I was asked recently if knowing what I know now, would I still agree to move to the other side of the world? ABSOLUTELY! If you had asked me about a month into our first year, I would have said that I wasn't sure yet and to ask me again in a few months. If you had asked me about 5 months in, I would have said that I was depressed and homesick. If you had asked me about 8 months in, I would have said things were looking up and that it was not that bad (this was about the time I started snapping out of my little depression mode). If you had asked me at the year mark, I would have said that I miss home still and our country way of life but that there are definitely some amazing positives. So now two years under my belt and my reply is, "I still miss our country way of living, our front porch, our trees, our family and friends, my boots and jeans and one day when it is time, we will welcome and be excited about moving home. BUT right now, after experiencing some of the world and seeing places I only dreamed I would see, I can't say that I am ready for the traveling experiences to stop. It is not a better way of life, just a different life."
The entire world is such a vast place but yet when you get right down to what truly makes our world go round, it is vastly smaller. I have learned some amazing things about so many different cultures, and experienced the opposite side of stereotypes perpetuated by the media. I have met amazing, kind, wonderful, and loving people from so many different nations. I have a multicutural list of friends. It is a very unique life experience for us all.
So what did we do this year? Well of course the normal list of things--school, baseball, work and family time. Now for the not so normal list (blows my mind to hear myself talk of these things)-- sent one son to Turkey on a school trip, sent another son to Tanzania on a school trip, tent camping in the mountains of Oman and wading in a natural spring fed wadi (term used for a natural pool found in remote places in the mountains), learned a few more arabic words (still can't have a conversation though), baseball in Kuwait, offshore fishing off the coast of Fujariah (this was something that Clint was able to do with some coworkers), a weekend trip to Germany to see some of my former students (now all grown up with babies of their own), and a family trip to China and the amazing Great Wall. I always wanted to travel as I was growing up but just didn't think it would really ever happen. I had made peace with that…. Now the doors are open wide and folks, it is truly is a beautiful world!
