For many years, I have made it a point to stop and savor those moments with family that only happen once a year, Christmas. I know that there will be a day when the celebrated moments will change and the definition of family will change. Each year, I have watched the slow decay of my nuclear family as it ages. This year I find myself unable to be with them and it has been painful. Part of this comes from the recognition that this is sort of what it may feel like when they are gone. It’s a lonely feeling here in the desert. I knew the time would come when I took the assignment and I have tried to look at the bright side but the truth is that Christmas is about the greatest gift that mankind would ever receive and celebrating it with loved ones is what it is about.
Life In The Sandbox
I found myself listening to some relaxing Arabic music.
I have been struggling lately with the reality of some things in my life as it pertains to what I left behind and what I returned to find in my home life. It’s been said that you can never go back and I believe that is true as I have tried many times to in the past. As I have grown and matured I have learned you really can never go back. I am not wanting to try to go back because I know nothing stays the same as it’s recalled in your mind. I remember my days in the desert and I remember the days I stood out looking across the sands of the desert and seeing the sunrise each day. It was a place that is oddly enchanting and it calls to me from time to time. I know that I didn’t really fit in there in the Middle East because I had only been there for such a short time but I find myself missing it when things get a little sideways here.
I guess in some ways the idea of it and the music I am listening to with all the power it has, sometimes helps me to escape. I find myself drifting back to a place where I was a novelty of sorts and found the locals interested and friendly. I loved being able to see that there was an interest in who I was and I could learn about who they were. Here in my own land, I am just another average Joe in a place where so many are practically dead as far as interests in learning about new places and people. They live their day to day lives out just trudging along, never realizing what is really around them and never realizing what life really has to offer. Sometimes, I wonder if it’s me who has not figured that out yet.
After just over a year of living in the desert and a world nothing like the one I had lived in all my life, I have discovered that my recent adventure was probably a little like the Half Time of a football game. While I hope it’s not exactly the halfway point and I hope to live longer than it would suggest, it could be that halfway point. It’s the point where you can look in the mirror and self asses a little bit. It’s that time when you look at what you thought you knew and figure out just how much you don’t. It’s a turning point where you realize that there are very less fortunate people in the world that have a life that is much harder than your own. It’s also that point where you can make a decision to change your life’s course and do those things you have been meaning to do forever. It’s when you realize that life isn’t going to slow down and tomorrow may never come or even more often, it does come and today is that tomorrow you put off yesterday.
Whatever the case, my halftime has arrived and while I know that there will be more life events that will deepen this view, I see things differently and I think more clearly than I did before. Colors are brighter, life unfolding around me has more meaning and the daily business of living isn’t as stressful as it once was.
I’m thankful that 18 months ago, I was presented and opportunity and started moving towards what has become one of the best adventures and life changing events in my short existence on this planet. It now drives me to find out more. I know that not everyone gets such an opportunity but I hope to make the best of mine and maybe inspire you to take a chance if you are given one and make the best of yours. Just remember that no one can really tell you enough to change your own life as much as you living it.
Its been a while since I posted anything here as the firewall gods decided that my site was bad juju. While that’s pure crap…I must adapt.
This may be my last post for a while as tonight my middle east adventure in the sandbox has come to a close. I want to thank my readers and I hope that my stories in general and thoughts on debt freedom have been inspiring to you. I hope that my adventure has been of interest and I hope that if you decide to take on your own adventure, you might consider your own blog so that one day you can look back and remember what it was that you did and why and be able to see just how far you have come.
These last few days have been spent remembering my life back home and making efforts to mentaly prepare to return. I know it won’t be the same but neither will I. This last year has surely changed me. I know I haven’t figured out where all the changes are in my view on life but they are sure to appear when I get home. I have found that I miss a truly great sounding stereo. I have only had the option of good headphones and today I am again listening to some tunes through them. They block the daily noise here that I am looking forward to escaping from. If it’s a running generator, a helicopter, the HAVC system or today’s rush of the jet engines as I begin the long journey home. There’s always some kind of racket going here. I am really in need of some deep quiet. I am looking forward to that.
After I get back, it’s not known what I will do for a living but as the days here have rolled by, I have started thinking what it might be like to change career fields. It’s actually refreshing to think of it but I believe that the feeling comes from just wanting to be free of this particular work environment. I think that before I go jumping ship careerwise, I will just take some time out and relax and see where things go from there.
Before I came here, I never had any real interest in coming to Kuwait. Tonight I feel a sense of relief but at the same time, a sense of remorse as I leave a great paying job in a place where the sun seems to always shine and there are few if any clouds. I have made a few friends and I hope that I can stay in touch with them. We always say that we will stay in touch but the day to day activities will probably get in the way. It’s just a facet of the way life is on this big round rock. Maybe I will be wrong this time….
The rush of acceleration comes with the roar of the jet engines and the outside view becomes a blur. I relax into my seat and feel the power and think back to my new friends left behind, knowing I will miss them. The static pictures I have taken of them in my mind flash by in the same way a great movie ends and the credits begin to roll by and you think to yourself…is it really over? Can this be the end? What happens next, will there be a sequel?…Just then, the wheels leave the ground and they fold up under the jet and I am jolted back to my present adventure as I leave the theater. I am going back home to start a new life where I left the old one behind a year ago.
As the plane touches down and I finally get to the door and step outside, just like when you walk out of the theater, the bright light blinds you a little and it is then that I realize that the next adventure is about to begin.
Been here for a year and the nice weather never gets old. I’m sitting outside at a New York based burger joint in the middle east. The outdoor dining is warmed by a few patio heaters but they are more for ambiance than really needing them.
A pair of quads just scooted by in front of the place as it is on a the main road bordering the Arabian gulf. The police are nowhere in sight and they don’t seem to care about such things anyway. Back home, you would expect a full on police chase of those quads. An example of the carefree life here when compared to the United Nanny States of America.
The smell of oud is in the air. Its pleasant fragrance is something that before I lived here, I never knew. I will miss it when I leave.
Kuwait is a wealthy country with the black gold in the ground and a world wide demand for it, it appears that as long as it flows, they will prosper. You can’t blame then for selling it rather than giving it away. We tend to want to maximize the products we produce in the U.S. In much the same way.
It is the luck of the draw in life and the middle east has hit it big. So I figure if you can enjoy a little of the result of the wealth, why not. It is part of why I am here.
Back home I keep hearing of cold wet rainy days and I am trying to figure out where the draw, at least weather wise is to go back. The 3 week summers are beautiful there but the length of summerlike weather is a joke.
Meanwhile, the quads go buzzing by again and shake me from the contemplation of a colder time in the northwest. I’m in the middle east! Its warm, the food is good and I’m happy today. I live in a shared apartment and sleep on a tiny bed in a cramped room…but I sleep well and life is good. I find that sometimes these times serve to remind us of what is important.
I am one who needs to regroup quietly and plan a little. Tonight its night 29 in a countdown before I go home. In many ways I don’t want to but I know that for now it is time. I will never look at life the same after having lived here and I think I may want to take on another job that will allow for another experience like this one.
With bills paid, bags packed and a new outlook on life, I bid you fairwell Kuwait and as strange as it may sound, I welcome another opportunity to return if you should see fit.
You know that feeling when your flying and you’ve been up in the air for hours and then the plane just starts to descend? Your ears pop a little and the crew starts shuffling around getting ready to land. You know it’s coming but it’s still just a bit longer away. The landing gear hasn’t come down just yet but the time is near. That’s my point along this adventure. I have made the trip and it’s time to start the descent. That feeling of looking back before I leave and really assesing what has been done and what I have learned this year seems in order right alongside the fact that it’s the start of the new year.
I know that so many of my posts have had a similar flavor or being debt free and the pitfalls it brings so rather than restating those things I will spare you great detail but simply offer you to dig deeper into the blog if you wish to see those postings.
Looking back allows some sense of accomplishment if you determine that any of your resolutions were actually met. I try to pick things that I think I can actually accomplish rather than picking something that may very well be off the charts for me. Some say this is setting lowered expectations but I feel that it gives a sense of accomplishment if it’s actually achieved rather than simply “just another failure”. I also believe that one person’s goal might be within reach for them and near impossible for another. Now before anybody get’s ramped up on how it’s easy for me to pay bills and free myself of debt…dig a little deeper Here
Yes I did it, I paid my bills off with the exception of one and it was expected to be this way. It’s my next and last major targeted bill. This was my 2012 year long resolution and it was life/viewpoint changing, but now that it’s nearing the end, the effort put forward and the lessons learned were worth it.
Some of those lessons are listed below.
Is it ever enough:
For a price of personal sacrifice, you can make more money than you might have thought possible at the station in life where you find yourself but there’s never going to be enough. Just when you think you have reached that point where everything would be perfect if you just had “X” amount of dollars, it’s not. Just ask the big lottery winners who eventually find themselves at a point that is worse than when they started. There’s always something that you can pine for or think you must have and it’s typically going to be just out of reach or it will come at an excessive price. The thought “Just stay a little longer and make a few dollars more” will consume your life…I know, I have met people here who have been here for many years and only started out with the idea, “It’s just one year…”.
On being debt free:
Most people who come here have this one goal in mind and it’s typically a highlight. It was for me as well. There is genuine satisfaction in this because it means I will have more time to spend on activities other than chasing money to meet the demand of the creditors and stealing my life.
See here.
On what I wanted to be when I was young in search of the perfect balance:
Most people don’t like to admit that what they are doing presently for work wasn’t their first choice. It suggests that they may not be happy in their present career field. I wanted to be an Audio Engineer and in some way to be involved in music (not volume) at a high level. That was a youthful dream but I never fully let go of it. I still play with music and recording but I am far from a professional. I do enjoy it so I share it where I can. My current career path allows me to work with some of the systems that I can also use in my hobby. It leans towards being balanced. See Here
The good stuff:
This trip has had so many benefits to it and going in, I could see some of them but not all. I still haven’t figured out all of them but they will reveal themselves in time. Some of them have affected those around me and I hope it’s all for the good. So far, that is prooving to be the case.
Until you find that balance between that which provides you the ability to have enough money to live in a manner in which you have become accustomed to and to not forsake those around you, life will be less fulfilling. When you are dying, your money will not be there to comfort you and it can’t buy comfort, it can however bring vultures who will feast on the spoils after you are dead. Always try to live your life vulture free.
The Sweet Victory of success is yours for the taking. Plan accordingly, execute your plan, be willing to adapt, make some sort term sacrifices if required, don’t be distracted by shiny stuff and trinkets…you are not a raccoon. Raccoons like shiny stuff and trinkets. Know what your goal should look like when you get there and once you do, find another worthwhile goal…see here.
I wish you a happy new year and I hope this blog has affected you in some way…
-C
A year ago, I began this blog for the purpose of looking back and also sharing some of my experiences with you, my readers. I know that I likley do not have many if any reading my blog here but the truth is, it is OK. I have a place to connect to from most anywhere in the world and document my experiences so I may one day look back and see where I have come from and gone to. This adventurous job I have taken on along with some good advice on life has helped me grow so much that without them I’m not sure where I’d be in the process of understanding things the way I do now but looking back I can see the some of the changes.
It was this time last year that I was nearing a completed a contract at my favorite company ever with a really great manager whom I truly miss working for. He had an outlook that was inspiring in many ways. I used to tell my friends that I worked in the happiest place on earth and they would guess Disney most every time. They were right and I truly miss it.
One of my favorite managers at Disney before he left Disney.
While I have enjoyed living in the desert, I am ready to come back for a while. Not really sure if one can actually come back “home” because some things change…even if it’s just the person returning. Someone who once told me that you can’t really survive here in the desert until you make the move in your mind. I found that to be true because for many months, I kept thinking about how life was when I left and I had forgotten a very critical element of life. It keeps changing things even when you aren’t there. This was witnessed when I went back home for a vacation. With the exception of a select few, did anyone appear to want to connect since they all had lives to live and other places to be. This was a painful lesson because for a long time I held on to these friendships in my mind but they had let go many months ago. It’s the out of sight out of mind thing. Sadly I have found that people these days just don’t have time to spend with others because they are so busy doing something else. I still haven’t quite figured out what is so much more important than friends that causes this draw but it appears to be a reality.
Some of them just aren’t close enough both in distance or connection so I do understand that…the rest…I just don’t.
I also learned that you shouldn’t live your life fast forwarding or waiting until the next big moment where you do meet some goal that you have set for yourself. I did that for a while and have since learned that you must live your life along the route rather than racing from one goal to the next all the while missing the journey along the way. It’s good to have goals but it’s also good to enjoy and learn from the route getting to them.
Other changes on viewpoints:
If you have seen the Matrix, this will make more sense. It’s a great movie to watch…well the first one is the best and what I am basing what I write about here.
I have been extracted from a life and for 20 years, it had become all I had known. I went to work each day and like a good worker bee, fell into the machine that is devised to allow us to fall under heavy control. I followed the steps of being on a regular work schedule and used the mass transit as much as possible to get to work and become a part of that corporate machine. I didn’t travel freely and I was on a schedule…and it wasn’t mine. While it paid enough to survive, the entire system is configured so that you can end up barely making a living wage if you aren’t careful. I used to think I was free.
I have been working in a different system of control and it mostly because I have changed it for myself. I don’t have the looming debt I had before, I don’t have the fear of not being able to afford shelter, I don’t feel like I have to stay at this job anymore but I do because I like the wage and the work. I know that when I go back to the workforce at home I will be able to take on work that I really like rather than what’s available me because I need to funds to keep the creditors happy.
On How “easy” it’s been for me to just pay all my bills off.
Some people I know just say to me that it has been easy for me to take this job here and that I have skills that I can market and make a good wage and getting out of debt is so easy for a person like me and they get tired of reading the “same story over and over again”.
I laugh because they don’t understand or see…or care that I packed all my things that I might have needed into a few bags and one box, hopped on a airplane and left everything I ever knew and and everyone I ever met and left them all behind in an effort to get this goal of debt freedom accomplished. Easy!? Please! It’s hotter than hell here in the summer and there are so many things that you can’t even begin to imagine that you will experience that aren’t really enjoyable unless you have lived here. Try leaving your entire family and all your friends behind only to watch the friendships whither away because you were gone. Try eating the food here and sometimes it feels like Gastronial Intestinal Russian Roulette when you find out that one of your peers almost died because of major food poisoning and what your eating today tastes a bit “off”. Try working in a warehouse setting with pretend cubicles and lights that you could grow some awesome weed under. That light is like sitting by the light of a welder for 12 hours at a time because that’s your workday. Think about the last time you had a new job and the stress was high because you didn’t know the ropes yet. Now throw a curve ball in there and instead…take on a new boss and he is hell bent on changing everything in order to make his mark and it throws the system that everyone had figured out into a tailspin. Yippie…it’s like getting a new job every year…want it or not. Here’s one, spend 48 hours of your meager 3 weeks vacation getting to and from your home. This is also combined with the fact that 3 weeks is an abnormally long vacation and typicall you must break it down into two segments….this means your 48 hours of travel just doubled and you lost a total of 4 days to traveling on your now roughly 8 to 10 days off in a row and let’s not talk about the jetlag where you lose more time because you are trying to adjust to the new timezone you find yourself in. In a vain attempt to stay somewhat synchronized with my hometowm clocks, I have been working the night shift for nearly a year now and that’s a joy unto itself. You walk outside in the morning and the beautifully lit sky is yours for the taking and your internal devices tell you it’s daytime and you shouldn’t be sleeping but rather, wide awake. Now that this mechanism is running full throttle you go home after being up for 15 hours and now you gotta sleep. Good luck with that one. Oh let’s talk about maid service…yeah, they work in the day and don’t often speak much english so you will have trouble getting them to understand “no ringie ringie doorbell in the day, just come in quietly and clean everything but my room cause I am sleeping”. Guaranteed….the doorbell WILL ring and wake you and now you have been awakened in the middle of your night because housekeeping can’t understand you. Here’s more, you get to pick what holiday you want to spend with your family and friends and this year but it cannot be all of them….(See travel and jetlag comments). How about a crappy internet service that take you an hour and a half to watch an hour long movie because of dust storms…or just poor internet service in the first place….why yes sir we have Internet service, it’s a 1.44 meg connection and it’s shared with 70 other tennants. Yes we know that they are streaming movies and using Skype but at least we can tell you that we have the service. Enjoy! You will also need a vpn link out of the country because the movie pirates here can’t get access to Netflix…they would just pirate it all. The VPN…well that is encapsulating technology so you get the pleasure of even slower speeds because of the encrypt and decrypt activities. Thanks firewall guys! You guys rock at blocking my favorite stuph! NOT! You are just an annoying speedbump on the information superhighway!
You will notice that I am not taking issue with the people of this country. It is me who doesn’t understand them and each day I make attempts to do so. Like the guy today who wanted to occupy the same lane on the freeway as I did and forgot about the whole separate matter occupying the same space at the same time thing or neglected to learn or perhaps thought that it was birthright to be there in my position on the road and not me. I really tried to understand this but I am not that capable of understanding how an intelegent society could actually drive in a manner that says they do not understand basic physics.
Back to the point. It’s not easy to do what I have done and I challenge anyone who thinks I am in some sort of priviledged situation to just drop on over and try it. You will likley make more money than you did at home doing the same thing you can do here and according to some, it’s easy. So if you think that after reading my posts about getting out of debt and think here we go again, I challenge you to try it.
Am I bitter about this job and the place I live, not really. Am I glad I did it? Without question, yes! Would I do it again? Probably. Do I want to poke the next person in the eye who says it was so easy for a guy like me and that I am somehow privledged? YES! Was it easy? No, not really. Was it worth it? Absolutley!
I have had an excellent experience here because of what I made of it. I have learned things about myself and would not trade this for the world. I just might look back and wish I had traveled more of it while I was here but this round was mostly for debt payoff.
It’s been a while since my last post. The temps here are cooling down but it feels like summer back home. The hours I keep on the job have really taken a toll on me and in all truth, I’m ready to come home and regroup for another adventure. Mostly because I just don’t get to go out and discover much. I work nights, 12 hours at a time. When I’m off I try to get as much as I can because staying up into the daylight makes it hard to get to sleep if I have been out in the light. I am starting to feel like a vampire. The daylight has become the enemy of sleep.
The lack of daylight back home was one of my concerns before I left and I had been looking forward to being in a place were I would be able to enjoy some good light. In that sense, this trip has been lacking and it’s not what I signed up for. In the beginning it was ok but since I returned from my vacation, work has been a slow steady downhill slide.
There have been major changes at my job but the good thing is that I have meet my goals and I can hang on for a while longer.
This trip has open my eyes to see the world in ways that was not possible without coming here. We tend to have a narrow view of the world and how it really is from our own little corner of earth and only after a person has explored a little do they start to understand.
I have only just started to understand and that is why I am not truly ready to go home for good.
I live on the economy with the locals and I have learned a few things.
1. American television has some great programming.
2. American television’s great programming is ruined by American television advertising.
3. American television is utterly destroying itself with reality TV.
4. Local television filters the crap programming out that ruins American television.
5. Advertisements on TV are almost non-existant on local TV.
6. We really are getting ripped off at the gas pumps. (Big surprise, I know).
7. I can get a full car detail cleaning for about five dollars.
8. The fast lane on the freeway does not have self serving, slow driving jerks/idiots that America has. They use all the other lanes.
9. Flash to pass really works here on the road.
10. Chinese restaurants still play that same cheesy elevator music in most places.
11. The local money is the best money to travel with in the world.
12. There are places where tax is non-existent…and still civilized.
13. There are places where corporations don’t run the country through the government.
14. A dry heat is preferred to humid conditions.
15. America still has the best fast food.
The day was like most here. Hot, sunny sandy. I know, sandy? A day that is sandy? What does that mean? Living in a place where the sands of the desert are part of your surroundings and you can’t go anywhere without encountering it…I’d call that sandy. It’s so much a part of this part of the earth that even the animals are adapted to it. Did you know that a camel can close its nostrils to keep sand out or that they can travel a steady 25 miles an hour for long periods of time across the sandy desert floor and can reach speeds of 40 miles an hour in short bursts? I didn’t. Their feet are large and soft bottomed so they can move across the sand without injury. There are two species of camels, one hump and two hump. The common one hump camel here is the Arabian Dromedary. The other is the two hump or Bactrian camel.
So back to the day. I had just left work and had made the U turn on the freeway to go home. Don’t worry, standard operation. These people are a bit behind when it comes to freeway engineering. I’m now turned around and I see a herd of camels out along the freeway behind a fence. I thought I would get a picture for my collection so i made another U turn to go back and get closer. By the time I got back, about 20 or 30 of them had found a break in the fence and had wandered out near the freeway.
This is what I saw
Not what you’d expect to see on a “normal” day back home but here? You never know what you might encounter.
These animals are highly prized by the locals. They are viewed much the same way that the sacred cows of India are without the religious aspect. Common knowledge here is if you hit one while driving and you survive…get out of the country as fast as you can. You will not want to bear the cost of restitution. What’s that? It’s a camel you say? Can’t be that expensive? Think again. It’s said that the owners will try to recover from you, the value of the camel and if it’s a female…the value of the 10 generations of offspring it would have borne if you hadn’t killed it. You really don’t want to toy with your future by hitting one. This brings me to the next part of my story.
I don’t really know much about these animals but I know that camels intrigue me. I think it’s because they are indigenous to this area and where I live…well let’s just say that they aren’t common. On a side note I have found that the rhinoceros commonly found in Africa don’t frequent my flower beds at home but I think that’s a matter of the rhino repellent cube I have in there. You can get it here.
So I am watching these Camels and they clearly haven’t lived in a neighborhood and no experience with cars like most dogs that live in such places. They are wandering out into the freeway and if you can imagine hitting one, it’s gonna be messy at best. I decided to try to help these beasts to safety by herding them back to the other side of the fence from which they came. I was not really sure how I was going to do that because I figured if I drop down in to the sandy “road” by the fence they would just haul ass back up over the guard rail only to meet their maker. Fortunately, another helpful camel “herder” in an SUV stopped and I could see that the way they were situated, I just had to drop down to the sandy road and “push them along” whilst the other driver stayed up on the black top.
Now when I drove down there into the sand, it was a bit risky but I believe that certain actions go unpunished…helping God’s creatures are one of those things. So now I am down nearer the fence and the camels have wandered down there too because of the SUV up on the high road. They looked at me in my car before they started moving in the right direction and I think they too were intrigued…by looking at me. Here’s a guy in a white Toyota Camry. It’s about as plain of a sedan as you can get. I’m wearing my Outback hat ( I think they would have ignored me if it was flipped up on one side…it wasn’t) and I have my sunglasses around my neck and my regular specs on. The little car I’m in makes me look like a visually impaired circus bear wearing a cowboy hat in a go-cart and I am in a showdown with about 30,000 pounds of camel, or about 25-30 of them. Suddenly they turn and start walking away in the direction that I am hoping they would….towards the opening in the fence. Turns out this opening was the wrong one and the ended up having to go farther down the road. Much farther. At this point I’m thinking that I/we, Mr. SUV are getting the job done. A few of them look back at me in the Circus car and turn back and start running….in the right direction! Awesome!
One thing about camels is that they have a larger lower lip than the top one…just why I don’t know but when they get to running, it flaps under the weight and bounces in time with their step. At this point it’s starting to look like they just might be laughing at me with this flapping lip thing going on as they run away from me in my little car. I think they were really running to go tell their camel friends about the circus bear in the sedan with the goofy hat and glasses. Anyway we herded them for about 1 mile or so and they made their way back to safety.
After a recent visit home, I have found for me at least, that it has done wonders for my outlook here in the desert. I live in Kuwait and about as far as one can get from the U.S. The trip is about 18-19 hours of flying time and it’s almost 10,000 miles away. However, you don’t get the chance to realize just how far or close that distance really is until you have made at least one additional trip beyond your original flight to get here. That second flight serves to help you understand that you can easily travel back and forth if you so desire. Your only hindrance under normal conditions to leaving is just how willing you are to walk away from your job if you really need or want to. No one owns you here and even if you have an agreement with your employer, you can walk away if you just can’t handle it anymore. Not everyone can and an adventure such as this one isn’t for everyone. There’s no shame in not being cut out for the experience.
When you come to Kuwait and if you have never been here, it can be an overwhelming experience. The hours you keep and the requirements of settling into your new home can be a bit dehumanizing. While I wasn’t required to live in shared housing, some are and it can be an additional hit to the standard of living you may have been accustomed to. There’s blood tests, and blood typing and more blood tests along with x-rays to be sure you are not carrying some disease that could get you deported. You get checked out and if you fail, you are sent home. No pats one the head or hugs goodbye, just a ticket home and away you go. It’s been said you will be lucky to get your personal things that you may have left in your apartment if you are deemed to be a carrier of a notable and contagious illness. Even though I had nothing to worry about, the process is still a bit degrading especially when you know you are healthy.
Additionally, the language barrier while not intentional, does exist. English is the international language of business but not everyone understands or speaks it many still speak Arabic as one might have guessed. This is after all Arab country. This can also leave you feeling isolated and unable to blend in with society as easily you might have liked to. As you do travel and begin to mingle with society, you find yourself looking at colors, shapes and pictures to get you through the day sometimes. The road system is more British than the Roman grid and this makes getting lost at first pretty easy. If you are a visually oriented person, you may have a better chance of succeeding and finding your way around but there’s still that dehumanizing feeling of once being a successful and productive member of society that knows their way around. (You area productive member of society aren’t you? How would you have landed a job here if you weren’t?) and now you may feel lost as a puppy.
If this isn’t enough to disorient you, try adding the factor of working on a contract that supports the military if you dare. This is completely different to what you may have done in the corporate world. It’s not the same and the only way one can truly understand it is to experience it. One easy to identify challenging difference is working nights if you were a day worker. I will say no more on this subject but this is one additional factor to add to the desert experience and the new disorienting world that is the middle east.
On a brighter note, as I mentioned before, the trip back home after a challenging handful of months in the dark has proven to be a major turning point. When you go home, you remember that you are human and you do have a life back home and you do have friends that miss you and you can still function very well and to some degree, better than before. I found that I was more able to make decisions and communicate my intent with others both in business and in my personal life while at home. I think the desert experience has sharpened my ability to recognize the points where I needed to assert myself more and also where to temper my response with a softer approach. It’s not something that is taught as much as it is learned.
As mentioned earlier, I found that knowing I could leave here if I wanted to does make this feel less like desert exile and more like an adventure that I can stop at any time. Combine that feeling with the knowledge I have of the place after being recharged at home and I think to myself, “I got this!”
Rowland Ramble - 