Ma Salaama, Part 1. Looking Sideways

I haven't written anything in a while because I've been busy arranging a new job (more on that later). And I've gotten a bad case of writer's block regarding the vacation to Lebanon. Though I had a few interesting experiences, the most exciting times all happened prior to my last entry. And I just can't describe the later events in a way that would be interesting to anybody else. I'll summarize:

Keith and I went to Bcharre after Baalbeck. Bcharre is in a valley in the Lebanon mountain range, and it's covered in green fields and steep roads and unmelted snow on the mountain tops. It's the kind of place where you expect to see Julie Andrews come running through a field singing, “The hills are alive, with the sound of muuusic!” After that, we went to Tripoli for a day. We decided that Tripoli and Beirut are the two faces of Lebanon. Tripoli is traditional, Islamic, and welcoming. Beirut is modern, secular, and a little bit mean. I don't think you can really understand Lebanon until you've visited both cities.

After a day in Tripoli, we took a bus back to Beirut and flew home. And that's the end. If you want to know more, you'll just have to go there.

I haven't made any recent updates because I've been straightening out my future plans. And my future plans have gone completely sideways. Sideways as in lateral. Lateral as in west. West as in ten thousand miles west, out of Arabia, past North Africa, over the Atlantic and the Caribbean and right into Central America.

You might remember that I planned on traveling around the Middle East when I finished my contract. Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. I had it all planned out. Then my buddy Bryce sent me an e-mail asking if I'd heard about a networking job in Honduras. He knew I spoke Spanish and thought I might be interested. So I sent off my resume just just to see what they would say. They responded right away and asked me to hire on.

And just like that, everything went sideways. My destination changed from Cairo to Comayagua, and my future went from unemployed backpacker back to government contractor. I leave Kuwait on August 15. I'm staying in the US for a few weeks, then I fly to Honduras at the end of the month. Since my travels in Kuwait are done, I'm going to start a new blog on this site. This blog will always be available at http://expat.typepad.com/kuwait. If you go to http://expat.typepad.com, my new blog will show up by default. I hope you'll stay with me on this new trip.

Comments

[Your superior]

I must say, that this is the largest waste of bandwidth that I have had the misfortune of encountering. Your lies, and derogatory air are of no use anyone. Had you been a man, you would have confronted someone about it only be to smacked down with your filthy lies.

Scum.