Reflections on Samoa
March 11th 2007 14:31
Back home form our much-needed holiday and have hit the ground running after catching up on the day we lost on the way there.
But amongst the hustle and bustle of Sydney life I’ve had a chance to reflect on the calm and balm of Samoa.
Samoa may be over 4000 km away and 22 hours behind but the differences run deeper that just distance and time.
While there are fundamental political, economical and cultural differences it is the observations in daily life that are the most telling.
For example, in Samoa, it rains when it is needed most which pretty much covers a 24 hour window 7 days a week.
In Sydney there’s no time to relax, in Samoa you are too relaxed to worry about time or anything else for that matter.
A busy street in Sydney has more vehicles at anyone time than all of Samoa all the time. There are as many animals on the road as there in Sydney but the animals in Samoa are not behind the wheel.
Our convenient stores are at least convenient but for all their inconvenience Samoan stores are the only ones that sell ‘Pepsi’ which is punch flavoured and tastes like medicine.
But most telling involves our very own Banks who can learn quite a bit from their off shore branches. No queues and a friendly service. Did I mention in my last post that it was paradise? But enough of that as I can already hear the accountants asking how these unacceptable practices have crept into the banking system.
Samoa, different enough to be paradise.
But amongst the hustle and bustle of Sydney life I’ve had a chance to reflect on the calm and balm of Samoa.
Samoa may be over 4000 km away and 22 hours behind but the differences run deeper that just distance and time.
While there are fundamental political, economical and cultural differences it is the observations in daily life that are the most telling.
For example, in Samoa, it rains when it is needed most which pretty much covers a 24 hour window 7 days a week.
In Sydney there’s no time to relax, in Samoa you are too relaxed to worry about time or anything else for that matter.
A busy street in Sydney has more vehicles at anyone time than all of Samoa all the time. There are as many animals on the road as there in Sydney but the animals in Samoa are not behind the wheel.
Our convenient stores are at least convenient but for all their inconvenience Samoan stores are the only ones that sell ‘Pepsi’ which is punch flavoured and tastes like medicine.
But most telling involves our very own Banks who can learn quite a bit from their off shore branches. No queues and a friendly service. Did I mention in my last post that it was paradise? But enough of that as I can already hear the accountants asking how these unacceptable practices have crept into the banking system.
Samoa, different enough to be paradise.
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