Comfortably Numb

I know, many of you are wondering if there is anybody out there.... Two and a half months have gone by without word..what is she doing????

Well in all honesty, I have been comfortably enjoying my life in Saudi Arabia. Where year one was filled with chaos and uncertainty, getting to know new people, missing old friends, and worrying about children adjusting; year two has been, thus far, filled with the comfortable predictability that comes from knowing your surroundings. Or at least those surroundings which one allows themselves to get to know.

We are enjoying our new found friendships. We are enjoying the quality of life that our children have here. We feel the good outweighs the bad. Yet, we are a little ambivalent. At the end of the day this is a temporary life, a life that one has to leave so the question of when to leave is omnipresent. This, I feel, makes it a little bit difficult to live in the now. Instead, we are always thinking one step ahead and weighing this life against a life we imagine we would have some place else.

So, how does Saudi measure up?

Today's weigh in goes something like this:

On the plus side, I personally am enjoying compound life. We have met some fantastic people and every day I know that if I want I will bump into somebody I know and can do anything from say 'hi' and give a passing smile to have a cup of coffee or chat for a couple of hours.

I am enjoying the multi-cultural-ness of it all. I am not surrounded by Americans, I am not surrounded by Swedes. Today, I am in regular contact with people from around the world. This is something positive for us all. The kids have friends from around the world, the majority of their friends speak two languages as do they. This, I believe, gives them a different view and understanding of the world as compared to the one they would have had had they lived their life in only Sweden or the US.

Another bonus is that the kids have time to be involved in quite a few activities and I am getting to spend more time with them here than I would have had we been someplace else.

On the minus side:

I miss having a home of my own. Living here is a little like hotel living. And, sometimes I long to get out into the woods....to go for a hike..to hear the wind rustling through the trees. To smell the rain. I miss the nature that is not desert.

As long as the plus side is heavier than the minus side I guess we'll continue to be comfortably numb here in Saudi Arabia....at least until we can figure out something else to do.