What do I write about when I have nothing to write about? Well, the advice I was once given was to write about what I was talking about. So, here goes nothing.
Today's conversations covered a range of topics, including how to get a job in Fiji as a trailing spouse. Get your CV up to date, meet lots of people, let everyone know you want a job, read the paper, especially the Saturday classifieds (yeah, read the paper, crazy number of people I know found their job in the newspaper. Total throwback) and be prepared to wait a year for your visa after you do the whole interview/job offer thing.
Adding structure to your day: It helps me if I have people to meet that will be working on a common goal together. Enter Shut Up and Write! and parenting bookclub among other things.
Finding meaning in life without a job. This one makes me a little nuts. We trailing spouses put all this time and energy into our educations and our professional development and then end up packing up everything and moving-over and over for the luckiest of us. Our circle of influence shrinks down to our family and the friends we make. All our finances get chucked in one hat, the one our partner is holding. It's a little unnerving, even when in rock solid relationships. Add in today's conversation about accidental deaths and extramarital expat activities and that search for meaning coupled with an unsure future can be pretty hard to work through.
A trip to the bank yielded an interesting conversation about how to prove one's identity when in transition. I need to follow up with the Fiji Women's Crisis Center about they help women get back on their feet financially. I'm so used to everything being available online in the US. You show up, provide your social security number, answer a couple of questions, and boom, you're in business. Yeah, not so much here. That's probably a whole 'nother post right there.
By the way, travel insurance to the US is about 5 times what it costs for the same coverage when traveling in New Zealand. Dear USA, I love you, you'll always be my home, but please figure out the healthcare system. Especially as I age I worry more about ending up in the doctor's office when I go home, and it's something we just can't afford without having insurance.
Let's see, what else. Ah, two more conversations about diversity and travel. I feel like I've known people who had far more diversity of experience although they never had a passport than some who've traveled the world, but stayed firmly in their comfort zone. I guess this is one blessing of being from a mixed background - there's not a ready made comfort zone for me, no matter what I do I have to stretch and adapt to the situation around me. Not going to lie, that's wearing at times, but I do love the increased understanding I've gained as a result of it. Even so, plenty of stuff would have been easier on the body and the psyche if I'd just read a book on the topic instead of living it.
There were a couple other discussions in the course of the day, but none of them jump out at me. So yeah, there you have it. Another blog post in the can. Now to write some followup emails. G'night all. See you on the other side.
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