'Does this look like a potato to you?'

Oh yes, the mirror, my old friend. I’ve grown pretty good at staring at myself ever since I got my laptop, I think. I swear it takes more than five minutes to boot up, and that whole time the whole screen is just black, making it very reflective. So I just stare at my reflection as I wait in anticipation for this awful machine to start working.

When I look at my reflection, who is this that I see? It’s me, it’s me! There, looking back at me. It’s strange, I can never see myself changing; I think I always look the same. Obviously I don’t, but it’s a hard thought to get through. Today I am looking very disheveled. My hair is grossly frizzy and my skin is so dry. This desert climate does not do wonders, I’ll tell you that much. How do the people that live here in Arabia do it? The whole desert climate is so foreign to me, both physically and mentally; I don’t think I could ever live here. Chicago take me back! Better yet, Denmark take me back!

Physically, I don’t think I’ve changed very much. I doubt I’ve grown taller, and very hopefully not wider. If anything, I am in drastic need of a manicure+pedicure and a haircut (Memo to self: arrange for both as soon as your feet hit American soil). I think I’m a bit tanner, but I’ve got this hideous tan from Denmark. It’s one of those nasty t-shirt tans, and I laugh whenever I look at myself. Whenever it was nice outside I’d ride my bike in short sleeves instead of my usual jacket get-up. I really underestimated the sun up there… My eyes look really tired though. I don’t think I’ve really slept since I left Viborg. There I had a routine set up for my day. I’d wake up early, but I’d go to sleep at a decent hour. Not since I’ve left though! I’m tired, but I’m in no mood to sleep; I feel like I’d miss too much. There was this song on the radio earlier, and I thought to myself that it was completely perfect for my situation. It went something like: ‘There ain’t no rest for the wicked until we close our eyes for good’ Now ain’t that the truth? Because I’ve been telling myself that I’ll get some sleep when I’m dead. For now I can stay up till 5am. Life is short!

Since I’ve been gone though, I’ve found that I’ve developed into a more mellow person. I don’t like getting mad, I feel like it’s a waste of time. I want to take life slow, embrace every moment, because it just goes so fast. I came to this conclusion one day when I was sitting around at work. I started thinking; I’m half way to being forty years old. FORTY! Geeze, I barely remember the last twenty years, they flew by so fast. What’s to say the next twenty won’t be as fast? I don’t want to get old. I really don’t. So I decided to try and take life slower, stop anticipating the end of the day or the weekend. Just take it one moment at a time. It’s been working well so far.

----

I don’t know if I had any major problems when I was abroad. Well, except for my luggage situation. As I’ve mentioned about 80 times already, I took 40kg of luggage to Denmark, however, in order to travel to Poland, I was only allowed 20kg. Now there was the question of what to do with my extra 20kg. I asked everyone at work what they though, but no one really had any idea of what to do. So I went to the post office, and I asked there about sending a huge package. She said that the maximum weight I could send would be 20kg, and by boat it was something like $200. I asked around the office too, but no one seemed to have any better ideas. In the end, I just ended up sending it by mail. I was told it could take up to a couple months, which I was none too pleased about, but miraculously, my bag was waiting for me when I got home. How lucky! And speedy.

Another problem, if you can call it that, was with paying my rent. The banks were only open until 4pm, and I usually got home well after 5pm. Now what a pickle that put me in, as I had to pay my rent to the bank directly. Also, if I wanted to exchange my money into Danish money, I’d have to do it through the bank too. Though this problem had a really easy solution; I just asked Niels if I could go home early one day. Of course there was no problem with that. So one day, we finished operating on the calves at around 2pm, and I went home, and I went merrily to the bank. Problem solved =)

I really don’t recall and serious problems. I guess that means I didn’t have any. Which if I were to judge, that is a very good thing. I have this manner about me that tries to avoid conflict and problems in any way possible; I think I definitely put that to good use while I was abroad.

----

July 25th:
I’m not sure if I have essentially changed so much over the summer. Right now, I’m sitting at the airport in Zurich (which I will be in for the next six hours or so), and I’m having a hard time thinking of anything. I’ve always seen myself as the type of person to resist change rather than to embrace it, though I don’t exactly try not to change. It seems I’m just very settled in my own ways at this stage of my life. I suppose I’ve become a bit more adventurous. I’m kind of in the mood for making plans lately, as I have noted that my recent ones have worked out well. I’ve learned that if I actually apply myself to something I can make it possible. There isn’t enough time to sit around hoping something will happen. Gotta make it happen. I’m also more adventurous in talking to strangers, though I honestly can’t explain this one. I don’t think I learned it from anywhere, maybe I’m just bored or lonely. Or both. As long as I’ve been flying, I never bother talking to the person sitting next to me, but for some reason today as I flew out of Dubai I did. He was some Swiss business man, in Dubai for work. It started off by me making a comment about if our plane were to crash, I would not leave my shoes behind when we evacuated. He agreed, and we decided our shoes were both too nice to leave behind if we had to abandon ship. Now that was logical thinking. Aufwiederzein Patrick, thanks for making a six and a half hour flight pretty entertaining. I guess now that I’m thinking more about it, I’ve really mellowed out. I still have a very low level of patience, but overall I’m calmer. I think this came with me wanting to slow time down. I know I can’t, but if I take everything one moment at a time, it seems a lot slower and it makes me feel more at ease.

After being in the UAE for a week, my perspective on a few things has changed too. Mostly on how much of a problem money is. The city I actually stayed in was Al Ain, a city in the desert about an hour away from Dubai. I remember the first time I saw Dubai. That whole city is just pure extravagance. Designer stores glare at you from behind every corner, buildings are huge and unfinished, the malls are like a whole lifestyle destinations as they feature ice rings and even an indoor ski slope, and then there’s the man made islands, on which you can buy an apartment, villa, or heck, even your own personal island. All in the middle of the desert of course. It’s ridiculous to think how much money goes into all of this! Even the plant life here, all of it has to be watered, throughout the whole country. Back home we’re supposed to feel guilty about just watering our grass or taking too long of a shower. Oh not here though, they pump tons and tons of water in to keep the grass and trees alive in the middle of this arid desert. And this is the whole country. It’s insane. It’s just a totally different system of government. There they have a monarchy in each of the Emirates, led by a sheikh, basically the king or royalty. One thing that really hit me, and made me laugh too, was when I went to the bank with my dad. He was talking with the lady that transfers money and they came upon the conversation of money and government. My dad was talking about how he has to send money home to pay for the house because it’s all just so expensive. Kamela was this lady’s name, and she was just bewildered by this statement. She looked genuinely confused and said, ‘What? Your sheikh doesn’t give you a house? Or money?’ No dear Kamela, our sheikh gives us nothing. And he takes our money too. Gee thanks Obama. It’s just a completely different way of life. And I really think I’m off of the original topic, but this was pretty shocking to me. It made me see that there was so much more out there than just the way we Americans, or Europeans do things.

-----

July 28th:
So I’ve been home since Sunday, and I must say, it’s so weird to be back. Nothing has changed at all; everything is just the same old, same old. For some reason, it feels like I’ve been gone a lot longer than I really have. I can’t say that I’ve experienced culture shock at any side of the Atlantic, but there are a few things that I notice about Americans that really grates on my nerves. Or maybe it’s just Chicagoans, because I noticed a lot of these things as I waited for the plane to O’Hare in Zurich. For some reason, most prominent to me is the style of parenting. It’s so different between countries. In Europe parents are strict but pretty laid back at the same time. They kids in Europe seem to have more freedom to just do their own thing and they speak a lot differently to their parents. At the airport, I was sitting next to this family of three. The mother was rummaging through her bag and told her son that she had granola bars and trinkets if he was hungry. The boy, I figured he was of high school age says, ‘No mother, I already told you this morning that I didn’t want anything. Also, I do not like triskets, you as my mother should know that I do not like triskets!’ His tone was just so hostile and smart alecky. Grr, I hate that, though I really couldn’t help but laugh. And then there was the fake laugh lady. This woman was waiting to board the plane, but before you can board the plane they check your boarding pass and passport. I didn’t hear what the problem with hers was, but her husband got on the plane and she waited at the side of the line until everyone had gone in. you could tell she was embarrassed by the situation and every time she caught eye contact with someone she would laugh and say something about how silly the misunderstanding was. Really lady, really? How annoying. I do love people watching though, very entertaining. I have this theory that Chicago is full of very hostile and self absorbed people, I always try my hardest to not be one of them.
Gee, I really seem like a bitter person, don’t I? Haha!

Oh, and also, then there was the clapping after the plane landed. The only time I ever hear that is after a landing in the states. I wonder why that is?

July 30th:
The more time I spend here at home, the more I've noticed that nothing has changed. This is rather comforting to me. I mean, yeah, I was only gone for three months, but to me, it really seemed like so much longer. For example, on Monday my friend and I went to Taco Bell to try this newfangled Volcano Burrito she's been telling me about. We got our orders and sat down. After biting into her, my friend discovers that they gave her a potato bacon burrito instead. TBell, TBell, still messing up orders. Some things really never do change! Haaa...
Everyone back home is doing the same thing they always have been, and everything looks the same too. Oh suburbia, I sure missed it. The biggest change around here is that they redid the asphalt in my cul-de-sac. No longer is it pocked with massive holes. It is now beautiful, smooth, and pitch black. Very nice, this is a change I can certainly deal with.