Wednesday, July 10, 2013
More HOME shots
Okay so it is not as exciting as Egypt or Cyprus or Prague , but it is pretty exciting to me! Pictured below are downtown PR at noon on a Wednesday, our newly planted front yardnand our faithful watchdog...all of these places and beings patiently waited for us while we frolicked through the Middle East and beyond.
I have been out of Kuwait for one month now and I would like to say that I have processed all of the lessons that I lean red in five years. Notice I said " I would like to say ..." I don't think that I will ever finish processing all of what I learned in my Middle East experience.
I thought about making a list of Kuwait' s Top 10 ala David Letterman. I even tried to write them down. But i failed as in truth, it all runs together. Friends here have asked me " what will you miss most about Kuwait." And that is even hard to do because it all blurs together. It is hard to separate individual moments into saying " this is the worst, or this is the best". Yes there were good..GREAT parts and a few bad ( not many though). But it's a little like saying " what is your favorite child because I loved it all, good and bad.
Leaving Kuwait was a lot harder than I thought it would be. As the plane was taxing down the runway on our final departure, I was a blubbering mess. David said to me " I don't understand you. You desperately wanted to move home, yet here you are...sobbing as we are leaving".
I will return inshallah to visit Kuwait. I would like to return when the class of 2015 graduates and/or when Russ McLean retires as superintendent. But I will only be visiting, not living there. Will never get that feeling of coming "home" to the desert. Yes leaving in august was always hard, but I knew I was returning to something familiar. And it was a good feeling.
Our friends and family members here have been fantastic to us upon our return. They are giving us enough space to process, yet reminding us that we Are HOME. With a few people, I feel like they want us to say that yes, we are feeling safe here and that it was horrible living in the ME and we are so happy to be back on red, white and blue soil.
We haven't had any flashbacks or really severe re integration problems besides getting kicked out of a sauna in Germany for WEARING a swimsuit ( modesty got the best of me). We had sticker shock when we ordered two large pizzas and they were 40 dollars. Don't even ask about gas prices as we were prepared for that shock. ( going from not driving for 9 months of the year to almost daily dependence on a vehicle is almost a blog entry in itself.)
No I am not done processing. But I do have a huge warm spot in my heart for Kuwait and I know it's not from sunburn.
More later as the process continues....
I thought about making a list of Kuwait' s Top 10 ala David Letterman. I even tried to write them down. But i failed as in truth, it all runs together. Friends here have asked me " what will you miss most about Kuwait." And that is even hard to do because it all blurs together. It is hard to separate individual moments into saying " this is the worst, or this is the best". Yes there were good..GREAT parts and a few bad ( not many though). But it's a little like saying " what is your favorite child because I loved it all, good and bad.
Leaving Kuwait was a lot harder than I thought it would be. As the plane was taxing down the runway on our final departure, I was a blubbering mess. David said to me " I don't understand you. You desperately wanted to move home, yet here you are...sobbing as we are leaving".
I will return inshallah to visit Kuwait. I would like to return when the class of 2015 graduates and/or when Russ McLean retires as superintendent. But I will only be visiting, not living there. Will never get that feeling of coming "home" to the desert. Yes leaving in august was always hard, but I knew I was returning to something familiar. And it was a good feeling.
Our friends and family members here have been fantastic to us upon our return. They are giving us enough space to process, yet reminding us that we Are HOME. With a few people, I feel like they want us to say that yes, we are feeling safe here and that it was horrible living in the ME and we are so happy to be back on red, white and blue soil.
We haven't had any flashbacks or really severe re integration problems besides getting kicked out of a sauna in Germany for WEARING a swimsuit ( modesty got the best of me). We had sticker shock when we ordered two large pizzas and they were 40 dollars. Don't even ask about gas prices as we were prepared for that shock. ( going from not driving for 9 months of the year to almost daily dependence on a vehicle is almost a blog entry in itself.)
No I am not done processing. But I do have a huge warm spot in my heart for Kuwait and I know it's not from sunburn.
More later as the process continues....
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