#jet lag
I am up far to early that I should be, so the inbox is open and messages are welcome.
My body clock has been extremely messed up lately. Not from shifting time zones (which does take a minor toll), but seasonally. For the past couple months I have been convinced that Winter, and more specifically, Christmas, will be coming soon. Unfortunately this is not the case, and in fact the opposite is happening. Each and every week it is getting hotter- scarily close to the 50 degrees centigrade (122 fahrenheit) point where it will likely remain for all of June, July, and August.
The main reason for my seasonal confusion is simple, but it is bolstered up by various minor factors. The big part is that though I’m now in the ‘real’ working world- I’m overly accustomed to the school calendar. School finished when I graduated in December, whereas the end of the “year” celebrations, the “school’s out for Summer!” parties are, you guessed it, usually reserved for the Summer months. Further confusing myself- I did, in effect, take a Summer break after graduating! I spent time in the pleasant Caribbean and then two months in Southern and Eastern Africa- where it was Summer. So when all of that ended and it was time to get back to being productive, I felt like my Summer break was coming to an end, and thus it must be September (though it was really March)! Seeing as that this was all two months ago, now (May) would seem to really be November- and therego, my seasonal confusion.
The minor parts that perpetuate the feeling come and go. Today was particularly bad however. For one thing, it was an unusually cool day in Cairo. Having just arrived yesterday from hot Dubai, I thought to myself. “oh it is getting colder- must be Winter coming.” And though this was a particularly cool day, this is a weekly happening- weekends in the warm UAE, and then the week in Mediterranean Egypt- always feels like Summer moving to Autumn / Winter. Then, this evening, while in the office, somebody opened a window and suddenly the smell of roasting fire wood came in. We weren’t sure what it was from- but even a colleague of mine said, “ah it smells like Christmas” and starting singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. .. Jack Frost nipping at your nose…” of course that meant I had to play that song on my Ipod (the Justin Bieber ft. Usher version, duh).
So here we were, moving from hot to cold weather, smelling a wonderful wood fire, singing Christmas songs, AND two months separated from a “Summer Break.” And though quite misleading and possibly disappointing (when the present do not arrive), I’ve decided that it is nice to think Christmas is around the corner. It gives me a cheerful attitude, makes me appreciate things a bit more, and at times provides a nice retrospective lull to take over.
Christmas is wonderful. Christmas time is better. This year, I’m happy I get a bit more of it than usual.
