How I almost met Jason Bourne

There's a scene at the beginning of the second Jason Bourne movie (we're big fans!) where Bourne and his girlfriend are living in some shack right off of the beach in Goa, India. The camera pans around to show the curtains blowing in the sea breeze, one bathroom with a rusted pedestal sink and a small room with cracks zig zagging each wall. There are few furnishing except a bed and no decor except a framed picture. I remember watching this part of the movie once and saying to Kyle how freeing it must be to live on the beach, with few possessions, just loving each day as it comes.

Later in the movie, Bourne is inTangiers and there are several scenes where he's running from rooftop to rooftop, crashing through people's open apartment windows. What struck me then were the vibrant colors of the buildings, the laundry drying precariously on clothes lines strung between dwellings and just the busy hum of the city.

I can honestly say that Hollywood can make anything look attractive and exciting, because having lived both scenarios this past week, it is not at all what it is cracked up to be.

Our unceremonious arrival to Baku from Almaty featured a very rustic apartment that had not seen a mop, broom or disinfectant in years. The a/c was blowing hot air, washing machine door would not open, front door would not lock properly and the elevator was broken. Mentioning that the apartment was at the back of an office building and having to parade the dogs through people's actual office corridors, is beside the point.

Wanting to cry, I instead put all of my energy and sweat into making the apartment habitable. But by the end of the third day of "Bourne Living," I was done. Over it. Ready to call it quits.

By shear determination (and the fear that I might actually fly back to the states), my wonderful husband secured a normal apartment with all of the modern things that make life wonderful. A washing machine/dryer combo! Dish washing machine! Full-sized refrigerator! Air conditioning! English-speaking TV! Internet! Showers without mold! Pillows that were bought in the past decade!

I will be just fine in Baku.