I’ve been in America for 11 days and jetlag is still owning
me. Everything is surreal. I don’t really know how to answer people’s
questions at the moment. I’m on overload
every time I open my bedroom door. T.V.’s,
refrigerators, faucets all over the place with clean running water. Hopping in a car and driving somewhere is
insane. Restaurants, entertainment,
shopping centers where you can get everything.
It’s panic inducing. Anything and
everything is available. It would
sometimes take me weeks to find what I needed, if I was even able to get it, and
that was only carrots.
Dust, trees, dirt paths, and women carrying buckets of water
on their head is what I’m used to.
I have this overwhelming sense of feeling lost all the
time. And I don’t really know what I’m
doing here. I don’t quite have a sense
of purpose here anymore like I did in Kenya.
It’s dumbfounding to me what I’m experiencing right
now. I have lived nearly 28 years in
America and only 2 in Kenya. I should be
able to transition back to what I know without this much difficulty and
anxiety.
America makes me feel like such an infant. I’m having to relearn how to live here.
I didn’t know how to use the swipe your card machine at the
register. I asked for a refill at
McDonalds and they told me they didn’t do that anymore and gave me a look like
where have you been. Um, Kenya. That’s where I’ve been. Over and over America is shaming me and
making me feel like an idiot with even the simplest of things.
I wouldn’t take back my time in Kenya but currently where I
am in life I felt better off at 18. I
had a car, insurance, a job, a place to live that wasn’t my parent’s house.
I need a job so I can afford a car but I need that car to
get me to that job. Not sure how I get
there from here.
I didn’t really think about this part of coming back from
the Peace Corps.
I also didn’t really realize there would be a sort of
grieving process upon returning home.
Why didn’t I see this coming? I
just spent 2 years developing relationships with so many people that I will
never see or even ever be able to communicate with ever again.
But here I am.
So what’s next?
I’m probably going to freak out about the direction of my
life for the next week and a half. Spend
time with my family/ Brother’s Wedding. Then
spend the next 2 months on a road trip.
Hopefully readjusting better than I am now.
I have a couple of posts that I wanted to post but ran out
of time in Kenya to flesh them out.
Since my schedule is wide open at the moment I may make a couple more
posts before shutting the blog down.
Wait, what?!? They don't do refills at McD's? What am I coming back to? I know this might sound sarcastic, but it really did blow my mind.
ReplyDeleteWelcome back to the constantly changing USA. On one furlough, I remember our teen-age kids asking if American teens really spoke English as they did not understand the slang words.
ReplyDeleteEach time we came back from Africa, shopping was so confusing with all the choices. I also was dazzled just by all the bright colors in the stores.
I remember Ken being disgusted with how much money we spent on one meal knowing that many Africans only eat every other day and we were spending the equivalent of one month's African salary on one restaurant meal in America.
But you will get acclimated eventually. When you get hankering for a more simple lifestyle, you are welcome to visit us in the Middle-east where we do not have supermarkets.