Sushi, Clubs and not acting my age...

It’s 2 am; I reek of smoke and don’t feel the least bit tired.  Wow…what a fun night.  I’m blessed to come across a good friend like Mo.  He’s making it his mission almost to introduce me to every person on the island.  I so appreciate it because he has tons of friends and he wants to make sure I’m comfortable here.  What did I do to deserve this?  Not much, unless you believe in reaping and sowing.  It feels nice to finally be reaping some of the good I’ve sown through the years. 

I met some fascinating people tonight, a bunch of them.  We met up with about 15 of Mo’s close friends in swanky Japanese restaurants in the Gulf Hotel.  I had never had sushi before…I don’t really like cooked fish, why would I like raw fish.  But hey…im living in the Middle East…why not experience every aspect of the culture.  So I tried it and I liked it.  What’s more is that I enjoyed the conversation so much.  Sat next to Ali, a Bahraini that lived in India for 15 years.  Really a nice guy.  The group of friends gets together to play squash (like racquetball) and I’m going to be joining them hopefully Saturday.  I also conversed with a beautiful blonde, I can’t remember her name.  She works for Gulf Air.  So basically, if you are white, pretty and young, you most likely work for Gulf Air.  There are sooooo many flight attendants here.  She really played up to my ego.  Once I told her what I did for a living, she was very interested in my stories of Hollywood, the entertainment industry, and global travels.  It felt nice to have someone interested in my career.  Long story there….but this is a no whining about divorce night.

 Then after sushi, we went to a club.  One of the trendiest clubs on the Island is a club called Cocoon Lounge.  It’s directly across the street from my apartment conveniently enough.  Fahdi (I think that is his name) booked us all in the VIP room of the lounge.  He also bought everyone’s dinner, which must have been close to $1000 U.S.  He is a very generous guy.  I think it all comes down to Arab hospitality.  It’s an amazing thing that the West just doesn’t realize.  Fahdi is Palestinian FYI.  So he booked the VIP room and the alcohol was flowing.  They offered me some, but I politely declined and they were really cool with that.  So he got me a Diet Coke.  The night before we went to a different really trendy club, a girl at another party was trying to buy my drink.  Once I explained to her that I didn’t drink, she looked at me a bit incredulously and said “Why not?”  I think it makes certain people (not everyone) uncomfortable when I don’t drink with them.  But not Fahdi and his gang, they were totally accepting of me.  Im starting to get friends.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I think drinking in moderation is not a sin.  I just choose not to partake at this time in my life.  That said, Alcohol did play a destructive role in the dissolution of my marriage (crap, I wasn’t supposed to talk about that). 

 Then we went to yet another club, and this one was more people my age in their 30s and 40;s.  It wasn’t as loud, but it was packed.  There are so many Westerners living on this island.  It’s all part of the social structure to get out to a club and mingle with your friends, its woven into their society.  I left the last club a bit earlier, because I’m going to try to make it to a church tomorrow to try it out and I had to come write in this blog.  Im afraid what will happen if I miss a day.  It’s also nice to know that I have readers and they send me nice and encouraging emails.  My daughter, However,  was urging me not to write as much…as she thought I had an addiction.  And maybe I am addicted to writing in this blog.   But for me it is very therapeutic But it’s better than a lot of other things I could be doing.  I know it seems like I spend a lot of time writing in this, but actually I don’t   Im a very fast typist/writer.  I usually spend about 20-30 min. writing this.  I actually spend more time replying to your emails, which I absolutely don’t mind…so please keep them coming if you have something on your mind. 

 The clubbing tonight got me to thinking.  Am I a missionary?  Im not really sure.  I know I’m called of God to be here.  I did go to the club, but I didn’t do anything wrong other than be a bad dancer.  Its weird, I have great rhythm and timing when I edit music videos…but turning it on, on the dance floor, that’s a different subject.  So do I consider myself doing God’s work?  Im not sure.  I did have an interesting discussion with Tanya today.  She offered me a piece of her toast, like she does mostly everyday, I turned it down because I was fasting.  That brought up an interesting discussion about faith and Christianity.  I don’t believe I’m called to proselytize, im here to open to have God use me however he sees fit.  Perhaps this discussion with Tanya was one of those occurrences 

OK…now im getting sleepy.  Tomorrow is a big day….

Rick