Oi. Fala ingles?

Well I have been home now for over a month and I am remembering why I love this place. There is my family of course but the culture is so easy for me to fold back into. The simple things like how people drive and how clean the streets are kept is no longer not noticed. But something is missing. Viviane is not with me.


My time is Brazil was awesome. I was welcomed when I landed and was treated like family from the very beginning. I can’t wait to return the favor. I can’t wait to have Viviane with me as we drive through LA. Until she is here, my life with be incomplete. Time will change this, but the waiting is right now, so it is hard. I will see her soon as I will be back in Salvador in December for the holidays. She brings me peace and I love her and I don’t want to be anywhere else this year for Christmas.

So since I have been back I have been to Hi-Life-Burger, In-n-Out Burger, Z Sushi, Sei Sushi, and Obu Sushi. I forgot how happy SuperSalad makes me. I will hit that place again soon. I have finally cooked a few meals which made me happier than the old favorites that I craved. Down south in Bahia I was fed like a horse and I did very little cooking.

I forgot how much I enjoy American television. But with that said the commercials are nauseating. In Dubai they did not have the production know how to fill shows with commercial breaks, you would get a huge 15-20 minute block at the end of the hour and/or shows would start in crazy subsets of the hour. You could often avoid commercials. Now that I am back, I think I watch a dozen beer commercials every time I turn on the set. (But maybe that is because it is usually on ESPN) I have lost the instinct to turn on the TV for news. I go to the web and to the radio for that. TV is entertainment and education only. I don’t know how long this will last. I will either soon be out of touch or ahead of the curve. We’ll see.

I am back in country for a College football season again. I love this stuff. I have spent a few Saturdays watching multiple TV’s and eating nachos. Overseas I had a huge dose of Soccer. English Premier League mostly and then Brazilian Leagues while in Salvador. I came home to Playoff Baseball. Skipped the season again and just am now watching the good part. Totally sticking with my National League and pulling for the Phillies. The company I worked for in Dubai was based out of Marlton, NJ which is near the state boarder and just outside downtown Philadelphia and that office of full of fanatics. I saw with my own eyes a Phillies 2008 WS banner in an office in Doha, Qatar behind the desk of a co-worker. She also happens to be a Quaker and lettered their on their rowing team. She is an impressive Eastern Pennsylvanian.

I have thought many times about the people that used to be in my everyday life: Indians, Sri Lankans, Indonesians, Brits, Scotts, Jordanians, Egyptians, Pakistani, Persians, Emirati, Saudi, Serbians, Brazilians, French, Australians, Kiwi, South Africans, Kenyans, Filipinos, Singaporeans, Palestinians, Iraqi, Turkish, Canadians, and other Americans too. I mispronounced many names. Some I never got right at all. From the other side I was asked more than once how I got Bill out of William. It seems so normal to me but more often than not it is considered a completely different name. (Especially on a credit card) Filipinas have some wild names: Princess Sunshine Conception, Lady Ann, Anonymous (not kidding), Charity Hope, Baby Kay, Monalisa for example.

I am still feeling a bit out of place. I don’t have many of the things right now that I used to have that helped me build my identity. My car and room are temporary. I am not working. Sometimes this makes me really anxious and I feel very lost. It is hard to keep a clear perspective of where I am and where I am going. Too many questions unanswered. I have been here before though so I am better prepared this time.

I have not posted in a while. This blog was used to stay in touch with family, but now I am here again. But I now have family out there. I now get to tell them I love them and I can use this medium to share my life back home. I am coming back. I will see you in December. (That is me talking to Brazil and not Dubai. Dubai is not on the visit list any time soon.)

Babydoll I miss you.
I love you.

William