2010 from a different perspective

Just recently I was reminded by a couple friends that it’s been a year since I left the far west as we now know, so what better topic for this blog than looking back at the year that just passed.

I still distinctly remember…it was early morning on January 3rd getting back one last time from the Nashville bars after celebrating the last of many going away get-togethers and the sight of my 3 packed and ready bags trying to plug the emptiness in my bed room. Fast forward a few more hours and the scene was Chicago airport and I was using my cell phone for the last time to call relatives and friends before embarking towards the alien but inviting shores of West Africa.

Adjusting to life here was surprisingly challenging. After having adjusted to life in the US as a FOB (Fresh of the Boat) and having backpacked a little, I always felt that adjusting to life in Liberia would be a breeze. The move to Liberia was however different from my earlier travels.

When I first moved to the US, I had no idea who was going to pick me at the Roanoke airport (if at all there was someone assigned by the University), no idea how I was going to find my way around the place, and no idea where and how I was going to find something to eat.

The case with backpacking is somewhat similar. Once I land at a foreign airport, I am totally on my own; I have to figure out how to get out of the airport, where to go and where to find a place to board, etc. I reckon the reason why I am fascinated by travel is just this feeling of expecting the unknown.

Moving to Liberia however was different; there was never a need to worry about where I was going to sleep and how I would get out of the airport. On arrival, I had a Firestone teammate help me through immigration, a driver picking me at the airport and a tidy room at the guest house waiting for my arrival. Even dinner was ready by the time I got to the guest house.

The biggest adjustment for the next couple months came in the form of the work, the work culture and adjusting to the plain fact that I was an expat now. Wherever I went, I used to be called as “Sir” and “Boss Man” or “Yes Sir Boss Man”, which I later learnt is a common form of addressing in Liberia.

At work, I had an office to myself which was different from the cubicles that I was used to in the US. The cubicles where nice since the work space seemed larger than what it was and also provided an opportunity to engage in light banter with colleagues if I needed to take a break from work. The office space here initially felt too confined and I could have done with a companion to bounce off my thoughts and ideas.

The business of the company was new as well. Previously, the work was comparatively narrow in focus (all of it was tires albeit in different sizes), here it seemed that we have to plan and manage a whole town and then some more with our operation varying from Agriculture to Hydro-power generation to running a hospital.

Being an expat in a country that has recently come through a civil war also bought a lot of responsibility since I had to take special care to see where I go and what I do and what time I come back home, etc. The only previous time I had heard of the word “curfew” was during communal riots in India in the 1990’s, Here it was a fact that I had to understand and live with. The recent power struggle in neighboring Ivory Coast and the purported movement of ex-combatants across the border from the Nimba and Grand Jeddah counties of Liberia is a grim reminder of how tenuous peace can be in this region especially considering that most of these ex-combatants fought in the Liberian civil war.

Fortunately, we are provided with home leaves to visit families or just take a break from the isolation (varies in degree for different expats here) we sometimes suffer. I was lucky enough to have visited 6 new countries in the past year taking advantage of the home leave rather than visiting home. I know that my family wishes I would go to India every home leave…and I wish I could do that but right now it just seems as though the heart and the spirit beckons something I have not quite figured out yet. I hope that they understand why I do what do…even though it might seem confusing at times.

The past year bought a lot of new thing into the life. I have earned my stripes by having Malaria, there have been new colleagues, new responsibilities, new countries visited, new friends made, welcomed new members into the family, some dreams accomplishes…some others stoked, tough decisions made…some good and some not so good but with the unadulterated hope that they are for the good.

So 2010 is officially in the books…welcome 2011!