Back in Newcastle, back in business!

Can you imagine all the time you suddenly have, to do meaningless tasks such as blogging when you leave your better half at home all alone.

I'm now officialy back in a city I thought I'd only come back to as a visitor. Strange how things can change so fast. Surely, this year will be difficult, but in the end I think it will prove to be worth it. The main problem is of course the longing. The longing for the most important person in my life. Not to be able to share everything with him, the way I'm used to. Not to be able to just grab his hand and hold on to it if things are a bit scary. Not to be able to use some of his strength when I've run out of strength on my own. Oh God, I miss him. Maybe it's about time I learned to trust myself? I know I have to if I am to survive here.

There are of course benefints as well. Not all is dark and depressing. I live in a bedsitter even smaller than the one I had last time. I don't know how I am supposed to fit a visitor into my room. Maybe if i refurnish a little bit. However, the people I live with seem to be a lot better than last year. I live with two girls from Asia, and two boys from Africa. (For those of you who have known me for years; you see why this is a good thing, don't you? My teenage dreams have come true. I can get to know people from corners of the world I hadn't even considered visiting.) The girls come from Taiwan and China, and the boys come from Uganda and Nigeria. All of them seem very polite and nice. However, I think it may be a problem to get to know the girls well as they seem a bit reserved. Probably just a result of their culture, and the fact that I'm from a culture so totally different. The Africans and I, however, get a long great. They are easy to talk to, and seem eager to learn more about Europe. And mind you, I learned more about Africa yesterday than I've learned my whole life up until now.

You see, I'm not afraid to ask the inproper questions. I've already asked them a lot of questions which are regarded as politically incorrect. One example; "Why do you think dictatorship is such a problem in Africa?" Or another one; "Why do Africans often stigmatize people with HIV/AIDS?" I'm always a bit afraid that I'm going to offend someone by asking this type of questions, but so far they have been happy to explain. To get to know how they themselves see life, how they perceive the world, it's just fascinating. After all, I've never been to Africa. All I know is based on things I've been told, experiences coloured by (mostly) white people. For a change, it is nice to hear how things seem from the other side of the table. Not surprisingly, most of them see us Europeans as extremely lazy. "I mean, you have things for everything, and you have never needed to work hard for anything", one of the guys I'm living with, said to me the other day. And of course, he is totally right.

Well, anyhow, more stories on living in the big city again is to come later on. Have a super week, everyone!