The longest phone call of my life

The longest call of my life.

So it was another day of work.  I do not yet have what’s needed to do real work.  As a result my time is spent with the exciting task of memorizing names, and sitting in a conference calls.  While memorizing is certainly limited in its capacity to be fun, I thought sitting in on a conference call would be fairly interesting.  Three and a half hours later I changed my mind.  I probably wasn’t able to give the call a fair shake, seeing how I didn’t understand most of what was said.  The terms and content were above my head and for some reason I struggle understanding what people say on speaker phone, and accents made it all the more difficult.

I am hopeful that after getting settled and developing a better understanding for the work being done in the office, I will be able to appreciate and be engaged in the calls I am part of in the future.

For today, I am planning on going in to the city to do some shopping and eating.  My roommate and I were warned about possible riots, due to someone vandalizing a Mosque.  Fortunately the reaction was minimal, but it did open my eyes to the reality of what part of the world I was in.  I was never able to understand the anger rooted in religious differences, and that anger is highly present in this region of the world.

Yesterday morning I saw a momma cow and her baby walking along the street while I was waiting for the company transport, which was half an hour late by the way.  They walked care free, crossing the street, moseying about all on their own.  Later in the day I saw one of the thousands of stray dogs on my company’s campus eating ice cream left on a bench.   I see Muslim’s, Hindu’s and Christian all taking the same roads and buses to work.  I am a red head and, while I get stared at, I still feel respected and welcome in this city.  My point is that this city is open to everybody but, like anything, it can be sent into turmoil by the worst of people, no matter how small their numbers are.  We are all dragged down and burdened by the lowest common denominator.

Today’s lessons; set the example and don’t be the lowest common denominator.

You’re welcome,

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