What I miss....

As my weekend winds down, I am mentally preparing myself for another week here. There are so many things that need to be done at work....I have been so well received, yet I have not returned on the investment that my company has made in me yet...I am feeling pressure, but it is so far from within, I hope to keep it that way.
I posted on my facebook status today that I was suffering from withdrawals from baseball and football (American not soccer)...One of my favorite people from my favorite restaurant posted a message back, that I was missed...nice sentiment Alex...The guys and gals from Hendels,(Awesome restaurant in Florissant, MO) I grew to love. Nate, Alex, Jimmy, Alli, Christine, Kenny, Steve even JoAnne their SYSCO rep....I enjoyed calling on them, and being a part of their success - I miss them and my other customer friends/Knights of Columbus, Wang Gang, Amarillo Tex's, and Jack's Place...those and others made my job fun even on bad days...Believe it or not, I have made friends at each one of those accounts that are following this boring blog...That part of the job here has yet to be realized (there are a couple of customers that I think I will develop that kind of relationship with) but hopefully it will be soon. So I miss that group of friends....
I miss the work friends that I spent so much time with, Todd and Chad especially so.
Most of my lifelong friends like Fred, Janie, Danno, Lee, Amy, Linda and many others I rarely saw, but I miss being able to just pick up the phone and call. I do speak with my mother and Fred (power of attorney and American bill payer) regularly - although being so far away makes it more difficult.
This blog maybe a way for all of you friends from work and school keep up with me, but I think it is very therapeutic for me...I am a long ways away and I won't be returning to the States until Late July/Early August 2011.
I miss good ole American TV. I do get Fox news, and National Geographic (in HD!) I know everything I ever wanted to know about sharks, alligators and Dinosaurs (yes, even when they fought each other-like a bad Scooby Doo episode to make the link). I missed a chance to watch a baseball game last night, the Reds/Cubs were on live at 3:05 in the morning. I woke up at 5:30 and saw the highlights...what a let down.
I missed watching Big Brother this summer, and my favorite show Survivor should be about to start. Even the silly show's like Wipeout and especially the shows on HBO/Showtime like True Blood, Entourage and the like. There are so many Arabic stations here, I get Al Jazeera 1 & 2 and ten channels of Al Jazeera sports (I think its all soccer and be headings...)    ;-) Just seeing if you are paying attention.
Now let's chat about what I don't miss...I don't miss Taxes...You don't realize how much farther your money goes when you don't pay sales tax. If dinner is $19.95 it's $19.95! Tipping here is 10% or less, although I tend to tip more than 10%. So in America, if dinner was $20. you have taxes of usually around 7% and then a tip of 20% on top of that. So it ends up being $27 plus...here it would be $22....money goes further.
I don't miss Federal Income, state and Fica tax. I was averaging about 40% in the States...need I say more.
I don't miss rude servers and salespeople. This is a service driven market where you are greeted with friendliness and extreme courtesy-however that is spelled).
I don't miss $2.75 gas...I spend about $25 a week on it here...I don't miss American Banks, I am drawing interest on my checking- with no fees, even my credit card is no charge and I get generous Airline miles.
Oh well, I don't mind conforming to rules, so the Muslim presence here doesn't bother me, in fact I find it very interesting to learn about their customs and practices.
This weekend has been a little lonely, Sandy is headed back to the States as we speak, so I get to start doing things with Bob again. Dominic had another party Thursday evening...I attended, and yes I am older than dirt, I felt so out of place with 40 plus under 30's and me...I spent all weekend trying to recover...
Busy day at work tomorrow, so I need to hit the hay! Thanks to all of my friends and family both named and otherwise for hanging in there with me. Hopefully we will all see each other within the next year....come visit, my contract runs through December 2013.
God Bless you and God Bless the USA!
Your Friend,
John