I’m living a kind of quiet life right now – busy with
writing and now that Gamer son is here also helping with his school work. As he
is doing distance education so that he can continue with the Queensland curriculum,
I am the home tutor. All his course work can be sent through email which is a
relief since the postage system here is rather unreliable. He has email contact
with all of his teachers too, so there is plenty of help and support. So a big
part of our day is school work.
I’ve been a bit slack with writing since he came. Getting a
new routine established and focused on getting him settled in to the life here
and his school work is disrupting the routine I had. That’s one reason why
there’s been a gap in blogs, the other is the writing which even when I’m not
physically sitting at the keyboard tends to make me withdraw into myself.
However this is all digression. It has occurred to me that I
have not actually told you about what it’s like living here, so in today’s blog
I’m going to describe how I live now in comparison to how I lived a few months
ago. So a few months ago I lived in Mackay in north Queensland, Australia. I
lived in a small three bedroom cottage with a good sized front garden and a
large back garden. I had roses and gerberas, hibiscus and a geisha girl shrub,
and lots of grass that was the bane of my life – well the grass wasn’t so much
as the mower that always refused to start for me. I lived close to an area
called The Gooseponds, a long and narrow body of water and surrounding
parkland. A footpath runs right around and I used to walk the dog there
regularly and feed the ducks and geese. There are many beaches in that part of
the world, and I often took the dog to a dog friendly beach. Australia is a
sparsely populated country and Mackay is a smaller town, with a population of
about 119 000, but the population is spread out and not crowded. The Gooseponds
and the beach I usually walked on were very quiet with few other people there.
I worked part time, and was always able to take Gamer son to
school but he walked home. I would get home from work after 6pm, sometimes
later and by then he would have had afternoon tea, done his homework and fed
the animals (hopefully). I had parental guilt about not being there in the
afternoon after school, as I was able to be there for his siblings. However it
was not a bad life, we were rather poor but managed mostly. But I didn’t get
much writing done and often felt trapped in that life, like I didn’t really
belong there. Then of course a series of events meant that I no longer had a
home so whether I would have chosen the safety of that life over the risk of
this one is a moot point. The universe was determined to push me into this
life.
In this life, I live in a two bedroom apartment in Hurghada,
Egypt. The apartment block is surrounded by others, but does have a great view
of the Red Sea, and is next to a laundry and a corner store. My apartment has
two balconies, but as it is on the fifth floor has no access to a garden, and
there is no grass. This is the desert, there is not much in the way of
greenery, there are no parks, no lakes or any place like that. My apartment
building is very close to Sheraton Street which is the main shopping street in
Hurghada and is a very busy street. I don’t drive anywhere, I use the always
readily available taxis or walk. Hurghada is primarily a tourist town, with a
population of about 261 000. The population is crammed into a narrow linear
pattern along the coast line. The Red Sea is very beautiful and there are trips
out on a glass bottomed boat and day trips to a nearby island available to book
at any time. This area is a popular diving destination, however I don’t dive. Hurghada
is a mix of dirt streets lined with rubbish, the multiple tourism shops on
Sheraton Street, the more expensive residential areas and the very attractive
marina. Dominating everything is the ever present desert and the dust.
My life here is both freer and more constrained. I can’t
just go outside, there is only the street outside and lots of dirt J I am not controlled by
school hours or work requirements, but I have to be self-disciplined and make
sure Gamer son is also. I can’t just hop in my car and go for a drive, but I
can easily get a taxi and they are very cheap. The cost of living is very low
here, so my dollar goes further, but I still have to be very careful until I
finish these books. There is no grass to mow or garden to weed – but there is
no grass or garden! I often eat out as it is very cheap, and have good food
delivered at a staggeringly cheap amount. I buy vegetables from a market, and
the rest of my food from a chain called Metro. I don’t have a washing machine in
the apartment but the laundry does my washing and ironing for (again) a
staggeringly cheap amount.
So how is it working out for me? Well at first I felt very
claustrophobic without a garden – far more than I realised I would be and I
miss grass and flowers. But I can look off the balcony from here as I write and
see the ever changing colours of the Red Sea. I can sit on the bedroom balcony
in the early morning and watch the sun rise over the sea. I can go onto the
roof and watch the sun set over the desert. I am experiencing different foods,
exploring the different shops – I just adore the little embroidered wooden
stools, the leather ottomans, the hand carved brass ornaments and the gorgeous
occasional tables even though I know they are mostly for the tourists – and generally
finding my way around. I’m adjusting and adapting, and I know it will be easier
as I go.
Most importantly, I am here to write and write I can and I
do. I feel like I am doing what I am meant to do when I write, like I am
fulfilling my life’s purpose. I feel that with both the books, the Werewolf and
the Bluemoon Shelter book (no problem coming up with a name for that one, and I
already know the cover I want for it too) and that’s why I’m writing them both
concurrently. They are both important to me for different reasons. The Werewolf
book is important because I feel excited to write it and to learn more about
this world that exists only in my head. The Bluemoon Shelter book because I
feel strongly in the shelter and I want to be able to bring both Monique and
her shelter to the world. Sometimes I forget where I am; when you live in a
place, no matter where in the world it is, everything about it becomes commonplace
and you stop noticing even big landmarks. So sometimes I go through a whole day
and don’t even think about the fact that I am in Egypt.
All in all, it’s a big adventure, it’s a big risk and it’s
an uncertain future. But I’m doing it, I’m giving it a go and no matter what
happens I can say I took the road less travelled and had a go at realising my
dreams J
So there are quite a few photos today, some from new life and some from old life
Old life:
New life:
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