networking

I have a network. In fact it’s huge. I have so many friends living in so many countries, I can’t keep track. My family alone lives on 4 different continents.

I’ve got this network because I’ve moved so much. I once tried counting how many times I’ve moved and lost count after 21. I’ve probably changed addresses about 25-30 times. The longest I’ve lived in one city in one go is 5 years, and those were the first 5 years of my life. So I’ve had plenty of opportunities to meet new people, countless friends made along the way.

Still, I do not have a network where I am right now. I’ve commuted to another city to work for over a year now which doesn’t make it easier to form a network close to home. And I miss that. I miss calling someone and asking if they wanna meet up for coffee this afternoon. I’ve got to make plans to see my family or friends and that always involves a ticket of some sort, in most cases an airplane ticket.

I am lucky that two of my best friends at least live in the same country as I do. We’ve learnt to adapt our friendship to suit long-distance, even if we haven’t seen each other in months it’s no problem because we carry on where we left off. And what would I do without the internet and my iPhone? I am so grateful to have Skype, Facebook, whatsapp, FaceTime…

Maybe I have to stay put for longer than a year or two to finally have a group of people who I am comfortable with, who can come over unannounced, pop by just to say hi or meet regularly to have coffee. But I am also very happy to know that I can pick almost any country in the world, and there might just be someone there I know.