When I joined the Foreign Service, I had but one serious rule: NO ISLANDS. I’m now wrapping up my fourth month on an island (a very sleepy and not a particularly large one at that!) and I haven’t gone totally stir crazy. It’s helpful (for stir-crazyness, not for politics) that the island has two distinct sides, and if we are in the mood for doner kebab for lunch and souvlaki for dinner, we can do that!
The other helpful thing is having access to a barn and being able to ride 2-3 a week again. It’s only about 8 miles (easy 20 minute drive during rush hour) from work, and the arena is lit so if I can’t make it until 7 or 8 pm, it makes no difference (except Amay, the horse I am leasing, is a bit more spooky and fresh in the dark and sometimes I can’t see the fences). Having ridden for 10+ years under the same trainer, who had her barn organized in a very efficient and particular way, it has taken some getting used a slightly more…low key? operation. And neither of the instructors’ first language is English, so sometimes I find myself wondering what exactly they mean when they say things like “Open!” before a fence (the answer is apparently go faster).
In spite of the little differences, it can be a bit disconcerting to be back at the barn again. The second or third day I rode, I chatted with a fourteen year old girl who was leasing a new horse because the horse she owned was injured. It was like stepping in a way-back machine and being a teenager again, watching lessons and fussing over horses and tack until finally heading home in the dark. It made me tear up a bit (and now again, as I type) because how frequently in your life do you get to go back and relive moments that made you so happy as a child? Basically never, I say. And on that day I decided that though riding is a very luxurious (read: mind bogglingly expensive) hobby, as long as I am Nicosia with a great horse and stable so easily accessible, how could I not ride???
I’m not as fit as I used to be (working on that), so I don’t have great stamina…and only riding a few times a week means a full 33% of my rides are on an “off-day” where nothing is quite right (as in video below), but I am thoroughly enjoying myself and it’s nice to have the old ritual of going to the barn, grooming, riding, grooming, cleaning tack, etc back. I try to actively express my gratitude for the situation every day!