I am Sisyphus

This is where our community discusses almost anything! While we're mainly a Cambodia expat discussion forum and talk about expat life here, we debate about almost everything. Even if you're a tourist passing through Southeast Asia and want to connect with expatriates living and working in Cambodia, this is the first section of our site that you should check out. Our members start their own discussions or post links to other blogs and/or news articles they find interesting and want to chat about. So join in the fun and start new topics, or feel free to comment on anything our community members have already started! We also have some Khmer members here as well, but English is the main language used on CEO. You're welcome to have a look around, and if you decide you want to participate, you can become a part our international expat community by signing up for a free account.
User avatar
Kung-fu Hillbilly
Expatriate
Posts: 4152
Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 11:26 am
Reputation: 4963
Location: Behind you.
Australia

I am Sisyphus

Post by Kung-fu Hillbilly »

These last few weeks back in Australia have reminded me of the tedium western living presents an expat who has spent lengthy periods abroad in SEA. I find the hardest aspect of returning to western living the sterile ordered predictability of, well, just about everything. Yes, there is some comfort in the preciseness of my bus and train timetable, but taking carriage into and out of my office with hundreds of other well dressed and sweetly scented office Johns and Janices is akin to an enforced one and a half hour vow of silence with the search for contact or conversation on my part being met with a wall of pious crowns bowed in great deference to their modern deities Iphone, Samsung and Tablet as they all engage in their dawn worship.

I greet the occasional passenger who dares challenge this devout morning service as I would my crazy uncle Alf who would attend family gatherings raucously drunk telling rude jokes and generally being offensive to one and all - I greet the morning train menaces very fondly.. Although crass,uncle Alf at least added color to an otherwise dull family palate of predictable questions, answers and general banality. However, compared to my morning commute our family gatherings are now remembered with the same fondness as if I had spent a weekend with twenty drunk Mexicans who had an all expenses account at the Bellagio in Vegas.

Arriving into the city technologie's flock will then disembark, any individuallity cloaked by black winter uniforms that snake their way in well formed lines throughout the city like an enormous well oiled human production line, each carbon based product depositing itself into a small concrete box to carry out its individual tasks for the day in anonymity other than to occasionally interact with a superior product in a game of social facade or psychological charade. Some respite is given at midday and I'll scamper to an Asian food hall or restaurant and savor in the relief of fond fragrances, noisy chatter and spicy food.

The dull sermon home at days end is as equally tedious and mind numbing as the day's beginning, with the drab prospect of domestic chores waiting as one last flagellation for me fucking it up in SEA the first time. For a couple of hours there is some relief as I search the expat forums and live vicariously through others, reliving and remembering my own experiences in the process, but. I've months to endure and I feel like a modern day Sisyphus rolling my western stone each day with seemingly no end in sight to the laboriousness of my task.
User avatar
FreeSocrates!
Expatriate
Posts: 506
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 5:14 am
Reputation: 1
Location: Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh
Canada

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by FreeSocrates! »

Just rob a bank, maybe? :D

In all seriousness I know exactly the feeling you are talking about. Well written. :thumb:
The cedar roasted asparagus has good chew. I don't know how to enjoy it, so I'll Instagram it instead.
User avatar
vladimir
The Pun-isher
Posts: 6077
Joined: Mon May 12, 2014 6:51 pm
Reputation: 185
Location: The Kremlin
Russia

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by vladimir »

Well written. :good:

I think the worship of electronics is worse here, and at least you don't nearly die 10 times on the way to work every day.
Jesus loves you...Mexico is great, right? ;)
Soi Dog
Expatriate
Posts: 2236
Joined: Fri May 16, 2014 8:53 am
Reputation: 5

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by Soi Dog »

The human condition is to whine. Remember all those "venting" threads on the other forum...the ones where practically everybody pointed out things they hate about living in Cambodia? Easy to find as there are dozens of them. "I hate the queue jumpers!" "I hate the stupid, lazy motodops!" "I hate stinking piles of garbage in the streets!" "I hate all the wife-beater wearing, pantsniffing, Pattaya-sexpat trash washing up on our shores!" "I hate the ginger-haired freshie boys!"

If your life in Australia is un-fulfilling, then change it. Why do you need to talk to strangers on the train? Some of us adore our personal space and periods of anonymity on the morning/evening commute.
User avatar
Kung-fu Hillbilly
Expatriate
Posts: 4152
Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 11:26 am
Reputation: 4963
Location: Behind you.
Australia

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by Kung-fu Hillbilly »

Soi Dog wrote:The human condition is to whine.

If your life in Australia is un-fulfilling, then change it. Why do you need to talk to strangers on the train? Some of us adore our personal space and periods of anonymity on the morning/evening commute.
Whining isn't the human condition! The human condition encompasses many aspects of being human.

My present unfulfilling existence is one I'm willing to accept as it drives me toward my goal of returning to SEA.

And I was trying to draw comparisons as I see them between the ordered, uniform nature of western living for many as apposed to a more individua and choatic way of living I've experienced in SEA which I find more enjoyable, although it seems it was poorly attempted coming across instead as whiny to some.

Just thought I'd like to try writing something and contribute to CEO in a different way.

Thanks for the feedback, Soi Dog.
User avatar
StroppyChops
The Missionary Man
Posts: 10598
Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 11:24 am
Reputation: 1032
Australia

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by StroppyChops »

Nicely penned OP, Hillbilly
Bodge: This ain't Kansas, and the neighbours ate Toto!
Mrs Stroppy
Expatriate
Posts: 553
Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 9:04 pm
Reputation: 1
Location: Phnom Penh
Australia

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by Mrs Stroppy »

Well written, thanks for sharing
Using Tapatalk
User avatar
vladimir
The Pun-isher
Posts: 6077
Joined: Mon May 12, 2014 6:51 pm
Reputation: 185
Location: The Kremlin
Russia

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by vladimir »

Kung-fu Hillbilly, cool name.
Jesus loves you...Mexico is great, right? ;)
User avatar
Bitte_Kein_Lexus
Expatriate
Posts: 4421
Joined: Sun May 18, 2014 7:32 pm
Reputation: 1325

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by Bitte_Kein_Lexus »

Good piece, though I'd say the locals love their new-found deities just as much if not more than their western counterparts. Just look at them taking countless selfies with mugs of coffee from Brown...
Ex Bitteeinbit/LexusSchmexus
User avatar
FreeSocrates!
Expatriate
Posts: 506
Joined: Fri May 23, 2014 5:14 am
Reputation: 1
Location: Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh
Canada

Re: I am Sisyphus

Post by FreeSocrates! »

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:Good piece, though I'd say the locals love their new-found deities just as much if not more than their western counterparts. Just look at them taking countless selfies with mugs of coffee from Brown...
That's Western Voodoo to them.
The cedar roasted asparagus has good chew. I don't know how to enjoy it, so I'll Instagram it instead.
Post Reply Previous topicNext topic

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1242 guests