It’s been too long since I last wrote a post. It brings me to an interesting realization: travel can be hard work, but it also guarantees a certain amount of leisure time. In some countries you can spend the whole day just trying to get yourself from one town to another, find something kosher to eat, and find a place to sleep that’s moderately clean (relatively speaking). You end those days exhausted. Even on a day when you’re doing nothing but exploring and having fun, you collapse into bed at night as if you have just worked a long day.
So in travel I’m discovering that I sometimes take leisure time for granted. The fact that I can sit down and write when I feel like it (even if I can’t always get internet to post them) is something I took for granted for far too long. There’s a certain freedom to having no outwardly-imposed restrictions on your time. Even if your days are full to the brim and very busy, you can choose to slow down if you want to.
My time in Sydney has provided me with more of a sense of stability. Staying put for a while is a totally different lifestyle! It has its benefits, which our style of travel cannot offer. I have friends here and, after moving into an apartment this week, I have an idea at least of where I’ll be sleeping at night! Sydney doesn’t offer the kosher food choices that America does (even in a 7-11 in the middle of nowhere) but it offers far more kosher variety than Peru or Jordan, Nepal or China. It would seem that life is easy and routine.
But the truth is that even if you’re not actively on the move, you can keep travelling. The key to travel is making the most of your time and your space. When Rabbi Ben and I spent three weeks in Hampi, India, we didn’t have internet (I think I was online maybe 2 hours total in 3 weeks!). During the weeks I spent in Pokhara, Nepal, I only had electricity a few hours a day. But spending a longer period of time in a place doesn’t mean that you fall into a routine, not necessarily. It only happens if you allow it to.
A few weeks ago, I was walking in Bondi (a suburb of Sydney) on a Friday night on my way to Shabbat dinner. As I walked, I noticed that a front window of a house I was passing was wide open. Inside, someone was watching television. They were watching golf. Now, no offense to anyone out there who’s a fan, but golf has got to be one of the most boring sports ever invented. It’s even more boring than baseball! Very little happens and what does happen, happens slowly, and I cannot but imagine that it is even more boring on television than in real life! (This does not, of course, apply to mini-golf, which even as an adult I still find insanely amusing.)
Anyway, there I was, walking on a pretty fall evening to a beautiful and warm Shabbat table with friends, and inside this house is some person wasting time watching golf on television. I felt so bad for them! I was celebrating Shabbat, the holy Sabbath, full of joy and love, and there was someone who was wasting time, hours they’ll never get back.
When I am old (please G-d!), I will look back on my life and say that I have done a lot. That even if I stayed in one place for years, I never let myself fall into a rut, always sought out some new and challenging experience. I don’t want to look back on my life and wonder where the years went… and then recall that I went to work all day, then came home and watched golf on television.
And you know what? The truth is that as I settle in one spot for a while, I am still the same expat, ever on the move. The result is that I now have far less leisure time than I ever did when I travelled because my days and nights are full. I still don’t have time for television. And that’s the way it should be for all of us, whether travelling or staying put. We should always strive to make our lives count to the fullest, no matter how we define it. Whether you’re spending your days in prayer to Hashem or working on self-improvement or simply learning something new, always, always make your life count!
