A weird feeling invades me as I get Bernardo back after two months that seemed to have no end. But he is here now and it seems just as surreal as him being away from me. But just immensely better!
Things started smoothly with me skipping work for the afternoon. I greeted him with a semi fresh crab in Sagres and a first taste of the quality of the service in Mozambique. To make up for it, we had dinner in Taverna with Tricia and Claire and the waiter was more helpful than I had ever seen in Maputo. Maybe he figured it was Tricia’s last dinner. Or else, he just wanted a good tip, which he got, clearly!
It is sad for Tricia to leave as it makes me start to feel away already, it makes me feel like my time is coming soon as well. I read Rosa and João’s blog about how people come and they go and I can’t help sharing the feeling that I have been living for 4 years. Meet new people, make new friends, know a new city, have a new house and then pack your bags, have a farewell dinner, send a new contacts email and learn a new map. I guess sometimes I want to stop but I just don’t know how yet.
Overall, I am happy. This weekend, me, Bernardo, João and Rosa are off to see a new mission. Bernardo has never seen what I saw here, but he has already started making progress. Him and João bought books for the school for a third of the price. He may be good at this after all! :-) Welcome to Africa!
I heard what is likely to become one of my top 3 favourite quotes on a podcast on Friday. "Time is the only real democratic asset. We are all awarded the same time, it is what we do with it that distinguishes us". Now, I recognise that most of us need to work with survive and that is not democratic throughout. But on an equal opportunity basis, this is an interesting way of putting it. For many years I did not understand why MS thought my resume was so interesting. In fact, they chased me during the entire recruitment process, even though I had no idea of moving to London or Finance. I wanted to be a consultant and stay in Lisbon forever. But traditional consultants in Portugal saw nothing in me, and MS did not let me go. When I started screening resumes and hiring people a couple of years later is when I understood why I was different. TIME. I was truly different about what I did with my time. Not necessarily the basics - choice of degree or anything. But really ...
Comments