It’s Sunday, June 3 in the afternoon, a gazillion things racing in my mind since last night and prompted me to write probably my last post (for awhile anyways) on this blog. I have no idea if I will continue blogging here once I return home but have thoughts about continuing to blog on a regular basis as I’ve always enjoyed being able to place my thoughts into a neat and organized space in my life without having to write it in a journal (I type faster than I write.and there’s spellcheck hehe)
This past week was pretty quiet and not too interesting as I just wrapped up all that I had to do at MEDA and now I’m done! It’s not easy being able to encapsulate my time here at MEDA Tajikistan into a short paragraph. There is a lot of staff and I can’t say I had the chance to get to know everyone but there are a handful that I will surely miss…our conversations, laughter and working together. Everyone has been very helpful and did what they could to make my time here enjoyable and comfortable. I definitely think I lucked out as a MEDA intern here because I have met so many MEDA staff from Waterloo and MEDA Tajikistan has been a place where I have laughed the most and had such a great time in conversations. I will miss you all.
Rob is on the plane now and I will see him tomorrow morning at 9am at the airport. There are so many emotions inside me: excitement, nervousness, anxiety, anticipation and just plain waiting for tomorrow to come. I don’t even think I was this nervous right before our wedding! Anyways, I spent the morning focusing my energies into cleaning and getting the place spiffy clean plus doing what I could to pack away my stuff.
And thus brings me to other emotions swirling inside me; that the place I called home for nine months would soon to no longer be. Anyone who has picked up their lives and moved from place to place can understand that this is the most psychologically traumatizing thing to ever do to yourself. As you get older, it gets harder and more difficult. I never had any problems back in university when I studied abroad for eight months and then left. I knew my time at school was short term and it never bothered me to leave but for some reason, the last few places I’ve left from, the ties are stronger and I really feel like I’m uprooting myself.
Humans are like trees with roots and branches. We plant ourselves in one place and grow, develop roots into the land we belong to and sprout branches. When we decide to move, we uproot ourselves and this physical uprooting is tough, it hurts and roots are broken. But like trees, we also continue to live and through time, we establish our roots once again into the new soil. However, this process leaves us to be never the same again.
Last night, I finally finished the book, “Reading Lolita in Tehran”. Oddly enough, the author in the final chapters of her book writes about her departure from Iran to America. She goes through all the emotions and thought processes that I truly identified with as I too am about to leave Tajikistan, a place I called my temporary home. It stuck such a chord inside me that I had to read and reread certain passages in the book because it just evoked such a feeling, as if I was reading about myself at this very moment in my life. I had forgotten how amazing and great it is to read and the impact it has on our very soul. I must find time to do this more often =)
To end, here is a passage that truly gave me the ‘ah ha’ moment: (enjoy)
“Later, I showed the pictures we’d taken in those last few weeks to my magician.
This past week was pretty quiet and not too interesting as I just wrapped up all that I had to do at MEDA and now I’m done! It’s not easy being able to encapsulate my time here at MEDA Tajikistan into a short paragraph. There is a lot of staff and I can’t say I had the chance to get to know everyone but there are a handful that I will surely miss…our conversations, laughter and working together. Everyone has been very helpful and did what they could to make my time here enjoyable and comfortable. I definitely think I lucked out as a MEDA intern here because I have met so many MEDA staff from Waterloo and MEDA Tajikistan has been a place where I have laughed the most and had such a great time in conversations. I will miss you all.
Rob is on the plane now and I will see him tomorrow morning at 9am at the airport. There are so many emotions inside me: excitement, nervousness, anxiety, anticipation and just plain waiting for tomorrow to come. I don’t even think I was this nervous right before our wedding! Anyways, I spent the morning focusing my energies into cleaning and getting the place spiffy clean plus doing what I could to pack away my stuff.
And thus brings me to other emotions swirling inside me; that the place I called home for nine months would soon to no longer be. Anyone who has picked up their lives and moved from place to place can understand that this is the most psychologically traumatizing thing to ever do to yourself. As you get older, it gets harder and more difficult. I never had any problems back in university when I studied abroad for eight months and then left. I knew my time at school was short term and it never bothered me to leave but for some reason, the last few places I’ve left from, the ties are stronger and I really feel like I’m uprooting myself.
Humans are like trees with roots and branches. We plant ourselves in one place and grow, develop roots into the land we belong to and sprout branches. When we decide to move, we uproot ourselves and this physical uprooting is tough, it hurts and roots are broken. But like trees, we also continue to live and through time, we establish our roots once again into the new soil. However, this process leaves us to be never the same again.
Last night, I finally finished the book, “Reading Lolita in Tehran”. Oddly enough, the author in the final chapters of her book writes about her departure from Iran to America. She goes through all the emotions and thought processes that I truly identified with as I too am about to leave Tajikistan, a place I called my temporary home. It stuck such a chord inside me that I had to read and reread certain passages in the book because it just evoked such a feeling, as if I was reading about myself at this very moment in my life. I had forgotten how amazing and great it is to read and the impact it has on our very soul. I must find time to do this more often =)
To end, here is a passage that truly gave me the ‘ah ha’ moment: (enjoy)
“Later, I showed the pictures we’d taken in those last few weeks to my magician.
You get this strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”
We leave Tajikistan on June 14 from Dushanbe to Istanbul to begin a 2 week trip to Turkey and a bit of Greece. And another chapter of my live is written and forever tucked away in my memories.
Thank you to all who have prayed for us during this difficult time of being away from each other. We have done it! I ask for you to continue to keep us in your prayers for safety and health while we travel in the next month.
Love,
Rachel
~Love life, live with passion
We leave Tajikistan on June 14 from Dushanbe to Istanbul to begin a 2 week trip to Turkey and a bit of Greece. And another chapter of my live is written and forever tucked away in my memories.
Thank you to all who have prayed for us during this difficult time of being away from each other. We have done it! I ask for you to continue to keep us in your prayers for safety and health while we travel in the next month.
Love,
Rachel
~Love life, live with passion
3 comments:
Rachel, you and rob are an inspiration. Praise God for all he's done in and through you! Look forward to hearing more personally some day. peace.
rachel, it's so exciting that you are starting this new stage of your life, scary as it may be. i hope you and rob have a great vacation and we're looking forward to seeing you in vancouver!
Aww Rae, this post was so touching - you brought tears to my eyes! I am so happy you and Rob are together again and I can totally identify with the uprootedness and feelings you have leaving MEDA and Tajikistan behind. Happy, safe travels and we'll talk when you get home...
steph xo
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