I really don't think I am an unfriendly or unsocial sort of person. I really don't. I love being in the company of like-minded people and I was never short of friends in school, college and later, work. I always found it easy to talk to people even if they didn't have the same opinion about things as me and went the extra way by ignoring not-so-likable things about them. Now you must be wondering why I am trying to prove myself to be a nice person. The reason is because these days I find it extremely difficult to strike up friendships with neighbors. After I got married that is. And since I am a work-at-home girl, neighbors are important. And presumably people get the opinion that I am 'snobby' and 'I don't like people'. Both of which are totally untrue.
I find it extremely difficult to be over-friendly with my neighbors. I have one staying right beside me. I mean, I always smile and say "How are you?" and chat for a couple of minutes when I see the lady, but that's it. I just don't have it in me to knock at her door and ask to come in for a chat. She in fact, has been to my house for a couple of times and has always asked me to drop by. But even if I am sitting at home doing nothing and basically getting bored out of my head I always wonder whether she is going to be busy doing something and may be it would inconvenience her if I called on her. Silly of me? I think not. She has three kids, all under the age of 12, even though she is not much older than me. She also has her MIL living with her. Am I wrong in being thoughtful and assuming that she will be too busy to chat with me? Or am I socially paranoid? Or is it that I am selective?
The thing is that we (me and the DH) are finding it difficult to relate to people here. It's not really where we want to live. This is not a city but a town. Now I have nothing against towns or townspeople, don't get me wrong. It's just that both of us have spent all our lives in big cities (me in a metro) and we just cannot adjust here. But he has been posted here by his company, so what are we supposed to do? He is looking for a change and the moment he gets a good offer we will shift to a bigger city. I mean, there's not even a cinema hall here, forget multiplexes. There's absolutely no form of entertainment for young people like us. What's more, people here don't know that they are actually missing something. Hardly any women work here, and since I work from home they think I am a non-worker too. Someone actually said, "Why do you sit on the computer all day? It's not that you get paid .. Your husband is the bread-winner, isn't he?" This was after I explained to the person what exactly my job profile was and who my clients were. That got my goat.
Anyway, enough bitching for one day! Have a great weekend!
I find it extremely difficult to be over-friendly with my neighbors. I have one staying right beside me. I mean, I always smile and say "How are you?" and chat for a couple of minutes when I see the lady, but that's it. I just don't have it in me to knock at her door and ask to come in for a chat. She in fact, has been to my house for a couple of times and has always asked me to drop by. But even if I am sitting at home doing nothing and basically getting bored out of my head I always wonder whether she is going to be busy doing something and may be it would inconvenience her if I called on her. Silly of me? I think not. She has three kids, all under the age of 12, even though she is not much older than me. She also has her MIL living with her. Am I wrong in being thoughtful and assuming that she will be too busy to chat with me? Or am I socially paranoid? Or is it that I am selective?
The thing is that we (me and the DH) are finding it difficult to relate to people here. It's not really where we want to live. This is not a city but a town. Now I have nothing against towns or townspeople, don't get me wrong. It's just that both of us have spent all our lives in big cities (me in a metro) and we just cannot adjust here. But he has been posted here by his company, so what are we supposed to do? He is looking for a change and the moment he gets a good offer we will shift to a bigger city. I mean, there's not even a cinema hall here, forget multiplexes. There's absolutely no form of entertainment for young people like us. What's more, people here don't know that they are actually missing something. Hardly any women work here, and since I work from home they think I am a non-worker too. Someone actually said, "Why do you sit on the computer all day? It's not that you get paid .. Your husband is the bread-winner, isn't he?" This was after I explained to the person what exactly my job profile was and who my clients were. That got my goat.
Anyway, enough bitching for one day! Have a great weekend!
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