It's a bit of a strange move for me, I'll grant you that. Why would I want to live in Vegas? What the hell is there in Vegas? I mean there aren't any indie movies, or art installations, or poetry readings, or nicely crazy people. Where am I going to get authentic Ethiopian food, or a nice dish of stinky tofu, or strictly kosher Israeli shawarmas and falafels? Where will I go to get REAL beef rendang, or softshell crabs, or shabu-shabu? Where else can I buy a tub of freshly made baba ganoush right in the deli section of my local grocery? And what about my samosas and gosh and roti canai? And my true blue New York pizza from Lillian's across the street?
Man. I will miss the almost insane cultural diversity of this city. I will miss the energy and the creative vibe. And god, I will miss the food.
I was never much of an adventurous eater when I was little. I didn't like vegetables, and I only ate meat. I didn't like apples or pears or spicy food. The only adventurous thing I liked was sushi and maybe the occasional tapang usa.
No more.
Now we stock our kitchen with things like roti, and fuzzy meat, and things we don't even really know the names of (literally). We buy weird beer and even weirder wines. We always celebrate our anniversary at Meskerem, where I indulge in plates of marinated RAW beef eaten with a variety of condiments and sourdough bread. I've drunk buttered tea, honey wine, and not a few shots of an alcoholic drink that tasted suspiciously like Listerine Mouthwash. I've eaten practically every kind of sushi you can think of. I've eaten baby octopus and sea urchin and alligators. I've eaten buffalo burgers, and boiled kale, and grilled seitan. My tongue has come to terms with chillies and spices. And I've even eaten full vegetarian meals without batting an eyelash.
I've eaten strange fruits and odd vegetables in the weirdest shapes and hues. I've eaten Turkish, African, Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese, Taiwanese, Greek, Spanish, Central American, Colombian, Mexican, English, German, Vietnamese, Tibetan, Nepalese, Cambodian, Polynesian, Arabian, Spanish, and French food cooked by people who actually came from those places. And those are just the ones I remember.
Now I can honestly say that I've reached the point where I could eat just about anything. I've often put food in my mouth without asking what it is and what it's made of.
Food, of all things. BOY, HAVE I CHANGED.
The thing is, I think it's time for me to move on. It's time to move WAY out of my comfort zone. In some respects, New York really wasn't that different from Manila. Yes, there was a variety of skin colors. Yes, there were a lot of people with weird metal spikes hanging from their bodies. And yes, the world seems more easy to access from here than anywhere else. Yet at the same time, they were both cosmpolitan centers at the cutting edge of their respective societies. They were both filled with the same serious businessmen and spoiled heiresses and pretty young hipsters.
Las Vegas is different. Nevada is different.
For one thing, there isn't a beach for miles - only hot desert sand and the glitter of casinos. For another, the city is Republican. More than half of the population has never been to college. Vegas is the kind of place I'd never thought I'd end up in. There, valet parking attendant can earn up to 50 grand, while teachers earn a mere $28,000. There will be no writing groups, or poetry readings, or Angelika Theaters. It will be hot and dry and overwhelmingly white. Mentally and perhaps physically, it will not be like anything I've experienced before. And frankly, that's the only reason I need.
It will be different, but the world is made of a lot of different places and I vowed I would see the world.
