of the world is older than my native country. So I can't take anything for granted. Nothing. Not the way to water flowers, not the way to cook a meal. Not the way to clean house, or do laundry, or dust, or regulate the interior climate. Nor park a car or drive, or bike, or even how to enter a shop. I have to figure out how to stay out of trouble. How many ways can I get hurt or destroy something?
Stress, stress. I'm glad I'm headed home, where I am safe. But wait, that's where I keep burning things, knocking things over every time I turn around. I have to consider everything before I touch it because I don't know what lies underneath, behind, or in it. Where am I safe? What am I doing here? What are an of us doing here? Wait, that's another kind of blog.
Inside the house are crystal and pottery over a hundred years old. Breaking them would be a tragedy. Vacuum cobwebs from these ceiling. Dont brush them because it will cause plaster to dust down. I dropped the vacuum cleaner handle and nearly hit one of them. Will the near-misses never end?
Be careful in the rain. I closed everything up in a hailstorm, but forgot the little we window in the pantry and rain got in. I was relieved that the pantry has a tile floor and was easy to to clean up.
I wonder if it is stressful for my family to work so hard to communicate. They are very patient and kind, and we laugh a lot. But it must take an effort on their part.
I started crying for no reason during FaceTime with my husband. We were taking about the trip in general, and how I hope it will rest my brain and help me embrace the future since I've lost my job. I just burst into tears. I didn't know why I was crying! But I let it out and he was sweet about it.
Fire is not my friend. I burned the tiny little pot holders, I burned the rice. I left the empty espresso pot on the fire. Every time I use a match to start the burner I have to be careful not to burn my hair. Now I understand why my husband told me not to burn the house down.
I pocket dialed my cousin in Budapest while he was in a business meeting.
I nearly caused an accident when cars had to stop fast to let me cross the street on my bike. There are cars parked on the side of the road-which means parked IN the road. When a vehicle comes toward me, it has to move into my lane in order to pass the parked cars. I stop my bike for a construction zone and didn't know there was a cyclist behind me who could have run into me. I said "I'm sorry," and he said he would have done the same thing. Whew!
I nearly caused an accident when cars had to stop fast to let me cross the street on my bike. There are cars parked on the side of the road-which means parked IN the road. When a vehicle comes toward me, it has to move into my lane in order to pass the parked cars. I stop my bike for a construction zone and didn't know there was a cyclist behind me who could have run into me. I said "I'm sorry," and he said he would have done the same thing. Whew!
I'm grateful I can go for a daily run. It is one thing that I can control. But sidewalks can be treacherous and the dogs in the gardens are scary. Dogs seem to exist for security, and some of them bite. The sidewalks run right along the garden walls, the dogs bark viciously, and walking or running past is scary. Not all roads have sidewalks and sometimes I have to walk or run down the street. Surfaces are uneven, the sidewalk or paving changes or buckles. Sometimes it's cobblestone and sometimes it's concrete. A sidewalk slopes up, then has stairs down. This place is so non-ADA compliant!
What I would do I in an emergency? I can ask to go to the hospital with my awesome language skills ("Help please we go hospital.") How would I communicate with the intake staff? I don't have a dictionary or translator software while jogging. I do have Find my iPhone turned on and I can use Strava or Nike Run Club to map my route. It could help to find my body in case I don't return.
Stress, stress. I'm glad I'm headed home, where I am safe. But wait, that's where I keep burning things, knocking things over every time I turn around. I have to consider everything before I touch it because I don't know what lies underneath, behind, or in it. Where am I safe? What am I doing here? What are an of us doing here? Wait, that's another kind of blog.
Inside the house are crystal and pottery over a hundred years old. Breaking them would be a tragedy. Vacuum cobwebs from these ceiling. Dont brush them because it will cause plaster to dust down. I dropped the vacuum cleaner handle and nearly hit one of them. Will the near-misses never end?
Be careful in the rain. I closed everything up in a hailstorm, but forgot the little we window in the pantry and rain got in. I was relieved that the pantry has a tile floor and was easy to to clean up.
I wonder if it is stressful for my family to work so hard to communicate. They are very patient and kind, and we laugh a lot. But it must take an effort on their part.
I started crying for no reason during FaceTime with my husband. We were taking about the trip in general, and how I hope it will rest my brain and help me embrace the future since I've lost my job. I just burst into tears. I didn't know why I was crying! But I let it out and he was sweet about it.
Every night I am grateful for sleep. I need the restoration to have energy for the next day. I am not complaining, I am soldiering on, looking forward to how this will help me grow into the new phase of my life. Evidently it will be a phase wherein I will be a lot more careful than I am now.
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