Well, after almost a year abroad I am home for three months. This weekend my mother, sister and brother in law were in town. I went to a wedding, shopping and hung out with C and Z. It was so crazy and I felt so bombarded by random people I know with questions I didn't know how to answer. I feel like in 4 days I spoke more English than I have all year. I wish I had more time to process b/c I am not even sure what I said to them. Then yesterday I went to the dentist. That was equally crazy. I am glad to finally just sit down and be. Everything is so different so it will take some time to get used to. As I kept racing against time I felt like I was still in a dream. Now that I finally had a little sleep it is starting to sink in. It seems like I have been gone forever but to some I just left yesterday. Just give me a little time. I've decided after running a marathon these past four days that I am doing nothing but cleaning, organizing and hopefully an on-line scrapbook. Granted my neighbor can fix my computer tomorrow. I look forward to chatting with you but if you want to hear the real story and not just me talking giberish give this little caterpillar some time in her cacoon to become a butterfly before you open my door. Thanks I look forward to chats in a week or two. You can call after Friday.
Things to adjust to:
1. My mother owns 4 computers and most people in Laos don't even own one or know how to use it.
2. What the heck is twitter and how does it work?
3. It took me 30 minutes to open the new dishwasher. Yes, still figuring it out.
4. My mom had a lot of house work done, no wallpaper on the staircase from green to yellow. Completely new kitchen including; microwave, sink, dishwasher, cabnet handles, lights, you get the idea, new bedspreads on my bed, and my older brothers bed, my sisters room that I live in painted one color. The list goes on- I still miss my old bedspread of 6 years who knows where it is now?
5. All my books gone, only a few t-shirts at home. Hints-why I went shopping I haven't bought new clothes almost all year.
6. Everything is just so big!
7. Wal-mart need I say more....
8. New stores in the mall
9. So clean and not dusty
10. Driving a car-so I almost forgot that you have to be in the left hand turn lane to turn left. I constantly remind myself to stop at stop signs and lights and that sometimes it is okay to drive above 35 miles per hour
11. Everything is so expensive! Thank goodness my mom left a lot of food in the house.
12. Cable-wow I forgot how to work it and had to be shown
13. The surround sound and 4 remote controls still don't understand?
14. Taking a bath and when taking a shower not having to put the toilet lid down so that the seat isn't wet.
15. Air conditioning-all the buildings are so cold
16. No flooded streets and not so dense air- I can breath
17. Trees- There are so many more trees in Arkansas than Vientiane. A little suprised but I love it or maybe it is just different kind of trees.
18.The tree on our backporch is gone
19. No squatty potties and soap and toilet paper in bathrooms!
20. Electricity-no dirty bucket showers or intense heat
21. I could go on for quite awhile but this is a good start.
I think the biggest adjustment might be interacting with people after having learned so many different cultural norms this past year. Remembering to be polite.
2 comments:
Kathryn, Congratulations on such a wonderful journey! Readjustment back to America is going to be difficult, and you'll most likely have the feeling that you just want to go back overseas to be with the people where life was so much more simple. You're strong and you'll be able to stick it out! If you ever want someone to talk about readjustment, I'm always here! Most people tend to only want to hear anecdotes rather than what it was like to wake up everyday in your village or city (wherever you were).
I, too, echo your sentiments about Wal-Mart. That was the one of the things I missed most while living overseas. One stop shopping!
<>Pi love,
Mellissa Nguyen
Delta Delta, Alpha 99
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