When we were planning our return to Sikkim, I was looking forward to the fact that we knew so much more clearly exactly what we were getting into by coming here. Things would feel comfortable, normal, after having spent the Fall adjusting to our life here.
The reality is that I am now instead confronting a wall: my inability to get outside of the day-to-day routines we have set up. When we were here in the Fall, it was all we could do to get through the day, do homework and then collapse into bed early as a reward for a hard day's work of coping with such a new way of life. Now we know the routine, we have made friends and have a level of comfort regarding our current existence. The next step is to go outside the routines and try more new things, but I find myself creating all kinds of reasons for not doing just that. There are logistical challenges for sure, but they aren't insurmountable. Really, Corrina and I should be taking an outing every weekend to see new places and learn more about the area. For instance, there is a temple on the way to school called Ganeshtok. It is easy enough to get to, but we haven't been to it yet. It requires finding a taxi that will take us up there and managing a bit of a language barrier while we are there, but the payoff could be wonderful. I bet it has a gorgeous view since it sits on a precipice overlooking Gangtok.
When Glenn was here I had a bit more courage and drive. One day I arranged for us to go to Rumtek, a famous monastery below Gangtok. We met the taxi and he drove us there, which took about an hour, only for us to find out that we needed our passports and Innerline Permit, neither of which I had thought to bring. So, we turned around and headed back home! I seemed to be the only one disappointed, the rest of the gang was happy to head home and hang out at the ranch...
Grace, Corrina and I are leaving soon, sooner than we had originally planned. And I worry that I will leave here wishing we had take the opportunity to do more things. I guess that means we will have to come back. I really want to visit Bhutan!
The reality is that I am now instead confronting a wall: my inability to get outside of the day-to-day routines we have set up. When we were here in the Fall, it was all we could do to get through the day, do homework and then collapse into bed early as a reward for a hard day's work of coping with such a new way of life. Now we know the routine, we have made friends and have a level of comfort regarding our current existence. The next step is to go outside the routines and try more new things, but I find myself creating all kinds of reasons for not doing just that. There are logistical challenges for sure, but they aren't insurmountable. Really, Corrina and I should be taking an outing every weekend to see new places and learn more about the area. For instance, there is a temple on the way to school called Ganeshtok. It is easy enough to get to, but we haven't been to it yet. It requires finding a taxi that will take us up there and managing a bit of a language barrier while we are there, but the payoff could be wonderful. I bet it has a gorgeous view since it sits on a precipice overlooking Gangtok.
When Glenn was here I had a bit more courage and drive. One day I arranged for us to go to Rumtek, a famous monastery below Gangtok. We met the taxi and he drove us there, which took about an hour, only for us to find out that we needed our passports and Innerline Permit, neither of which I had thought to bring. So, we turned around and headed back home! I seemed to be the only one disappointed, the rest of the gang was happy to head home and hang out at the ranch...
Grace, Corrina and I are leaving soon, sooner than we had originally planned. And I worry that I will leave here wishing we had take the opportunity to do more things. I guess that means we will have to come back. I really want to visit Bhutan!
There are vacation trips/journeys and then there are life exploration events. Living and working in a place is so different than going on vacation and traveling through a place. You make connections, feel the daily rhythm, get beyond the ooh and ahh and begin to have an understanding of what a place is. Maybe you should come up with one or two further destinations to explore before you leave but if you go no further, you have gone further than most of us ever do in a lifetime.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I can help you take one of these journeys when I visit. But my suspicion is that you could do all of these things and you would still feel you had not done enough. Really, I think you are facing the inevitable mourning of leaving Sikkim. I know this feeling so well, the I could have done more feeling, but in my case this is often a symptom of sorrow or a deeper regret, the sense that things must end. And, the irony is, that your routine is so hard-earned; you are observing the practice of living in Sikkim and this is valuable in its own right.
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