Sunday 4 July 2010

Brrr, it sure is cold!

Winter has arrived! Now, I know what you are thinking:

"How cold can it really be, in a place where summer temperatures easily pass 35C in summer?"

The answer is REALLY cold. I believe it's averaging around 5C in the mornings. Almost Scottish sunbathing temperatures. So I'm feeling quite at home, leaving for work with a thick jacket on, stamping my feet to keep warm while waiting on the bus. Once in the office, the miracle that is air conditioning kicks in and I no longer have that as an excuse for being unproductive at work. I have other excuses, none of them believable.

So what is new? The answer is not much. Time is really flying by. We aren't far away from celebrating our 4 month anniversary out here. We have met a huge amount of great people, and that is undoubtedly helping us settle in.

We've been spending a bit of time with a couple we met at church, Phil and Belle. I think, in them, Nicola has met her soul friends! I'll let her explain why, but I'm so thankful for them already =) It has been a long time since we made new friends - people you can be open and vulnerable with. An in that, it has been really refreshing.

There really are so many nationalities and walks of life crammed into this city. And yet, I can't think of one person I've met who hasn't been open, friendly and honest. Such a change =)

I'm actually struggling with one thing. We came out here to experience a new way of life, a "better" way of live even. When we arrived, everything seemed so different. Initially, it was exciting to do things differently. Travelling everywhere on the bus, being able to go the beach on the weekend, becoming comfortable in meeting new people, becoming experts at the 5 minute conversation (Where are you from, what do you do, how long are you here for?).

And yet, I feel myself slipping into old routines. Working too late, or even worse: bringing it home with me. Letting myself be distracted by meaningless things, instead of concentrating on the things that really matter. Settling for what seems good now, rather than what is right. Hah, that sounds philosophical. Oh how I hope I can resist the home comforts. If I let myself settle back in, the experiences become few and far between, the videos dry up, the dream becomes smaller and dimmer. I need to keep pushing =)