Castaway

Castaway came on tv last night and it was striking in a way how much I can relate to Tom Hanks' character. Moving to a different country has resulted in being virtually cut off from friends and family, not that it has to be that way thanks to the telephone and internet. However, most of the time, I'm the only one that calls or writes e-mail and only one friend ever responds to my e-mail but no regularly. For me, my dh could be my version of "Wilson". He tries but just can't really relate. Then you've got that whole idea of stumbling about trying to take care of basic needs. It's all here, you just have to figure out how to get it in unfamiliar surroundings. I can also relate to him getting hurt so much at the beginning. The first month or so I was here, I managed to hurt myself so many times it's not even funny. All of which were mostly the result of adjusting to new surroundings but still, it got really annoying. I can even relate to the tooth scene where he knocks out an infected molar since I had to have a couple of teeth pulled soon after arriving here. (I have lousy teeth.)

On the up side, Hanks' finds his grove and becomes an expert in his surroundings. I know that given time I'll figure everything out and I'll probably even get up the courage to start driving here. (The driving here is crazy, but people are used to it. Whatever, whenever is no big deal. Stuck at a traffic light, go ahead and make another lane or two or three. Need to make a right hand turn but you're in the far left lane? No, problem just cut in front of the four lanes of traffic to the right. The mom of one of my students put it this way..."We're comfortable.")