A Year in Provence is a 1989 memoir by Peter Mayle about his first year in Provence written in a witty and honest style about his new environment, warts and all. We arrived in Ireland on 4 July 2010, and it has been a decade since. True to Ireland's idyllic nature, time didn't actually fly for me but rather meandered along, through hill and dale, river and stream.
I must say I did a crash course of endeavouring into a motley myriad of interests in 10 years, when it could have taken say 20 years or more, partly because we are in our Autumn years and we certainly can't wait till Winter when wobbly knees will protest against youthful adventures.
I've been an academic, a Christian and a mother for the most part of my life. So most of my activities and friends would centre around the academia, the church and family life.
As 2010 also marked my departure from the university I was working in, I told myself I needed to experience and learn things that are non academic and widen my circle of friends beyond the academia and the church. Having said that I will not neglect the familiar that is reading, writing and publishing.
So what have I done differently? 10 things for 10 years, though the list is not exhaustive.
1. LEARN TO GROW
When I first opened the back door, I was amazed at the size of the garden. It was pretty much like a blank canvas for me to use any kind of brush and splash any kind of paint. I had so far planted only tropical plants, a very easy feat in comparison, because Malaysia has sun and rain all year round. Not to be deterred I enrolled in a 2 day workshop on organic farming at Jim Cronin's. It was well attended by participants from as far as Galway and Mayo and Waterford. Until this day I still keep in touch with one of the participants. Then my appetite for learning to grow vegetables and flowers across the seasons could not be abated. I joined community run courses in Scariff and Moyross and in so doing, learnt what worked and did not work and made more friends in the process. In 2016, I was confident enough and we purchased a greenhouse and the joy that it yields till today is unrivaled. The overall plan of the garden has changed many times over and pots and beds have moved much to Mike's (my great help in the garden) amusement. Monty Don and Helen Dillon have both agreed that the garden is alive; it is never static. The day the plan of the garden is set in stone, is the day the garden dies.
2. RIDE A HORSE
I blame it on those childhood comics and story books where riding a horse is a rite of passage. My daughter Sonya and I were toying with the idea as there are 2 horse riding schools nearby. So I woke up one day and say, I must learn to ride a horse. I don't know which attracts me more: the horse riding or the pomp and pride of full riding gear - when I put on the long riding boots and carry the riding hat under my arm.
3. CLIMB SOMETHING
I've never climbed anything higher than a six foot ladder. When others tell stories of scaling Mt Everest and such, I never really felt the desire to climb even one very small hill. We didn't exactly set out to climb anything but just discovered that this was something we could do on one of our gallivanting trips across Ireland. So I had a very strange feeling of excitement when I climbed the Motte Stone which is a huge granite boulder, weighing about 150 tons. It is said that the five counties surrounding Wicklow can be viewed from the rock on a clear day and the mountains of Wales even. The next one was Devil's Bit in County Tipperary. Something that we had always seen from the car and had never actually climbed it. So when we finally reached the top, the experience was something else.
And talking about heights, we went up in a hot air balloon in Marrakesh, just like Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmaine in The Aeronauts....but then I digress.
4. TRAVEL FOR FUN
I travelled quite a fair bit when I was working, from Nepal to New York to Barcelona to China, to present academic papers at conferences . It was wonderful but those were working trips so the primary focus was to be prepared for intellectual exchange. Travelling for fun is entirely different. We managed to visit the 32 counties of Ireland in 2 years, and we are now exploring places like those in
Creedon's Road Less Travelled - avoiding the motorway infrastructure to enjoy the scenic landscapes and streetscapes and to explore the stories that lie beneath the tarmac and fields.
Beyond Ireland, my favourite countries thus far are Iceland, Israel, Mexico and Korea. I went to Israel twice, and my second trip there was particularly memorable because we renewed our wedding vows in the church at Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle of turning water into wine. How awesome is that?
5. VISIT A FARM
Like running away with a circus, visiting a farm has always been on my to-do list, although now I'm not so sure I want to run away with a circus anymore. My friends Ned and Catherine graciously allowed me to visit their working dairy farm. Driving a tractor for the first time sure gave me an adrenaline rush of the highest degree and being in the milking parlour was really something else. Letting a baby calf suckle my fingers made me feel part of the bovine fraternity.
6. TRYING TRADITIONAL CRAFTS
I have always loved getting busy with my hands but actually learning a traditional craft from the masters is something that I've always wanted to do. Some of the teachers are well into their senior years, and it would be a pity if the art dies with them.
Learning how to cook traditional food is also a delight, mainly out of necessity because it is quite difficult to buy such food here. It's great that I have friends like Susan who taught me how to make Bak Chang,(rice dumplings) Linyan who taught me how to make Jiaozi (meat dumplings), Vivien who taught me how to make mooncakes and Carrie who taught me how to make salted duck eggs.
7. MY CRAFT STUDIO
Every man should have a man shed and every woman who loves craft needs a craft studio. So Mike created for me a room where I can hide away and do my stuff and keep my stash. Everyone knows that a crafter has loads of stash, it is simply impossible to throw away bits and bobs, because you'll never know if it fits into some project at hand. It is also a place where I hold tea, cake and craft sessions with my friends. I call my studio Howard's End - after E.M.Forster's book of the same name - a place that shouts of ME.
8. OUT OF COMFORT ZONE
The last time I danced was on a huge weighing machine and singing Yellow River at the same time. That was when I was 9 and my neighbour who had a rubber curing business had a huge weighing machine to weigh bales of latex sheets. It was our regular fun time and us kids would croon away and dance at the same time, as if we were on some variety show.
It's one thing to go to a music lounge and listen and another to watch others take to the floor and dance. So I said to myself I must learn ball room dancing and jiving and so we did.
9. HANDLING POWER TOOLS
I've always been intimidated by heavy machinery - certainly a no-go area. But thanks to a volunteer project that I was part of, Ian Kelly helped me overcome my fear and now I can confidently approach a chop saw and use it.
10. A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE
Our upbringing and our culture mould us to a great degree. There are many ways of thinking and doing things that I thought was right until I live in a totally different culture with a different set of values and perspectives. Then I learn to embrace other values that are good - like being more inclusive, being less judgemental and being more giving. There are some values in this country that I do not agree with, and I am glad I have another set of values to choose from and a choice to make that decision. I want God to smash any unhealthy worldview that I have upheld for so long.
I want to say that I have lived.
