Monday, April 30, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
What's in a life
As we get blessed with a new life, my thoughts went to the lives that ended. I wanted to share the excitement and joy with the ones that departed. And it made me wonder what their thoughts were about before they let out their final breath. As I refused to dwell in sadness, my thoughts came back to the livings, and to the proud parents. Even as an aunt I am so proud and want to give everything to this little one, and even bought gold, which I cannot send via DHL... I can only imagine how a parent would feel.
Although happy and welcoming of the child I find myself sad that this world is the way it is. I now understand why people shelter their children. But even we turned out alright, why worry?
Because what's in a life? Something sweet, something bitter and something sour. The sweetness comes in small bundles, after much bitterness and sourness. It is as if it is only reachable because our efforts made spent our energies and we came to settle on a state where it suddenly became sweet for a while, like painfully running a long distance and settling on the feeling of the finish line coming closer, finishing the run in sweet pain, and being even more sore the few next days.
So even if it is painful, sorrowful, worrisome, let me settle and focus on an enjoyable moment: my grand mother has a grand-grand child, my brother has a son to raise, I have a nephew to dot, and the mother and child seem healthy. I will not project into the future, and enjoy the moment. Because for the child, his foremost joy is having both parents and feeling their warmth and love.
Although happy and welcoming of the child I find myself sad that this world is the way it is. I now understand why people shelter their children. But even we turned out alright, why worry?
Because what's in a life? Something sweet, something bitter and something sour. The sweetness comes in small bundles, after much bitterness and sourness. It is as if it is only reachable because our efforts made spent our energies and we came to settle on a state where it suddenly became sweet for a while, like painfully running a long distance and settling on the feeling of the finish line coming closer, finishing the run in sweet pain, and being even more sore the few next days.
So even if it is painful, sorrowful, worrisome, let me settle and focus on an enjoyable moment: my grand mother has a grand-grand child, my brother has a son to raise, I have a nephew to dot, and the mother and child seem healthy. I will not project into the future, and enjoy the moment. Because for the child, his foremost joy is having both parents and feeling their warmth and love.
Monday, April 09, 2012
Adventures in couchsurfing
Back in 2009 I stumbled on the couchsurfing community by a strike of luck. At that time, I was in serious preparation for my first trip to Asia and rummaged through many sites before settling on that site. The main idea is to crash at your stranger of choice for a few nights before moving on during your travels. This also includes that as a community member, you can host the traveler of your choice as well.
In addition, one can also just join an event locally, usually initiated by a local community member, and promoting a local shops, food, or event. it seems like a 3D extension of all the social networking sites, with the added common interest, which is finding a place to sleep or a place to enjoy local activities.
So in 2009 I was on the receiving end, meeting tokyoites at monja dinner near Tsukiji fish market, or having beer and tomato juice drink in west Tokyo. I also met the now currently full time geisha who hosted a wonderful nabe dinner for a couple of us travelers. With new friends to exchange emails and news, I was also able to host F. during her summer trip in London, allowing me to experience a somewhat subdued couchsurfing hosting. She was no longer a stranger after all.
Lately, I decided to check out the local couchsurfing community in Geneva. What lured me out was a dinner at Gaya, a korean restaurant. The turn out was decent, with 12 people from around Geneva and various experience with couchsurfing. There were no travelers this time and the majority of attendees were actually living in France across the border. The dinner organizer just returned from a trip in South Korea and we are keeping in touch for various tips she might give me. It seems there was a weekly meeting where a lots of au pair and CERN interns socialize. I will need to check out those meetings but I am less thrilled since it involves mainly a bar.
Last Friday, which was a bank holiday (Good Friday), 2 Chinese students doing exchange in Portugal couchsurfed at my place for a rainy night. We arranged for the stay a week ago on the site, and exchanged a couple of emails for the details. However there were no personal information or civilities exchanged, and I didn't even look thoroughly at their profile. Instead, I just rapidly viewed the feedback on the profile and accepted their surf request.
It was with anxiety that I picked the 2 of them from the train station after work. And because it was their first time in Geneva, and they were left on their own since morning to roam an empty town, I felt compelled to give them a tour of my own: walk to my place...There are not many thing I know about this town, but somehow we took pictures of the giant chess boards, blooming magnolia trees, Grand Theatre, fancy closed shops. The main hurdle was at home, when we had to make conversation, a skill I certainly lack. But fortunately, cooking dinner, going in turn in the bathroom took most of the time. And I remembered those discussions with a 8 year old English student in Indonesia (hi Bayou!) and his pop quiz:
-what is you favourite sport?
-what is your favourite music?
-Do you like coffee ? (this one is from Suju 'Oops')
It also turned out they had to catch a train at 5:30am....So basically, our encounter was short but we still managed to add each other on facebook...
I take it as an incredible experience and thinking that it would surely help in building myself some confidence in hosting, whether for future travelers, or future business.
In addition, one can also just join an event locally, usually initiated by a local community member, and promoting a local shops, food, or event. it seems like a 3D extension of all the social networking sites, with the added common interest, which is finding a place to sleep or a place to enjoy local activities.
So in 2009 I was on the receiving end, meeting tokyoites at monja dinner near Tsukiji fish market, or having beer and tomato juice drink in west Tokyo. I also met the now currently full time geisha who hosted a wonderful nabe dinner for a couple of us travelers. With new friends to exchange emails and news, I was also able to host F. during her summer trip in London, allowing me to experience a somewhat subdued couchsurfing hosting. She was no longer a stranger after all.
Lately, I decided to check out the local couchsurfing community in Geneva. What lured me out was a dinner at Gaya, a korean restaurant. The turn out was decent, with 12 people from around Geneva and various experience with couchsurfing. There were no travelers this time and the majority of attendees were actually living in France across the border. The dinner organizer just returned from a trip in South Korea and we are keeping in touch for various tips she might give me. It seems there was a weekly meeting where a lots of au pair and CERN interns socialize. I will need to check out those meetings but I am less thrilled since it involves mainly a bar.
Last Friday, which was a bank holiday (Good Friday), 2 Chinese students doing exchange in Portugal couchsurfed at my place for a rainy night. We arranged for the stay a week ago on the site, and exchanged a couple of emails for the details. However there were no personal information or civilities exchanged, and I didn't even look thoroughly at their profile. Instead, I just rapidly viewed the feedback on the profile and accepted their surf request.
It was with anxiety that I picked the 2 of them from the train station after work. And because it was their first time in Geneva, and they were left on their own since morning to roam an empty town, I felt compelled to give them a tour of my own: walk to my place...There are not many thing I know about this town, but somehow we took pictures of the giant chess boards, blooming magnolia trees, Grand Theatre, fancy closed shops. The main hurdle was at home, when we had to make conversation, a skill I certainly lack. But fortunately, cooking dinner, going in turn in the bathroom took most of the time. And I remembered those discussions with a 8 year old English student in Indonesia (hi Bayou!) and his pop quiz:
-what is you favourite sport?
-what is your favourite music?
-Do you like coffee ? (this one is from Suju 'Oops')
It also turned out they had to catch a train at 5:30am....So basically, our encounter was short but we still managed to add each other on facebook...
I take it as an incredible experience and thinking that it would surely help in building myself some confidence in hosting, whether for future travelers, or future business.
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