Day 802: The Perpetual Honeymoon

One of the things folks in the Foreign Service always talk about is ‘the depression’ phase… not that folks in the Foreign Service are prone to depression, it’s merely in reference to the end of the ‘honeymoon’ phase after arriving to a new post.  Follow me?  Folks are normally on this incredible high when they first arrive somewhere new… and when this feeling begins to fade and you start to miss home, America, the family and friends you left behind you hit a ‘depression’ phase… and then, eventually, all these feelings even out and you hunker down and live a normal life abroad.

People talk about these phases a lot.  But, I don’t understand them.  Sure, I understand the ‘honeymoon’ phase and I understand the ‘hunkering down’ phase… but I don’t understand the ‘depression’ phase.  I never hit it.  Do I miss my family?  Yes.  Do I miss the things I left behind ion American?  Sure.  Is it worth being depressed about?  No.  This is the life I chose.  And it’s crazy-awesome… and that crazy-awesome trumps self-pity any day of the week.

I don’t know if I’m just built for this kind of lifestyle or what… It must be the fact that I never traveled internationally prior to this.  I was born and raised in Cobb County, Georgia.  Heck, I even worked for Cobb County for about seven years before joining the service… and just about every day, I wake up and thing, ‘Wow, I’m in Pakistan!  Who would have thought that?”   I had the same amazing feeling when I was in Belgrade and London.

These places were make-believe to me.  They resided in text-books and the evening news… they weren’t real.  And now I have the opportunity to spend part of my life there.  I’ve never experienced the kind of wonder and awe in Cobb County that I now experience every day.

And there is NOTHING depressing about that. 

Day 801: The Reality of Distance

Wow.

Two months.  It’s really hard to believe that I’ve been here for two months. Away from my boys for so long!  Arg! 

I haven’t really talked about the boy much in the last two months… I, of course, miss them… a lot… so talking about it has always seemed pretty counterproductive.  Besides, I’m only halfway to my first R&R.  I have a lot more time on my hands.

However, up until now, it hasn’t been very difficult.  Not that I enjoy being away from my little men… but this is the second time we’ve done a two month stretch apart.  And just like anything else, things are easier with practice.  That’s just the truth of the situation.

I knew the anxiety of being away would begin creeping in sometime around today… but I wasn’t expecting to be jolted back into reality like I was today.  Yesterday, a bus overturned into a river drowning 35 children and it’s all over the news today. 

Maybe it’s the parent in me, but I can’t help but imagine these helplessly frightened children and their hopelessly grieving parents.   And I can’t help but internalize the situation as if it happened to me… and it makes me feel even farther away… I’m unable to protect my own… and that’s my real job, right?  My real job is being a dad… everything else is make-believe.

After reading stories like this, I just want to curl up on the couch with my boys for the night.  And I can’t.

Two months down… and the reality begins.

Day 800: The Smell of First Impressions

First impressions are very important, right?  First impressions set the initial tone for every journey. 

Upon arriving in Belgrade, as soon as I stepped off the plane I was overcome with the stench of stale cigarette smoke… and coming up the gang way, the first thing I saw inside Nikola Tesla Airport was a ‘no smoking’ sign.  I found the combination of smell and visual very funny and this will always be my first impression of Belgrade.

However, arriving in Islamabad was a little different.  We didn’t exit across a gang way directly into the airport… and enclosed space like a gang way is excusable when it comes to random smells when entering new lands.  But no, in Islamabad we exited to the tarmac.  And as soon as I stepped out of the bulkhead doors into the early morning air, I was hit with another overwhelmingly pungent aroma: 

Urine.    

That’s right.  Urine… outside… where there was plenty of ventilation.  I knew at that moment I was in for a very long year.

And no… I didn’t see a ‘no peeing’ sign… If I had, it would have been the most hilariously awesome thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Day 799: Meetings, The Practical Alternative to Work

A friend sent this and I had to share!

Day 798: Where the Hell is Matt?... In Pakistan!

Over the summer I profiled the website www.wherethehellismatt.com.  The website profiles Matt, a guy who dedicates his spare time to ‘dancing badly around the world’.  I love this guy!  And I find his videos strangely moving.

Anyway, about a week before I landed in Islamabad, Matt was in Karachi filming for his 2010 video!  And the local papers picked up the story:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/27976/this-matters/

Even if you don’t have the patience to read the whole article, please scroll down to the bottom and read the user comments.  They are all so polite and supportive!  Hmmm… maybe the 1^st World could stand to learn something from the 3^rd World after all.

I’m just sayin’

Peace Out!

Day 797: A Very Potter : The Sequel

Oh good gravy!  A year later they made a sequel!  This is Hilarious!  It’s a Sequel!  Please note: the whole show is posted on youtube!

Day 796: Harry Potter the Musical

Okay, so I don’t know how I missed this, but back in 2009 the folks from the University of Michigan produced a play called: ‘Harry Potter: The Musical’.  The whole show is posted on youtube!


Hilarious!