Airports, Waiting, Books and Finally I am Aussie Baby!

My transfer from Wenara Bali to airport wasn’t so smooth as planned. An employee of the guest house forgot to book my taxi, so there I was again fixing my things on my own. In Asia, you have to double-check everything. Read: EVERYTHING! People are very nice, but they can’t get really anything done. I got a little bit mad with them and finally got a nice driver to take me to the airport. I didn’t want to pay any extra fee because of their mistake and that’s always hard in Asia, because they never return any money or give refund. But once again my background in law was useful and I got out of the people what I wanted. You just have to be very calm and determined.

My flight from Denpasar to Kuala Lumpur went fine and then I waited through the night at the airport. I love airports, but waiting at the airport over 15 hours isn’t my favorite thing. Luckily airport in KL is superconvenient, so I found a sofa and I was able to sleep at least three hours.

At the airport I finished reading a book called Choke written by Sian Beilock. Writer is psychologist and her main research topic is choking or how to avoid choking, what happens in your brains, when you choke and how you can learn to control your behaviour, so that choking isn’t taking over. Writer is specialized in sports psychology, so she gave a lot of examples regarding sports and athletes.

Personally I found intresting, that Beilock found that meditation is very effective way to control and avoid choking. She wrote that: “Experienced meditators can clear their minds of unwanted information when practicing their ancient art, but new research suggets that, even when not meditating, people who practise this tradition are better than those who don’t at facilitating their brains’ return to a calm, cool, and collected state when stressful events come their way.” “A recent study by Davidson and his colleagues showed that only three months of intensive meditation (a practise in which you observe what ever thoughts and perceptions arise in your consiousness without making negative judgements about them) reduced people’s tendency to have their attention captured by unwanted thoughts or events.” Beilock mentioned on her book famous people among other Tiger Woods, Hilary Clinton, Al Gore and Goldie Hawn, who meditate and find it helpful.

Beilock’s book included in up-to-date data about different researches and technics how to handle choking in sports, business environment and in general. She gave tips, how to succeed in stressful situations like job interviews and exams, so that you can actually use the extra excitement for your benefit. This was again excellent book about the connection between body and mind. I think that all teachers should read a book like this to be able to go to a student’s level (who suffers choking) and learn ways to help him out this kind of like situation.

After I finished my book, I couldn’t resist going to airport’s bookstore. Books are my absolute weakness. I love bookstores and I can spend hours just wandering around bookstore, reading backcovers and holding different books in my hand. I bought a book, which is the No. 1 Sunday Times bestseller, called Not Without My Sister, which is a true story about three girls’ experience living in (and later escaping) a cult called The Children of God. I will write more about this book, when I will finish it.

Feeling very dizzy after my night at the airport I catched my next flight to Brisbane. Luckily I was able to sleep a little bit during the flight, because the seat next to me was empty. Food on airplane is always making me sick, so again after this flight I felt very swollen and couldn’t function normally. However I was happy to get my luggage and pass the border of Australia. I passed the border easily, not even a single question about my visa. Guards put me to walk next to a dog, which is searching drugs (maybe because of my passport including Indian, Thai and Balinese stamps), but I didn’t catch dog’s attention, so I am now officially Aussie baby. One more night at the airport waiting for my bus to Byron Bay and then I am at my new home.