Weeks on end with no posts, and then two in one day. Oh well – have to take advantage of the internet access, which has been infrequent at best on this whole trip. Having just come through Nairobi I suppose I’ve revived some latent memories of my time there. There are some physical changes to the city itself, as well – better lights, trees being planted – all good to see. But I caught up with an old friend for lunch the other day and it’s got me thinking about where I am now – how strange and wonderful and misunderstood this life is, traveling all over, all the time. I look at my friends who are in their late 30′s, mostly, who have done this kind of work for years now. And we all are in a bit of a strange place – caught between our home countries and the lives we lead growing up, and those places in the world we’ve been drawn to, ended up in, worked and traveled in. At this age, in America at least, people generally are married, with kids, paying mortgages and living suburban lives. I understand all of that. But what those of us who do this kind of work deal with is the gap between that understanding and the lives we lead – which in general conform to none of those touchstones by which so many of our friends live. Over lunch the other day my friend and I both discussed the options – of whether it’s even possible to go back to the US, or the UK in her case – after living overseas. She thinks not – and has moved back to Kenya from Zambia where she plans to stay. I moved back to the US from Africa two years ago this month – and I’ve tried to straddle the two worlds: connecting to my friends and family in the US, while also still staying connected to the international life, those things abroad which interest me. And it’s been hard – as I knew it would be. But I suppose this trip – 2 months now in Africa, meeting old friends, connecting to the continent in so many ways – really has me thinking about direction, about whether it’s possible to balance those things I love most in my life. I’m not capturinng it here in this blog – strait from my head – but it’s the familiar pitfall for those who live and work overseas, I think. And I don’t think there is an answer for most of the questions trying to strike that balance raises.
September 23rd, 2007 | by David in Uncategorized
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