Well, I'm back! And gone again... I touched down on US soil in mid-December, right before the holidays. Then I completed a whirlwind tour of visits to Texas, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, and California. Then a quick pop over to Barcelona for Easter. Because... por que no? And now I'm living that pura vida life in Costa Rica for a few weeks!
I find out more about my work exchange tomorrow. For now, I've been doing some reflecting on my trip back to the States. It was A LOT. Below is a list of things that stuck out the most about my trip home, whether that's about the places and people I visited or American culture in general. 1. Y'all ask the same questions.These were the top 3 questions I was asked: 1. How was your trip? 2. What was your favorite country? 3. What are you going to do next? Now, there's nothing wrong with these questions. But isn't odd that almost every single person (even people I met casually with friends at a bar) asked these same questions??? I could try and do a deep psychoanalysis of our culture and dig into why these were the most common questions. But I'm not. I will say that it's intriguing how fascinated people were with what I was going to do next. For some reason we've been programmed to ask what's next even when none of us can predict the future. When someone get's engaged, we ask when the wedding is. When someone gets married, we ask when they plan on having kids. When someone has one kid, we ask when the next one is. I'm just as guilty as anyone of asking these questions. And again, they're not wrong! But what traveling has taught me is that sometimes you can plan out every single minute of your itinerary and still have nothing go as planned. So you just have to enjoy what has happened and the moments you have right now. I wish we could ask more questions and conversations about what we are enjoying (or not enjoying!) about our lives right now. Blah blah blah...so what are you doing next? Up until about a month ago, I had absolutely no idea I'd be in Costa Rica. So when people were asking me what I was doing next, I had no answer! I could tell how perplexing that was for some people (just ask my dad). However for this season of life, no plans seems to be the name of the game. It's definitely unsettling sometimes, but for now I'm trying to enjoy learning how to follow a balance of head and heart decisions...often in the moment. 2. We are SO FRIENDLY.The first initial reverse culture shock I had was just going to meet a friend for some beers and wings. Normal, right? We met at Downtown Disney at the House of Blues, ordered our food and drinks, and continued to catch up on the last year. Our food arrived and a few minutes later the waitress came to check on us. Fine. Then we had another bite of food and a sip of beer. And the waitress came back to check on us. Then another swig and chomp. And the waitress was back to check on us AGAIN. This happened at least THREE TIMES. And this is NORMAL. This is not normal in most countries! In fact, in most countries it feels like you have to flag down your server to get any service. In the US, it can feel like the servers are applying to be your new best friend while also forgetting your order of nachos (fact: you will NOT be my new best friend if you forget my nachos). It's not just at restaurants, it's everywhere! Every Trader Joe's cashier wants to know about my weekend and every person I pass greets me like we're about to start an in-depth conversation after a simple, "hey! how are ya?". Coming back to the States for me was like living with headphones on playing white noise for the last 14 months and then suddenly blasting on Nickelback. And you can understand all the words! After traveling for awhile in places where I didn't know the language, I'd grown accustomed to not understanding what was happening around me or not being able to speak to most local people. I've become an expert at miming, learning basic vocabulary, and pointing to get what I want or need. What I forgot how to do was make basic chit chat or even answer simple questions like, "how are those wings?" 3. Some of us have access to some of the best food in the world (and some of us don't).Some of the most common questions that I got outside the States revolved around our food and weight. Mostly "What do Americans eat?" and "Why are you all so fat?" I had the privilege of growing up as a middle class Southern Californian in an area with great food diversity. The picture above is just from my first week at home and includes food from Mexico, Korea, Hawaii, Spain, Cuba, and "America". So what do Americans eat? We eat a lot of different things depending on your region, your community, your ethnic background, your family, your upbringing, and your income. Along with a whole lot of other factors! The media shows Americans eating a lot of hamburgers. I would like to believe that's not the case. So why are Americans fat? That's a whole issue I'm not going to dive into here, but the answer I usually give is that it's a lot more complicated then because we eat McDonald's everyday. It might be because of an unhealthy diet, huge portion sizes, not enough exercise, or a whole slew of other things. The only challenge I offer people asking this question is maybe the people you see on TV eating McDonald's everyday don't have another more affordable option near to them. Maybe the question comes down to "I have $3. Do I spend it on a $3 Happy Meal for my kid or spend $2 on a bus ticket to the nearest supermarket with fresh food and the last $1 on... what?" 4. Y'all are living the best lives.I loved seeing friends and family. It was definitely the high of returning home. It's one thing to read your posts on social media of new schooling, jobs, moves, partners, and BABIES. Oh, but to hold those babies was something so special.
Social media can make travel seem like a magical fairy land escape. A place where you only meet the best people, see the grandest things in the world, and are content with life 10000% of the time. It's a lie. Of course, some of those things are true, some of the time. However I still meet horrible people, I still get lonely and have second thoughts, and I spend an unsurprising amount of time just waiting for things (buses, trains, planes, metro, people, the internet to work, etc etc etc). In the end, I'm doing something that I've been waiting and wanting to do for years. So many of you are doing things we only dreamed and talked about years ago having heart-to-hearts on our living room couches or on rickety stools at the local dive bar. Yes, I'm traveling. It's cool, but that's what I wanted to do. You're doing what YOU wanted to do! And I think that's pretty cool too. |