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Aly · 06-21-2005, 09:36 PM

9. What countries have you lived in. Discuss life in each one.

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I've already touched on this a little, but I'd be delighted to elaborate further. God knows there are a lot of people on this board who are clealry in need of a little cultural education...

I was born in the UK and then moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where I lived until I was almost nine. That means I wasn't educated by Sesame Street, and am certainly not a product of any typical environment. But I also really don't know anything different, so it's hard to say whether that's a good thing or not. Certainly, moving to a culture that was primarily Caucasian and English-speaking was by far the biggest culture-shock of my life. Malaysia was beautiful, I rarely wore shoes, I went riding every day (with shoes) and spent a lot of time hunting monstrous insects and snakes. It was great! ... Then one day I was put on a plane, dropped on the steps of an ancient Scottish boarding school and forced to wear shoes. That sucked.

At that point I started 'visiting' the places I 'lived'. First on the map was Cairo, Egypt. This was in the early eighties when Cairo was a little less 'Westernized' than it is now, and a little less anti-Westerners. To be brutally honest, it was a tough place to live; my mother used to make me bring sugar and flour and stuff like that in my suitcase from Britain because such things (at least in the varieties she preferred) were hard to come by there. My bedroom window opened toward a Mosque on the opposite side of the street, which was a beautiful building... except when the speakers in the tower of the building blared some fellow singing prayers at sunrise every day right into my bedroom! With all due respect to Islam, that was a racket! After being woken by my morning serenade our chaffeur (yes, chauffeur, try driving in Cairo and you'll get the point) would drive us over to Giza (that's where the Pyramids are, BTW) and we'd go riding through the desert (I had an Arab) ... (Pony that is). That was an experience for which I'm forever grateful. Even at a very early age I understood how lucky I was. Yes, it was a tough place to live, for many reasons, but I also discovered a great respect for the culture and the history and would never trade the experience for a childhood in Beverly Hills. We trvelled all over Egypt and parts of Africa and... well, I could write a few books about this but this is GFY, so I'll move on...

Oh wait... I should mention that I was arrested in Cairo, at the age of nine, for conspiracy to assassinate President Sadat (who was shortly thereafter shot by his own troops)... okay, moving on...

Then we moved to Bombay, India. Actually, it was tougher to live in Bombay than it was to live in Cairo! Oh dear... Let me clarify that India itself is a spectacular country, with an intensely colourful, multifaceted culture and truly beautiful people. Bombay, however, is a bit of a mess. The incredible levels of poverty that you're surrounded by in that city are beyond anything most of you can imagine, and as a child it was a confusing reality within which to exist. I couldn't make sense of it at all and while some of you may now have the impression that I was living a rather upscale colonial life... well, actually, I was, but it was very unsheltered. My parents wanted me to see the world the way it really is... which is admirable in a way but also very disturbing. But, to jump back to the positive again, I trekked up the himalayas on a pony, rode a steam train through the country, danced with naked hippies on a beach and developed a lifelong fondness for curry!

After India, I moved to Abu Dhabi, which I covered earlier in this thread... At the time, it was the wealthiest nation on earth. Imagine moving from the poverty of Bombay to the wealthiest nation on earth at almost-13... There's a book in that, too!

Then I moved to Toronto... which is truly one of the greatest cities on earth.

Now I'm in LA... and I love LA and realize how very privileged I am to have experienced so much so far.

One of the greatest gifts I've received from growing up all around the world is the ability to communicate with just about anybody on a very real level. Nobody seems much like a foreigner to me.

06-21-2005, 09:36 PM
Aly President, ePufferProfits Industry Role: Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,881	9. What countries have you lived in. Discuss life in each one. --------- I've already touched on this a little, but I'd be delighted to elaborate further. God knows there are a lot of people on this board who are clealry in need of a little cultural education... I was born in the UK and then moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where I lived until I was almost nine. That means I wasn't educated by Sesame Street, and am certainly not a product of any typical environment. But I also really don't know anything different, so it's hard to say whether that's a good thing or not. Certainly, moving to a culture that was primarily Caucasian and English-speaking was by far the biggest culture-shock of my life. Malaysia was beautiful, I rarely wore shoes, I went riding every day (with shoes) and spent a lot of time hunting monstrous insects and snakes. It was great! ... Then one day I was put on a plane, dropped on the steps of an ancient Scottish boarding school and forced to wear shoes. That sucked. At that point I started 'visiting' the places I 'lived'. First on the map was Cairo, Egypt. This was in the early eighties when Cairo was a little less 'Westernized' than it is now, and a little less anti-Westerners. To be brutally honest, it was a tough place to live; my mother used to make me bring sugar and flour and stuff like that in my suitcase from Britain because such things (at least in the varieties she preferred) were hard to come by there. My bedroom window opened toward a Mosque on the opposite side of the street, which was a beautiful building... except when the speakers in the tower of the building blared some fellow singing prayers at sunrise every day right into my bedroom! With all due respect to Islam, that was a racket! After being woken by my morning serenade our chaffeur (yes, chauffeur, try driving in Cairo and you'll get the point) would drive us over to Giza (that's where the Pyramids are, BTW) and we'd go riding through the desert (I had an Arab) ... (Pony that is). That was an experience for which I'm forever grateful. Even at a very early age I understood how lucky I was. Yes, it was a tough place to live, for many reasons, but I also discovered a great respect for the culture and the history and would never trade the experience for a childhood in Beverly Hills. We trvelled all over Egypt and parts of Africa and... well, I could write a few books about this but this is GFY, so I'll move on... Oh wait... I should mention that I was arrested in Cairo, at the age of nine, for conspiracy to assassinate President Sadat (who was shortly thereafter shot by his own troops)... okay, moving on... Then we moved to Bombay, India. Actually, it was tougher to live in Bombay than it was to live in Cairo! Oh dear... Let me clarify that India itself is a spectacular country, with an intensely colourful, multifaceted culture and truly beautiful people. Bombay, however, is a bit of a mess. The incredible levels of poverty that you're surrounded by in that city are beyond anything most of you can imagine, and as a child it was a confusing reality within which to exist. I couldn't make sense of it at all and while some of you may now have the impression that I was living a rather upscale colonial life... well, actually, I was, but it was very unsheltered. My parents wanted me to see the world the way it really is... which is admirable in a way but also very disturbing. But, to jump back to the positive again, I trekked up the himalayas on a pony, rode a steam train through the country, danced with naked hippies on a beach and developed a lifelong fondness for curry! After India, I moved to Abu Dhabi, which I covered earlier in this thread... At the time, it was the wealthiest nation on earth. Imagine moving from the poverty of Bombay to the wealthiest nation on earth at almost-13... There's a book in that, too! Then I moved to Toronto... which is truly one of the greatest cities on earth. Now I'm in LA... and I love LA and realize how very privileged I am to have experienced so much so far. One of the greatest gifts I've received from growing up all around the world is the ability to communicate with just about anybody on a very real level. Nobody seems much like a foreigner to me. __________________ . . Aly's ICQ: 51504163 . Aly's Email: [email protected]