12.01.2012

Astute Observation

I was contacted by a potential island resident in the recent past who observed:

"I found and read another kwaj blog last night (the whole thing) and it seems to be (on all the blogs I've found) that people start out liking it and slowly that fades and they start grumbling more and more and the time between posts on their blogs become longer and longer or just stop in mid air all together."

Let me explain what I've observed while here. Kwaj is the epitome of Groundhog Day, the movie starring Bill Murray where a weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over again.

When you first get here, everything is new and exciting and you try new activities and meet new friends and experience a climate that most people only dream of seeing on the vacation of their dreams. It's adventurous. You are living overseas. It's exotic.

But then you kind of get to a point where you've seen it all, done it all and the lack of seasons gets kind of boring. It gets hard to come up with things to write about and share that you haven't already said before. How many pictures of fish and palm trees can you really take?

There are a number of people who thrive in this type of "safe" environment. They are resistant to change and don't mind living in a tiny community doing the same activities, day in and day out. Then there are others to whom this is limiting to their freedom, they stagnate and eventually,(hopefully, for their sake) escape.Then there is a thrid group of people called "re-treads" who leave and come back, sometimes multiple times.

I know my time here is growing shorter. Nothing firm as of yet but when I'm ready, I'll walk you through the process of leaving, just like I brought you along for the ride to get out here.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, I was on Kwaj, 72-74 and again 76-79 as a 3rd, 4th grader and then for 6-8 grades and THANK GOD made it back to the "mainland" to start high school in 9th grade.

Many a grade and high schooler already had figured out this observation well before adulthood.

But you're right all this is a personal thing about what they like or don't like. I would NEVER knock Kwaj but don't really fully understand those who discuss the place like it was a religion, however that's the beauty, we don't have to understand everyone all the time. I had a great time there and all the same wouldn't have changed a thing!!! So enjoy! You may just miss it when you are long gone!
Cheers, Peter

Rebecca said...

I know for a fact one of the things I will miss about this place is the 12 hours of daylight every single day.

Johnny'O said...

Yes, we are down to this on the 45th parallel and we aren't even to the shortest day of the year.

Sunrise: 7:37
Sunset: 4:29

I hate it here.

Unknown said...

WE were on Kwaj 2010-2011 as a gov/chugache family. Rebecca's observation about Groundhog Day is very astute! It is definitely what you make of it and trying new things helps a lot. We didn't have money to do a lot like rent boats or have a fishing shack (can you still have them?) It is a great place if you have young kids. But I think it is a disservice to teens because they need to learn to interact, drive, etc BEFORE being shipped off the island for good. I hear there is high speed internet now to the housing so that is a major plus. We did get tired, but I think now it was the people in charge at the time more so then the island. Yes, I did miss the seasons, and my hubby missed hunting. But now that we have no mortgage here, we can save a lot of money there. We hope to be retreads in the near future for 3-5 years. Now that we have learned the lessons on how to order things, what to ship, etc, it will be different. I do wish that chugashe would allow more couples contracts with housing vs 2 BQ's that may be in different places. BTW, can you have a cat in a BQ?

Rebecca said...

Hi Amy,

Yes, you can have cats in the BQ's, no dogs, just cats.

That's something to think about before coming as well. One of my friends on island was very allergic to cats...with the central air system in the BQ's you are going to be exposed to cats even if you don't have one. It was a real problem for him.

We've been back on the mainland for just about a year now. I'm enjoying my freedom.

I miss my bicycle commute next to the lagoon, the easy sailing, and our friends but that's it.

It's a big world out here and I intend to explore it all!

Unknown said...

Thanks Rebecca. Hopefully e can get jobs there and when we come back thd economy and our savings will be better :)it will b a nice working vacation!