What now?
I have enjoyed watching spring unfold. White pear flowers turning into bright green leaves, cherry blossoms in full, green grass, small leaves appearing on other trees. A new season, outward appearances change, beauty, slow growth. I feel this is a good description of how I feel. Entering a new season of life. Like the plants and trees, doing the chemical and biological aspects without being seen. Just as changes in amount of light and temperature trigger chemical and biological changes unseen to the naked eye in plants and trees, experiences in different cultures often trigger thought, value, and direction changes in people. This is often difficult to express in words to others.
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How was your trip? How are you doing? How are you transitioning? All fair questions to ask when you have not seen someone for 6 months who has been abroad. Although they seem simple questions, the answers are not so simple. What aspect do you pick to tell them about? What is this particular person truly interested in hearing? How do you pick one highlight to share? Although I did travel before and after serving on the ship, the majority of my time was living there. It was not truly a trip.
Addressing the questions of how I am doing and transitioning, it is not as easy as other times I have been to another country. What is normal anyway? I have heard and like the saying, "Normal is just a setting on the dryer." Traveling abroad in several different countries, cultures, economic levels, modes of transportation, and food is one way to significantly blur your definition of normal. Which side of the road to drive on, how and where one purchases food, gets from one place to another, housing, electricity, water, how you pay for items, how you know the prices of items, number of choices/options of items, and ways of communicating are just some of the everyday things that differ.
Is one way better than another? The quick surface answer may appear to be yes. Upon further examination, however, I am not so sure. This is not a guilt trip, so please keep reading. I do like the consistency of being able to turn on a light switch or plug in something and having the light turn on or the item to charge. I like the same consistency of running water at any faucet and being able to drink it whenever I would like. I do like having options to chose what and when I want to eat or go somewhere. I like the ability to go to three grocery stores within a 5 mile radius of my house, drive across town (15 miles) to help a friend move, go out to dinner 10 miles in the opposite direction without blinking an eye. I am grateful for healthcare easy access (so to speak...another topic for another time).
I, however, do miss the exercise and fellowship that happened while walking 2-3 miles minimum to the market to get food, to go out to eat, to buy shoes, to go to church. I miss the simplicity of needing shampoo and having only one option on the shelf. I miss the community of sitting down for a meal three times a day with others (old friends and new ones). I miss the ease of walking across the hall or up to another floor or across the compound to spend time with friends. I miss the local fresh tropical fruit. Simplicity and community are two things that I think other cultures may have better.
Sure they come at a cost, TIME. It takes time to walk to get water, to the market, to work. I have heard it said, "One either has an abundance of time or money, but rarely an abundance of both." I think there is truth to this saying.
So, how am I transitioning? I am fine. I am adjusting to the way life works here again. I have been overwhelmed as usual first time going to a store with the options of everything from canned tomatoes to tweezers to rock hard fruit shipped from Mexico. I am trying to make connections here again, but find talking with people from the ship who are now all over the world important as well. I am waiting for the next step. I am in another hold pattern of sorts. I have applied for two jobs and do not want to open more doors until I have more information and clarity about these. I do not want to invest in finding a place to live, new friends, new hobbies until I have more direction. In the mean time I will keep smiling at others and enjoying the present time.
How was your trip? How are you doing? How are you transitioning? All fair questions to ask when you have not seen someone for 6 months who has been abroad. Although they seem simple questions, the answers are not so simple. What aspect do you pick to tell them about? What is this particular person truly interested in hearing? How do you pick one highlight to share? Although I did travel before and after serving on the ship, the majority of my time was living there. It was not truly a trip.
Addressing the questions of how I am doing and transitioning, it is not as easy as other times I have been to another country. What is normal anyway? I have heard and like the saying, "Normal is just a setting on the dryer." Traveling abroad in several different countries, cultures, economic levels, modes of transportation, and food is one way to significantly blur your definition of normal. Which side of the road to drive on, how and where one purchases food, gets from one place to another, housing, electricity, water, how you pay for items, how you know the prices of items, number of choices/options of items, and ways of communicating are just some of the everyday things that differ.
Is one way better than another? The quick surface answer may appear to be yes. Upon further examination, however, I am not so sure. This is not a guilt trip, so please keep reading. I do like the consistency of being able to turn on a light switch or plug in something and having the light turn on or the item to charge. I like the same consistency of running water at any faucet and being able to drink it whenever I would like. I do like having options to chose what and when I want to eat or go somewhere. I like the ability to go to three grocery stores within a 5 mile radius of my house, drive across town (15 miles) to help a friend move, go out to dinner 10 miles in the opposite direction without blinking an eye. I am grateful for healthcare easy access (so to speak...another topic for another time).
I, however, do miss the exercise and fellowship that happened while walking 2-3 miles minimum to the market to get food, to go out to eat, to buy shoes, to go to church. I miss the simplicity of needing shampoo and having only one option on the shelf. I miss the community of sitting down for a meal three times a day with others (old friends and new ones). I miss the ease of walking across the hall or up to another floor or across the compound to spend time with friends. I miss the local fresh tropical fruit. Simplicity and community are two things that I think other cultures may have better.
Sure they come at a cost, TIME. It takes time to walk to get water, to the market, to work. I have heard it said, "One either has an abundance of time or money, but rarely an abundance of both." I think there is truth to this saying.
So, how am I transitioning? I am fine. I am adjusting to the way life works here again. I have been overwhelmed as usual first time going to a store with the options of everything from canned tomatoes to tweezers to rock hard fruit shipped from Mexico. I am trying to make connections here again, but find talking with people from the ship who are now all over the world important as well. I am waiting for the next step. I am in another hold pattern of sorts. I have applied for two jobs and do not want to open more doors until I have more information and clarity about these. I do not want to invest in finding a place to live, new friends, new hobbies until I have more direction. In the mean time I will keep smiling at others and enjoying the present time.
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