I have a newspaper clipping in my journal written by John Flinn of the "San Francisco Chronicle" (I didn’t note the date). The title is “Warning signs for when it’s time to go home.” A few I can relate to but I’ve rewritten his using my own experiences:
1. You find a three-day-old copy of “USA Today” and read every word—not once but twice—including all the articles and details about baseball’s spring training camps (I HATE baseball—when does football season start???).
2. As you blog, you listen to/watch Sky News—which makes one recording of the day’s top stories, weather, and soccer scores for Britain and then reruns it every 15 minutes over the entire day (for the airport terminals, you know)—because it’s the only thing on television in English that isn’t about Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iran, etc.
3. You begin to develop a disturbing obsession with the Aljazeera TV station’s political analyst, Mustafa Alani.
4. You stop Americans on the street and ask who won the Oscar for Best Picture.
5. You’re sick of the slimy bar soap and the smell of the fabric softener provided in the apartment.
6. You are suddenly a fan of the country’s soccer team (I HATE soccer—when does football season start???).
Hmmm, know what? I’m still not ready to leave. Only one of the above is true about me. Can you guess which one?
