Crossing Cultural Lines

Tension's high as lines are crossed;
I find myself emotion's tossed
Up in swirl with gulf-like breach
Who's further bank cannot be reached.

I hate it – all my life is there,
On nearer shore – where I compare
The different types of foreign folks,
For all are foreign types of blokes.

What does it matter who they are –
Different as near, different far?
It's all the same as TCK
The foreign fact is here to stay.

All I can note – when they're not home,
How they react when e'er they roam;
And laugh as they find out too late
The strain when they participate –

How hard it is to spend one's days
Among some folks with different ways,
Who can't be dumped to ease one's life
Like strain that is as husband, wife.

And class is there – a part of it,
Another aspect where we fit
(Or not) like gender, race, and clan –
Such barriers confront this man.

It's then frustrations rise so high,
At times we wish that we would die
To ease the chronic stress within –
How great the cost of human sin.

For ‘difference’ Lord, brought forth by you
Does add new texture to this Stew;
But that's not what we do with it –
We cull the ones who do not fit.

Lord, now I see, reducing stress
Has been my task amidst my mess;
And this has been a shake-down cruise
To bridge a gap, and lengthen fuse.

For jump from home to Holy Land
Is not an impact I can stand;
Without a bridge, too great a jump,
So I do parts of that big hump.

Perhaps resources are too small
To fill an order far too tall;
But bit by bit it whittles down
So I can later get around.

Perhaps that's what I need to do –
Push out the edges here with you;
To leave some room to give and take
As I my ground-truth survey make.

A bit like runners for a race –
Do many-bits like final case,
So all that's left once training's done
It's what is new and what is fun.

So – how to do that, what select,
As I push onward, not yet wrecked
By over-training, push too fast,
Yet push enough to make it last?

My power adapter will not fit,
I cannot charge because of it;
Thus assets brought I cannot use;
So, note to self – tools better choose.

The guided tour a buffer is
It lets me focus on my biz;
For I'm not into living there,
Just in an out, my drafts compare.

Logistics persons are a boon
So I can walk up to my room
And crash without a hassle time
Between fatigue and sleepy time.

There's been no sickness, hurt, or strain;
No chronic aches, no constant pain;
No major blocks to resource base,
Just laundry shortage in one case.

The documents, arrangements here
Are cashless, pre-paid, (somewhat dear);
The more that's done while we are home,
Reduces stress when far we roam.

A better set of links with base
Would maximize, with far less waste,
Our time abroad – then guides select –
With team in place which we elect.

The more that is in systems fixed,
The greater ease to cope with bits
Which do not fit, or rise up fast;
Extending trip – make money last.

So good this trip has been to date,
Despite myself, as tasks I break
Down to a set of smaller parts,
So I can cope once big trip starts.

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