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Staying Connected with America I dearly miss America, of course, but I stay connected through various means, including email. I have a cable TV package here, but they show mostly Arab and British channels, so I don’t watch it much. Instead, I use my computer to stream shows from America, mostly PBS (including the News Hour every night), and I buy lots of movies from iTunes. In fact, during the past 18 months I’ve amassed a collection of over 100 movies in .mp4 format – only half of which I've actually watched – as well as dozens of TV shows that I’ve also downloaded (yay, Gilligan’s Island!) And I’ve subscribed to just about every streaming channel, including ESPN so I can watch American sports, a requisite no matter where I live.
On weekend nights (weekends in the Middle East are on Friday and Saturday), I escape back to America, so to speak. I push my recliner loveseat close to my 32” TV in my bedroom, turn off the lights, and stream movies or my favorite American TV shows, including “Friday Night Lights,” “Portlandia,” “Felicity” and “The Americans” to remind me of things back home – like high school football, Portland, my college days and nasty Russian spies, respectively.
After watching American TV shows late into Friday night, I get up on Saturday morning and stream on-demand sporting events from the Northwest, like my University of Portland and Portland State soccer, basketball and volleyball teams, of games they played just a few hours earlier back in the States. I do that while washing my clothes and cooking a week’s worth of meals in the kitchen, so my weekends are busy but relaxed.
Above left: My wonderful bedroom at Beverly Hills Tower. This is where I spend most of my time when I'm not working at CPO. Above right: And here's my reclining La-Z-Boy loveseat, perfect for us lazy boys. I really love my bedroom, which I've lined with photos of the U.S.
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