Shared knowledge/interests

January 22nd

“ahhhh…, you know… take that street, the one from the traffic lights by ahhhh…, you know, the building over there, no, not this one, the one with a convenience store downstairs, ahhhh… then turn left by the park, yes, left — then, ahhhh..., the park when you see the yellow church, ahhhh…“.

It bothers me when people cannot plainly describe and explain directions or places, even for the local area. They don’t seem to know the names of the streets, or the names of the landmarks, or the names of the neighborhoods. And especially they don’t know how are they connected. And they don’t know about new constructions for roadways and buildings as well. It seems like they don’t have an interest in knowing that, outside their immediate home vicinity and shopping malls and schools where their kids go to. Home — school — work — grocery store — shopping mall — cinema — home. That appears to be a common routine.

For me, no matter where I lived, it was a prerogative to know my street, the neighborhood, the city, the highways and local streets, names (official and common as well) and locations of the landmarks, the local area. And it was important for me to know about all the recent developments — new streets, overpasses, stores, apartment buildings, factories being built. I would revisit those places every once in a while to check progress, to see what it looks like, how it will fit into the existing infrastructure. Ok, I guess that was just me, and it was actually essential just for me to know.

Until I met my new coworker. First of all, it is a pleasure to meet an interesting, and fully functioning adult like her. The one that shares her thoughts and ideas, but also seamlessly fits and easily adjusts into a new workplace environment. We only worked for three weeks now, but it seems like we’ve known each other for months — the cooperation was easy and natural from the get-go. And the last Friday we found out that we share the same interest in local geography and local development, and that we simply need and want to know what is going on in and around the city. We spent an hour just talking about what we saw on our last walks or drives around the city, what we saw going on. She was able to easily describe all the details, the names, the connections, what — where — when — who. It was not only a pleasure for me, but it was also very stimulating — she told me about places and things where I haven’t been in a while and did not know about the goings-on there. I already made plans based on what she told me, and she said she will check some places I told her about.

It feels so fulfilling and exciting to meet someone with whom it is possible to share common interests and knowledge. Especially someone who is willing to share it and also who can accept and react back to my responses.