The Farewell Party

Aid work requires moving around a lot, as do other international jobs. For family-type positions, it's usually a 2-5 year post. I suppose fresh blood is needed: avoiding complacency or "burn-out." Expats are expected to need a break to return home.  

But we don't usually go home for long, like a lot of other families who find themselves choosing to stay in the expat world. It's a way of life, a sub-culture between cultures. And it's those vagabonds, the mixed-up misfits from all over who make up this expat community, that are the draw for me as much as the work or the stimulation of a new country and its people. For the socialite in me, I can't get enough of hearing about their varied lives, and lucky me when I find myself becoming friends with some of them.

Like any group of outsiders, we gravitate towards each other. We need each other, and we know where to find each other. From a family perspective, it's about housing, schools, shopping, doctors...we don't have much time to figure it all out. It's a networking frenzy, and out of it some key contacts develop into friendships. No one is there long enough to forget the early months of being so alone and unknowing and overwhelmed. We introduce ourselves to the newbies, invite them along, and start explaining everything we think could possibly be helpful.

And this is a long introduction to get to the farewell party for Falastin and Adam, which was, if I may say so, a very nice party. Falastin was my Arabic teacher, my pilates coach, my car-pooling buddy, and my friend. Her daughters are the same age as my kids. She grew up in Nazarath, a Palestinian community controlled by the Israeli government. She used to work for an NGO that specialized in capturing and producing the Palestinian side of news stories. She risked her life for her work. She stood in front of loaded rifles pointed to her chest and told the man pointing it where he could put it. She also is extremely fashionable and has a most impressive collection of spike-heeled boots. Her husband is a Danish correspondent to the Middle East. After a year and a half of seeing them several times a week and talking to her nearly every day, they are moving to Copenhagen. 

That's the downside to this odd expat life. You jump feet first into friendships, and then suddenly someone has to move on. And as wonderfully appealing as the invites to visit friends around the world are, you know it's not going to be easy. Still, you have to be open to the possibility, to hope you have the chance to make it happen. You mark the leaving with a celebration, and you feel lucky to have known them at all. 

Bye for now, Falastin! 

Falastin's shot of me as I take the one above.

Falastin with Andrea (amazing cook, architect, founder of an NGO working 10+ years in Iraq, mother of two under 3, connoisseur of the finer things, from the forests of Bavaria--my well-organized, generous co-host & friend) 

Rikke (Danish), Johanna (Irish), Falastin (Palestinian), Mette (Danish), me (Chattanoogan)

   

Releasing our breath after sucking in for the show-your-pilates-belly body-by-Falastin shot.

Sharon (Sierra Leonian), Miriam (German), Kathryn (Texan)

David with Amar (in foreground), brother of Ghaith who is D's sister Bradley's husband. (whew! all that to say - we have the pleasure of having family in Amman!)