On the topic of retrospect, the Czech writer Milan Kundera wrote:
“We pass through the present with our eyes blindfolded. We are permitted merely to sense and guess at what we are actually experiencing. Only later when the cloth is untied can we glance at the past and find out what we have experienced and what meaning it has.”
He wasn't the first to describe this wonderful thing but I'm picking up what he's putting down.
At the end of 2008, I was fresh out of university with a dual bachelors degree in Arts (Spanish and History majors) and Secondary Education (teacher of pubescent monsters darlings). Not entirely enamoured with the prospect of dishing out detentions to kids that were only a few years short of my own 22, and not being able to keep a straight face at a fart joke, I knew that it was best for me- and the teenagers of Australia no less- to get some life experience before embarking on any sort of teaching career. Well, that and the fact that I had daydreamed about travelling since childhood.
I can thank my parents for my earliest travel-related daydreams. My Mum was born in Australia to a family from the gorgeous but little-known Peloponnesian island of Kythera and brought us up with all the best bits from Greece like food, holiday customs and language. Truth be told I disliked going to Greek School on Wednesday nights after school AND sports practice, but now I know I should have valued the opportunity more when it was handed to me. Mum also took us to the local Greek Orthodox Church, which I still admit is beautiful in it's own way despite my outgrowing it- and organised religion- somewhere in my early teenaged years.
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| A old picture of the Greek island of Kythera where my Mum's family came from, hanging on the wall for my entire life and still going strong. Who wouldn't want to go there after seeing this everyday?! |
My Dad was born and raised for the first 8 years of his life in Holland, and although he has long since stopped speaking Dutch, there existed some peculiar remnants of his heritage in our house; herring, whose smell I will regrettably never forget; Appelstroop, a molasses-like apple spread; Speculaas, those fantastically versatile cinnamon spiced biscuits; salty licorice shaped like coins and cats; and that staple Germanic meal of wurst, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes with mustard and horseradish. On the bedroom wall, the painting of a little Dutch girl, clogs and all in a field of tulips with a windmill in the background. Stereotype much?!
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| The little Dutch girl on another wall. All she needs now is some Speculaas and weird salty licorice. |
My daydreams also took me to Japan, encouraged by 10 years of Japanese classes at school, visits and gifts from impossibly cute Japanese exchange students, and the invention of the Tamagotchi (Poké-what?). At 13 years of age, I started learning a most beautiful and melodic language that would inspire me and open up opportunities during the years that lay ahead. ¡Hola, bitches! Next stop Colombia.. and Peru.. and Spain.. and it didn't stop there. As it turns out, my Round-The-World ticket on the Daydream Express appears to have lifetime validity- win!! The best part about daydreaming is that it's surrounded by the mysterious fog of the unknown, especially as a child when your imagination is untamed and unaffected by reality.
In retrospect, I wasn't just seeking life experience when I moved to Spain in 2009. The day that I left was like the beginning of a roller-coaster where you're strapped into the harness, climbing to the top of the peak, consumed by nervous excitement and perhaps a little trepidation. I knew I was going to teach English in Madrid but beyond that I had no idea of what lay ahead, or of the knowledge and life experience I would glean from jobs, travel, friendships and relationships. In retrospect, I was compelled to live the daydreams beyond a shadow of a doubt and was in for one hell of a roller-coaster ride.
Now, at the beginning of 2014, life has dealt our family a card that will keep me closer to home this year. It's not been easy to accept but I have put a finite end to that time of flight, for now anyway. At the very least, I am in the position to take the time to reflect on it. To paraphrase Milan Kundera, it's sometimes hard to know the true value and meaning of the present until it's behind you.
For the lack of time or even sheer laziness (sometimes I can't be bothered putting the cap back on the toothpaste tube), I never kept a diary recording my observations or lessons learnt during that itinerant lifestyle. I did, however, snap lots of photos with my trusty little point-and-shoot. That's the beauty of retrospect; I can look back at the moments captured in photographs and attach greater significance to them now than I could have at the time they were happening.That is the point of this blog, to start with at least.
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| Here's a lesson- Must never again attempt to eat dal bhat with hands. |
