Sunday, May 10, 2009

There's no place like HOME!

I'm finally home! Its 2:30 am in Indiana, except my body is on Dubai time, insists that its actually 10:30 am and, despite the fact that I haven't slept more than two consecutive hours in going on three days, is very much awake. I've been mulling over the past four and a half months and have really mixed feelings. I had a good and memorable experience in Dubai, but if I had it all to do over again, I don't think I would choose to go there. Then again, hindsight is 20/200, or however the saying goes....

Things I will miss about Dubai:
really cheap bottled water, the opportunity to travel a lot (despite the fact that it was brought about by my lack of a proper visa), never having to do work because my classes were harder in high school, cleaning ladies (even though I now know they clean the bathroom floor with the butt hose), the friends I made, pita bread from the Unimart, the AUD night guards, seeing ridiculous cars and even more ridiculous driving, playing the license plate game, the beach, looking at the Burj al-Arab from the beach, concerts outside my window
Things I will NOT miss about Dubai:
- squat toilets, taking cabs EVERYWHERE, dust storms, eating out for every meal, living in a dorm (and by that i mean walled-in, fully guarded, gender separate dorm compound), $8 beers and $12 cocktails, government and university blocked web pages, living in a neighborhood called Internet City and still getting internet that makes dial-up look speedy, having to explain to foreigners why I did not vote for Barack Obama, the stares of creepy migrant workers, being hit on by creepy foreign men, foreign ATM fees, pretending I'm not Jewish, the extreme inefficiency and illogicality of absolutely everything
Things about which I am excited to come home:
my own bed, driving, fast internet, my dog, my family, my friends, my 21st birthday, cooking my own food, food in general, TV, house parties, overall efficiency, a bath, intellectual people, clean public toilets, america in general....

I still need to write about Egypt, Jordan, and my two trips to Israel (one in March, when I went to Jordan, and the one with my mom from which I just returned). After that, this blog will be done. I'm still surprised anyone has continued to read this, but I hope you've enjoyed. No promises on when said blog entries will be up.

It feels good to be back. I feel so so so so so lucky to have been able to travel and learn and see and do all that I have done these past months, but there really is no place like home, and more than that, no place like the USA. John Updike claimed that, "America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy." Its working.