I know that my title is probably a bit too obscure of a reference, but Kudos (chocolate caramel flavor!) to those of you who get it. Yes, I used Wikipedia, and you can too! Anyways, back to serious business. On Tuesday night I caught the 7:25pm screening of "Eat, Pray, Love" at the Ovalo Gutierrez movie theater in Miraflores (don't worry fellas, I balanced out my "sensitive side" by trapping and eating mountain lion and arm wrestling a Saguaro cactus. I followed that up by going down to the forge to hammer myself out a brand new poleaxe and halberd set.). This was the first movie I had seen in a theater since leaving the US, so I had high expectations for the experience. Given my anticipation I probably should have chosen more of a slam dunk type of movie to guarantee my satisfaction, but I instead opted for Julia Roberts rediscovering her ability to love. Yep.
It turned out to be an enjoyable movie, heavy handed at times with the emotional shlock, but I felt it to be worth my 9 soles. I absolutely recommend this movie for those of you who need a reliable date option, and there is a scene which features an extreme close-up of Julia Roberts' mouth eating spaghetti for about 2 minutes (if you like that sort of thing). Better see this sucker in IMAX! Towards the end of the movie I began to reflect upon my own experience in the context Julia Roberts' journey. She leaves her life in the US after a painful divorce to spend a year in three different locations (Rome, India, Bali) to try to rediscover herself. Along the way, she begins her healing process by, you guessed it, eating, praying, and loving. While our motivations, emotional situations, ages, genders, professions, destinations, and mouth sizes were different, I still found myself relating to her. I left my life in the US to live in a totally random place doing new things. I didn't come to Lima with the need to heal myself, but I certainly wanted to discover a clearer vision of my future. Julia's journey seemed more action-packed and emotionally-charged than mine (I guess that's what you get when you cram a year of experiences into 2 hours, or maybe she is just more fun than me), but we both came to some realizations by the end (I imagine one of her realizations was that it sure is nice to have the disposable income to traipse around Rome, India, and Bali without once worrying about money and then write a successful book about these experiences which then gets turned into a successful movie about these experiences, thus securing her financial future. GAH! Give me a slice of the pie, why don't ya?) and I would like to share some of my personal revelations.
I do not want to be one of those folks who backpacks around the world for a year or longer. Previously, I imagined myself leaving the shackles of my job and my mortgage (metaphorical, of course) behind and seeing all the wondrous sights of the world as I backpacked from place to place. Now that I live in a hostel, I see these types pass through all the time. To travel around the world for an extended period of time you must respect your budget. And unless your budget is massive, such a long trip necessitates certain sacrifices like: nice lodgings, nice meals, non-dreadlocked hair, romantic movies at the cinema, etc. You can enjoy these things from time to time, but the travelers I see are scraping by for the sake of staying on the road longer to then scrape by to stay on the road even longer. When I travel, I don't want to view my journey as checking things off a list. I want to enjoy life in the context of the destination. I also enjoy feeling settled in a place and not constantly picking up and moving on. I like roughing it and I like seeing new sights, but I now realize that I wouldn't want this life for a year. My hair is too short to put into dreadlocks, so I really wouldn't fit in with that crowd anyhow. And I don't listen to enough Steely Dan.
I feel much more free to pursue opportunities or adventures than I had in the past. For instance, the other day I saw a development consulting job which would be a decent fit for my skills and looked interesting and rewarding. The only catch? It was an opening in the Mumbai office of the consulting firm. Before coming to Lima I would have immediately ruled the job out for being so far away from "home." However, my thought new thought process went something like this: "Wow, that job seems like it would be really enjoyable and challenging. And it's in Mumbai! I've never been there. I know they probably don't have a lot of burritos or roof dogs, but I do enjoy Indian food and 90 degree weather." Previously I would have felt hesitant to pick up everything and start a new life in a totally foreign place, but coming to Lima has made me more confident in my ability to build a new life wherever I go. Of course I still miss my family, friends, and food in the US, but it's not like life back in the US stands still either. Everyone continues along their own paths, and it would be naive of me to expect everything to stay the same. I'm glad that I now feel comfortable experimenting with more adventurous paths than I had considered before. Philosophical mumbo jumbo aside, you will find me gorging on Gordo's and Cactus Taqueria burritos, Peet's and Blue Bottle coffee, Cheeseboard pizza, and my mom's cooking come December 1st. Some things are irreplaceable.
Work to live, don't live to work. Self explanatory.
Remember the line from "The Shawshank Redemption" where Andy Dufresne says, "Get busy living or get busy dying?" Yeah I remember that line too. It was a really good movie, and popular here as well. I hardly consider myself learned or qualified enough to give advice on life, and even if I had such qualifications (or was Tim Robbins), I don't know that I would want to give that advice to anyone. Coming here has helped me realize how different everyone's life really is and how counterproductive/frustrating it can be to try to follow traditionally prescribed paths. I don't know when I will settle down...hell, I don't even know if I will. I do know that regardless of whether or not I get married, have a great job, leave a legacy, build a house, write a book, whatever...that burrito at the end of the day is still going be delicious.
Don't worry, the next post will be funnier.
how can you be so obtuse?
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