In the middle
My life and relationships at this point are going through a metamorphosis. Kinda like the butterfly. I pray I get to be a butterfly, with it's beautiful colours, the freedom to fly and bless the flowers with the pollination process. This might sound like greek but let me explain.
When I left Kampala, I said bye to friends near and dear, I thought I would be back and life would continue from where we left off. Well that was a cute idea but sadly it doesn't work that way in real life. People move on, it's like a job, colleagues are sad to see you leave but a week later they can't remember your second name. Like wise you make new friends and acquaintances at the new station.
If one cultivated true friendships you can meet up for coffee and catchup. The catchup sessions work well to put everybody on the same page.
Being on the other side of the globe has complicated my situation. I always feel close to family whether or not we communicate, friends are different (or so it seems).There is a special link with family that continues no matter how far away one is. I know that when ever I get to see them again, there will not be a strain to fill in the gaps, I guess that's the way God intended it.
Keeping friendships though seems to require a different art. If I don't call or keep my emails coming then the friendships seem to fade.Even when I send the emails the grip seems to losen as time apart thickens . I know it's not on purpose but life gets in the way. So much is going on in their individual lives that, I can't keep a breast with everything. I may get to know some of the things that are going on but not being there physically deprives me of a certain dimension to their lives.
The same applies on my side, even though I try to document, or share everything that's going on in my life, there are certain experiences that I can't document. It's those small things that change who I am, my perspective. Just being in the States changes aspects of my life. The foods I eat, the way I relate with people, my view on certain things...
That's expected to happen,I now have one foot in each world. I've made new acquaintances and friends but because of our different backgrounds/cultures/ethnicity it's hard to absolutely understand one another. By interacting with them I'm influenced and they are influenced too but me more than them because I'm not around my kind (so to speak). That makes it hard to develop genuine friends who understand where I'm coming from. The things that are offensive in my culture, the jokes that crack me up back home, the Ugandan slang, just being Ugandan period. The effort to explain kills the fun.
Then keeping close friends back home is almost futile unless there is a two way effort. I know I will get back home and we will either have a lot to talk about or we will be scratching our heads for things to say. They are at different points in life than when I left them. New jobs, promotions, some got married, some still single, some now have 7 kids, you know?!!!
I'm stuck in the middle.
When I left Kampala, I said bye to friends near and dear, I thought I would be back and life would continue from where we left off. Well that was a cute idea but sadly it doesn't work that way in real life. People move on, it's like a job, colleagues are sad to see you leave but a week later they can't remember your second name. Like wise you make new friends and acquaintances at the new station.
If one cultivated true friendships you can meet up for coffee and catchup. The catchup sessions work well to put everybody on the same page.
Being on the other side of the globe has complicated my situation. I always feel close to family whether or not we communicate, friends are different (or so it seems).There is a special link with family that continues no matter how far away one is. I know that when ever I get to see them again, there will not be a strain to fill in the gaps, I guess that's the way God intended it.
Keeping friendships though seems to require a different art. If I don't call or keep my emails coming then the friendships seem to fade.Even when I send the emails the grip seems to losen as time apart thickens . I know it's not on purpose but life gets in the way. So much is going on in their individual lives that, I can't keep a breast with everything. I may get to know some of the things that are going on but not being there physically deprives me of a certain dimension to their lives.
The same applies on my side, even though I try to document, or share everything that's going on in my life, there are certain experiences that I can't document. It's those small things that change who I am, my perspective. Just being in the States changes aspects of my life. The foods I eat, the way I relate with people, my view on certain things...
That's expected to happen,I now have one foot in each world. I've made new acquaintances and friends but because of our different backgrounds/cultures/ethnicity it's hard to absolutely understand one another. By interacting with them I'm influenced and they are influenced too but me more than them because I'm not around my kind (so to speak). That makes it hard to develop genuine friends who understand where I'm coming from. The things that are offensive in my culture, the jokes that crack me up back home, the Ugandan slang, just being Ugandan period. The effort to explain kills the fun.
Then keeping close friends back home is almost futile unless there is a two way effort. I know I will get back home and we will either have a lot to talk about or we will be scratching our heads for things to say. They are at different points in life than when I left them. New jobs, promotions, some got married, some still single, some now have 7 kids, you know?!!!
I'm stuck in the middle.
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Hey! Thanks for dropping by :-)