Three months in and December blues
(written on the 21st)
I'm heading off on Christmas holidays tomorrow, and I have been thinking a fair bit about how December was generally underwhelming and what changes I want to make in the New Year. Firstly my holiday plans:
21 Carshare to Madrid, stay at Las Musas
22 Fly to Frankfurt, train to Freiburg, stay with Holger
26 Bus to Munich, stay with Thomas
30 Fly to Madrid, stay in Airbnb place, spend time with Di & Alejandro
1 Stay at Las Musas
6/7 return to Oviedo
8 Back to school!
I'm 1000x looking forward to spending time with friends and seeing some new places including Madrid for the first time. Will probably do a day trip to Toledo.
Di and Alejandro got married today. I wish I could have been there to see it and share in it but I know Di will have plenty of loved ones around, and I will see her pretty soon.
Don't really know what happened with December. I had a great time in Salamanca and as usually happens had a kind of "hangover" in terms of both getting my energy back and feeling sad. The following weekend I had a cold and spent the weekend at home, which generally doesn't end well, and indeed this ended with another episode of being shouted at by Victoria. (Dish soap residue and turning off a hotplate I didn't realise she wanted to use, were the heinous crimes this week.) After that I was just thinking about Christmas and generally feeling very sorry for myself, so it wasn't great.
I find it hard to balance my life here and elements of my life in Australia. Reading the papers and Facebook, I'm perpetually waiting for Australia to wake up. Talking to Robin especially, it can become hard to put out of my mind when I never have the resolution of actually being in the same place with him. It's like a niggling thing in the back (or front) of my mind that never actually gets resolved. And I wonder how much it keeps me from living in the present, being present. Feeling lonely is one thing, but feeling longing is another.
I had a really nice chat with Stefan yesterday and a nice chat with Robin today. I usually chat with Robin once a week, but I hadn't talked to Stefan for two months, as he was dealing with moving house and we fell out of touch.
(written on 25th)
I felt a lot better once I started focusing on holidays and leaving Oviedo. Now I am staying with a friend H I met at PyCon US in Montreal, with his family in Freiburg. Freiburg is in the souwest corner of Germany and 30km from the French border, and 2 hours or something from Basel in Switzerland. We had a big family dinner yesterday (24th) and did a Kris Kringle style present exchange. I gave someone some Spanish cheese, and got a bottle of local cherry schnapps.
To get on a more even keel next year as always it will be back to basics.
EVERY DAY: Sleep - meals - exercise
MOST DAYS: Teaching work - BoM work
COUPLE OF TIMES A WEEK: Spanish study - friends - AU friends/family
ONCE A WEEK: Travelling or social/civic events
I don't have any great insights but to keep trying, especially for incorporating regular meals, going to be early enough and doing exercise. Well I haven't been to the local gym yet, which might yet be my winter salvation. I might try to invest in a better quality desk chair, that should help my back not feel so stiff. For Spanish study I want to set up some new language exchanges, it is also a sneaky way to possibly make friends/have social time. And I will have another crack at a social network profile. When I haven't talked to any of my Australian friends on skype for a while, I need to suggest a catchup rather than just sit around feeling sorry for myself.
I'm heading off on Christmas holidays tomorrow, and I have been thinking a fair bit about how December was generally underwhelming and what changes I want to make in the New Year. Firstly my holiday plans:
21 Carshare to Madrid, stay at Las Musas
22 Fly to Frankfurt, train to Freiburg, stay with Holger
26 Bus to Munich, stay with Thomas
30 Fly to Madrid, stay in Airbnb place, spend time with Di & Alejandro
1 Stay at Las Musas
6/7 return to Oviedo
8 Back to school!
I'm 1000x looking forward to spending time with friends and seeing some new places including Madrid for the first time. Will probably do a day trip to Toledo.
Di and Alejandro got married today. I wish I could have been there to see it and share in it but I know Di will have plenty of loved ones around, and I will see her pretty soon.
Don't really know what happened with December. I had a great time in Salamanca and as usually happens had a kind of "hangover" in terms of both getting my energy back and feeling sad. The following weekend I had a cold and spent the weekend at home, which generally doesn't end well, and indeed this ended with another episode of being shouted at by Victoria. (Dish soap residue and turning off a hotplate I didn't realise she wanted to use, were the heinous crimes this week.) After that I was just thinking about Christmas and generally feeling very sorry for myself, so it wasn't great.
I find it hard to balance my life here and elements of my life in Australia. Reading the papers and Facebook, I'm perpetually waiting for Australia to wake up. Talking to Robin especially, it can become hard to put out of my mind when I never have the resolution of actually being in the same place with him. It's like a niggling thing in the back (or front) of my mind that never actually gets resolved. And I wonder how much it keeps me from living in the present, being present. Feeling lonely is one thing, but feeling longing is another.
I had a really nice chat with Stefan yesterday and a nice chat with Robin today. I usually chat with Robin once a week, but I hadn't talked to Stefan for two months, as he was dealing with moving house and we fell out of touch.
(written on 25th)
I felt a lot better once I started focusing on holidays and leaving Oviedo. Now I am staying with a friend H I met at PyCon US in Montreal, with his family in Freiburg. Freiburg is in the souwest corner of Germany and 30km from the French border, and 2 hours or something from Basel in Switzerland. We had a big family dinner yesterday (24th) and did a Kris Kringle style present exchange. I gave someone some Spanish cheese, and got a bottle of local cherry schnapps.
To get on a more even keel next year as always it will be back to basics.
EVERY DAY: Sleep - meals - exercise
MOST DAYS: Teaching work - BoM work
COUPLE OF TIMES A WEEK: Spanish study - friends - AU friends/family
ONCE A WEEK: Travelling or social/civic events
I don't have any great insights but to keep trying, especially for incorporating regular meals, going to be early enough and doing exercise. Well I haven't been to the local gym yet, which might yet be my winter salvation. I might try to invest in a better quality desk chair, that should help my back not feel so stiff. For Spanish study I want to set up some new language exchanges, it is also a sneaky way to possibly make friends/have social time. And I will have another crack at a social network profile. When I haven't talked to any of my Australian friends on skype for a while, I need to suggest a catchup rather than just sit around feeling sorry for myself.