Brave New World

I’m not sure how brave this new world is, but it’s definitely new.  Everything is different, as it should be.  I live in a large expatriate community that caters to Western sensibilities.  Stores import Western foods, and as a result, they are expensive.  I don’t care; some things I just have to have.  Doritos made over here do not taste like Doritos back home.  There is a Coca-Cola plant not far from where I live, and the Cokes, while delicious, don’t taste exactly the same as Coke from the States.  I can’t say whether the taste is good or bad; it’s just different.

The people I work with and live with are friendly and accommodating.  Since they’ve become my extended family by default, this is a good thing.  My new home is a small apartment high above the city, and it’s perfect.  I have not set about decorating just yet, as I’m waiting on my first payday.  I’m the sort who decorates room by room, and since we’re not allowed to paint, that sends me in a different direction.  I like bold, vibrant colors, and I am fortunate to have a solarium just off my bedroom.  It will become my reading room and haven.  It looks out over the city and I can’t wait to furnish it.

Things are very hectic; there’s a lot going on right now, which has limited my ability to post regularly.  In time, things will settle down.  In the meantime, I think my muse is trying to awaken from her long slumber because I’m having weird, intense, deviant dreams (one involving a swingers club, but more on that later).  Usually that’s a sign, but who can say?  She does what she wants, and she knows that regardless of what’s going on in my life, I will do her bidding.  This past summer would have been great, as I truly don’t have time to work on anything right now…but that would be too much like right.  Oh well.

But there’s gotta be an upside.  I know my writing is going to change to accommodate my new life.  How, I have no idea, but I do know that it will.  How could it not?  I’m in a place—a world—that does not speak the language I know, and every day I see images I don’t recognize.  The cultural shift and language barrier is completely serious and very humbling.  I feel like a complete dweeb whenever I have to interact with the natives.  I feel incompetent and foolish.  But that’s going to be rectified soon.  I will learn how to read and write the native language and I will become competent enough to survive without depending on my Western imports.  It’s the right thing to do.

Thanks for your patience.  I’ll check in with you guys soon.