A while ago I started thinking about how Ruth would have coped with her exile and how she rebuild her life when she lived on Cyprus. That's why I've decided to write her diary, because I thought it would have been a great way for Ruth to deal with the problems she encountered and to express all the emotions which she surely must have been feeling. I won't be writing a day-to-day account of her life, but it'll be more like excerpts from her diary. I'll stop now, before the author's note becomes longer than the actual diary entry.
I borrowed the title from the autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, because I thought it fitted nicely.
14 November, 2006
I went on a date with George again yesterday. I think this could count as our second official one, though technically it should be our third. But then again, having an accidental lunch together at the hospital cafeteria doesn't count as a date, does it? Oh I don't know, I suppose I'm so out of the loop where dating is concerned that I no longer know which is which. I can't believe I'm even doing this in the first place.
It's been 8 months since I left and I've coped really well if I may say so myself. Yes, I do miss home, but pining for a country I'll probably never see again isn't really the way forward. I need to focus on what the future has to offer me, and the way things are going at the moment, I suspect that George might be included in that future. I do miss everyone I left behind, especially him…
Still, I can't complain. Life is quiet, it's simple. I go to work, do my job, then I go home. No shocking aftermath, no traumas to work through. I just close the office door behind me and that's that. I love going to the local market for food. At first they were all fascinated by the 'Englishwoman', but now they're all used to me. They no longer answer me in English when I address them in Greek. I'm one of them now.
I love my home, too. It's small, but there's more than enough room for one person. Sadly I've no garden, but the view from my balcony more than makes up for that. I don't think I've ever seen a sea quite as blue as this one. I love it.
TBC