Today in the news

Hello friends,

Sorry about the lag time between posts. We still don't have Internet, and I'm learning this sluggish timing is par for the course in the Middle East.

Today's post was meant to be a good ol' fashioned venting session about some of the things I've found surprising, eccentric or wacky since we've been here (I've taken to making notes of them when I see them. I have a lot of notes.) That post will come soon, but I just couldn't find it in my heart to write about such trivial things after reading about the tragedy in Connecticut a few days ago.

I've always been an emotional person. As Rob affectionately says when I apologize to him through my tears, "It's OK sweetie. I knew what I signed up for." But considering we don't yet have kids, I surprised myself this week with how much this story affected me.

Aside from the sheer horror of what happened, I think this is hitting home because we've just moved to a region where the people are all too often generalized as evil and dangerous. From what I can gather in my reading and through talking to people, this kind of thing wouldn't happen in the UAE. I usually hold my head quite high as an American abroad, but times like this make that a lot more difficult. I don't have the answers, but it's clear that something has to be done.

Things like this make it tougher be away from friends and family. A big thank you to my wonderful, half asleep dad who took my teary Skype call at midnight when I finally heard the news.

Thinking about all of you from far away.
Love,
Andy