the image of a cathedral

it has been four months and five days since i arrived in Gibraltar. i can still remember the first day i arrived. it seemed unreal at first but the chilly wind pulled me back inside the arrivals area of the tiny airport. i remember going through the motions of answering questions from the immigration people. and then there was sunshine. and faces. lovely, familiar faces.

this is my first entry and as compulsive as i am, decided to create a blog about my new life here in Gibraltar. no pressure at all whether i can write in it regularly or not.

while surfing the net, i came across this quotation by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French pilot and author of "The Little Prince") that goes: "A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing with him the image of a cathedral."

now, Gibraltar is a small fortress of which the Rock of Gibraltar is the main attraction. it is a massive limestone jutting out from the sea at the southern end of the Iberian peninsula endowed with a very rich military history. i was thinking how fitting Saint-Exupery's quotation is to my new life here in Gib. yes, it is a Rock and a very famous one at that. but to me, i chose to see it as a cathedral. a cathedral as magnificent as La Familia Sagrada by Gaudi and even more!

since it is a small territory (only 6.843 square kilometers total land area) with a population of only over 30,000, its pretty quiet and people are laid-back and in no hurry. activities for work-life balance are only a handful and for someone coming from a busy metropolis like Singapore, it was quite a shock to me when i suddenly found myself without anything to do.

the things i do for love hehe

today, as i sit here and write, i saw an old woman holding a green fan looking out the window. i wonder how she lived her life when she was young. was her life full of laughter? of dancing? of spanish guitar music? (which i LOVE listening to over and over again) did she love someone and was she loved in return? is she a hopeless romantic? or a drama queen?

i wonder if one day when i am old and toothless and sitting in my garden (because it is imperative that i have a garden!), what would people think of when they see me? what questions would they ask themselves when they see an old woman holding a green fan? i hope the answers to that would spur them as well to live life as if its their last :D

this is a blog to record the things that i love to do, the things that i find beauty in, to record my new life here in Gibraltar as well as a continuity to what i have always been and will always be. a philosophy of fun and positive things that i am making of the cathedral in my mind.