The past few weeks have been a blur of activity. There’s been plenty of work to keep myself busy with, but it’s on the personal life front where things have really picked up. I’ve experienced the first of my friends departing from post – renewing the repeating experience of meeting someone, getting to know them and appreciating their company, just in time for them to take their leave and depart – often times with fond farewells, but other times seldom a word. It’s a cycle that will take some getting used to, as I feel like I desire lasting relationships with people, which is apart from the nature of the life I find myself in.
Thankfully, there are outliers to this case. In the expat community I’ve found many people I enjoy spending time with. In this world, even people you’ve only met once or twice you’ll start to consider as friends – it’s something of a bond between expats, knowing that you’re in a place far different from the one where your roots are, and needing that sense of community with people that share a similar perspective and can relate to your own experience living in a foreign country. With these connections in place I’ve begun to pick up life where I left off – hosting events and game nights, trying to involve people in my life and similarly be involved in the lives of others.
I’ve done my best to accept invitations and attend just about any event I can, and it’s done wonders to stave off the feelings of isolation that we had been warned of before heading to post. Unfortunately not all people have embraced the experience and have had troubles adjusting because of it, and it’s all the more sobering when they decide they’d rather be someplace else and take their leave of this place. I was worried that this would be my outlook, that I’d have a hard time adjusting and difficulty finding my stride. It certainly felt like that was the case in my first few weeks here when I struggled to find the courage to go outside, or didn’t know how to connect or interact with the local staff I supervise – but I’ve had a remarkably quick turn-around, I find that I’ve rarely felt more confident than I do now, I don’t think twice about doing things that would have previously made me pause. I’ve grown considerably in a short amount of time which is something I’m taking quite a bit of pride in.
I’ve challenged myself to do things I’ve never done before. I’ve taken a diving course and gotten my open water certification on a dive trip to Hurghada on the Red Sea. I’ve enjoyed my first ‘run’ with the hash house harriers, and my first trip in a fallucca, bobbing around in the Nile as the sun slowly set. I’ve celebrated Iftar with my local staff, who took me by motorcycle and ferry to one of the islands in the Nile for a night of good company and celebration. I’ve attended the events hosted by other embassies and the expat community alike. I’ve had my first hike in the Wadi Degla and skiied down an indoor slope.
I don’t feel that individually any of these experiences is worth it’s own post in my blog (well, with the exception of the dive trip!) but when you put it all together it paints a picture of what life here can be like; and at least for me, how different it was from what my expectations were before I came. At this point I feel sufficiently far removed from that person and the mindset before my own arrival that I don’t even know what it was that I was expecting. Of course, we were set up with some idea as to how our mood and outlook would ebb and flow as we arrived; how we’d experience the culture for the first time, how we’d encounter a honeymoon phase, which would then be curbed by acute homesickness, and eventually give way to a balance of acceptance and coming to terms with our new homes.
I can’t really say if I have experienced any of it, and I feel like my outlook has been significantly different from those of many of my peers, but so has my situation. It’s been a unique transition, but whatever difficulty I’ve never failed to rise to the challenges of the difficulties that I’ve had coming to terms with it. It has it’s ups and downs, and I’ve found things here that bring me enjoyment, I’ve found people that I’m happy to associate with, and there are still many challenges in front of me both personally and professionally; but I feel like it’s taken far fewer steps to find my stride here than I would have imagined, and I find myself really looking forward to my time here.
