Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Post Game

I've been home for a couple of weeks now. All of my time has been spent doing repatriation tasks. I've purchased a house, a car, a computer, a phone, and new furniture. I got my taxes submitted. I have been to doctors and dentists. We've had family dinners and I've caught up with a few friends. It's been a dizzying few weeks so unlike the first part of my 2012.

As good as it is to come home, inevitably there's a bit of post-travel blues. I like who I am when I travel and I always notice that there's an inner battle when I get back to reality. My wanderlust-fueled self is resisting the idea of signing up for a mortgage and thinks I belong back on the road, preferably near a beach where I can live on a few dollars a day with minimal possessions. My other half is excited to get settled in a house and start the next chapter of my life...and start saving for the next trip!

I've noticed a few things since I've been back. For one thing - for the first time in 4 1/2 years, I can understand almost every conversation around me. My Dutch was hopeless but I've missed not hearing Spanish around me all the time and I'm forgetting a lot of what I learned. I need to try to keep it up.

I've also noticed how awkward Canadians are when they greet each other! In Holland it was 3 kisses, in Europe and Quebec it's 2, in South America it's 1 and here...0, unless you're really good friends. It's so odd to me now. It's funny that a custom I grew up with now seems foreign. Yet this is one of the joys of traveling! It's sad that we don't kiss when we greet each other. It's nice. It's warm. By contrast we appear cold and stuffy!

Taking a step back, I can really reflect on how lucky I am. I am so grateful to have had the time to take this trip. To go and see and do and experience. I am not meant to live out my days putting in 60 hour weeks in the office. I work to live and there are so many fun things to do to make the living part more exciting. I really believe that contrast is the essence of appreciation and by traveling around you can appreciate differences, open your eyes to new ways of thinking and doing things, and recognize what you love so much about Home.

And there really is no place like it!