You do feel like a stranger in a strange land coming home. But I am also happy for some things like not having to wash my underwear in the sink any more.
My last blog ended with “Now on to NYC and home. How weird will that be?” Well, really weird is the answer. We arrived back in the US July 17 and have been back in Santa Cruz for a month now. We are all still adjusting. Coming home is more emotional and strange than leaving was. Maybe I am not remembering correctly but I think leaving I had anxiety and doubt under excitement and joy. This is much more complicated. Here's the story of coming home.
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| Building near Union Square |
NYC- Mid July. It was HOT. But at least it was not rainy and cold and they have air conditioning. The pace felt faster than Tokyo and people's behavior was a major indicator that we were home. No more niceties, hello how are you? Nice weather we're having etc. as a preamble to any interaction. Not that people weren't helpful and friendly in the NYC way, they were. Much of the rest of the world just is a bit more gentle about it. Mostly we relaxed. We did eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Sushi Samba, see a play and a movie. But in a way it did not feel like we were back in the US yet, not really. NYC is kind of its own thing.
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| Drinking water available on the street due to heat |
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| Dave's new friends in Times Square |
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| Anika and Dave enjoying Sushi Samba |
Next US stop was my mom's retirement community in Southern Pennsylvania. That was also very relaxing. We have spent a lot of time there over the last 11 years so it is almost a home away from home. But we did start to feel a little more like yes we are in the US. There were strip malls, housing developments of MC Mansions, everyone was speaking English and we saw our first election commercials. what a contract to election advertising in New Zealand or Greece where we witnessed elections. But Ohio really brought the US home.
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| Anika and my mom |
Maybe it was driving across Pennsylvania to Ohio that did it. You are assaulted along the way by billboards about voting for god and the ten commandments. Oh, and did I mention Hell is real? There's one for that too. Then there was suburbia, chain stores and restaurants and advertising of all kinds every where. This was also when we heard all about the massacre in Colorado. And the election rhetoric heated up. It is very hard to come back and not notice all the things you think are wrong. Its not that things in the rest of the world are all right, far from it. But the perspective travel gives you seems to illuminate the negatives at home so they pop out in your observation and experiences. We visited with Dave's family in Ohio and then...
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| Anika with Evan and Conner her super cute second cousins |
We left Ohio. Flew to Denver. As we were walking to our next gate we saw a flight to Heathrow. Dave and I both said oh maybe we should get on that. Let turn around and go back! But it was just a silly thought for the moment. In Denver we ran into Grace, our neighbor Doug and Kim's kid and one of my former students. I was looking at the departure board to find our flight when Dave next to me goes "Holy shit!”. I turn and there's Grace. Someone we know in an airport! Now we feel like we are home. We hung out at the airport with her and surprised her parents when we got to the San Jose airport.
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| Anika on her 14th birthday in Ohio. Aunt Beth made the cake. She was12 when we left and 14 when we got home. |
As the plane was coming down in California I watched the pinkish sunset fading into the horizon. I felt really emotional and happy. I always feel happy coming back to California from the east coast but I forgot how it struck me as the place, my home. The place where it feels right to be if I have to live in the US. As we descended I had two songs playing in my head, California by Joannie Mitchell and Going Home by the Beatles. A dual sound track as my heart filled up and I felt home. As I walked off the plane one of the men lined up with wheel chairs for passengers looked at me smiled and said “welcome home.” I thought how does he know? How can he tell? It felt like a second of lingering travel magic.
Both these songs had been sent via you tube to us by friends as we headed toward home. Dave's friend Thom (who sent the Beatles song) picked us up at the airport. (After we surprised Kim and Doug). When we got to our house we each just walked around searching all the nooks and crannies. It felt so big, like so much space for just three people. As we opened doors and looked at all the packed up stuff we thought what is in there that we need? How could we ever have used so much stuff? This feeling has persisted, come back again and again as we unpack.
It was nice to go to sleep in our bed. But we are pretty good now about being able to sleep in almost any bed. The first day home we moved boxes around, found essential stuff for being in the house. In a break in the work Dave and I looked at each other and said what are we doing here? It all felt so familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. This is another reoccurring feeling of the first days home. But I have had it before.
We also did a little project. We re packed our packs and took photos. First of us with our stuff packed up and loaded on us. When I put my pack on I thought lets just keep going, get another plane ticket. Get out of here. Then we took photos of all our stuff laid out. It felt good to do this some how. Documenting we can live out of a bag for a year. Photos of this in the next blog.
Since then we have unpacked and unpacked. Wondered at the weirdness of it all and hoped to keep the special feelings from the trip alive. Its hard to not fall back into all your old habits, just like when your go back to your family and act like a kid again. So I am going to keep writing this blog for a bit, when I can find the time. Maybe that will help me remember what I learned in this amazing year. If you have questions or something you think I should include let me know. (That is if any of you out there are still reading!)
