Day on the town

Well, Saturday was a very enlightening day for me.

We left the base around 11. After some driving around, we arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel here in Doha around 12:30. I have got to say that the drive to the hotel is amazing. Doha is an incredibly city that has a very bright future ahead of it. The architecture is a reflection of some of the other countries in this region, but not quite as earth-shattering as Dubai. None the less, it's just something you need to see in person to fully appreciate.

After arriving at the hotel, we all head into the locker rooms to change and head outside. The hotel has a VERY nice pool with a swim-up bar and tons of space to just lay around in the sun. As nice as that sounds, my main focus is the beach. It's just so relaxing to lay by the gulf and hear nothing but waves and the occasional creeking noise from my chair as I reach for my drink. It gives one a lot of time to think with a clear head and just appreciate where you are in life.

I'd have to say the most eye-opening experience of the day came while I was sitting on the edge of the pool later that afternoon. Upon arrival to Qatar, they brief us that we shouldn't look at any of the muslim women, that they are very strict here, and that American's should just keep to themselves. I've been following those rules, and at times it is very tough, the women are beautiful. However, one thing I made an exception for was the child of a Muslim family at the pool. The mother was dressed in the traditional burqa, and the father was wearing a swim suit. Their son who was playing around where I was sitting had to be maybe 5 or 6 years old. He came over to me and started saying a few words in Arabic and held out his hand for a hi-five. I just kind of looked over at his parents expecting to see some sort of angry glance, but instead, they were smiling at me.

Now, assuming that this child wasn't saying "We're going to slice you open," I was both confused and enlightened. I gave him a hi-five, he smiled, and said a few more words. His father came over, and asked if the child was being an annoyance. Of course I said no, and he smiled and walked away. Now this is where the enlightenment comes into play.

I was thinking about how if I was alive in the 60s and brought a black girl home to my parents, the reaction I would get from them, our neighbors, my extended family, etc. Scary to think about, eh? Now it's really no big deal with most families. I think the girl I dated with Vietnamese descent was my moms favorite one out of all of my friends. I started to think about in maybe 10 years or so it'll be different between Muslims and us westerners. Until a few years ago, this place was nothing special. Now, over 20,000 Americans live in Doha, and that's not including the thousands of Aussies, Brits, and other folks from Asia and Africa who live here. With an increased presence, the children who live here are now growing up with ties to all of us, as opposed to their parents, who just kind of saw us walk in out of the blue. It gives me hope for the future, as cliche as that sounds.

I understand this is Qatar, not Iraq, Saudi Arabia, or Afghanistan, but it's certainly a start.

In conclusion, I'm learning that despite religious, racial, and any number of other differences we have, people are people.

I'm a lucky man

Well, it took me nearly three years to realize this, but drunken anger and childish sarcasm aside, I'm a happy guy.

No. I don't really show it all the time.

Yes, I've got hardly any tolerance for things that get on my nerves, and yes, the list is quite long.

Yes, I do act out when I'm not enjoying myself.

...That's not what I'm talking about.

With my third anniversary of enlistment coming up in roughly one month, I've had a lot of questions on my mind. This is going to be the half-way point for me. In another three years, I can hang up my boots (although it doesn't seem practical, seeing as how they fit just perfectly under the bed) and leave the military for good. But is that what awaits me? I'm not sure.

Anyhoo, this epiphany of my happiness came to me as I was sitting on the beach in the middle east. I realized that I'm fortunate I've got a great assignment full of unique experiences back in the states. I realized that I have a family that cares about me back at home, despite the fact I try to deny they exist sometimes. I also realize that while I may be friendly with hundreds of folks, I've got 20 something people in my life that I consider good friends. If it wasn't for me joining, I wouldn't have met over half of them. All of these things combined make me think I've got a pretty fair hand in life.

My friends in DC are incredible people. There aren't many people out there who would make you waffles the morning after you throw up on their husband on your 21st birthday. There also aren't many people who would offer up free tickets to DC United matches frequently, or simply look after the young naive boy who just kind of showed up one day and never left.

I also have a good group of friends back from Pennsylvania. While most are still at home, many have scattered throughout the world in the past three years, which is awesome. It makes me glad that I'm not the only one having all of these crazy cultural experiences, and that I'll have someone to share my experiences with, and they can counter me with their experiences. I'm also grateful I had two good friends to travel through England with.

But back to my original ramble about the military. Nearly three years ago, I was another recruit standing in a line getting my head shaved getting yelled at by a scary bald man with a silly hat, ensuring me that I'm not going to amount to anything. I would have been a fool to believe him. I have realized that in the past three years, I've done more and experienced more than I ever thought I would in the first 30 years of my life. I've been to Europe, I'm currently in Qatar, I'm stationed in the nation's capitol and work with the Presidents plane. I'm also getting ready to have my own apartment. This isn't meant to be bragging. This is just me in pure disbelief that the goofy lanky kid with a strange awkward sense of humor is slowly becoming a decent member of society. I really don't think I'm me sometimes, if that makes any sense. It makes sense to me, and that's quite ok.

This is just me realizing that I made the right choice by skipping college right out of high school. I finally feel free from every doubt that I've had of myself in the past 6 years.

So will I re-enlist in three years? Leave the military? Get a job? Go back to school? I can't say yet. If I've learned this much in three years, I can't imagine what I'm going to learn in the next three.

Awkward introductions are the best

The word blog is an ugly one. I associate it with the word blob, flubber, flab, or the sound a large guys stomach makes after he eats a big meal. It's hard for me to imagine many attractive bloggers, mainly because of the word. I just picture a bunch of guys giving their opinion on how the president is screwing up this week, or how they got to level 50 in WOW. That was until today, when I signed up for a blog.

I've been reading my friend Emily's blog that she created when she arrived in Thailand, and read my friend Stephanie's blog while she was in Africa. Both terrific reads, mainly because they involve different cultural experiences. Emily posts really funny stories from her experiences in teaching to little children in Thailand, and Steph posted stories and pictures about her religious and cultural experiences aiding children in Kenya. I haven't been to Thailand before, and to be honest with you, now that the World Cup is over, I don't even feel like thinking about Africa.

Well...I'm in Qatar for six months to support a war. I don't have many stories about helping children here, as I am in the middle of the desert, in the middle of Qatar, in the middle of July. I'm not sure if that makes me a bad person. I sure don't feel bad. This is the best I've felt in years. Which brings me to my first real discussion. Do I belong here?

I've had my doubts about my decision of joining the military. Why did I join? I joined because I was afraid that I wouldn't get into schools like West Chester or Kutztown. I didn't really want to go to college anyway. 17 or 18 years old is way to young to decide what you want to spend a buttload of money on tuition for a career you want to work in for the rest of your life. I'm 21 and I still don't have a clue as to what I want to do when this career ends. I joined the military to put a pause on life, so maybe I can figure out some things before I went to college.

Well, now I'm 21 and I love alcohol and chasing after girls and women who have little to no interest in me. Sounds like I belong in college, no? That's why I was having doubts. But the more I have thought about it, the more I feel like this is where I belong. My life is much more interesting than going to class 4 days a week for a few hours, and then partying every weekend. I'm in Qatar. How many people actually knew that was a real country?

I intend to use this blog as a place for me to store things that happen to me on my travels. Whether or not I show it to people, not sure yet. I may just use it for storage, in case I get out of the military and become a comic. Or maybe I'll use it for my book "Memoirs of an Airman". Believe me, some of the things I've seen and people I've met, they just need the world to know about them. I promise this won't be all sarcastic and negative stories about how I hate everything and everybody. Hopefully I'll post pictures and stories from my travels around here on base, and out in the country of Qatar. Maybe if I like writing about my experiences, I'll write about my experiences back home.