The Expat Diaries; Volume IV: Dakar, Senegal

In October of 2019, I accepted a job in Senegal.  I was not planning on moving to Africa, as I wanted to stay in Asia for a few more years.  I had my heart set on getting a job in Hong Kong, but I would have settled for Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, or Bangkok.  

Musings in the Rain

So no…I haven’t exactly kept to the writing schedule I laid down in January.  But I have been writing.  I’ve been working on another chapter of the Astronomy Series, but most of what I wrote won’t get posted on the Shorties blog because it’s more of an intermediate step between what’s already out there and what I want the next phase to be.  I need to fill in the blanks and tell myself what happens first.  

The world as a whole has gotten a lot more intricate and bigger, with additional characters and situations revealing themselves. I didn’t expect this and I’m not sure how it’s all going to pan out.  As I said in the introduction to the story, it was an adult retelling of a shortie I wrote a long, long time ago, so everything that takes place after “Intergalactic” is new.

The Expat Diaries; Volume III: Indonesia

So I’ve been in Indonesia for two whole months.  My shipment still hasn’t arrived (Saudi service sucks), so I’m not 100% where I need to be in terms of my headspace.  But I’m doing all right.  I like my job and I live five minutes away from it in a nice house.  I’ve never worked near my job, so to be able to hop in the car and be at work in under five is every damn thing.

Update

Well I’ve relocated back to the Far East; Indonesia to be specific.  Life has been crazy these past few weeks.  Moving as an expat can be ridiculously stressful.  You don’t feel at home until your shipment arrives (if you have one).  I’ve accepted it as part of my existence as an expatriate that I will always have a shipment every time I move.  It’s really hard to call one’s residence a home when it’s devoid of personality.  Fortunately, my shipment should arrive in about four weeks.

The city where I live has no stop signs or traffic lights in the suburban areas.  Therefore, traffic is utterly ridiculous.  There are these random guys who will go out and direct traffic with the expectation that you’ll grease their palms when they allow you out into the street.  A trip that should theoretically take 10 minutes takes up to 45 most days.

When Reality Hits...

When I was researching information about my current destination, I found a lot of blogs that described this place as relatively okay for women, as long as they're aware of the rules and restrictions.  The emphasis was placed mainly on hobbies and activities, as this part of the world is severely lacking in entertainment and a lot of women are here as trailing spouses for hubbies who work for the oil companies (and thus, don't have to work).  A lot of this info loosely translated to single women, but at the time, I could not find any definitive information on what life is like for singletons.

Here is the pure, unadulterated truth...and if I'd come across this information in my research, my decision to come here would have been quite different.

1.  Western women are assumed to be whores and will accept any man's advances, be they wanted or not.  A man actually said to me, "You're American and you're a woman...why not?"

Update

I've been in Riyadh for three full weeks now and finally have some basic needs met.  I'll be covering details in an upcoming Expat Diaries blog post, but I just wanted to poke my head up from what feels like the ninth layer of Hell and say I'm here and I'm in one piece.

It's hotter than the devil's asshole over here.  The other day, we were busting the hell out of 140 degrees, hand to Jesus.  It was so hot that Satan was camped out next to my AC, chugging Dasani.  I mean, I know I'm in the desert and it'll take some adjusting, but sweet gawd...this is the absolute worst.

Settling in has had its ups and downs.  The rules for single ladies over here...they're freakin' crazy.  I mean, there were some things I was fully aware of (and fine with), but then you get here and learn other shit that doesn't make any freaking sense.

I gotta say tho...the ratio of hotties per city block is astounding. There are so many fine ass men over here.  That we are not allowed to mingle with them--much less date--is migraine-inducing.

Details to come soon, I promise.

So This Happened...

I haven't been blogging much for the past couple of months for several reasons.  The main reason is because I've been super-busy at work and going through the motions of making another significant life change.  It left me with little time for writing and blogging, which I dearly miss and desperately need to unload through to rid myself of these random emotions.  I neeeeeed to write a shortie.  Somebody toss me a prompt.

My time in Shanghai is coming to an end.  I didn't think it would be ending as soon as it is, but life never quite works out the way we plan.  Either way, I've had a blast living in this amazing city and having the adventures that I've had.  There is so much to love about this beautiful, vibrant city and the wonderful natives who inhabit it. I will be quite sad on the long flight home, but satisfied at the things I accomplished.

The Expat Diaries: Thailand

I was in Thailand recently for work and for play.  Bangkok, with a population about six million, is a hectic, frenetic metropolis.  Anytime I left my hotel, there were hundreds of people out and about, walking, driving, riding scooters and motorcycles, taking the MTR, hustling wares, doing all kinds of things.  They were not shocked to see my brown face, as many PoC live and work in Bangkok. 

The Expat Diaries: Hong Kong

Circumstances allowed me to spend the past weekend in Hong Kong.  I flew out Friday night on HK Airlines and returned Sunday night via the same carrier. Ideally, I would have spent four days, but this trip wasn’t planned until the last minute.

I hit up TripAdvisor and a couple of other travel websites to find out what I could do in 36 hours.  The answer is plenty.  Hong Kong is a walking city that is very clean and very easy to navigate.  I grabbed a city map at the airport and the travel websites advised getting an Octopus Card, which is basically a travel pass you load money onto.  You can use it for transportation and a lot of restaurants, shops, and stores also accept it.  It saves you from carrying loose coins, which gets tiresome real quick.

My hotel was, fortunately for me, near the central train hub and in walking distance.  With map and Octopus Card in hand, I walked down to the ENORMOUS station and stared at the maps, trying to figure out which way was up and how the trains worked.  The city is tourist-friendly and there are a lot of British “leftovers.”  There are signs literally pointing you in the direction you want to go, labeled with the sights you want to see.  I rode the Peak Tram up the mountain so that I could get a view of the stunning skyline with the mountains in the distance.  The mountains are called the Nine Dragons, and behind them is Mainland China.