assimilation process

The other day when I arrived cold and wet at M&Q's my first instinct was to have a cuppa, no great surprises there, after all I am British... what did surprise me was to find myself looking in the usual place and seeing it empty muttering 'jug.. jug.. where's the jug...?' as I looked around the kitchen for the crucial component to cuppa making. Then stopped. Jug?? Jug????? Somewhat bemused I put the kettle on to boil (it had been hiding by the toaster...) and contemplated what significance it had (if any!) that I'd used the Kiwi word jug, to myself, in the house of other ex-pat Brits where there was no association of it being called anything other than a kettle.

This morning the FWCC Asia West Pacific Section newletter arrived. Having worked for FWCC Europe & Middle East Section (EMES), attended one of the Triennials and my WGYF involvement I know a fair number of Friends around the world and I love how so often I see names and can put faces to them, and briefly I think of them and I guess 'hold them in the light'. With each page it seemed this time there was someone I knew - it gave me a wonderful sense of feeling as connected to this Section as I do EMES. Having just had breakfast with Linley and Claire and ending up in a big discussion about Aotearoa YM issues I'd had a reminder too of how much this YM has become part of my life in a way that I didn't really connect with in Britain YM - there my involvement and connection was regional or international, somehow skipping the YM level inbetween. When talking about YFs here I was aware how I used 'we' rather than 'they', and being aware how I'd found myself saying the same at YF Camp too. It raised a wry smile for me when the international people at Camp were welcomed in a Minute and no-one batted an eyelid when I wasn't listed.

I've a lot still to learn about life here, a lot of 'background knowledge' I just don't have yet but I'm getting there.