the new normal

it's been 2 weeks since i arrived and things are starting to feel like the new normal for me over here. there has been a lot of talk in the media and among my colleagues in the gallup tribe about the new normal as it relates to the united states. most of it has been as a reaction to our country's changes in mentality as we move through economic slowdown (dare i say recession) and inch toward recovery.

i have experienced a similar transformation personally. all of my surroundings have been replaced. all of the people i interact with on a daily basis are gone and there now exists a completely new set of faces and personalities i interact with each day. my mode of transportation is different. no longer can i jump in my car or onto my motorcycle and go wherever i want, whenever i want. when and what i eat has changed. there is very little about my life that looks and feels like it did a month ago.

and i'm starting to realize that none of that matters. and i don't mean none of that matters in the teenage angst ridden "nothing matters" sense of the phrase. what i mean is life remains constant regardless of our surroundings and circumstances and we remain, at essence, the same people we always are. it's no great realization that humans are adaptable. that may be one of the most cliched sentiments rendered. but a healthy dose of ripping oneself out of their comfort zone, untethering the ties of comfort and stability, is good to remind one that the bounds of adaptability are greater than we might realize when we are entrenched in those comfort zones we find ourselves in.

that's probably enough of the esoteric bullshit for one night. i doubt anyone wants to hear me blather on about my revelations of self...at least not any longer than for a few paragraphs.

one concrete reality of the situation over here is that it is, for lack of a better word, calm. i was talking to one of the lieutenant colonels in charge of media affairs yesterday. she spent the past week with stephen colbert and his team while they were filming out here. she recounted that stephen and his producer left with almost a sense of let down in that their is a sense of anticipation for feelings of danger and/or adventure out here. don't get me wrong, they were overjoyed to be out here and really did an amazing job putting on the show. but i know what they are talking about. aside from the fact that there are military personnel and razor wire all around you, you don't feel like you are in a war zone while you are over here. it feels exactly like what it is...the place the war used to be, but isn't quite cleaned up yet and still isn't working quite right.

while i will admit the trip along route irish in a large, armored vehicle can inspire a sense of adventure, there is an overriding sense of order to everything i experience over here. we have been over here for so many years things have become very routinized. while in previous years there had been more frequent disruptions in peace and security, the process of force draw down coupled with a shift from frequent, arbitrary attacks to less frequent, more targeted attacks has created a sense of calm around my experience here thus far. that is not a complaint; i am much safer being over here than i undoubtedly would have been a few years ago. it sounds like if you want adventure, you have to go to afghanastan now and there are quite a few contractors who, as operations draw down here, are doing just that.

it's important to keep in mind that all of my reactions and experiences are from the sanitized lens of living in the international zone and working at the embassy. talking to people outside of this protected bubble will produce wildly varying responses and impressions, to be sure.

thanks for reading...sorry it took me so long to update, but i could update with a saved post and catch up with a new post tonight. if you have anything you would like me to talk about or have questions, i will do my best to answer them or write about what you want to hear. just let me know.

cheers.