So, I figure to start this, I'll need some context;
When I was 10, I moved to Kenya. My parents decided a few years previously that they would follow in my grandparents' footsteps and become missionaries at this American Christian boarding school on the edge of the Rift Valley about an hour outside of Nairobi. I spent 5th and 6th grade there before moving back to Canada, in the same city in the same house I'd lived in before.
I really miss it today. I'm not totally sure why, I mean I've spent all of one month there in the past six years. I guess you can get homesick for a place where you've never really belonged. I've come to the conclusion that mostly what I miss is the atmosphere of there, especially when faced with the stark contrasts of my life here.
Here, everyone is always rushing. They can barely focus on one thing because soon they'll be running to the next. Most people go about their day as if everything is a tedious obligation. Everyone can't look beyond themselves to see that there's bigger concerns. When people stop rushing, they don't know what to do with themselves; they immediately turn to boredom.
In Kenya, I found everything to fall in a comfortable routine; people did one thing at a time, at a pace that seemed comfortable, and without pressure. Everything could always pause for a cup of tea in the middle of the morning and again in the afternoon. People relaxed and let things be uncomplicated. There was always time to go to read a book or go to bed early. Everything felt a hell of a lot less complicated. Occasionally I find person that has a similar gist to their life here but they are few and far between.
I think that largely I found this because I'm romanticizing my memories a bit, or I was mislead by age, but even when I was twelve, I noticed how discontent people seem with their lives all the time here. People wouldn't let little things go and prepubescent Julianne asked why it mattered to people that their hair be perfectly in place when they go out or that their parents pick them up at exactly 3pm, as opposed to 3:03 or 3:05. Why do people get so hung up on things that don't matter?
Mind you, I'm a huge hypocrite in pointing these things out. I'm one of these people who is always rushing. I get bored after two hours of nothing to do. I bicker about how little money I have. I stress about stupid things.
Basically, my job is stressing me out, school is stressing me out, and I want it all to stop so I can find some nirvana and reach some sort enlightenment where I can feel mostly content about things again.
I think I need to go on an adventure somewhere this summer. Maybe I should quit my job in late July/ early August so I can go on an epic journey. Any (relatively thrifty) ideas of where I should go?
Hearts,
Julianne
