Friday, September 8
3 years and a look back
I realized that as of today, I've been home exactly 3 years. It is hard to believe that after a year of wandering, exploring, full of adventure and excitement, that I've now been home long enough for it to have faded a bit to mere memories. Not even clear memories, at times. I've forgotten names of places, people, things we saw and did, words we learned of other languages. And yet, I find that I remember the odd situation at odd times. Something will trigger one of those memories and it's fun to think back.
Three years ago. I was exhausted from a year of traveling. I was excited to return "home" even though I had no place to call "home", to a bit of routine. I was excited to (eventually) have a bathroom IN the place I was staying - where I could get up in the middle of the night and go to the toilet without putting on a complete wardrobe. I was excited to eat some "comfort" food - to be able to cook in an actual kitchen. I was excited to retrieve and wear my wedding (and engagement) ring! (We had been wearing $20 travel rings during our one year away. I had worn both my wedding AND engagement rings less than that amount of time before we left.
I was shocked by the culture change. Even after spending a month in Europe before coming home, the culture shock was significant. We had spent a year living in tents, cars, $2 hotels, hostels, generally in extremely hot temperatures (from 80-130 degrees F) without air conditioning, and often with extreme humidity. We have shared toilets & bathrooms, often so disgusting that the average american (or human) would be appalled to have to use them but for the overwhelming need to use something other than a sidewalk or street corner. The cars in other places (if there WERE cars) were tiny, functional. We returned and found ourselves driving my sister-in-law's Ford Expedition. The streets were clean and absolutely packed with cars. There were few pedestrians, bicycles, odd vehicular contraptions. There were no cows or cow manure. You had to cross at cross walks, which we were no longer accustomed to. Running across as highway as a pedestrian was suddenly a very bad idea (wow, did we REALLY ever think it was a GOOD idea?!).
While we were excited to get back home to our own belongings (which were piled into a rather large storage unit and even a bit of excess into a smallish one), we wondered - how did we HAVE so much stuff..and why? We had lived for an entire year out of one backpack apiece. Did we really need so much more than that? We were determined to lighten our load when we started unpacking. Sentimental attachments, being SURE you'll use this or that again SOMEDAY - it makes it hard to get rid of things. You have to be in the right frame of mind. By the time we finally got into an apartment six weeks later, our convictions had faded somewhat. We still have too much "stuff".
Three years have dimmed the brightness of our memories, the vividness of our experiences and our convictions to change. Three years have allowed us time to fully entrench ourselves in the life we led before leaving on our trip. Are we still different? Perhaps. But not as different as we were three years ago, when we stepped off the plane. Not different in the same way. We are older, more seasoned and more settled. Perhaps its time for another adventure!
Three years ago. I was exhausted from a year of traveling. I was excited to return "home" even though I had no place to call "home", to a bit of routine. I was excited to (eventually) have a bathroom IN the place I was staying - where I could get up in the middle of the night and go to the toilet without putting on a complete wardrobe. I was excited to eat some "comfort" food - to be able to cook in an actual kitchen. I was excited to retrieve and wear my wedding (and engagement) ring! (We had been wearing $20 travel rings during our one year away. I had worn both my wedding AND engagement rings less than that amount of time before we left.
I was shocked by the culture change. Even after spending a month in Europe before coming home, the culture shock was significant. We had spent a year living in tents, cars, $2 hotels, hostels, generally in extremely hot temperatures (from 80-130 degrees F) without air conditioning, and often with extreme humidity. We have shared toilets & bathrooms, often so disgusting that the average american (or human) would be appalled to have to use them but for the overwhelming need to use something other than a sidewalk or street corner. The cars in other places (if there WERE cars) were tiny, functional. We returned and found ourselves driving my sister-in-law's Ford Expedition. The streets were clean and absolutely packed with cars. There were few pedestrians, bicycles, odd vehicular contraptions. There were no cows or cow manure. You had to cross at cross walks, which we were no longer accustomed to. Running across as highway as a pedestrian was suddenly a very bad idea (wow, did we REALLY ever think it was a GOOD idea?!).
While we were excited to get back home to our own belongings (which were piled into a rather large storage unit and even a bit of excess into a smallish one), we wondered - how did we HAVE so much stuff..and why? We had lived for an entire year out of one backpack apiece. Did we really need so much more than that? We were determined to lighten our load when we started unpacking. Sentimental attachments, being SURE you'll use this or that again SOMEDAY - it makes it hard to get rid of things. You have to be in the right frame of mind. By the time we finally got into an apartment six weeks later, our convictions had faded somewhat. We still have too much "stuff".
Three years have dimmed the brightness of our memories, the vividness of our experiences and our convictions to change. Three years have allowed us time to fully entrench ourselves in the life we led before leaving on our trip. Are we still different? Perhaps. But not as different as we were three years ago, when we stepped off the plane. Not different in the same way. We are older, more seasoned and more settled. Perhaps its time for another adventure!
Labels: Reflections, Travel
