What Is An Expat?

So day before yesterday I’m hiding out in my office. It’s the 4th day in a row that I have actually been busy. I go about 3 months filling up my day working and working (on the internet) and working (visiting) and working (wandering) and it’s like all of a sudden people realize they have computers and problems and an IT guy. Hey! A match made in heaven! Of course, as always it was all silly stuff, but that didn’t stop me having to move back and forth across camp all day long. It is a definite change to go from “I make myself busy doing things” to “I am very busy, how am I going to work in those other things?”

Quick side trip here: I do more before 9 AM than you do ALL DAY! That’s because, you know, your 9 AM is my 9 PM. Ha. Sigh…this is a tough audience.

Anyways, earlier in the day I had been conversing with some folk, and we talked about getting off base, even if there isn’t much to see. Even if there isn’t much to see, there aren’t endless seas of tents and this crappy rock surface to see. That works. So later a party unrelated to that conversation pops his head in the door and mentions going to the airport, do I wanna go? Can I get a Hell Yeah? Oh well, I don’t even know if Steve Austin still wrestles anymore. (more…)

Ok, so how many of you can type? I can type purty good, fairly fast with not too awful many mistakes.

But that’s not so difficult.

How many of you can type in a foreign character set?

I’m going to guess none. I’m also going to include myself in that total, but go ahead and reckon that I’m further along. Let me tell you, it’s right damn hard. Never mind the issues of trying to remember the word for soandso or how you were thinking you might make an actual understandable phrase. Let’s throw a different character set and layout into the mix too! Yaay! Fun! (more…)

Bah, at least you can go down to the store and buy a new one. It’s just one of those days — actually a rarity for what that’s worth. Bunch of little stuff ruthlessly self-destructing today. A couple of other things that shouldn’t bother me are, and another situation is complicating itself. Wah.

Anyways, speaking of work…so I’m standing up on top of the conex today that Mr. Satellite Dish is perched on. This is shortly after the ladder decides to slip in the loose rock. I made it onto the conex instead of the ground, but Mr. Shin is all swole up and generally unpleasant to associate with. I’m watching our locals dig a trench. They have these really trendy blue uniforms except for the foreman, who has the Green Uniform of Command and A Nifty Hat of Managing. An Uzbek shovel consists of your standard shovel head with a tree stuck into it. By that I mean not the standard size stick you might expect to see in the states but a big knotty, irregular length “hey let’s cut this one down it’s sorta straight” type of handle. They had a backhoe dig the trench and now are getting the leftover dirt out. Two guys carrying a stretcher type object made of wood are functioning as wheelless wheelbarrow totin’ guys. In this trench, one of the Shovel Engineers (no, really they don’t know about that kind of silliness, he’s just a laborer) is wearing a jacket. Not a regular jeezI’mcold jacket, but a dressy kind of jacket. Now I don’t know the difference between a sport coat and suit jacket, nor do I really care. But is either one of those appropriate for trench digging? (more…)

I saw something today that just struck as almost mind-numbingly bizarre.

It was a guy wearing the woodland camouflage BDUs — AKA Green suit. Now this might not strike you crazy kids back home as weird, but absolutely EVERYONE else is wearing the Brown Suits. Sure, you see the woodland pattern Goretex jackets, but that’s not too much of a problem. There was just some totally jarring about this all green uniform. It looked new, too. He must have felt rather silly wandering around being unique in the sea of conformity. (more…)

Ok, so consider having lunch at work. What do you think of? Going out to lunch with your co-workers? That one guy who says “anywhere is fine” and proceeds to shoot down every suggestion as unacceptable? (Hey MB! ) Jeez, I could stand some Benny’s chips and salsa, followed by the Mighty J No Lettuce! Fuck this, I’m leaving!

Or do you think of bringing in something from home? Some leftovers from last night you heat up in the microwave, or a sandwich that while uninspired, gets the job done. Maybe a frozen meal. But in both of these cases, you are mainly taking care of yourself.

Not so the Uzbeks. (more…)