Sunday, December 14, 2008

Countdown

Sunday 14th December

1 day to BELISSIMA's return, 4 days to the arrival of our new bunch (6 guys), 1 week to BELISSIMA's leaving to Belgium, 10 days to Christmas Eve which will be a milestone, for most of us will be at the coast by then to unload the ship, 2 and a half weeks to New Year, 63 days to the official opening of the station, 80 days to the return of the last of us. Time takes another dimension here. Not a linear transformation, rather an expansion on the micro-scale and a shrinking on the macro-scale. It's as if the present is the most important thing here, something very few of us are able to do back in Belgium. None of us is busy with what happened last week, very few of us worry about tomorrow (take the great mufti out of the equation here!), let alone next week. We live in the hic et nunc. Which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, because it must be the key to the amazing adaptability we all show in this extremely different environment. A curse, because it also blurs our clear vision of how exceptional the situation is.

Some of us are truly concerned about how easily we slide into a routine here, how rapidly perspective can vanish, and how we lose ourselves in the moment.

Hey, this IS going to become a metaphysical post after all! No worries, the guys will be back tomorrow.

Nathalie

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