An older, unpublished entry.
Been looking toward going home again. A break from playing in the sandbox is a good thing. I forgot about the airport chatter. Languages you don’t understand can become irritating when you have no idea what you are hearing. I’m sitting on the floor of a packed airport listening to a woman taking (loudly) on a cell phone in a language I just don’t understand. It’s one thing to hear someone babbling on their phone and quite another to not understand the language. It’s just a reminder that i am the foreigner. A novelty of sorts. I suppose am not the first American these people have seen but I still know I am different. In some ways, I get better treatment here. After all, It was the Americans who rescued this country from the edge of existence.
I will say it has been an interesting experience working here as a resident. Most people wouldn’t even think of such things, let alone actually try moving overseas for a year to work in a non-westernized land. It is different. I have come to enjoy some aspects of it. While others, I look forward to leaving behind. My job here is in some ways the one thing that makes it worth doing and in others, makes me want to leave. This time of the year here has been very nice, like late spring back home. I knew that I would get to enjoy a year of summer weather and it has been fantastic. In nine months, it has rained a total of four times. Most of that has been in the last three weeks.
Something else I have noticed is that the women here really try to keep themselves. Not in a superficial way but dressed nice and not with everything hanging out on display. There’s a certain attractive quality about that. Couple that with some of the perfumes they wear and it creates an allure like none other.
In some ways it’s overdone but it shows that moderation can be a good thing.
I have been here long enough to have learned a few things that have given me a different view on the world.
Rowland Ramble - 