Hello dear friends and readers, this is to let you know that Adam and I have, in fact, made it back to the US and are, in fact, still alive! Of course I’m sure you all knew that… but I wanted to mention that just in case there are any worriers out there.
The purpose of this is to give you all an update and (hopefully) get back into a somewhat regular posting schedule (like that was ever actually a thing).
WARNING: This post is all over the place. It is a rather quick summary of the past month and if that is something you already know about or don’t really care about this will probably be super boring. I won’t be offended if you don’t read it all (not that I’d know…).
We are currently situated in an RV out at a summer camp that we both plan on working at this summer. Adam will be head of maintenance, and I, if I pass lifeguard training, I will be head of the waterfront unless we can find someone who wants to do it more! I managed to purchase (with the help of the Kloot Bank interest free loan program) a ’97 Buick which means that Adam and I can once again move independently of each other (this is very helpful for our relationship!). I’ve also been doing a short internship for my dad in which I help him with various creative projects involving his work with soil.
On a more personal note, we got here and pretty much hit the ground running. We have had people to see and things to take care of. I finally feel like I’m catching up to life. I don’t enjoy living on the edge of insanity but I somehow find myself back there quite often. One of the questions I’ve been asked most is how I’m dealing with culture shock. The weird thing is that I’m not.
I don’t know if it’s because of my early start in jumping back and forth between countries, but I haven’t had any huge transitional crises, and nothing has felt too out of place.
That being said, there are plenty of things I miss about being in Hiroshima. The main part of that is the relationships we managed to build while we were there. We really like our Hiroshima friends. That part has been hard. I stink at long distance relationships, so I have to make an effort to actually keep up with people.
There are lots of other small things I miss, like 7-11 onigiri (rice balls) or bowing when I meet someone. Shaking hands feels natural, like riding a bike, but I definitely do a lot more head nodding than I used to.
While I miss Hiroshima, it has been great to be home. Things are strangely normal, and I’ve loved reconnecting with family and friends. I also became an auntie last month. My nephew is a cutie, and I hang out with him as much as I can!
This post was a little scattered, but I felt as though I had to put something out there eventually. There are definitely plans for quite a few more in the near future!
7000 miles and counting... 