Pam in Taipei

It's a small, small world.

Something I would never have expected to happen has happened since I moved to the other side of the Earth -- my world got smaller. It got smaller, and because it's smaller, it feels a little less lonely than it was a year ago before I left. The people I love just don't seem that far away anymore. Somehow, the world has become my backyard. This may seem completely paradoxical, but look here:

In 2 hours I will be on Skype, having a conference call with my Dad and Stepmum in Ottawa, Canada, and my sister in India (for those of you who are wondering, the sound quality is perfect, and Skype to Skype, it's even clearer than a long distance call on a regular phone.) I just had dinner with my uncle and aunt visiting from Dallas, Texas last night (my aunt's mother lives in Taipei), and my grandfather, who lives in Nanjing, China, flies down here every couple months to drink whiskey and play mahjong with his childhood friends who now live here. My best friend is in London, England, halfway between here and home(Canada) anyway, and I was just chatting to a friend in Moncton on Gmail Chat whose husband is visiting from the Gambia, and whose brother will be joining his Taiwanese girlfriend in Taipei in January and wants to hook up with us too. Yesterday Brian said goodbye to a friend he just made here, a co-worker, who was born four blocks from Brian's family home in Riverview, New Brunswick, and is now returning to Canada. I chatted to him about living in Ottawa and knowing guitar teachers in common. Okay, and if that's not convincing enough, here's the kicker. When I sent out my mass notice about this blog, I sent it to all the friends I had listed in my Address Book. Along with a lot of heartwarming messages from people back home, I also got an email that blew me right out of my socks -- a friend I had lost touch with in Halifax and probably haven't spoken to in a year, wrote me saying something to the effect of, "It's good to hear from you and guess where I'm writing from? Hualian" - three hours drive from us right here in Taiwan. He is there with another HFX North Ender and they are bringing a bit of North End culture to the indie rock scene in Southern Taiwan - Burlesque, HFX-style, will be at Kenting's annual Spring Scream in the year 2007.

World, I salute you. This is the first time since leaving university that you are finally starting to seem a friendlier place.

posted by Pamplemousse @ 9:33 PM