Suffering in Silence

This goat probably didn't suffer in silence.
Photo cred to Annie and Hannah who drove
around on Eid morning to get this masterpiece.

It’s been brought to my attention a few times that I haven’t updated this blog in a while. It’s no big deal depriving the masses (hi Mom! But mostly Claire) of my literary masterpieces, but I was reflecting a bit on why I haven’t been updating recently. I do not have a specific day when I make myself post on this blog (rules and regulations aren’t really my style) and I generally write when the mood hits me. It obviously hasn’t hit recently. There are several possible reasons for that, but one of the big ones is just that it’s been a tough few months at work, which is exhausting and makes me less excited about spending more time on the computer posting on the blog. Projects we all worked really hard on didn’t go well, making us look completely incompetent, though most of it was out of our hands. We are still suffering away on these projects, by the way. Just the donors worry that we are wasting their time and money intentionally, I think. I had one donor tell me I needed a new plan: “Your new plan could be to work faster and not drill negative bore holes.” I mean, it’s genius, right? I wish I’d thought of it first. It would have saved me so much time if I had not told my team to drill all those negative bore holes. Well, hindsight, I guess.

Every once in a while we got a positive bore hole

See our rig over there on the other side of the rainy season temporary river?
We have to quit next week or we will get flooded in.

Took this photo proudly before the team left to finish a big project.
They came back 4 hours later because of a paperwork issue.
It was not a happy day.

This photo of my lunch is important to show
the quality of roads out here. This is what the chips
looked like when I opened the can. 

It’s also been a season of goodbyes. This is one of the worst parts about being an expat. Other worse parts include trying to figure out visa systems in new countries, any time you have to go to the American Embassy for something little which takes up an entire day (making you wish you’d been born in one of those small friendly countries), and trying to pack up all the presents you were told to buy for people while you’re in the States into the small bag that would have been perfectly sufficient for your stuff. Usually, I’m the one dropping a few casual goodbyes, trying to look like I’m crying as people hug me and tell me how they’ll miss me, doing all my things for the last time (last time running this route, driving this horrible car, buying coke zero from this nice friendly shopkeeper, eating this favorite food I’ll never get anywhere else, etc), and giving away all the crap I’ve accumulated over the time I’ve been there. All the while I’m sad, but looking forward to the next adventure. This time I’m the one staying, and that’s weird for me. And I’m going to miss these friends who are leaving, while I’m excited about their next adventures (or mostly their up-coming rest and recovery time while deciding on the next adventure). 

The one friend I actually got a goodbye photo with

As an expat you get to be friends with people you’d never have even met if you’d stayed in your country, and you can get really close to people quickly because you’re all huddled together trying to survive things that make the locals laugh at your weakness. There is a lot of bonding that happens through shared trauma.  I’m thankful for life in the modern era that includes the internet, so we can keep in communication (and I can send thousands of photos of my dog to people who are too far away to do anything about it), and airplanes, so I can go visit friends in other places, as long as they live in places I want to visit. And that’s why next week I hope on a plane for two days to see a friend who has been there for me for years, most of which we have not spent in the same country, much less the same continent. I’m thankful I can make this happen financially and by sheer force of will and because my parents raised me to wander so I’m not afraid of a 15 hour plane ride, though I wish said parents had thought to buy me a private plane for one of my graduations because the worst part of traveling is all the other stupid people who drag their roller suitcases over your foot and stay in the tiny bathroom for 20 minutes while the line gets long enough to overbalance the airplane and possibly tip it over.

The goodbye photo taken by Naomi, who was leaving,
of Emelie and me, who are still here.
Sadly, Em's motorcycle was recently stolen.

In conclusion, goodbyes suck, but it is nice to have new places where you can visit good friends. Airplane travel is terrible, but it’s the best way to go until I learn how to teleport. And I have more photos with my dog than I have with my friends who are leaving/left, so please enjoy!

There you go, Claire. Never leave me!!!

Marzipan cake with the faithful Claire, who will stay with me forever.

And now, please enjoy the following photo series dedicated to my dog Joe, as in G.I. :

He's so cute sometimes he just gazes at himself in the mirror.

Our love is pure. Though my floor is not that clean. Oh well.

He loves a good selfie.
He's so cute the camera blurred.

Serious photo with my downstairs neighbor.
She loooooooves Joe.

At Naomi's helping her get stuff ready to leave.
Joe decided it would be a good time to sit in my lap.

Yes, he had ticks at the time, but he looks so cute sleeping on my bed!

This is not Joe. This is a cat that I watched get surgeried.

He doesn't have ticks anymore. I got meds!

He helped me fix the chairs because I HATE the scraping sound
of the chair on the tiles and every time people sat in those chairs,
I jumped out of mine, and it was getting tiresome.

Joe got really excited by the tape.

Joe and I went hippo watching with some other cool people,
not pictured.

Can you see the hippo? He is really there.

Joe antagonizing the cat Annie is watching for the last time
before she leaves. And this is the only photo I have of our last time hanging out.

Joe took my seat on the way to work on this morning.
He refused the back seat, and just hopped himself right up by Urbain.
He clearly does not feel any qualms about that.

Joe loves goat horns. I found this one at the end of my morning run.
I stopped a few brief seconds, ruining my mile time, to pick this up and
run with it all the way home. It is a testimony to how well everyone in my neighborhood knows
me now that no one asked me what I was doing. They see me walk Joe every day, so they know us pretty well.
Joe was overwhelmed with gratitude for my gesture.

Also LOOK at this adorable puppy. He's not mine though. But the world should see his cute face.