After almost 5 months in India I finally arrived home to Portland, Oregon on May 14th. It felt like I had almost never left. If my life in the US were a photo, it felt like going to India I had cut myself out of the photo and by coming back I was returning to the same picture. Only this time, I didn't quite fit in my own cookie-cutter quite the same way. When you go on a long trip and return to the same house, same neighborhood and country that you left however long ago, the weirdest part is trying to grapple with the sense that though you have changed, "back home" has most likely not. So needless to say, it was a little weird being back home at first - but SOOOO refreshing!
I had really missed not just my family and friends but the greenery, the rain (had plenty of it to come home to, too), the individual freedom and uniqueness of Portland, and especially the food. Unfortunately, as I was warned, my stomach took a while to adjust/recover from the exciting Indian cuisine to the less spicy and generally less sweet US options. Now fully recovered, I have found myself craving salads and vegetables more often, managing to respect my stomach's boundaries and definitely traveling the less sweetened culinary road. Let's just say that India may have sweetened and spiced me out a bit. =p
As some of you may recall, my last blogpost included a list of predicted "shocks" involved with being back in the US. Almost all of them were correct even if they weren't as pronounced as others. For example, though I still haven't managed to find a place to drink coconut juice directly from the coconut, I had more problems crossing the street. Yeah, I know. I said I would have problems but I was still a little embarassed when my Mom told me "Kaia!? What are you thinking?!" as I walked onto Cesar E. Chavez Blvd (used to be 39th Ave, the street that my house is on). I started explaining that there were no cars in the first two lanes so we should go and just wait for the two cars in the second two lanes to stop, but as I continued forward and saw them slowing to a stop as they saw me in the middle of the street, I realized that crossing the street Indian-style is not appropriate in the US. It not only freaks out your mother but the other drivers as well. Now I'm extra-careful and though it sometimes feels like an eternity before there are NO cars, I have re-learned the US crossing techniques.
The last small frustration and negative part of my India experience (besides my host family - unfortunately it was not the best place for me), was receiving my stuff that I had sent home from India. I did not want to lug all of my extra luggage to Northern India before returning to the US, nor did I want to pay to store it at the airport until my flight. Therefore I decided to send them through my host brother's shipping company. Not only would it be the most convenient but it would be cheapest, too. Don't worry, they did make it here, but apparently hiking backpacks are not allowed to be shipped and no one (including my host bro whose business it was) neglected to tell me. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but my backpack got held up in India and all of my stuff got dumped into two cardboard boxes to arrive with things starting to fall out of the seams. It is a wonder nothing broke but my decorative sand was missing (should have known that) and my sunglasses that I had bought in Croatia had been replaced with some orange Lacrosse sunglasses (who knows if they are real or not). To top it all off, though they had removed my sand, they had allowed the purple sand bag to break leaving purple dye on many items in my luggage including several white fabric gifts. I was SOOOOO mad! My host brother sent me my backpack finally and filed a complaint for my sunglasses but I have not heard back from him since. This is fine by me as he was the source of most of my problems with my hostfamily. The good thing is that the purple dye came out with bleach and my brother loves the glasses. =p
Left with this last sour interaction with my hostfamily it is sometimes difficult to focus on the positives of India and of my time there. However, my wonderful Indian friends have helped remedy that by writing on my facebook wall frequently to tell me how much they miss me. =) They are so sweet. Also, even though life was a bit too busy to do an Indian show and tell when I got back, I was able to present to two of my Mom's middle school classes about my travels and also played my Indian flute at the final night of "India Week" at my Granny Kit's church in Eugene.
And looking back through my pictures of my Rajasthan trip in Northern India, I remember all the wonderful adventures that I did have: riding a camel (just a BIT terrifying on the up and down part), seeing the Taj Mahal, holding hands with an elephant, posing with Indian tourists at the Agra Fort, getting my "chakra" (energy) read by a Guru, and seeing wild peacocks and a monkey below me as I watched the sunset from the top of the Tiger Temple in Jaipur. I had an amazing time in India and met many wonderful people: from my amazing professors to our great driver in Jaipur, and especially my fabulous Indian friends who came the three hours to Mumbai just to spend my last day with me. =)
Maybe it's because I have traveled a lot that I didn't get as big of a "shock" on my return to the US as I could have. But it still doesn't change the feeling I felt shopping at Cosco (a store that sells food in bulk) with my family and buying more food than we were even sure we had room for at home. It just felt kind of strange having just come from a family where my hostmother was extremely careful about just making enough for the two of us and bought only enough vegetables for the day and sometimes next day's meal. My biggest sensation on returning to the US is that we have so much stuff! Food, water, clothing, junk, things, whatever you want to call it, we've probably got a lot of it. And that's a lot more than a good population in the world has. I've learned to appreciate experiences and people more than belongings. We don't really need that much to live happily on - that I've seen.
It's nice to see hot weather again. We were in the mid to high 90's last week (30's for those celsius folks). Thinking of the temperatures I left in India of 110 degrees or so (43 degrees celsius) in comparison makes me laugh. =) But for some reason that comparison doesn't work too well for the elementary schoolers at the summer camp I work half-time at. =p
And the most exciting news of all is that my boyfriend, Antonio is coming to visit me on Thursday July 15th!!!!!!!!!!!! I am just a little bit excited. He had his interview with the embassy on July 1st and got approved so he will be here from July 15th until the early morning of August 8th when he will have to arrive home just in time to go to class Monday evening. Poor guy. But this way he'll get as much time here as possible. It is his first trip on an airplane and first time out of the country so it has been interesting trying to prepare him for everything and seeing what questions he has. "How long does it take to reach flying altitude?" was his latest one. I'm having my Aunt Karen and Uncle Jesse time their trip for me for a better answer. =) He will be staying with me and my family to meet all my relatives, accompany us to our annual family beach weekend, and will even get to go to my friend from elementary and high school's wedding. It shall be an exciting winter break for him (it's winter in Chile right now).
So that's my life in a nutshell! Ok, maybe a rather large nutshell. =p I am enjoying time with family and friends here in Portland until August 20th or 21st when I will have to hurry back to DC to start my last year at American University. I am still on schedule to graduate with a BA in International Studies in May 2011 but will also have a minor in Spanish by that date as well. (^_^)
I hope you all have a delightful rest of your weekend and a great week!
Love, Kaia (^_^)
P.S. I promise that some day I will upload the rest of my India photos. =p
