This has been one long, weird year, and then some. It started with us living in Arlington, VA, where I’d cycle into DC every day weather permitting (I’m very much of a fair weather cyclist). That’s right, January, 2017. I’d circle around the Capitol, think about Trump and Obama walking down the steps and usually stop on the other side and gaze up to where Trump would give his inaugural address. It was all just...weird. Very few people, myself included, gave him any chance of winning the Presidency. It seemed as if every week, there would be a collective, “He can’t survive that gaff,” and somehow, he did.
Then I got a call asking if I’d like to phase in a contract in Qatar and Kuwait and could I leave tomorrow? I said sure, packed up and got on a plane. That’s kind of the way my life is these days. And, it was conveniently right before the inauguration, so I managed to avoid that whole scene. I was in Qatar for most of the time, staying in the same hotel Gwyne and I stayed in when we were getting our residency done for Kuwait. Staying in the same hotel, eating at the same Dairy Queen (where I took Gwyne for her 50th birthday), and then going to Kuwait, seeing the same cast of characters I used to work with, going to my favorite Sultan Center in Fahaheel, eating the same Chicken Briyani. It just felt weird.
That wrapped up and I went to Indonesia for a month. I started out in Java and went to a few places I hadn’t been before, Jakarta, Semarang and Jepara, but that adventure lasted a week, then I went right back to one of my happy places, Ubud, Bali. It seems as if the Eat, Pray, Love folks have discovered Ubud, but so much of Bali and Ubud remained the same. I’ve been to Ubud so many times, starting in 1991 when it was a sleepy town, walking up and down Monkey Forest Road and Jalan Hanoman, the experience just felt surreal, searching out the familiar and noticing the changes. The very first place we stayed in, the Frog Pond Inn (at the princely price of $1.50/night, mosquitoes were included at no additional charge) was still in operation. Many other places had closed down, but it was that odd sense of I've been here before, mostly because, well I had. So many times before.
Then I started working part time for a company about two miles from where we lived in Texas. When I was there, I went to the same Kroger we used to shop at and drove streets we used to drive on and stopped by the house we used to live in. Someone else lives there now. Weird.
How much weirder could the year get? Well, we moved to Huntsville, Alabama. I'd like to know who wrote that script because I'd certainly like to have a little chit chat with the writer and suggest an edit. I spent a week at Space Camp when I was the teacher of the year from the CNMI. One of the things that is visible from many parts of Huntsville is the great big rocket, the Saturn V replica at the Space Center. Now I lived there. I'd cycle around on my bike, as a resident this time, and look at that rocket, remembering my time here in 1997 and just shake my head, wondering how I got there. Really. How did this happen?
I went back to Texas and got ready to go phase in another contract. And that contract was Kwajalein. Yeah. That government contract. Spent a night in Honolulu, headed to Kwajalein. Saw folks at the airport in Honolulu, people I knew getting off the plane and then checked into a BQ and had a tour of Kwajalein given by the new PM. I was traveling with three DynCorp employees who had never been to Kwajalein before, so the PM, who had been on Kwajalein for a grand total of 7 days gave us a tour. "You can see the island of Ebeye from here. Ebeye is where the most of the Marshallese live." Granted, I'd been gone for seven years, but c'mon. Wanna talk weird? Having someone give ME a tour of Kwajalein. I spent three surreal weeks on Kwajalein, walking or cycling around, bumping into people wherever I went. How about giving a bunch of briefings to Marshallese employees in Marshallese? Been there and done that, just didn't expect to be there and do that again, yet somehow, there I was.
Obama and Trump. They walked down those stairs together. Still can't believe it.
Some restaurant in Qatar - I'm a big Biriyani fan
Drying rice in Ubud, before it's husked. Nice to see some things haven't changed.
How much weirder could the year get? Well, we moved to Huntsville, Alabama. I'd like to know who wrote that script because I'd certainly like to have a little chit chat with the writer and suggest an edit. I spent a week at Space Camp when I was the teacher of the year from the CNMI. One of the things that is visible from many parts of Huntsville is the great big rocket, the Saturn V replica at the Space Center. Now I lived there. I'd cycle around on my bike, as a resident this time, and look at that rocket, remembering my time here in 1997 and just shake my head, wondering how I got there. Really. How did this happen?
Huntsville? Yep.
I had a day off when I was there. Coral Sands.
2018. Time to settle down for a while, right? Not exactly. I gave Huntsville a fair 4 months and right after the Kwajalein work gig, I got on another plane. I'm in Dubai right now, visiting old haunts, eating at familiar restaurants, taking long walks and enjoying the cosmopolitan nature of the Middle East. I used to come to Dubai all the time when I lived in Kuwait and when I worked in Afghanistan - it was and is a comfortable place for me. I was pleasantly surprised to find 34 dirhams on my Metro card, more than enough to whisk me pretty much wherever I want/need to go in Dubai.
Spice Souk, DXB.
But why Dubai? I'm here because I'm headed back to Afghanistan for another as yet undetermined amount of time, partly out of boredom (did I mention I live in Huntsville, AL?) and partly due to my boundless greed, but also because the work there is really interesting. After I get my visa, I'll fly out again to what may be a sense of normalcy for a while. Who knows?
