It's those little things...

It's those little that grab you by surprise... In Brasil it was all about the food. I didn't eat for days when i first arrived... It all seemed so foreign... dead fish heads staring up at you and pots of un-pronounceable stews filled with god knows what. But you get used to it.

In Italy it took me a few days of getting laughed at by locals when i would ask for 'breakfast' to finally just stop asking. "letta me a guessa... youa wanta thee american breakafesta. witha bacon and thee eggsa..." and then they would laugh and say no and offer me espresso and a pastry. You get used to it.

On the Gulf Coast of America after Katrina work trips it wasn't the fact that we were sleeping on air mattresses on the floor nor the fact that we were working all day in the hot sun for no pay till we couldn't breathe anymore... no. that was the easy part. It was dealing with the emotional trauma of seeing fellow americans lose their homes and family members and everything they owned that stung the most. that was the hard part.

Africa of course forget about it. Once you see poverty like that you pretty much lose sight of any discomfort you might be feeling on your own part. Seven vaccination shots that hurt like shit, malaria pills that give you nightmares every night, no electric half the time, no fresh drinking water, no hot water, eating rodent... nothing compared to the experience of seeing how most of them actually live themselves. It is still hard to type about it without getting choked up...

This newest adventure offers it's own cocktail of unexpected challenges. The American women in our group must all cover their hair in the customary Hijab manner, even in their visa photos they take here. I have much respect for them. They will have to become accustomed to things that we men on the trip will not have to.

And there is the issue of bringing our cameras or laptops. To me, not bringing my camera and laptop are inconceivable - in order to document my experiences for friends and fans and myself alike. I live for the moment. But i certainly live for the moment after as well. But evidently bringing our laptops is not such a good idea. The Iranian government has the authority to confiscate it and copy the hard drive. Of course i would be put to death if they ever saw what was on my hard drive. One can only imagine...

And the US Government now considers it against the law to bring a laptop back from Iran and also has the authority to confiscate it and copy the hard drive upon our return. All of this makes sense. I do not question it. It is a sign of the times that we live in.

Most delegates will choose not to bring a computer at all. But i have devised a plan. I called Dell today and will install a brand new hard drive in my trusty old companion. We will then ghost my current hard drive to the new one. And then we will delete everything off of the new one except just the operating system and MS Word and the Canon software i need to download photos and videos. It will be a lot of work and alot more expense. But in the end even if either government confiscates my computer, i don't lose much. For extra precaution, I can also make CD backups of everything i collect while there and hide them somewhere else. Up my arse if i have to. But the show will go on. American ingenuity at it's finest. Stay tuned.