As the world turns

So while El Gouna gives me everything I’m looking for in life, the world seems to be in turmoil. Riots in Bangkok (my thoughts go out to Stefano, Kaat and others living and traveling in Thailand), attacks and deaths in Mumbai (my heart goes out to all friends and colleagues in India), banks toppling over around the globe (my heartfelt sentiments go out to all my ex-colleagues) while I’m here, diving, loving, living in El Gouna...

It’s only because of Facebook status updates from friends around the world that I caught on about all this recent chaos. So today I sat behind my computer for a couple of hours and checked out CNN, BBC and NU.NL news sites and for the first time in weeks, read some world news... People don’t discuss these things here. We mainly care about whether it will be windy tomorrow, about whether the captain is willing to sail out to the nicest dive sites and about the sickening amazing pictures Darja managed to take of fantastic underwater critters while diving in Oman. It seems that not much else matters in my current life style (except for the lousy exchange rate of the euro against the Egyptian pound) and that my world keeps turning on its own. And perhaps it does... Not that I stopped caring, but I do surprise myself observing how distant all these worldly events seem to me nowadays and how they do not affect my current life.

And it doesn’t only concern these breaking news items. It is also about past personal events... Only days after the date, it dawned on me that it was more than a year ago that my relationship with Timmo ended, that it was a year ago that I got onto this emotional rollercoaster that would take me on a ride for months. A date, which at the time I thought I would never forget, just passed by and I didn’t even notice it did. Simply because I was busy enjoying my life in the now. Can a person really let go of things that swiftly and smoothly?

Mixed feelings... Should I be more attached to the past? Can I? Do I want to? Should I be more involved in world affairs? Can I make a difference? Do I want to?

Hmm... for now it remains a question mark (with a heavy tendency to the “Nay”)... All I know today is that living in the now suits me well and that my future plans do not extend beyond Q1-2009 (romantic fantasies set aside). The rollercoaster has be replaced by a sailing boat riding the wind and waves and I’m holding the steering wheel. I’ll plan along the way what I would like to happen next, depending on where love & life lead me.

I will let pictures do the rest of the talking. Daphne, a friend from Singapore was here and we had lots of memorable moments captured on digital film. Her coming over proved to me again that it doesn’t matter where in the world you live, it’s the relationships you have with people that count. Somebody who lives right next door and see every day can turn out to be completely different than you thought he was. Somebody who is far away, can complete your life more than you thought he would. Distance is not necessarily an issue. It’s the connection that counts.

Enough of the philosophical meandering....

While I’m awaiting my mom’s arrival tomorrow, I give you a pictorial account of the past few weeks of my life. And what a life it is...

Lots of love bubbles,

xYx

Dear Daphne in El Gouna:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71228&l=55482&id=523210814

Cairo:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71236&l=22352&id=523210814

Pyramids:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=71291&l=6e4f4&id=523210814