A Weekend of Opposites

I'm a New Jersey suburban guy who sometimes feels like he should have been born in the South. While I identify as a Northeasterner, I often catch myself saying y'all and am a huge fan of country music (yes, country music is pushing north, but its reputation is still in the South, so...). My experiences thus far in life have proven that I'm just as comfortable in a crazy big city as a rural middle-of-nowhere setting, at least temporarily. This weekend, I had different events Friday and Saturday night that really played into those opposites.

On Friday night, I drove about 45 minutes east to Silver Spring, Maryland, to attend Jewish services with a bunch of other young Jews, most of whom grew up in the Northeast. There was definitely an element of my childhood there, bringing back memories of camp and bonding with other young Jewish people. We laughed and ate and drank and told stories and enjoyed the company of others of a similar background. I felt a part of the community and absolutely loved that I was included.

On Saturday night, I drove about 45 minutes west to Mountville, Virginia, to attend a bonfire with a bunch of other young professionals, who are from a smattering of locations around the US. It reminded me of vacations to Niagara Falls and Oregon, where we roasted smores and spent time outside. We laughed and talked and did headstands and enjoyed nature. I felt a part of the group and absolutely loved that I was included.

As I approached Sunday, I really got to thinking about just how different these two experiences were. One was reminiscent of an urban area, one of a rural one. And what I loved was that I was really happy being part of both groups and participating in both events. I also realized that I listened to different music on my drives to each occasion--pop music to Jewish services, country music to the bonfire. So that was my weekend of opposites, two parts that make me the person I am.

This is my current song obsession. Like most of them, I have listened to it incessantly and don't care that it seems to be on the radio every 10 minutes.

Tale as Old as Time

Last weekend I went to see the new Beauty and the Beast. Reviews I saw online were mostly positive with a criticism being the fact that too much of it seemed like a redo of the animated version vice a fresh live-action version. I couldn't disagree more. The new version for me felt fresh but true to the animated version. It didn't feel like a repeat. It made me feel emotions with new scenes that tugged at the heartstrings, made me root for the Beast almost from the beginning given his new backstory, and made me hate Gaston even more. It made me understand Belle's point of view, and feel empathy for LeFou and the situation in which he feels he is stuck. That's what a movie is supposed to do, especially a remake of a movie from my childhood. Nostalgia met new feelings and meaning in a tale as old as time.

I was also immensely impressed with the new songs that I feel like really should have been in the original. Especially the Beast's song Evermore (my happy thing at the bottom of this post). The song is a mix of Broadway hero and acceptance of one's fate. I might be responsible for about 100+ of the nearly 2.9 million views on YouTube. My complaint about the songs was that Ariana Grande and John Legend replaced Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson. I love Ariana Grande. I love John Legend. I love the song. I didn't like them together on the song. In fact, I much prefer Ariana Grande doing Celine Dion singing the song!

So if you haven't yet, I recommend going to see the new Beauty and the Beast. Ignore the haters, enjoy the movie. I've been back a few weeks now, but I'm still working out a backlog of movies that were released while I was away (Moana and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them are top of the list), so seeing Beauty and the Beast before it left theaters was helpful so that I didn't accidentally add more movies to my list when it would be so easy to cross off!

Short post and disjointed, but I haven't posted in a long time so this is it. Plus, I really wanted to share Dan Stevens's version of Evermore.

Lemonade Out of Lemons

There's much to be negative about in the world. In the month since my last post, world peace still hasn't befallen the planet, the US political scene has remained as crazy as ever, and I'm still back in the States and not overseas like I wanted to be. However, I've started to settle into life back in the US. The coming back earlier than expected was jarring--my lemons--but I've decided that if I'm going to be here the foreseeable future, I might as well make the most of it--my lemonade. I'm not necessarily a negative person, but I'm also not the most positive around. So this lemonade out of lemons thing is a bit different for me and is taking some work. But I'm actually really happy with the way it's working out so far.

Last week I moved into a new apartment. I went from a three-bedroom townhouse before going overseas to a one-bedroom apartment, but I'm very happy here. Granted, I'm only one week in, but I'm living in a high-rise building, which is something I've always wanted to do. If I'm forced to be back, why not shake up my life and really just go for it, right? That's the attitude I took. The apartment is only about 2 years old, so the newness of it and all its finishings was something that attracted me to it. Furthermore, it's a FIVE-MINUTE WALK to a Metro station. That's closer than I've ever been to the Metro. So as long as WMATA doesn't permanently break down (not a guarantee these days), this is a perfect location.

Three weeks ago I bought a new car. I need some sort of transportation to live in this area, and I thought that if I'm going to be here for awhile, I might as well invest in something. So a new car (well, a 2016 model) I got. And five weeks ago I invested in a new iPhone. I was an Android guy, but in Khartoum I had an iPhone and I realized that it really is a good phone. I caved. I'm not proud of it, and over internal protestations, I'm adding my conversion to an iPhone (but no other Apple products...yet) to the list of "new me" elements. My lemonade from lemons.

As noted above, I have to work to maintain this mostly positive attitude. Getting cable was a major test (obviously), but this new outlook definitely has its benefits. Things don't bother me as much as they possibly could, and I feel like I'm being more flexible than usual. Projecting positivity outwards has improved the internal positivity. We'll see how long this attitude lasts, but in the five weeks I've been back in the US, it's kept me going and it's something I hope to be able to continue in the weeks and months ahead!

I feel like I've posted this song before, but Tangled was just on TV and I think this love song from it--"I See the Light"--is completely underrated. And it sounds amazing in pretty much every foreign language I've heard it in. I debated whether to post the English version here (featuring Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi), the European French version (featuring Maeva Meline and Emmanuel Dahl), or the Hebrew version (featuring Meshi Kleinstein and Michael Einav). Ultimately, though, there is something about the way Inna Voronova and Zakhar Klymenko sing the song in Ukrainian.

#YesMyPresident

I may not have voted for him and I may believe that there was some foreign influence in the election, but #YesMyPresident.

I may oppose many of his policies and I may think the administration's priorities are wrong, but #YesMyPresident.

I may dislike the hateful rhetoric and I may wish there was more compassion for underprivileged Americans, but #YesMyPresident.

I am tired of opening Facebook (or Twitter, or CNN) and seeing endless, many petty, complaints about the current administration. While some of the complaints are valid, the tendency to throw the kitchen sink and say that everything is a problem and everything is a scandal that proves Donald Trump is unworthy to be President is getting ridiculous. Fake news and overhyping small events are no longer a thing that only the far right does; now liberal news outlets are blatantly misinterpreting facts to continue to denigrate Trump, making it sound like these news outlets want him to fail. I want him to succeed because his success is America's success. I didn't necessarily like President Obama, but I never wished him to fail.

While I can respect people who articulately say why they oppose a policy, I instantly lose respect for the people who, a week after his inauguration, still end their posts with #NotMyPresident. Whether you like it or not, Trump is your President. He is not illegitimate just because you disagree with his vision for the country and how to achieve it. Yes, Hillary Clinton won more votes, but that doesn't make Trump illegitimate. He won the election based on the rules of the election. Had the rules been different, say by making the winner of the popular vote the winner of the election, both he and Clinton would have run their campaigns differently because that would have been what they were aiming for. Flawed as it may be, the US presidential election is based on who wins the Electoral College, not the popular vote, and Trump won the Electoral College.

I hope that as we move forward in the Trump era people will stop spinning each and every action taken by the Trump administration as the end of the world. And I hope that people can accept that despite differences of opinion and vision, Trump is the President. I have many reservations about his policy proposals and his unique approach to politics, but at the end of the day, Trump is #YesMyPresident.

Back to the Suburbs

I made my first journey to the African continent in 2008. I distinctly remember on my flight from Zurich to Dar es Salaam looking down at the great expanse of desert in Libya and Sudan and thinking, "It's a shame I'm never going to be able to go to these places." Eight years later, I got the opportunity of a lifetime, and as I stood in Addis Ababa waiting to board my flight to Khartoum, I knew I was going to a place I never thought I would go. After traversing southern and eastern Africa, I made it to Sudan, and things that once seemed impossible became possible. I remember being overwhelmed by Tanzania in 2008, but now, after six different trips to the continent (of varying lengths) and experiences in 14 of the 49 sub-Saharan African countries, traveling to the continent feels like coming home and I constantly look for ways to get back. That's probably one of the reasons I was so excited to move to Khartoum.

Sudan wasn't the first place I've ridden a camel, but
riding a camel by a bunch of pyramids is surreal.

Then, once I got to Khartoum, I felt like I became a better version of myself. Everything I wrote about in my six-month reflection still holds. I am more social. I am more assertive when necessary. I practice yoga. And I feel like a better person. What more could I ask for? When I came ot that realization, I knew that I had found the right tour for me. And as much as my colleagues thought I was weird for how much I truly began to LOVE Khartoum, it was the reasons--and the great community--that drew me in.

Sadly, however, life takes unexpected turns and the best-made plans get shattered. Life sees comfort and it jolts you out. As you can probably surmise based on this blog post's title, I have returned to the suburbs of Virginia. It wasn't what I planned, and I would have loved to finish my tour in Khartoum, but it just wasn't in the cards. I don't yet know what's next for me, but I look forward to finding out and seeing how whatever it is helps me continue to grow as a person and as a friend.

My 7.5-months in Khartoum were better than I could have ever imagined. I believe in fate and that everything happens for a reason, so for me to leave early, I need to believe that something good is just around the corner. And I had to be back in the US to see it. With that in mind, I plan on being ready to take advantage of whatever next comes my way!

I have sunset on Sudan....

While not the happiest post, here's a video that cheers me up. Multilanguage videos of Disney songs are awesome, and this is such a great and inspirational song.