Assimilation

June 29, 2009 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments

The first few days have a strangeness to them. First – my body is just not mine anymore. Not only has my tolerance for alcohol hit a new low – but I am tired. Nine o’clock every night and I’m heading for bed… or my seat on the couch in front of the TV. Muscles just are not working properly. I’m beginning to suspect the change in the air – from a dusty 120 degrees to the crisp and fresh seventy degree air in Jersey. Certain tensions are just melting away – and making me sleepy.

Then, of course, the house has different rhythms since I’ve been away. Which is fine – the rest of the family needed to do that. But I have to stand back a bit while I figure it out. I went into the city once already and will probably do that again this week. I didn’t see anyone I knew, but I was traveling off-peak which is not my usual. The weekend was full – with a family wedding on Saturday and Sunday saw a turn-around trip up to the Cape for a wake.

So – you see a bunch of people (not too many) and they ask you how things are going and you tell them it sucks and then….

I don’t know. No one has changed (except the kids are taller). I don’t think I’ve changed. But you’re out of the loop. Or you feel out of the loop. You feel like that friend from college who landed in the middle of a family gathering not his own. It’s not bad. You just find yourself looking in from outside a bit. But there is still a week left and the Fourth. Big week in town, with the Fireman’s Fair and the huge fireworks display on Thursday. Many picnics and gatherings.

I should probably feel right at home just in time to go back.

Flying…

June 22, 2009 | Filed Under Main | 4 Comments

Kuwait to Bahrain to Amsterdam to Newark tonight.

Be home around 1pm Wednesday, where I’m told the temps are 50 degrees lower than they are here. 50 degrees!!!

Fresh air – here I come.

Iran

June 21, 2009 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

America should do nothing.

Nothing.

Offer moral support and encouragement and that’s it. What else is there? Start bombing? Flood the country with arms? March our guys from Iraq into Iran?

Haven’t we screwed with that country enough? No one holds fond memories of the US backed Shah. Nor their war with Iraq when the US backed Iraq with all the arms they could carry. I don’t think they want us meddling anymore. They are a strong people and if the country wants to change – they will make it happen. The tarnished hand of the US will just hurt the opposition’s chances to win more of the people to their side.

Besides – the last thing we need is another Christian versus Muslim war – or even the perception of one. It’s no good for anyone – least of all the people of Iran. I wish them the best and all the strength in the world to move away from such a repressive government.

Added to Ipod (almost)

June 16, 2009 | Filed Under Music | 1 Comment

Rejoice Boston music fans!

Per a comment on this blog (thanks for the tip Steve!), I learned that a CD of Private Lightning dropped Today! A total of 21 tracks – half which never saw the light of day and including “Geneva”, which I think I only heard in concert.

Amazon is sending one home for my arrival…

Fountain of Youth

June 16, 2009 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

Nestled in a valley in China between gorgeous mountains and a calm river with clean air and greenery everywhere, there are people who live to 100 years old or more. What is the secret to their longevity?

BECAUSE THEY LIVE THERE!!

They live in a VILLAGE where there is no STRESS or CRIME or commuting to work for hours every day. There is probably no cars, no traffic and little pollution. They live with a small group of people who all care for one and other and are NOT living in a dog-eat-dog capitalist, government harrassed society.

Like the rest of us. If WE lived there – we would live to 100, too.

Any more stupid questions?

Blackout

June 13, 2009 | Filed Under Main | No Comments

It happened on my block last weekend as well, but just for an hour. Last night it started around 8PM and tried twice to come back on – once for ten minutes and again for ten seconds. I finally got AC back a little after midnight. I was able to play music (thank God for batteries), but everything else in the apartment is electric. I couldn’t even read because I was afraid to use up the batteries on the flashlight and the candles were useless. (Need one of those little book lamps.)

Just made Kuwait even more boring than before. Could be part of an (of course) unannounced rolling blackouts. But on my way to work today, I noticed two big generator trucks in the parking lot next door. So my hope for tonight’s movie may also be short lived.

Countdown begins…

June 9, 2009 | Filed Under Main | 1 Comment

Two weeks and I’ll be home.

I know I was back in the States a month ago, but it wasn’t home. It’s for an incredibly short ten days – but at least I’ll be home.

Home means something different to me than to other people out here. I know a lot of expats who don’t even think about going home. They have been out here so long that they don’t feel comfortable back where they came from. They visit family and relatives, maybe go to old haunts. But they don’t live there anymore. Then quite a few people I’ve met made homes out here. Got married and started families. This is home for them.

Not me. An expat is an expat for various reasons… and I will save that diatribe for another time. Because it seems to me some of the folks I spoke to about this understood the underlying reasons why someone becomes an expat (besides money), but never mentioned that to me. I’m not an expat. Home is important to me. When I mention home, I am often asked – “Is your family coming over to live with you?” To which I reply – no. Not that they wouldn’t if I asked. But I know my wife and son and I know where I live. It would be fine for about two weeks and then they would kill me in my sleep. They are active people – and this world out here is not for active people. It is for slowing down and retiring people. If you want to sit in your room, watch movies and read books – this is your place. If you want to see live music or drive around the countryside or go to a new restaurant from time to time – stay home.

Home is my family – both in Jersey and Connecticut. Home is my house and my front lawn. Home is shoveling my sidewalk in the snow. Home is my neighbors – the good and the bad. Home is my dog, rest his soul. Home is the harbor and the beach and a walk to the water. Home is the local movie theater, the bagel place and my favorite restaurant (hi Bellas!). Home is being close to New York. Home is my culture. Home is my country.

I think quite a few people I know out here have lost that feeling. I won’t be one of them.

Speeding?

June 3, 2009 | Filed Under Main | 7 Comments

Me?

Supposedly. The company car I drive just received a notice that I was going 20km over the speed limit. On a Saturday morning. Last October.

Normally I would say – “Impossible! I was just trying to keep up with everyone else. I was speeding for my life. I was trying to get out of the way – quickly!!” However, on a Saturday morning no one else is on the road. For the past six months, I neither travel that way on a Saturday nor get out that earlier. But October 2008 – it’s possible. Anything is possible…

June

June 1, 2009 | Filed Under Main | 2 Comments

June June June June June

Just like I always remembered them – gray, dusty, 120 degrees in the shade. This stuff is killing my eyes. I’ve never used so much eye drops in my life. It’s all AC now – all the time. From the apartment to the car to the office to the mall to the gym back to the apartment. Cozy. Simple.

Had an evening with some expats the other night. Must admit, the villas around here are really nice inside. The best is to have a playroom/bar area downstairs. Makes for good parties. Necessity if you have kids (and most do). These were friends of one of the Americans I work with. Mostly Brits and Australians. The host makes some serious beer and wine. Not like my prison brew – really, really well done stuff. Nice to get out and talk to humans for a while. Even got to play darts… badly, but my team did win one game on a surprisingly accurate, last minute shot from me. I’ll take it.

Nothing new otherwise. Just counting the days before I can be home. And watching my Twin Peaks DVDs. The whole first season. I forgot what a strange character Agent Cooper is. Last night was the third episode which had Cooper’s dream (with the short guy dancing). I love the lines in this show. “My name is Mike. His name… is Bob.” Goofy stuff.

Thinking of going to a “tea party” rally in my area on July 4th. I figure if I can listen to the Imam go off over the loudspeakers a few times a day, I can spend an hour listening to Republicans complaining about not winning the election.