Life, or something like it

I have been fairly overwhelmed recently with life-in-general and not fulfilling my vow to single-handedly enlighten the readers (all four of you!) about Afghanistan. And it probably won't happen tonight either - I am tired and have a cold, so my head is all blocked up and I am fairly incapable of thinking straight! I have seen The Departed tonight, and my brain really isn't up to much more than trying to decide whether or not Leonardo Di Caprio has had hair plugs (seriously - I think he used to have a much more pronounced widow's peak, didn't he?) I also think he has put on about fifty kilos. At least he no longer looks fifteen! But that was a fun and escapist few hours, so I am not complaining. I needed a Martin Sheen fix now that I have watched the very last episode of West Wing - ever (excuse me while I go rock in a foetal position for a while).


Anyway - Spring has sprung in Melbourne and I am enjoying the truly bizarre weather that traditionally brings - 35 degrees one day and 15 the next. The city is incredibly dry - we are continuing our drought and once again on severe water restrictions. The next level came in last Wednesday. So what did I do right before hand? I washed my car. What did it do on Thursday? It rained on my clean car...*pbft* I was so tempted to not emerge from the house all day, in order to preserve my car's cleanliness, especially as we can now only wash them with a bucket (such a performance).


We are also onto daylight saving's time, which is another reminder to me that we are coming in to summer. I have now had two solid years of summer weather and am fairly fed up with being hot and sticky! Guess I am in for another six months or so of it.


Yes - that's right. I am sticking around Melbourne for a while. I have agreed to work on my Philippines project for a few months over Christmas/New Year (although based in Melbourne, not Manila, as management of the project is transferring here). I will be starting on that as soon as I finish my Afghanistan work and cannot wait to get back to Manila to visit. That will keep me busy until February, when we have a family skiing trip planned for Aspen. So I guess my life is fairly well mapped out right now, hey?


I am still missing Afghanistan a lot, but am more slowly getting back into life here. I constantly worry about Afghanistan and my colleagues there - I am always asking for updates about people and checking that they are okay. It is weird how much it is still present with me - I was thinking this morning about one of the team houses we had in a rural zone - I could see perfectly, in my mind's eye, the screen door that led the the bedroomw - I could see the angle it hung at and how the bolt on the door wouldn't close. I can still remember exactly where the surface of my desk was chipped and how my curtains hung crookedly. I suppose, with time, this vividness will fade, which will be healthy. My room isn't even my room now - it has been packed up and is awaiting shipment back to me (well - my personal effects - they are not sending me the curtains!)


I am also embracing life here more and getting on with normal things. Although not a fan of hot weather, I like summer - I like days that are light until 9.00p.m., I like gelati and walking along the beach and of course there is the tennis - I love the tennis and will be a fairly regular feature at the Australian Open, I imagine. I have been getting madly into Harry Potter lately - finally one too many adults told me how much they loved it, and I have firmly jumped onto the ship, whizzing through them so that I am now half way through the sixth book. I also tried to get into something that was on television (man - is it just me or is most of the stuff on TV rubbish now?) I started watching Grey's Anatomy - mostly because many of my friends were and I could discuss it with them. However, I was absolutely thrilled to have the season two finale last week feature my favourite ever Snow Patrol song - Chasing Cars. I now remember reading posts on amazon by people who said they came to the band after seeing this in America - it didn't mean anything to me at the time as I never watched the show. I think that their increasing popularity might have something to do with this - always a dilemma when a band you have loved for a long time suddenly become mainstream. While you are happy for their success, a mean part of you wants them to remain your little secret and another part of you desperately hopes they don't sell out and start writing like the Backstreet Boys *snerk*


I suppose the sum total of these musings is that life here is becoming depressingly normal. I was speaking with another friend who just returned from a year in Africa and we were dwelling on the fact that life back home is exactly the same. Which can be hard to slip back in to. I also don't feel like I want to become too comfortable here - my goal remains to be working in the field and within six months or so, I truly hope to be back overseas. And I know that the more attached and settled you become, the more difficult it is to make the break from home when you leave again. So I find myself in a sort of limbo, which fortunately, everyone is being very patient with.

I will definitely be back with more Afghanistan posts - when my sinuses clear! In the meantime - here's to home and the brilliant convenience of life in Melbourne!