Bizarro World
I've been asked alot over the last 10 months of my deployment, "whats it like over there?" There are several analogies that come to mind. The one that I use the most, is, "imagine being pulled off of Earth, and dropped on an entirely new planet." That one doesn't really fit the more that I think about it. Another one frequently used, " imagine that 14th century Europe collided with the 21st century." Meaning that these people are medieval, in actions, infrastructure, societal views, etc. The funniest one that I can think of is that its like living in a National Geographic documentary. Observing the locals is one of the few things that I can do, to relieve boredom, and make my mundane 12 hour shift go by fast. I've always been a fan of people watching, however, this is just too fun. From the local cops who habitually beat and rob the locals, to the children who can curse better in English(or German, or Italian, or French, or even Spanish) than I can. I wish that average Americans could come here and spend a week seeing what I see, and see what oppression(women treated less than cattle), and abject poverty really looks like.
One of my favorite pastimes, I hate to admit, is embarrassing some of the local contract drivers that work on the compound. They pick up our trash, pump the septic tanks, and other tasks that we don't have to do. Often as not, they have Western skin mags somewhere in the cabs of their trucks. When I find it, I will walk over to the group of drivers, ask who it belongs to, and inevitably, the guy is snitched out by his friends. I smile, laugh, and call him a bad Muslim. They get embarrassed, and usually throw it away. I am not one to begrudge a man some porn, but the double standard thatwe are expected to adhere to is asinine.
We are not supposed to even acknowledge their women, but they can look at ours? They mock our culture, and yet revel in it underground? WTF. Pointing this out to them, is fun, and I'm probably not making any points with Karma for it, but who cares. The point is, that these, like any other "religious" countries, have the same variation of people who adhere to its doctrine as we do. Some are very pious, and some pretend to be. Can't wait to go home, and leave this Bizarro World and head back to Earth.
One of my favorite pastimes, I hate to admit, is embarrassing some of the local contract drivers that work on the compound. They pick up our trash, pump the septic tanks, and other tasks that we don't have to do. Often as not, they have Western skin mags somewhere in the cabs of their trucks. When I find it, I will walk over to the group of drivers, ask who it belongs to, and inevitably, the guy is snitched out by his friends. I smile, laugh, and call him a bad Muslim. They get embarrassed, and usually throw it away. I am not one to begrudge a man some porn, but the double standard thatwe are expected to adhere to is asinine.
We are not supposed to even acknowledge their women, but they can look at ours? They mock our culture, and yet revel in it underground? WTF. Pointing this out to them, is fun, and I'm probably not making any points with Karma for it, but who cares. The point is, that these, like any other "religious" countries, have the same variation of people who adhere to its doctrine as we do. Some are very pious, and some pretend to be. Can't wait to go home, and leave this Bizarro World and head back to Earth.
posted by L.A. Soldier at 10:30 PM
1 Comments:
You have an amazing ability to communicate your feelings through prose. First, you should blog more frequently, if possible. And second, you should definitely take some intermediate and advanced writing classes via internet or correespondence, if possible. There is perhaps a new career waiting for you to flourish in upon your return.
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