well ok then
so, it's pretty official at this point. i've slept two nights in my house. i've eaten meals here. i've worn jeans and OTHER SHOES. i took books out of the library. i'm home.
it's not nearly as foreign as i expected it to be, and that's strangely disappointing. in fact, mostly it feels as though i never left. which is strange, because i most certainly did leave, and it's not as though i've lived at my parents' house for more than a week or two since the turning of the century (not that long, perhaps, but it sounds cool). still, it's been quite an easy transition thus far, but for a few things:
firstly, the checkin to my American Airlines flight from Brussells. I was interrogated and felt offended and violated and thought "welcome home." the man behind me in line was passive aggressive in his rudeness, with a lovely "excuse me miss, why are these people being allowed to cut in front of us?" to the attendant walking around handing out electronic tickets. my security agent made show him names and phone numbers of people i'd stayed with - asked for receipts from any travel i'd done since being in europe, and his supervisor said "do you have the credit card you used to make payments over the past year? because i'd love to see it..." and kept cutting me off. innocent until proven guilty my butt. it was NOT a pleasant reintroduction to the country. and it made me nervous. the man sitting next to me on the plane (conspicuously not nabia who stayed in brussells and will be on her way to london today, returning home tuesday) was orthodox Jewish and proceeded to don his tefillin {sp?} as soon as we were all seated. certainly no problems with that, but there's that whole "no eye contact between the sexes" thing that sort of bugged me. it's against his religion, i get it, but we were on the plane for 8 1/2 hours and he didn't even acknowledge my existence by doing so little as apologize every time he bumped me with his elbow. welcome back indeed. i'd been hoping to have some nice conversation on the plane - finally i have something i can chat about. but no. not to be.
so needless to say i was nervous about reentry. i was concerned nobody would smile or chat or help or be kind. and i don't know yet about that part. i've been pretty much keeping to the house, and my parents are certainly smiley enough... but i'm off into the city this evening for a farewell to Emily party and then down to DC for The Wedding, and it's gonna be some interesting research. i'll let you know.
other observations: i'm having a bit o' trouble with waste. things like leaving the water running for an extra few seconds or throwing away plastic bags or spending three dollars on a baggage cart (ONLY airport in all the travels where you needed to pay for the cart). it's just that we were in so many places where the people wouldn't think of wasting those things. water in the desert, money in a third world country, plastic bags for a traveller, all these things are vital. you wouldn't dare waste them. i'll get used to the overabundance again, i guess, though i don't really want to... but for now, does anyone need some extra plastic bags?
also, "we" has once again become "i" and that'll take some readjusting. but i'm only back two days so far, and we-i-mean-i'd say it's going pretty well.
as for the jetlag, i seem to be ok. shockingly.
as for the sorting process, i also seem to be ok. there is disappointingly little up there, actually. i thought... i thought there was more. but the stuff that is there is pretty cool. so that's good. but it's not going to take me all that long to get through it (almost done already, i think, unless i'm missing some secret storage vault somewhere), partly because i can't DO anything with the decorative stuff. i'm not living somewhere i'll be living for ALL that long, so i don't really want to redecorate. besides, then i'd have to take down all my high school drama club posters...
so yeah. i'm home. i'm no longer travelling the world. not at the moment, anyway. though there are trips in the works. i've been pondering this blog. what to do with it, whether to continue or not. it certainly wouldn't be quite as interesting as it's been... but it might be ok. i'll keep it going for a little while anyway. i mean, don't you want to hear how the party and the wedding go? i'll tell you about the food... by the way, my parents want everybody to know that i've been eating very well at home too. soy lime swordfish and veggies, crispy chicken... it's tasty here too :)
so i guess that's it for now. the journey continues? yeah. it most certainly does. once my brain catches up to my body from the jetlag, i'll definitely have emotional work to do - trying to continue work from the trip and starting things i've been putting off... and i need to get the body part back in shape too - it's real easy to excuse not exercising when you're in a different cramped room every day...
there's lots to do. i'm putting it on a list. i like lists, remember? and charts. maybe i'll make it into a flow chart!! ooohhh... flow chart.
anyway, thanks again for reading, and i'll post again after the weekend.
ok then. :)
amy
email me
it's not nearly as foreign as i expected it to be, and that's strangely disappointing. in fact, mostly it feels as though i never left. which is strange, because i most certainly did leave, and it's not as though i've lived at my parents' house for more than a week or two since the turning of the century (not that long, perhaps, but it sounds cool). still, it's been quite an easy transition thus far, but for a few things:
firstly, the checkin to my American Airlines flight from Brussells. I was interrogated and felt offended and violated and thought "welcome home." the man behind me in line was passive aggressive in his rudeness, with a lovely "excuse me miss, why are these people being allowed to cut in front of us?" to the attendant walking around handing out electronic tickets. my security agent made show him names and phone numbers of people i'd stayed with - asked for receipts from any travel i'd done since being in europe, and his supervisor said "do you have the credit card you used to make payments over the past year? because i'd love to see it..." and kept cutting me off. innocent until proven guilty my butt. it was NOT a pleasant reintroduction to the country. and it made me nervous. the man sitting next to me on the plane (conspicuously not nabia who stayed in brussells and will be on her way to london today, returning home tuesday) was orthodox Jewish and proceeded to don his tefillin {sp?} as soon as we were all seated. certainly no problems with that, but there's that whole "no eye contact between the sexes" thing that sort of bugged me. it's against his religion, i get it, but we were on the plane for 8 1/2 hours and he didn't even acknowledge my existence by doing so little as apologize every time he bumped me with his elbow. welcome back indeed. i'd been hoping to have some nice conversation on the plane - finally i have something i can chat about. but no. not to be.
so needless to say i was nervous about reentry. i was concerned nobody would smile or chat or help or be kind. and i don't know yet about that part. i've been pretty much keeping to the house, and my parents are certainly smiley enough... but i'm off into the city this evening for a farewell to Emily party and then down to DC for The Wedding, and it's gonna be some interesting research. i'll let you know.
other observations: i'm having a bit o' trouble with waste. things like leaving the water running for an extra few seconds or throwing away plastic bags or spending three dollars on a baggage cart (ONLY airport in all the travels where you needed to pay for the cart). it's just that we were in so many places where the people wouldn't think of wasting those things. water in the desert, money in a third world country, plastic bags for a traveller, all these things are vital. you wouldn't dare waste them. i'll get used to the overabundance again, i guess, though i don't really want to... but for now, does anyone need some extra plastic bags?
also, "we" has once again become "i" and that'll take some readjusting. but i'm only back two days so far, and we-i-mean-i'd say it's going pretty well.
as for the jetlag, i seem to be ok. shockingly.
as for the sorting process, i also seem to be ok. there is disappointingly little up there, actually. i thought... i thought there was more. but the stuff that is there is pretty cool. so that's good. but it's not going to take me all that long to get through it (almost done already, i think, unless i'm missing some secret storage vault somewhere), partly because i can't DO anything with the decorative stuff. i'm not living somewhere i'll be living for ALL that long, so i don't really want to redecorate. besides, then i'd have to take down all my high school drama club posters...
so yeah. i'm home. i'm no longer travelling the world. not at the moment, anyway. though there are trips in the works. i've been pondering this blog. what to do with it, whether to continue or not. it certainly wouldn't be quite as interesting as it's been... but it might be ok. i'll keep it going for a little while anyway. i mean, don't you want to hear how the party and the wedding go? i'll tell you about the food... by the way, my parents want everybody to know that i've been eating very well at home too. soy lime swordfish and veggies, crispy chicken... it's tasty here too :)
so i guess that's it for now. the journey continues? yeah. it most certainly does. once my brain catches up to my body from the jetlag, i'll definitely have emotional work to do - trying to continue work from the trip and starting things i've been putting off... and i need to get the body part back in shape too - it's real easy to excuse not exercising when you're in a different cramped room every day...
there's lots to do. i'm putting it on a list. i like lists, remember? and charts. maybe i'll make it into a flow chart!! ooohhh... flow chart.
anyway, thanks again for reading, and i'll post again after the weekend.
ok then. :)
amy
email me
posted by theonetheycallamy at 11/04/2005 10:21:00 AM
1 Comments:
Well, I don't know if I can wait until late December to see you. When are you booking?
K8
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