Well, I’m home for what’s been a few glorious holiday weeks. I don’t know if I could have done the holidays alone in an Islamic country without becoming a quivering mass of snot and tears only vaguely resembling a Danielle-shaped form.
I have been told by veteran expats (that would be anyone who has been living abroad longer than I have – four whole months) that there’s sort of a mythical quality that one’s home country has that gets shattered upon return. I can attest to this. Before returning, Lowville had somehow acquired a Shangri-La-like utopian status in my mind. Everyone is wonderful there. Everything is perfect there (freezing temperatures and the ever-present smell of cow poo aside). Picturesque motifs of a pristine countryside danced in my imagination like something from a fairy tale. In my mind I call it the Cult of Home. I have drunk the Kool Aid. I am a believer.
Now, I’ve admitted to myself that perhaps my homeland is not quite so grand as I have pictured in my mind’s eye. I love my family and friends here, don't get me wrong. But there are huge problems here just like everywhere. If I allow myself this shadow of a doubt, what then? What do I plan for my future? If I don't pack myself back to the States when my contract is up, do I stay in Dubai longer than the two years I’ve planned on? Do I return to Northern New York? Or do I try another country on for size? Granted, I do have a considerable amount of time left here in Dubai, but I have to wonder … what’s next?
I keep waiting for the plan for my life to suddenly become clear. What is the best thing for me to do? What will make me perfectly happy and content for ever and ever? Of course, I probably would be bored with my life if I wasn’t always wondering “What’s next?”
On another (and completely unrelated) tangent, I spent my Thanksgiving holiday in Indonesia. I know, I know, my life is hard. I’ve taken more trips in the past four months by plane than I have in the past decade: Kuwait, Quatar, and Indonesia. I love my life. And may I just say, Indonesia was fabulous.
I went to visit my Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Dan, and Cousin Paul. The day after I arrived, Thanksgiving, we went camping on the beach of Pantisiung on the southern coast of Java.
My cousin loves to rock climb. If you look closely at the picture below, he's perched on top of a cliff. My aunt is walking on the beach toward him at the bottom of the picture.
There's a great variety of religious heritage in Indonesia. Gedung Songo is famed for its 9 Hindu temples. Well, sort of. The Dutch colonists miscounted. There's actually only 5. Below my aunt, uncle, and I are sitting on the steps of one. There are no velvet ropes or "off limits" signs anywhere.
Here I am in a sulfur spring heated deep within the earth by lava, then channeled into this pool.
Borobudur: a huge Buddhist temple that was buried under a lava flow then excavated over the past hundred plus years. It was once one of the seven wonders of the world.
This is a lucky Buddha I'm touching. I am now very lucky.
This is not a lucky Buddha. It's just one of many Buddhas stationed around the temple.
Like I said, my cousin Paul likes to rock climb and he tried to teach me. So here I am: rock climbing. Pretty impressive, huh?
And then reality hits and I realize the photographer was being kind since I'm only 10 feet off the ground.
While we were camping at the beach, there was an commercial being shot at the same time.
The biggest thing that kept me bug-eyed while in Indonesia was all the greenery. It was so lush and verdant. After looking at mono-chromatic sand tones for months, the green was such a relief.
Borobudur: a huge Buddhist temple that was buried under a lava flow then excavated over the past hundred plus years. It was once one of the seven wonders of the world.
This is a lucky Buddha I'm touching. I am now very lucky.
This is not a lucky Buddha. It's just one of many Buddhas stationed around the temple.
Like I said, my cousin Paul likes to rock climb and he tried to teach me. So here I am: rock climbing. Pretty impressive, huh?
And then reality hits and I realize the photographer was being kind since I'm only 10 feet off the ground.
While we were camping at the beach, there was an commercial being shot at the same time.
The biggest thing that kept me bug-eyed while in Indonesia was all the greenery. It was so lush and verdant. After looking at mono-chromatic sand tones for months, the green was such a relief.
