The South African Embassy in The Hague is an absolute icon of work-life balance. It's apparently run by some well-meaning, eccentric friends who decided to start an embassy as a weekend project some years ago: Live, Laugh, Intermittently Issue Passports.
If you call them right now, you will hear: "We are currently unable to answer calls, due to the high volume of calls we receive. Kindly leave a voicemail [we will respond in 4-6 business months]". An inspiring lesson in setting #boundaries.
I also respect the fact that the Embassy identifies as an artisanal-printing-press-and-bookshop, open weekday mornings. So often, embassies can get caught up in consular duties that they forget to nurture and clear space for contemplation.
Personally, my interactions with the Embassy have opened up a new approach to time in my own life, and a willingness to rethink personal and professional relationships on an altogether wider and deeper timescale: seasonal, annual, almost geological.
Although I resisted at first, the lessons taught by the Embassy have ultimately released me from self-imposed constraints in the way I conceptualise space, and an appreciation of the works of Xavier de Maistre. Travel is a state of mind, with daily departures from my imagination.
Let others keen and wail over what are, ultimately, just stamps, ink, and paper, and maybe something with computers. I will keep passing by my artisanal press and bookshop, shopping around for that little collector's item I once craved, but now only anticipate in tranquility.
*so caught up in
*and led me to
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