25 Random Things Facebook Meme
Somehow, my last blog entry got deleted. No clue how that happened. Probably the internet went down.
Or filled up, while I was talking on my cell phone, which probably caused interference. Or the server got corrupt. Something like that.
In any case, I certainly did not hit any button or do anything to delete it.
1. You can always tell how productive I am feeling by the amount of flickr, twitter, FB or skype stuff I post (ergo, I'm not getting squat done today).
2. I used to keep most bad and embarrassing things to myself, secret, was worried others would think less of me if they knew of my (sometime surreal) struggles.
3. 2008 was the worst year of my life so far and has aged me at least 5 years. I have never experienced fear or pain or agony like that even and hope to never again have to. There was one time I thought I was actually dying, and loads of times when I would have gladly welcomed departing.
4. After slowly opening up and hearing "oh wow, that happened to me too and I never told anyone before either" I no longer worry about what others think of the crap I've dealt with, especially if I see that talking about it is helping someone else.
5. I have an uncanny knack for getting myself into the most unusual/stupid/weird/bad/surreal/funny/made-for-tv situations.
6. I consider my ability to adapt and make something out of nothing my greatest gift, which has gotten me out of every single one of the above bad situations, coming out ahead somehow.
7. My biggest fear in life is being bored or a life where I somehow missed out on some experience 'cause I was too chicken to try it, or afraid to try something new, which probably explains number 5 above.
8. I grew up in Switzerland (and am hence Swiss) where my brother and I had a "famous" (relatively speaking, for Swiss terms) Magic act, doing international shows, TV and radio stuff. Also, I sang at events and on the radio and was planning on being a rock star and worked for almost a year as a graphic artist.
9. The main reason I came to the US, was because I was looking for the most extreme way to piss off my Mother. I found a note in a grocery store in Switzerland from someone looking for a nanny for a handicapped child for 6 months. That seemed to fit the bill so at 17, I arrived in Houston, TX with one suitcase, roughly $100 and a note with my host family's address on it. I knew not a single person on the continent and a grand total of perhaps 40 words of English.
10. It is stunning how fast ANYONE can learn ANY language when you can't even say "I am hungry, may I have some bread". I did also walk around with a dictionary and pen and paper for almost a year, so I could look up or draw what I was trying to say - a VERY, VERY frustrating experience.
11. When you don't speak a language, people talk to you REALLY LOUD.... AND VERY SLOW..... EVEN THOUGH...YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY..... DEAF OR STUPID!
12. Something in my brain can unintentionally duplicate sound, play music by ear, mimic accents, which is why I don't have a Swiss accent, sometimes I wish I still had one though.
13. Even though I meant to stay in the US for 6 months, it turned into 16 years, during which I got married, had two kids, got divorced, in another relationship, then had twins. All of that is possibly related to number 7 above.
14. After taking care of Ashley, the handicapped child I came to the US for, for almost 2 years, I started college with a liberal arts degree, then switched to architecture and once I realized I could adapt/interest myself in anything, walked into the career counselors office and asked what the highest paying job fresh out of college was. This is how I ended up in IT.
15. Even though I grew up in Switzerland, I never felt completely at home there (at this point I'm not really convinced I am actually Swiss), and America wasn't really ever my home either but in 2005, a fluke consulting project brought me to Anguilla, British West Indies.
The moment my feet stepped from the ferry boat (from St Maarten) onto Anguillian ground - I was home. Undeniably, inexplicably, inconveniently - home.
16. Within months after that fateful trip, I had sold my house in Dallas, TX, cars, furniture, gave everything else away and moved with my then partner and my 4 kids, with nothing other than 2 suitcases per person.
17. As romantic as the above sounds, it was extremely tough to figure out how to work from here, support the entire operation without knowing anyone on this island, which doesn't have a central water system (rain water is collected on the roof and goes into a cistern), consistent electricity, clothes dryers, dish washers, malls, movie theaters, or much of anything else.
18. There were lots of times when I thought "what in the world have I done" during that first year in Anguilla, including, but not limited to, after my former partner left the island. But then you figure out how to make toys out of duct tape, pinatas for birthday parties out of a laundry detergent box, and somehow, number 7 above kicks in and makes it all ok again.
19. It took the kids a year to figure out that virtually none of their toys had been moved to Anguilla, specifically their video game console. I fu&%ing LOVE that and the fact that their main toys are the beach, each other, coconuts, crabs and all kinds of weird stuff.
20. There are about 30'000 free roaming chickens in Anguilla, as well as 20'000 free roaming goats. Somehow, they like congregating in my house, since our doors and windows are open all the time due to the West Indies breeze and lack or air conditioning. Oh and the tarantulas, snakes, lizards, cats and dogs tend to hang out at our house too.
21. My kids have more fans in Anguilla and all over the world than anyone else I know. I suspect this is due to them being the most amazing, smart, respectful, creative, kind, hilarious, loving, generous, magical, compassionate and gorgeous kids in the world! I am eternally thankful to all the people that were involved in their creation, care, education and consider myself honored to be their Mom!
22. Despite what you might think/have heard, I live the opposite of a glamorous life, am not dating some rich guy, don't go to the beach every day, and I get lonely sometimes. But I bust my ass to provide for my family, I cook, clean, sew, try to fix my own car, do unimaginable amounts of laundry, am in charge of bedtime stories and centipede removal, clogged toilets and trash.
23. 99% of my best friends live thousands of miles away from me. Thank you Al Gore for inventing the internet and thank you Cable and Wireless, for the high speed internet you provide (except for when half the island is downloading illegal movies, in which case I am not very happy with you and call you "Cable and Worthless"). I do have the best.friends.ever. You know who you are!
23. I never planned on, much less could have imagined that I would live in the US, get divorced, have 4 kids, work in IT and end up as a single parent of 4, living on a primitive Caribbean island, so don't ask me stuff like "how long are you going to live there" or "what do you plan on doing next" as I don't know.
24. I absolutely love life, good and bad (although good is my preference) and can't wait to see what the future brings and how exactly my children will change the world!
25. It was just pointed out that apparently, I'm not very good at counting, in English, to 25, so what else..... oh yeah, this one is a "full circle" one I've been considering blogging for a while now....I used to be fat and less than attractive and hugely ashamed of my physical appearance, especially after the birth of my twins. Funny how the outside changes once the inside does, once the outside does ....
Or filled up, while I was talking on my cell phone, which probably caused interference. Or the server got corrupt. Something like that.
In any case, I certainly did not hit any button or do anything to delete it.
1. You can always tell how productive I am feeling by the amount of flickr, twitter, FB or skype stuff I post (ergo, I'm not getting squat done today).
2. I used to keep most bad and embarrassing things to myself, secret, was worried others would think less of me if they knew of my (sometime surreal) struggles.
3. 2008 was the worst year of my life so far and has aged me at least 5 years. I have never experienced fear or pain or agony like that even and hope to never again have to. There was one time I thought I was actually dying, and loads of times when I would have gladly welcomed departing.
4. After slowly opening up and hearing "oh wow, that happened to me too and I never told anyone before either" I no longer worry about what others think of the crap I've dealt with, especially if I see that talking about it is helping someone else.
5. I have an uncanny knack for getting myself into the most unusual/stupid/weird/bad/s
6. I consider my ability to adapt and make something out of nothing my greatest gift, which has gotten me out of every single one of the above bad situations, coming out ahead somehow.
7. My biggest fear in life is being bored or a life where I somehow missed out on some experience 'cause I was too chicken to try it, or afraid to try something new, which probably explains number 5 above.
8. I grew up in Switzerland (and am hence Swiss) where my brother and I had a "famous" (relatively speaking, for Swiss terms) Magic act, doing international shows, TV and radio stuff. Also, I sang at events and on the radio and was planning on being a rock star and worked for almost a year as a graphic artist.
9. The main reason I came to the US, was because I was looking for the most extreme way to piss off my Mother. I found a note in a grocery store in Switzerland from someone looking for a nanny for a handicapped child for 6 months. That seemed to fit the bill so at 17, I arrived in Houston, TX with one suitcase, roughly $100 and a note with my host family's address on it. I knew not a single person on the continent and a grand total of perhaps 40 words of English.
10. It is stunning how fast ANYONE can learn ANY language when you can't even say "I am hungry, may I have some bread". I did also walk around with a dictionary and pen and paper for almost a year, so I could look up or draw what I was trying to say - a VERY, VERY frustrating experience.
11. When you don't speak a language, people talk to you REALLY LOUD.... AND VERY SLOW..... EVEN THOUGH...YOU ARE NOT ACTUALLY..... DEAF OR STUPID!
12. Something in my brain can unintentionally duplicate sound, play music by ear, mimic accents, which is why I don't have a Swiss accent, sometimes I wish I still had one though.
13. Even though I meant to stay in the US for 6 months, it turned into 16 years, during which I got married, had two kids, got divorced, in another relationship, then had twins. All of that is possibly related to number 7 above.
14. After taking care of Ashley, the handicapped child I came to the US for, for almost 2 years, I started college with a liberal arts degree, then switched to architecture and once I realized I could adapt/interest myself in anything, walked into the career counselors office and asked what the highest paying job fresh out of college was. This is how I ended up in IT.
15. Even though I grew up in Switzerland, I never felt completely at home there (at this point I'm not really convinced I am actually Swiss), and America wasn't really ever my home either but in 2005, a fluke consulting project brought me to Anguilla, British West Indies.
The moment my feet stepped from the ferry boat (from St Maarten) onto Anguillian ground - I was home. Undeniably, inexplicably, inconveniently - home.
16. Within months after that fateful trip, I had sold my house in Dallas, TX, cars, furniture, gave everything else away and moved with my then partner and my 4 kids, with nothing other than 2 suitcases per person.
17. As romantic as the above sounds, it was extremely tough to figure out how to work from here, support the entire operation without knowing anyone on this island, which doesn't have a central water system (rain water is collected on the roof and goes into a cistern), consistent electricity, clothes dryers, dish washers, malls, movie theaters, or much of anything else.
18. There were lots of times when I thought "what in the world have I done" during that first year in Anguilla, including, but not limited to, after my former partner left the island. But then you figure out how to make toys out of duct tape, pinatas for birthday parties out of a laundry detergent box, and somehow, number 7 above kicks in and makes it all ok again.
19. It took the kids a year to figure out that virtually none of their toys had been moved to Anguilla, specifically their video game console. I fu&%ing LOVE that and the fact that their main toys are the beach, each other, coconuts, crabs and all kinds of weird stuff.
20. There are about 30'000 free roaming chickens in Anguilla, as well as 20'000 free roaming goats. Somehow, they like congregating in my house, since our doors and windows are open all the time due to the West Indies breeze and lack or air conditioning. Oh and the tarantulas, snakes, lizards, cats and dogs tend to hang out at our house too.
21. My kids have more fans in Anguilla and all over the world than anyone else I know. I suspect this is due to them being the most amazing, smart, respectful, creative, kind, hilarious, loving, generous, magical, compassionate and gorgeous kids in the world! I am eternally thankful to all the people that were involved in their creation, care, education and consider myself honored to be their Mom!
22. Despite what you might think/have heard, I live the opposite of a glamorous life, am not dating some rich guy, don't go to the beach every day, and I get lonely sometimes. But I bust my ass to provide for my family, I cook, clean, sew, try to fix my own car, do unimaginable amounts of laundry, am in charge of bedtime stories and centipede removal, clogged toilets and trash.
23. 99% of my best friends live thousands of miles away from me. Thank you Al Gore for inventing the internet and thank you Cable and Wireless, for the high speed internet you provide (except for when half the island is downloading illegal movies, in which case I am not very happy with you and call you "Cable and Worthless"). I do have the best.friends.ever. You know who you are!
23. I never planned on, much less could have imagined that I would live in the US, get divorced, have 4 kids, work in IT and end up as a single parent of 4, living on a primitive Caribbean island, so don't ask me stuff like "how long are you going to live there" or "what do you plan on doing next" as I don't know.
24. I absolutely love life, good and bad (although good is my preference) and can't wait to see what the future brings and how exactly my children will change the world!
25. It was just pointed out that apparently, I'm not very good at counting, in English, to 25, so what else..... oh yeah, this one is a "full circle" one I've been considering blogging for a while now....I used to be fat and less than attractive and hugely ashamed of my physical appearance, especially after the birth of my twins. Funny how the outside changes once the inside does, once the outside does ....
Great post! Your story was very interesting. I was thinking to myself, wow this island life doesn't sound so bad, until you mentioned the Tarantulas. I'm such a spiderphobe... couldn't do it.
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I figured you had deleted your original post because I had for once written a sincere comment. So I'll re-try and find out...
I guess this is as appropriate a place as any to put down what I've been saying to you for years... thanks for your inspirational blogging and sharing your island life, both here and onsite (for those of us lucky enough who have taken you up on the offer to 'visit you in anguilla'). We hope to see you again there soon.
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I learn something fresh everyday or get to read about other people's experience which is why I love reading blogs.
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