That Facebook Thing

I'm back!


I'm officially writing from my comfy hotel room in Abu Dhabi. If I had to describe Abu Dhabi in a word, it'd definitely be scorching. The heat knocks the wind right out of you as soon as you step outside. I don't know what the temperature was this afternoon, but I can tell you that one of my fellow EMT's (English Medium Teachers) glasses started fogging up immediately. That's gross.

ANYWHO...more on Abu Dhabi in due time.

So I hate posting pictures on Facebook. I really do. I think a couple factors attribute to this:

1) I like hearing about your lives and your stories rather than babbling on about my own. I mean, I'd much rather look at pictures of my niece's weekend or your cat's silly antics than share pictures of my trip somewhere. Shabadoo or Bandit or Sammy or Enjolin are WAY more interesting than I'll ever be. The Internet says so.

2) I haven't become completely comfortable with living in the digital age, despite having grown up in it. Maybe chalk it up to watching Terminator 2 way too much as a kid. (Thanks, Sergio!) I'm sure that Zuckerberg fellow is building his own Terminators as we speak.

3) Most importantly, though, I think Facebook is breeding grounds for insecurity and loneliness, and I hate contributing to that feeling for anybody. I remember when I was struggling through some emotional lows a couple years ago, Facebook was poisonous to my soul. I hated that feeling. I knew comparing my sad meaningless life to others was a mistake, but I couldn't help it.

Even after I dug myself out of that hole, I never forgot how terrible Facebook made me feel during that time. So while I was in Korea and I started up this blog, I did so strictly to share my experiences with family and friends back home, (Otherwise, my mom would kill me.) But in the back of my mind, I was always self-conscious of doing so. After returning home from Korea, I' cut back on posting stuff online in case I was inadvertently adding to somebody's Depression. We live in a very lonely world sometimes.

And the thing is, life isn't all vacations, concerts, festivals, parties, loved ones, etc; it's also heartache, loneliness, sickness, and the mundane things in between. I like sharing all of it with those I care about--the good and the bad--so only sharing half of the truth seems like a lie to me.

However, being so far away from the ones I love, I feel like sharing my pictures on here is the best I can do to stay connected to you. I've spent the last two weeks getting ready for my departure to Abu Dhabi by meeting up with and saying goodbye to some of my favourite people, and it made the reality of today creep closer with every hug.

That's why I've decided to kick start the ol' blog again--with a new name, as you may have noticed--in order to let you all in on some of my fun while abroad. My hope in sharing my pictures here rather than on Facebook is that only the people who genuinely care--wherever in the world they may happen to be living at the moment--will bother combing through any of this. I want to share my happiness with the people who make me happy--my friends, not my Facebook friends. These are the friends and family members who will actually get joy out of my happiness. I figure since I can't share my joys with you in person, this seems like the next best thing.

Of course, much like home, life abroad will come with its own share of ups and downs. I don't foresee Abu Dhabi being as much of an introspective journey as Korea was, but if there are any downs to report, I promise you'll be the first to know.

I love you all, and I can't wait to share with you whatever the hell the next two years may bring. I'll be sure to post pictures and the odd video from the Sandpit or wherever I may happen to find myself.

For now, here's what 2015 has looked like so far. Sorry for not sharing these earlier. There are more to come.

Cheers,

Uri

PS: If I didn't get a chance to see you in person before I left, I'm truly sorry. I only found out about my departure date a couple weeks ago, and I tried my best to meet up with as many people as possible--even if that meant racking up kilometres on my mom's brand new car while she was away on vacation. (Don't worry, she won't read this far into the post; she just looks at the pictures.) I promise we'll meet up when I get back. See you in 2017!