Home Sweet Home

After 6 months and 10 countries we've arrived safely back in the Boston area.  The past 3 weeks have been full of visiting friends and family and trying to get back to normal life.  We've spent a lot of time doing things like finding and unpacking real clothes, getting our car back on the road, restarting cell service, and sorting through the thousands of pictures in order to create a manageable amount to share with people.  Alex spent 2 weeks in Rochester with her family and seeing high school friends.  Chris started work soon after returning.  Alex will be starting a 4th grade maternity leave position in Lexington next week.  We're currently living in Woburn with the incredibly generous Kuschels until we can move back into our condo May 1.

Re-Entry
The transition to being back home is easier than we thought in some ways and harder in others.  Probably the hardest part about it is not having the extreme flexibility we had while traveling and getting to decided every day about the fun things to do or cool places to visit.  That's hard for anyone after a great vacation and it had become our lifestyle.  On the other hand, it has been incredible to finally see all our family and friends again.  Even just having the ability to call and talk to people whenever we want is awesome. 

Changes
A lot of people have asked us if we feel like we've changed or like different people.  Overall we don't.  However, we've both noticed subtle changes.  For example, we both feel more patient.  We certainly did get a lot of practice while dealing with frustrating bus rides or well-meaning but unhelpful people.  The general attitude in most of the Asian countries we visited was much less hurried and stressful than it is in America.  Having to adjust to those cultural differences helped us to just go with the flow.

Another small change is that we've realized that we don't need as much "stuff."  We couldn't believe how many clothes (and pairs of underwear!) we have compared to what we were used to.  (Alex: For me this has caused difficulty getting dressed because I can't handle all the choices I have of shoes, shirts, pants, and jewelry.  This was the first time I've ever turned down the idea of going shopping with my mom.  I'm actually missing the days of looking at my 3 t-shirts and deciding which one was cleanest.  But I can't deny how fun it is to wear pretty things again!)

One last thing that comes to mind:  Throughout the trip we kept trying to push ourselves to get outside our comfort zone.  This took many forms from using a gross toilet to trying new foods to sky diving.  And it pretty much always worked out for the best.  So hopefully we'll continue to take more of those uncomfortable risks back home.

Thinking Back
In some ways it feels like it was yesterday that the Kuschels were dropping us off at the airport.  The time definitely flew by and if we could've extended the trip another couple months we would've considered it.  On the other hand, it feels like it has been awhile when we look through our pictures or read our journals, re-living everything we got to see and experience.  We were exposed to cultures and histories that we knew very little about.  It was eye-opening, and at times devastating, to travel to countries with so much poverty or with Communist governments that inhibit human rights.  But it was also uplifting to meet people who have so much less than us be so welcoming and friendly.  We also met a lot of interesting people, locals and fellow travelers, who exposed us to many different lifestyles and viewpoints.  (Alex: The whole trip we were constantly talking to strangers and being more outgoing than we are at home.  But I've noticed that now I find it a lot easier to have small talk or share a smile with strangers in little ways during the day.  It makes me happy and I like having that feeling of human connection.)

We hope you've enjoyed reading.  Thank you for helping us to stay connected to life back home.  It's been so much fun to share parts of the trip.  It certainly was an experience we'll never forget.