For about two weeks after Vermont we ran the gauntlet from Maine to North Carolina, visiting friends and family along the way. It feels strange to write about these domestic locales, so let’s just stick to the highlights.
Maine was a great time with family, and an inspiring example of true country living. We even got to see Jon from Mama Roja and his sweet Yurt.
New York showed us both the best and stressful aspects of life in the US. We hung out with good friends and shared all kinds of fun and interesting experience, while at the same time we were freaked out by the intensity, speed and consumer driven nature of the place.
In Philadelphia we ate cheese stakes and got a good dose of US history. It was interesting to be tourist learning about our own country’s beginnings after doing this same thing in so many other places already.
In North Carolina we experienced a true american holiday when we crashed a friend’s family get away in the Outer Banks. With a big house on the water, little kids for entertainment, and copious amount of tasty food and beer it was the quintessential wholesome american experience.
This has been the most rushed part of our trip so far, and in some ways the most draining. Abroad all of our interactions were pretty standard – “Where are you from?”, “Where are you going?”, “How long have you been traveling?”, etc. They were conversations rehearsed again and again and didn’t take much thinking. Now we have to actually engage in real conversations – talking about kids, jobs, politics, and the future. It’s not something we have had to do in quite some time, and it is exhausting! Not to mention having to summarize two years worth of experience spread across 30+ countries when some asks, “So how was it?”.
In the end, it’s great to see familiar faces and talk about real life things again. However, I feel like the difficulties we’re experiencing now are just the tip of iceberg, and the real challenge will come when we are back home, interacting with our old friends again, and finding a…. can I speak the word… will it come out… here it comes… JOB!
“How was it?” “It was exactly how it should be!” Seems like the right answer to a question that is really the equivalent of “How are you?” People just want to hear something I guess. I’m more of a fan of something specific like “Where are people the most outgoing?” or “How do people in Patagonia think about time?” or “All in all, France is really the best, right?”
Srsly, reverse culture shock is real and scary. My calculations show that it takes about half the time you were away to even realize you’re living a new life. And then the life is underway and you slip right in. And it is good.
Buena suerte, kids.