Here There and Everywhere

Expat wanderer

Feedback

As I am chatting on the phone with AdventureMan, he brings up the blog.

“I don’t get it,” he says, “You get like fifty-seven comments on any article about the Qatteri Cat, and you get NO comments on a perfectly wonderful article like the Lemba and their DNA link to the lost tribes of Israel!”

I just laugh. I’ve gotten used to it.

“Months from now I will get a letter from some academic who has been looking for that article and can’t find it,” I tell AdventureMan. “And months from now, that article will still be getting hits while the Qatteri Cat entry is long forgotten.”

Chatting with my Mom on the phone, this morning, she mentioned how she was working out in the water these days, trying to build strength in her legs and knees and hips, and how when she gets discouraged she thinks of the entry on The Magic Bullet and how she really does feel better and have more energy when she finishes. I’m so proud of my Mom. She is 84, living on her own, and had one of her old best friends as a houseguest this weekend, and they attended a fashion show in which my sister Sparkle was modeling. They had a great time. I can only hope to be as fit and active as my Mom when I am her age, and, God willing, still living on my own.

This morning I got an e-mail from Kuwaiti Woman / Dirty Dinar letting her regular commenters know she is back in the blog world once again. I am so glad she wrote to us – I had deleted her from my list of favorites when so much time went by without an entry. Her blog is about the great adventure of learning to manage your own money. She is a very courageous woman, lets us in on all her failures as well as her successes, and because she does not spare herself, she is totally addictive. Who hasn’t had to make tough financial decisions from time to time that blow the budget?

These feedbacks – and the wonderful, additive feedback of your comments – are what keep this blogger going.

Yes, I am having fun. How cool is it knowing your own Mom copied out the recipe for Penny Carrot Salad? How cool is it learning that there are Arab wolves in the desert, and that they are in danger of extinction because they are interbreeding with feral dogs ( R’s comment on Total Crack Up) This blog has made me feel connected in Kuwait, and connected to like-minded people around the world.

I still protect my anonymity, and at the same time, I have a realistic fear that I am getting closer and closer to the day when one of my good friends will look at me sharply and say “I think you are blogging. Are you Intlxpatr?” I don’t know what I will do when that happens. I’m not a good liar, and why would I want to lie to a friend? I just don’t know how long I can expect to keep my identity a secret.

May 1, 2008 Posted by | Blogging, Character, Communication, Community, Exercise, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Friends & Friendship, Generational, Kuwait, Lies, Living Conditions, Privacy, Relationships | 11 Comments

FORECAST for MiYaFuSHi

WeatherUnderground says it is CLEAR today. Here is the Kuwait Airport forecast for today:

May 1, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Kuwait, Living Conditions, Uncategorized, Weather | 4 Comments

Sunrise 1 May 2008 SSDD

As an Army wife, I was exposed to a lot of rough language through the years, and as I got up this morning and looked at the “sunrise” I had this thought: Same (stuff) different day.

The haze gives me a little headache; I don’t know if it is from the glare of the sun bouncing off all the particles, or whether the particles themselves are headache inducing. The haze seems to be increasing, and I wonder if we are in for another sandstormy day.

I am happy to say that yesterday, as the sandstorm went on, I saw more and more motorists stopping and waiting until the storm had passed, and fewer and fewer idiots driving fast and laying on the horn to warn everyone to get out of their way. Idiots!

Here is today’s sunrise, on May 1, 2008:

It’s 81°F / 27°C at 0730 on a Thursday morning.

Update: LOL, I just looked at yesterday’s photo and it is almost exactly the same. :-/

May 1, 2008 Posted by | ExPat Life, Health Issues, Kuwait, Living Conditions, sunrise series, Weather | 6 Comments