"Reality Strikes"

A close girlfriend of mine came for a week's visit not long ago. Someone I studied with for 3 years 8 or so years back. A time in my life where all I wanted was to pack my bags and leave. A stage in life where I had to force myself to leave my apartment only to sit for hours and hours of the day listening to an old tired teacher telling me what I need to know to survive in this world.

I hated it.

I saw it as a waste of time, waste of energy and waste of life, to be honest.
I know you will probably get far if not only further with the right papers, diplomas ect. However, that is not the kind of teaching I wish for, nor is it something I see myself in need of learning. I like to learn by doing through living, and this will come to me naturally. Either by traveling, sucking in a new culture, meeting new individuals who are either more well-traveled than myself or people who see life in a differet perspective. Someone that can stimulate my thinking and question what I see a need to.

I haven't spend much time in my homecountry for about 6 years now. I honestly do not miss it, nor have I ever missed it. Family and friends, people who are very dear to me are also people I know I will see under other circumstances.
Friends come to visit often. Even last year I was so lucky one of my brothers and his girlfriend decided to have a peak at my life in Tel Aviv. Something that meant the world to me. The fact that they absolutely adored and fell inlove with the place was just the icing of the cake.

It's been quite a while since a friend from home has paid me a visit overseas. When she heard I was only 5 hours planeflight from her, she packed her bags and came down for a week of "Scandinavian Winter Rehabiliation" in the Canaries.
I LOVE when people show an interest in the way I decided to live life. A love that grows when it is well-respected of same.

As I picked my friend up in the airport with butterflies in my belly, knowing it's been more than 6 months since I last saw her, I was overly excited. This would be the first visit she has ever paid me outside of our country. The thought of being able to show her life onboard stumbled around in me with pure gratefulness.

The first 24 hours I felt a little torned.
Seeing, feeling and hearing her within my presence was a little weird. In one way I felt as though I was back home, something that followed me with feelings connected by the country, my childhood and that exact stage of life then. Yet again, knowing and constantly feeling my life had lead me elsewhere again, I felt calm, appreciative and most happy about the present. At home I would be wildering around, living amongst the citizens, safely and well-respected. Life in present gave me a boat with great people, my puppy and the ocean as a daily sight.

As the days went past I got more and more used to seeing her face amongst the new ones. She beautifully and clamly blended in. As she left, she was missed and the days once again took a turn back to "normality".

"Normality" as it is onboard;

A run in the morning, coffee and brekky on deck, followed by a busy pen in hand. Socialise with common sailors, get to know new people as well as saying bye to "old". Discussing wind and weather for next trip, fixing what needs to get fixed are the tasks of my present "normality".
Not a bad place to be.

Visits from home truly count. They are what makes me feel that little inch happier. The fact that people are curious, excited or just in need of a holiday, is something that just makes it that tiny bit easier not to loose contact, nor to feel out of reach with one another.

For whoever wish to join for holiday will bring a certain type of feeling with them. Something I can only love; it gives me new thoughts, new stimulations and more to write about, think about and socialise about.

Life as it is now, is more than I can ask for.

Thank You