HAPPY 500th POST

Yes, you read that right this is my  500^th blogging birthday. Bring out the cake, light the candles, hang the banners and celebrate.  The KSA Daily officially has 500 posts !!! A collection of 500 stories recounting my cross-cultural mishaps and funny moments, stories of language learning and opening a business, tales of my travels and tour groups, 500 posts with pictures of Uyghur life and beautiful settings I get to call home.  

When I started this project a little over six years ago I never thought I would make it to 500 posts ( I didn’t think my life had that many interesting moments).  Not all of the 500 posts have come from my own hand.  In fact at least seven others have participated in authoring some of those posts, my former roommate, a classmate, my mom, my friend’s mom, expat friends, local friends and a completestranger.

  I am also surprised with the number of people I have met via the blogging world.  I was able to go for coffee in Thailand with a blogging friend from Mongolia, I catch up on news from college dorm mates who now live in Siberia.  I recently met another expat, we spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how she knew me or where we might have met in the past before she finally asked “Do you have a blog?  Are your initials KSA?”

   

I often feel as if it is unfair, when I go home to Canada friends and family know small details about my life.  They have a collection of 500 insights into what my daily life looks like. I, however, don’t know anything about what they have been up to.  I feel like a dud having to ask questions like “You had a second child right?  Girl or a Boy?”  Only to find out that baby is already over three years old.  Those same people know details about the color of my winter coat and my favorite breakfast food.  I feel like an uncaring friend.

The blogger stats say that on a daily basis more than 50 people check out the KSA Daily.  We have had guests from all over the world.  People from over forty countries have stopped by to read some of what is happening at the KSA Daily.  The map on the side shows that Tunisia, Venezuela , Egypt, Singapore and Azerbaijan. If you look up almost anything about Uyghur culture Google will pull up a link to this blog.

On the KSA Daily’s 100^th birthday I asked people to leave comments indicating whether or not it was still worth my time and energy to record my experiences in this fashion.  After such a blatant plea for feedback and encouragement, only 4 people left comments.  Only four people took the time to respond.  Only four people asked that I continue.  On my 200^th birthday my request for affirmation was even stronger.  I asked people to be completely honest and let me know if what I wrote was boring or if they just had nothing to say.  For the 11 people who took the time to comment I kept writing for another three years.

Part of me loves this whole idea of on-line journaling.  The thought that others may read what I am writing,  that you as a guest to this sight might check on a weekly basis to see if I have updated it,  helped me to be more disciplined in the act of journaling than I ever was when it was just a personal book stuffed in my sock drawer.   But truth be told I am tired.  I need a break from constantly thinking of my life as one big blog post.  I want to stop sitting down ever few nights and figuring out how I could write each life situation up as a funny entry.  

And so on my 500^th birthday I want to thank you all for joining me in this adventure and I want to say goodbye for now.  I don’t know if I am permanently done with blogging, or if I just need a break for a few months.  It’s been fun.  We’ll see if in a few weeks I miss the habit of recording, or if enough people respond asking me to continue. But for now we say adieu.   Thanks for sharing in all the humors moments in my life, KSA.

That Guy

Okay, so I flat out stole this post from my friend's blog... but considering part of it is my story too I felt justified in sharing it here.

Yahximusiz!", came the high-pitched greeting from the young woman walking toward us. I was walking with my former classmate. Since we studied in the same class several years ago, she has gone on to study Uyghur and opened a translation business here. After they exchanged the obligatory hug and kisses, they shared a few pleasantries and parted ways. "Who was that?", I asked as soon as we were out of ear shot. "I HAVE NO IDEA! But she asked why I haven't stopped by in so long and told me to come by soon." As it turns out, my friend is a bit of a celebrity. She has appeared on TV several times and met lots of people through studies, english corners, and her business. "I wouldn't know where to go even if I wanted to stop by", she said. She did feel a bit awkward for not knowing who the girl was but didn't have the heart to admit it in light of the very warm and excited greeting she received. She felt awkward. I felt relieved that it wasn't me.

Then, it happened. I ran into the convenience store outside the front gate of my school. Turning from the cash register to the door I came face to face with a big smile. "Jesse!", said the young man standing in front of me. "How are you! It's been a long time." There was a momentary blank stare. I have to confess that I have a rule in studying language: Fake it til you make it. If I don't understand, I just pretend and usually I can get the jist and move on without admitting defeat. Whether right or wrong my fake-it-til-you-make-it conditioning kicked in. "Hey you! How are you?", came out before I could even think. We exchanged a few pleasantries about being busy and classes and then I excused myself. Keeping with local custom I added an obligatory, "If you have free time, give me a call", thinking that would be the end of it. People often invite you to come by or call without always meaning it. Alas. He grabbed his phone and said, "Jesse, I don't have your number." I told him my number and he immediately called my phone. What could I do? I saved him in my contact list as 'That Guy'. He probably won't call anyway, I thought.

Just now my phone rang. 'That Guy' came up on the caller id. "Hey! You! Hello!", I said. By the end of the call we had a plan to have lunch. I'm debating whether I should just confess I don't know his name or play it cool and see how it goes. It seems there is an episode of Seinfeld where Jerry forgets the name of some woman he keeps running into. Maybe I should watch that for some ideas. Or maybe you have a better idea...?

It's Back!!!!!!!!

The Internet is back!

With just the click of a button I can look-up anything, answer any question, talk to my friends, read and write emails, check out my friend's blogs, scan the latest news, sports, and weather, chat on skype and so forth. It is so amazing.

It is also a little overwhelming, after 10 months with no regular internet access, I didn't even remember what some of my old favorite sites where.

My friends and I were talking this morning about how we have a unique opportunity to start afresh. North Americans, in general are so use to being connected to the world-wide web. Wire-less at home, the office, and even in coffee shops. Most phones are also able to connect. The amount of time people spend on-line is mind boggling. I know before we lost our connection I was on almost an hour to an hour and a half a day. That worked out to 7-10 hours a week, when I look at my schedule now I don't know where I ever found the time.

The last ten months was like going cold turkey from any sort of internet addiction we might of had. Now it's back and we get to try to balance staying connected with the outside world with all that is going on here.

The next few posts are still going to be coming to you from the past as mom catches up with the ones my computer sent her while it was on vacation, and I take a couple of weeks adjusting to this new life in the loop, and getting in touch with friends.

Computer on Vacation

In order to get this latest set of blog posts sent out, I actually sent my computer on vacation without me. One of my friends was leaving our area for a week, so I talked her into taking my computer and hooking it up to the Internet so that it can have all its virus software updated, and send and receive the last three months worth of e-mails.

I hope my computer has a good time, I hear the weather there is beautiful this time of year.

Governments Gift

My friends aren't the only ones who decided to give me a gift for my birthday. The local government published an article on the one web page our province has had access to for the last seven months saying that they are going to "slowly start to re-open" international communication (ie: Internet and phone calls). I have been asking my friends when they think this slow opening will have us back up and running full throttle. Most people guess it will be at least another six months before we are back to where we were before this summer's situation. While six months still seems like forever without being able to regularly check e-mail, at least we have an update, at least the government has given us some news, some hope, the mention of some sort of plan.

Real Time

This blog is coming at you live, today, right now, from my own hand because ... I AM ON LINE!!! While I was home this summer I heard more and more people were being driven to take a Stay-cation because of the economic downturn. While people in my province are being driven to take a Web-cation. Some people leave the province for a weekend just to get connected. Right now I am in Thailand renewing my tourist visa and surfing the web.

The last two months worth of posts were sent to my mom in an e-mail that my friend carried out of the province. My mom has been sparingly posting on every few days. Which means the red in my hair had almost faded by the time that made the blog. Sorry there haven't really been any pictures, they are just too big of files to have some one send to my mom. While I am out I have another ten posts or so ready to go to mom. So even though it is currently the Islamic holiday of Korban... you likely won't hear about it for another month or two. Sorry.

We can connect some using a long distance dial-up connection, but it can be both slow and expensive (not to mention that it is a round about way and still not officially allowed, aka- illegal). So I have basically gotten out of the habit of getting on line. There are some days I really miss being able to look anything up at the touch of a button, but I have almost an extra hour or more everyday to work on other things because I am not tied down by writing emails and such.

In the Dark

The province where I live is still very much under a cone of silence. We still don't have access to the Internet and international phone calls are hard to both make and receive. This blog post in fact is only able to be posted thanks to the help of many people. Two of my friends left the province for a few days on what we have come to call "Internet Vacations". They sent an email to my parents which included several blogs I had written to be cut and pasted over the next few weeks into my blog. It is weird after blogging for more than two years I now think of my life as a series of blog postable events. Even though we don't have Internet there are several time a week I say to myself "that would have made a funny blog post". In fact I was getting so many of these that I started writing them down.

As much as that is true it is nice to no longer feel like I am chained to my computer....there are no emails to answer, no pressure to post something, and now way to look up "what else that actor form the movie we're watching was in". It is quiet. But I also feel like I am in the dark on my family and friends lives. I also don't know what is going on in the world, nor can I easily let people know what is going on in mine. I might as well get use to it though, the Internet was shut down at the beginning of July and if rumors are correct might not be back until either the New Year, or maybe even as late as April. So the blogs to follow over the next few weeks are ones I sent my parents.

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane

All my bags are packed and I am ready to go, today is the day that I start to make my way back towards Central Asia and my home away from home. I will be stopping in the capital city for a few days to visit friends and gather some more information. In the last few days I have heard that the tensions and ethnic struggle that brought me home for the summer, is still rearing its ugly head in some places.

Don't know when I'll be back again. Not only do I not know when my next trip to Canada will be, I don't know when I will next get a chance to update this blog. While I am in the Capital with friends, I will still have access to the Internet, but after that who knows.

Tell me that you'll wait for me... or at least check back in with this blog periodically over the next few months to see if I am up and going again.

40 Days and 40 Nights

No this post is not about Noah, but I am sure some mothers out here must begin to feel just about as stir crazy. A few months ago I commented on the fact that a Uyghur woman is expected to stay at home for 40 days after giving birth. One of my friends commented that she wasn't sure if this sort of confinement would be relaxing and healing or simply drive her crazy.

Last week some of my friends from the states gave birth to their third child. I thought her post on the forced home stay was rather funny and I thought you might enjoy her insights (Beth this is for you).

Our boy is just over a week old now, but according to local custom, we need to keep him inside- and I should for sure be inside with him, lying in bed- for one whole month after birth. I know this and I really do want to honor the local culture as much as possible, but this is really tricky! We don't have family here to take over caring for me, the baby, the house and the big kids, and I admit, I am very Americanly productivity minded. Matt has been a Super Dad (absolutely extraordinary!) but still, he can only do so much.

So, I confess, I have ventured out already. Several times actually. Matt took me out for breakfast to a cute coffee shop nearby for my birthday. It was just me and my men (Isaiah was still a bit ill so he didn't go to school, but Marian did.) I tried to find an exit out of our building where I wouldn't have to pass by the usual line up of people-watchers or hear too many comments before hopping in the back seat of our electric bike. But the plan failed.

I ran into an unexpected crowd of very concerned neighbors. What was I doing out already!? And WHAT was I doing wearing no socks, even daring to expose virtually my whole calf (calves) so soon after giving birth? (It was about 80 F.) How old is that baby?... Basically they were all of one mind and voice: "go upstairs this instant and don't come out again for three more weeks!"

Then I met two more ladies, one about 50 and the other about 70 years old. The younger asked me "do you know that we have a custom..." and she went on to explain the "Man Yue" custom of spending the first month lying down.

"Yes, I know."

"But you don't follow it?"

"I know there is lots of value in that custom. I think it is very nice and helpful, but it's not what I'm used to and I also have two big kids I need to care for so I can't really practice Man Yue like you do."

Then the younger woman, who apparently was already familiar with foreigners ways, explained the whole thing to the older woman. "These foreigners don't rest for a month. She walks around with no socks on. She probably even drinks cold water- really cold."

The elder was flabbergasted. Certainly not cold water! (It would make my stomach upset and my milk undrinkable for our little one.)

Then the younger continued..."She probably brushed her teeth the first day after she gave birth."

The elder promptly replied: "That's impossible. If you brush your teeth that soon, all your teeth will fall out."

Lots to keep in mind!

And, it's not just a few people who have shared thoughts like this with us. These views honestly seem to be held by at least 9 out of 10 people we meet.... and people do share their opinions very (very) willingly. There's basically no holding back when it comes to people declaring what they think of you!

The gate guard at the kids school is another friend of ours. He's always careful to look out for and care for our family. He told me, scoldingly (which means he cares a great deal for us) that he doesn't care if it's not what we're used to... and then he laid on us the equivalent of "when in Rome, do as the Romans."

Yes... Somehow...

Stop me!

I recently found a blog kept by another foreigner living in the same city that I do. I don't know the guy from a hole in the wall, but his opinion of this place has become unceasingly apparent through his writing and I quote:

This is foul, disgusting, backwards, dirty, horrible, filthy, unhygienic, irresponsible behaviour, and I cannot see why it is happening in a major city, in a region which borders so many other countries. What the hell kind of impression do you get of Central Asia if THIS is the first place you see, and THESE are the people who live here? I could understand if it was a village maybe, but a fairly developed city of 2 to 3 million people with cars and Internet, chain stores, internationally sourced goods?

Can you imagine Birmingham, Nice, or Dusseldorf with people like this? This place needs a kick up the arse .

I remember reading this and thinking... "do we were really live in the same city? Is this guy walking down the same streets and taking in the same sights that I am?" I love this place, these people the sights the sounds and the smells as I walk down the street.

And then I re-read my blog from yesterday complaining about the cold and coal dust, and I realised how easy it is to compare life here with the comforts of home and find it lacking. Maybe because the memory of home is viewed through rose coloured glasses, or maybe in the culture stress of not fitting in. But when I started with my blog a few years ago I did so with the purpose statement to others "Join with me as I discover the wonder of this created world and the diversity of its people" A constant digression into the small inconveniences of life hardly fulfills that goal. So please promise me, if I ever start sounding as disgruntled or unhappy with my life here like this fellow blogger is, please, please please STOP ME!!!!

Milestone

I noticed that my last post pushed me over another big blogging marker as it was post number 200 (sadly the topic of baby urine was not the most monumental way to celebrate such an accomplishment). On the KSA Daily's 100th birthday I asked people to leave comments indicating whether or not it was still worth my time and energy to record my insights and experiences in this fashion. After such a blatant plea for feedback and encouragement, I was sadly left with only four comments. Only four people took the time to respond, only four people asked that I continue. And so for those four people I have doubled my efforts and written another one hundred posts. But I must admit it is sometimes hard to keep going when I hear back more often from almost complete strangers, than I do from friends and family.

Recently one of my blogging friends asked her reading audience:

Is what I write about really that boring, or do you just have nothing to say???

You can be completely honest with me. Why doesn’t the majority of my readers leave a comment (that’s you if you’re reading this)???? I am just curious.

Happy 100th Post

Yes, for those of you who have faithfully been keeping up with the KSA Daily we have finally hit the big mile stone of 100 posts. But as I reflect on the last almost year and a half of blogging I realize that maybe the KSA Daily is a bit of a misnomer. A year and a half is roughly 548 days. That means I have posting something new once every 5 ½ days. Maybe I should rename my blog “KSA Every 5.5 Days” or the “KSA Occasionally”, maybe the “KSA Whenever I Feel Like It” or the “KSA Only If Something Somewhat Interesting Happens In My Life” would be closer to the truth.

Seriously though, I started the blog to help communicate some of what my life is like on the other side of the world. Since I have been home many of my friends have let me know that Blogging is so ‘out’ compared to face book. I will be taking a few weeks away from the blog as I go into the hospital for surgery. While I'm gone I ask that if you still bother to occasionally check the “KSA Somewhat Regular”, that you leave a comment to let me know weather or not this is worth my time and energy.

My Friend's Blog

I was reading one of my local friends blogs the other day, and I wanted to copy what he wrote so you could all read it. This guy is part of one of the other ethnic minorities that live in our city. A few of my friends and I took him Uyghur dancing for the first time in his life. Here is what he had to say about the experience:

tonight ,i and Jeff met Jen ,Ruby,Karen.they want to go to uygar restaurant for dinner and watch uygar party,so we had dinner in uygar restaurant ,but when we finished,seems no body
want to dance,so Karen--she can speak uygar call waitress and want them play music then we can dance with other uygar customers.
Music started and Jeff and Jen,Ruby,Karen going to dance and calling me go together,actually i nvever dance before ,because when i was young ,my mom told me "dance club is bad place ,you should never go there,"so i never think about go to dance in club and learn some dance.so when they called me i was afraid that,because i could not dancing,then maybe they think i am getting shy and they did not want give me pressure ,they three went to dancing,Jen leaves to took care bags
Restaurant played uygar style music ,Jeff and girls try to dance like other uygar ,then second song started,they invited me to dance,actually i prepared to dance but i was still afaid ,because i am worst for dancing ,i was prepare to dance because when i watched them dancing,i got a special ideal,i think they are enjoy the life ,they enjoy the friendship and time .
Jen cames back to took care bags and hope i can dance with them ,it is hard to me,but i am save my face in my pocket ,i was tanding and go to stage dancing with my friend and other customs,music is beautiful and i am very happy ,i thought that because i did my first dancing and i was dance with my friend ,we were enjoying our time ,enjoying our first time dancing together!

Not Another Blog to Keep Up With

Since blogging has become such a poplular past time, I thought I would try taking advantage of it. My aim is to bring my two worlds, and in turn the ends of the earth, closer together through sharing my daily experiences. In many ways life in Central Asia is vastly different from home in Canada, yet the longer I am here the more I become aware that some parts of life and experience are universal. I hope you enjoy joining me in discovering what those are and giving thanks for them.