I’m into my
second month serving here in Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital city of
Brunei. I think I’m finding my way
around a bit better. It’s comforting
when suddenly, you realize you’ve been here before and recognize a store or
sign. Driving on the left side of the
road now seems natural. I do have to be
careful when making a right turn to scoot over to the left instead of hugging
the curb. The true test will be when I
return to Texas and am able to manage returning to driving
on the right again!
The drivers
here are among the most courteous I’ve ever seen. Your turn signal is your way of
communicating. Back home, many avoid
using their turn signal because…heaven forbid you should give another driver a
warning of what you are about to do!
Here, you get dirty looks if you DON’T signal your intent. And when you do, people actually let you
merge into their lane or allow you to turn in front of them. Imagine
that.
The hardest
part is navigating the ‘roundabouts’ or circular intersections.
If you want to exit the roundabout, you can
either be in the outside lane or inside lane. If you’re on the outside lane,
you need to have eyes on the side of your head to see if someone from the
inside lane wants out! It’s controlled
chaos! But if you miss your exit, you
can just drive around the circle again. Good luck with that! And just pray that you
don’t encounter one of the multi-lane roundabouts!
Choosing to
go to work for the State Department is hands down the best thing I have ever
done for myself. The work has been very
rewarding and the travel opportunities have been nothing short of amazing. I hated to be pushed into retirement (mandatory
at age 65) but once I got home, I appreciated that every day would now be
Saturday. Fortunately the State
Department has a program for retirees to sign on for temporary duty
assignments. And because of that, I
continue to work sporadically, meeting terrific people and visiting new
countries. Last year it was 4 weeks in
Singapore and this year, 4½ months in Brunei.
I continue to collect my Social Security and small annuity from the
government and when I’m lucky enough to
be called and asked to go somewhere cool and work for a while…that money goes
into the savings account. Or for new
hardwood floors in my house. Or a new
facing for my fireplace. Life is so
good.
I guess I’m
not really ready to call it quits just yet.
Maybe after next year. Or the
next year.
