I think my mother summarized it best this morning. I was eating breakfast, and probably looking a little out of it. She asked how I was doing. I said I didn't really know. And she said it probably felt like I never left, and like I wasn't really here at the same time. And she's right. Part of me doesn't really believe I'm here, while another part of me has already fallen back into the pattern of living at my parents' house.
Traveling here went really smoothly. While we were waiting at the airport to leave, an influx of people came to our gate, all speaking English and I saw a few of them wearing "mission trip" shirts. So I started asking them about their trip, what they had been doing there, where they were heading, etc. In the hour we were sitting there, I probably talked with 20+ people. I ended up sitting next to one of the girls on the flight to Atlanta, and we talked for a good portion of the flight. I didn't even pick up the book I had downloaded on my iPad the day before (which for me on a flight is very rare). We made it to Atlanta a little late, but I had plenty of time to clear customs. Customs was a slightly different experience, because technically my residency is now Honduras. So there were a few other questions being asked of me, like how long had I been in Honduras, what was I doing there, how long would I be in the States and what was my purpose here. It felt weird being surrounded by English everywhere (it still does to some extent). I left Melody at terminal D and continued on to my gate where I had about two and a half hours to kill before boarding. Over half of that was probably spent on the phone with people from the States. It's a luxury to have great signal everywhere, and not have to worry about how many minutes I have left before I need to load more.
I got off the phone about half an hour before boarding the flight, and struck up a conversation with the couple sitting next to me. I found out they had been in Nicaragua for the past eight days on a missions trip about 30 miles northeast of Managua. We had a good time talking until they called for boarding, and once on the plane, I found myself across the aisle from a couple who had been with them on their trip, so we spent about half the flight talking about our respective experiences. They showed me pictures and told me stories about what they had been doing. Again, I didn't pick up the book I had on my iPad. [I had read a few pages in the terminal before striking up conversation with the first couple.] The guy sitting next to me was in the Air Force, had been in Florida for training, and was continuing on to California this morning. We chatted a little bit, but mostly he listened in to the conversation I was having with the couple across the row, asking some questions, mostly of me, about what it was like teaching in another country. I don't know where he stands with God, but maybe he heard enough to make him think. I don't know, I just know I was more outgoing yesterday than I've probably ever been before. On one hand I think it's a good thing, on the other, I don't really recognize myself anymore. So combine that with the culture shock...and it took me a while to get to sleep last night.
I was in church this morning at the 8:00 and 10:45 services, Sunday school in between, and then there was a luncheon afterwards. I had three large cups of coffee today, which helped with the maybe 4 hours of sleep I got. It was great to see people, and after being away for so long, it's natural to go up and hug people. So not too much different than Honduras in that...though the cheek kisses didn't happen. But definitely a lot of hugging going on...again a change from who I was five months ago.
It's weird to be here...good, but weird. And while I'm here, I'm thinking of Honduras as home in some ways...as in I'm going "home" in two weeks. I'm not counting down the days to that (at least not yet) but I was thinking this morning of what I'd be doing there, and what my friends there are doing now (probably on the way back to the Ranch from church...or finishing up shopping in the city). It's definitely strange feeling like I'm belonging in two different places. And it's enough to keep my mind spinning. Hopefully tonight I'll be tired enough to where I'll fall asleep without too much of a problem regardless of how active my mind is.
This week is pretty booked. I'm going into school on Tuesday. That will probably be the next large culture shock...because as I found this morning, I automatically fall into old patterns (kind of like muscle memory) while my mind is telling my how strange this is. And it is bringing to light some of the ways I've changed in the past five months...most of them good.
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