Friday 9 November 2012

Dancing in the street

Just in case any of you were wondering, the rest of the world was also watching the US presidential election with bated breath.  Needless to say, around lunchtime on Wednesday (when the election was called here in Malaysia) I swear I could hear the worldwide collective sigh of relief.

Tuesday night the US Ambassador to Malaysia was on our local radio station explaining the vagaries of the electoral system while colleagues and friends from Malaysia, China, India, UK, Germany, France and beyond were all ardently expressing their anxiety about a Romney presidency. 

As John Oliver (from the Daily Show) recently said, 'Barack Obama is running for re-election in quite possibly the only country in the world in which he could lose.'  How very true. 

In the run-up to the election the BBC carried out a 21-country survey of over 20,000 people and Romney was polling at a paltry 9%.
 
I've witnessed both of Obama's presidential bids from different countries and it would be impossible to overstate how closely the rest of the world watches us. Indonesia (a country that claims Obama for themselves) was keeping a particularly close eye and photos of students celebrating at his former school in Jakarta were plastered across this part of the world.  I did not encounter a a single pro-Romney foreigner during this entire election cycle.

When we went to Indonesia earlier this year, I felt more welcome there as a foreigner than I had anywhere else in a long time.  If you dropped in 'Chicago' you'd be given a broad smile, followed by a sage nod, 'ah yes, President Obama.'

Recently an American friend here in KL had a taxi driver who was informing him that, yes, he liked Barack Obama very much because he was a Muslim.  Funny how misinformation plays so very differently in different parts of the world.

As I said, the rest of world is utterly delighted (and relieved that it is finally over).  There was, quite literally, dancing in the street.


Friday 2 November 2012

Fair weather friend

There are certain times of the year when I take immense pleasure in reminding everyone back home that the weather here doesn't change.  This feeling peaks between mid/late November through March.

But two years in, I am slowly starting to feel the more subtle seasonal shifts that we get in this part of the world. I'm slowly starting to associate surprise downpours (we've had 6 or 7 today) as a characteristic of autumn and winter.  It storms year-round here, but there is a marked difference in the intensity and frequency of the storms.

Maybe it's because I'm coming home for Christmas this year, so I'm keeping a close eye on the calendar, but I also seem to be gaining an improved sense of what the weather is doing back home. The lack of seasons has been something that I've found a bit disorienting.

I haven't set foot outside the tropics for just over a year now, and there have been points in the last year when I've really had to stop and think about what season it was back home.  Months have even ceased to have their normal seasonal attachments here - as for work and planning holidays I often tend to think in terms of the Australian (ie Southern hemisphere) calendar (no trips to Bali when the Aussies are on holiday!)

As much as I love never, ever having to get out of bed on a cold dark morning and sprinting through cold air to a hot shower, I have, more than once looked longingly out the window at a deluge and wished it was just a wee bit cold outside.

All I'm saying is, Chicago, don't let me down.  I need snow on the ground by December 13th.