I just returned from my first trip back to the US since I moved to Oman and I have to say the jet lag is killing me. Against my better judgment, I spent all day yesterday in bed sleeping, which is sure to screw me up for this entire week. I'm pretty sure it's karma, since I was bragging that I had no jet lag going to the US (and even wondered whether all of my recent travels have gotten my system so used to traveling that now I don't get lagged).
It was also an incredibly whirlwind trip, since I was "home" for only 7 days (I actually consider Oman "home" now). I was there for a work conference and to spend a few days catching up in the Houston office, but I also needed to do a tremendous amount of shopping, as well as squeeze in doctors and dentists appointments. And yeah, you hear shopping and you think fun and glamorous stuff, but I was really shopping for routine things like cold medicine and heating pads and hair products and shampoo and other incredibly boring and mundane things that you don't think about needing...until you can't buy them because you live in the freaking desert. In my haste to leave Houston last Thursday, I even forgot to pack a 6-month supply of prescription meds as well as my Omani liquor license! Fortunately my tenant is sending me everything, but geez, talk about forgetting the critical stuff (and here's hoping the package makes it through customs)!
Since this was my first trip back and since I'd had a rough couple of weeks in Oman with no running water or internet (my water is working again, though still no internet), a few people wondered whether my trip back would cause me to want to stay back in the US. Not even a little bit. Look, it was nice to see my friends, it was great to be back in my nice house (with running water and internet and even shower pressure!), it was nice to drink gallons of Diet Coke and wander the glorious aisles of Target, but none of that made me want to move back to Houston permanently. I really like being an expat, despite all the trials and tribulations in living in a place like this. Also, as crazy as Omani drivers are, driving in Houston was so much worse because of the traffic, the enormous highways, the oblivious drivers, the narrow lanes and the sorry state of the roads. It was flat out terrifying.
In addition to the jet lag, I think I'm also just exhausted from all the traveling. A few weeks ago I was in Japan for two weeks, then here for one week (dealing with all the house maintenance issues), then the US for a week, then I'm here for one week, then a week off work (I'm thinking of going to Germany if I can figure out all the details in the next few days), then here for two weeks, then a week in Romania, then here for three days, then the US for a week...I got tired just listing all that. And my poor cat. But after the first few weeks of November I'm not planning on going anywhere for a good, long while, so I need to make the most of these opportunities while I have them. And because I really need to go back to the US in November so I can hug my dog.
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