One of the nicest songs by Simon & Garfunkel. (Well, more Simon than Garfunkel.) Have I mentioned that I'm going home this Saturday? ;-)
Speaking of home, one of my cousins in the Philippines has just traveled off to the States to work, leaving her home and her (actually our) family behind. This is the very first time she's been abroad, and I can just imagine what she's feeling right now. According to her itinerary she's supposed to have arrived in Oklahoma yesterday. Haven't heard anything from her, though, but I bet she's excited - and at the same time sad for leaving behind the people she's been with all her life. So the US is going to be her home now; for how long I don't know. I expect it to be a few years at least. It's a strange feeling to leave all the people that you love behind, but it is for the best. In her case she's going to have an amazing job with amazing opportunities and a way to support the rest of her family back home. I'm extremely happy for her and also very excited to she how she'll adjust to her new job.
Leaving home is just a question of time, really; it is inevitable, it has to happen sooner or later - either with respect to job opportunities in the case of my cousin, school, getting married/living together, or do charitable work in another country (as in the case of Kim). Some do it earlier than others. Many of my acquaintances outside of Norway were (and perhaps still are) gobsmacked that I've moved to Oslo away from my parents. Somehow they appeared to believe that I moved out just because I didn't love my parents anymore - WHICH IS AS ABSURD AS IT GETS!!! Maybe it's just a culture difference and/or a difference in viewpoint; but the thing is that I LOVE my parents so indescribably much, and my moving out doesn't change that at all! I know they didn't mean it in an offensive way, but it was a little insulting to me at the time, because the main reason was that I wanted to get as good an education as I possibly could here in Norway, and Oslo was one of my top choices. You have to do what's best for you - i.e. be a little egocentric. (There isn't anything wrong with that!) And as for leaving friends and family at home, yes, that is inevitable, but you do gain independence and you do get to know tons of people in the same situation as yourself wherever you go. Many of those people I've gotten to know here are what I'd consider very good friends indeed. (Here's out to y'all!)
My intention for writing this is not to provide you readers with an allusion to anyone in particular - I'm not trying to offend anyone at all. What I'm trying to say is that despite the fact that you leave people you love behind, you still gain a whole lot. Life is all about sacrifices, but you have to make them in order to achieve your goals in life - your goals. Moving out is by no means an indication that you are "a lost soul", for the lack of a better term; it just opens up a greater range of opportunities. Though I do miss home a few times (hm, understatement? :-P), I don't regret moving out at all.
Man, that was deep. I'd better continue packing now.
Diapers, Oreos and raisins to the world,
Elise
Ps.: Mahna mahna. (Translated with the appropriate intonation: "May the Force be with you." And I ain't talkin' about just any Force... yaknowumsayin'?)
9 comments:
Duduuu dururu!
I think it sounds as if you've got your head screwed on just right.. =) You go girl! ;) Love ain't about having to prove things to others.. Love is about caring for others with every quirk they have, and the most important person to love in your life is yourself.. How can you expect others to like you if you don't like yourself? And how can you love others if you haven't learned how to love yourself first? =)
Have a beautiful Easter time! =D
"Duduuu dururu"? Could you be so kind as to elaborate on that, miss? I can't understand what on earth you're saying. *guffaws*
Hm, head screwed on just right? *getting slightly wrong thoughts* (Bad mind, bad mind!) But thanks, though! ;-D
And yes, you're completely right. Love should be about respecting each other for who they are because they are who they are, not IN SPITE of them being what they are. (If you got my drift...) Mind you, I love my parents; I respect them for all the things they've done for me and all the advice they've given to me the past (approx.) 21 years. The thing that hurt me (well, it was more like a sting rather than something hurting) was that by moving out people thought that I didn't care about my parents anymore. It appeared as if I had to stay at home with my parents in order to prove to the world that I loved them (and still do, of course). I shouldn't have to do that. I shouldn't have to prove to anyone - except my parents - that I care about them.
I don't know... Sometimes these culture clashes can be somewhat annoying. Though I was kind of hurt when I was asked this, I know that they don't mean any harm by it. It's frustrating at times, but I'm trying my best to understand their viewpoint.
And that thing you wrote about loving yourself first - that is as true as it gets!!! :-D
Thanks! Hope you have an awesome Easter break as well! :-D
Go join facebook! Now!...or else.
Or else what?
I'll send the raisins on you...Muahahaha!
Coincidentally I'm eating grapes at the moment. Bring it on! I'll throw grapes at you!!! *tossing grapes in the direction of Helsfyr*
Ooooh! Saaaaaraaaaaaa... I fooooound the last part of "The Holy Grail" where the French taunter appears for the last time! Funni. Verrifunni.
********
ARTHUR
God be praised! The deaths of many find knights have this day been avenged.
FROG
Ha ha! Hello! Smelly English K...niggets ... and Monsieur Arthur King,
who has the brain of a duck, you know.
The KNIGHTS look up.
FROG
We French persons outwit you a second time, perfidious English
mousedropping hoarders ... how you say: "Begorrah!"
ARTHUR
How dare you profane this place with your presence! I command you, in the name of the Knights of Camelot, open the door to the Sacred Castle, to which God himself has guided us! (he turns to the KNIGHTS) Come.
ARTHUR and the KNIGHTS advance towards the castle.
FROG
How you English say: I one more time, mac, I unclog my nose towards
you, sons of a window-dresser! So, you think you could out-clever us
French fellows with your silly knees-bent creeping about advancing
behavior. (Blows a raspberry) I wave my private parts at your
aunties, you brightly-colored, mealy-templed, cranberry-smelling,
electric donkey-bottom biters.
By this time ARTHUR and BEDEVERE and GALAHAD have reached the
door. ARTHUR bangs on the door.
ARTHUR
In the name of the Lord, we demand entrance to this sacred castle.
Jeering from the battlements.
FROG
No chance, English bed-wetting types. We burst our pimples at you, and call your door-opening request a silly thing. You tiny-brained wipers of other people's bottoms!
French laughter
ARTHUR
If you do not open these doors, we will take this castle by force ...
A bucket of slops land on ARTHUR. He tries to retain his dignity.
ARTHUR
In the name of God ... and the glory of our ...
Another bucket of what can only be described as human ordure hits ARTHUR.
... Right!
(to the KNIGHTS)
That settles it!
They turn and walk away. French jeering follows them.
FROG
Yes, depart a lot at this time, and cut the approaching any more or we fire arrows into the tops of your heads and make castanets of your testicles already.
ARTHUR
(to KNIGHTS)
Walk away. Just ignore them.
ARTHUR, BEDEVERE and GALAHAD walk off
FROG
And now remain gone, illegitimate-faced bugger-folk! And, if you think you got a nasty time this taunting, you ain't heard nothing yet, dappy k...niggets, and A. King Esquire.
BRIDGEKEEPER
He would cross the sea of fate,
Must answer me these questions
Twenty-eight.
INSPECTOR
All right, put him in the van.
FRENCH
You couldn't catch clap in a brothel, silly English K...niggets ...
****
Oooooooooh yeeeeeeaaaah. That's the stuff!
And the world makes sense once again!
It does, doesn't it?! ;-)
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