Why?

For some time I have been meaning to try and write down thoughts from my time as an "expat". This should have been started over 2 years ago when I first came to the Middle East. Everything was new, exciting, interesting and scary. Now most things are common place, ignored and forgotten.

The first few days in a country that is very different from your own are confusing and so stimulating you don't want to sleep in case you miss anything. Even the call to prayer at 4:30am is a novelty.

In trying to recapture some of the things that are strange, it will perhaps bring some of the memories and the bewilderment back.