Again

Yesterday I moved - yet again.

I have an idea what lies ahead. Another apartment hunt in another foreign city. Another bureaucracy and a fresh batch of inefficient utility companies. Another set of table manners to learn and try not to mix with the sets I knew (to a degree) before. Another six months of discovering at the worst possible moment that I've yet to stock up on shoe polish, or lightbulbs, or aluminium foil. Another period of months or maybe years where I will need strain my senses 24/7 with the effort of understandingthe language, the culture, the people around me, until I find myself zoning out of conversation and come home at night surprised at how exhausted I am.

But then... that apartment hunt will be sponsored by the company, and will hopefully fill up with the first full furnishings I've ever bought myself. The utility companies will give me an insight into how society works here (and what prompts people to publish a three-hundred page guidebook entitled "the Dubai Red Tape"). The table manners will be learned in a cosmopolitan society over what's reported to be a selection of fantastic restaurants from the world over. When I find out I'm out of shoe polish or aluminium foil I will use it as an excuse to get to know the neighbours - who might be locals, or might be adventurous foreigners like me - either way they should be fascinating people. The months and years of effort I'll need to put into learning the culture (and hopefully the language) will cause me to need extra sleep for months, but hopefully it will eventually be richly rewarded with understanding the way it has been in the past.

The truth is that I love the adventure and the uncertainty that lies ahead. Yet again, I've made a choice - and yet again, despite the challenges, I'm glad for it.