I like to think I have had a very interesting life. How's this: I have lived over half my life outside the U.S. My dad works for the U.S. State Department. He gets to work in embassies around the world and we follow him, or I used to until I graduated from high school. We have lived in a lot of places, and visited even more. Right now my family lives in Santiago, Chile. Interested in the U.S. Embassy down there? Click here. I graduated from high school in Bahrain, the most liberal Middle Eastern country. To visit Bahrain (or actually their internet service provider) click here.

But before that, I lived in Athens, Greece. Now there's an interesting place! Very Mediterranean, and absolutely fascinating ruins and archaeological sites. If you are ever there around Greek Orthodox Easter, then visit an island or a rural community. They have night processions through the streets, with every man, woman and child carrying lit candles. It's just unbelievable.

Before that,I lived in Trinidad and Tobago, in the south Caribbean. I would have to say the most interesting thing about that place is its Carnival. It's like the Carnival in Rio, on a bit of a smaller scale. Some people spend thousands of dollars, and work all year, on incredibly elaborate costumes, just to display them for two days. The mentality is baffling, but the costumes are beautiful. And hey, there's always a chance that they could win a nice chunk of money.

We are getting back into the mid 1980's here. Before Trinidad, I lived in Bulgaria, when it was still under Communist rule. As an eight-year-old child, I knew nothing about political systems, but I did know that the whole place was a bit dark and depressing. We could never get much in the local shops. They would display things that weren't even available! I still haven't figured out why. We had to order things from catalogs, and drive south for four hours to Greece to go grocery shopping. My parents would spend hundreds of dollars so they could buy three months' worth of groceries, so they didn't have to make the trip too often. It was really crazy.

Before that, my dad was in the U.S. Army, and we were actually in one place for more than two years. I lived in Herndon, Virginia from 1980 to 1985. I remember it well, but the Herndon of today is not the same as it was ten years ago. It's gotten much bigger now--it's beginning to blend into the towns around it.

Now we are traveling back into the realms of the unknown... I lived in Thailand as a baby, but I don't remember that at all. If it weren't for the pictures, I might be able to say my parents made it all up. (!)

My life, nothing was easy 'til now.
--Roland Orzabal

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