Back in America and life is grand.
The past three days have been filled with family time and good food and the best weather I could've asked for after returning from the stifling humidity of Vietnam. I had visions of arriving home and being completely lost and discombobulated from the jet lag and time change and subsequently out of my mind from the culture shock or at least yearning for some piece of Asia once being back but I think I was more than ready to find myself in this familiar environment.
Of course, now that I'm home I have more appreciation for my time in those cultures and am seeing everything here in a whole new light- a renewed perspective if you will.
Really, no joke, just walking around my dad's neighborhood brings me this giddiness and I feel like a spoiled princess just observing the trees, the sky, the breeze, it all seems like something out of the Truman show after being immersed in an entirely opposite atmosphere for the past three months.
The lifestyle differences are starkly contrasting and it is almost bizarre to have gone from that to this, but I find both uniquely beautiful.
It makes sense to me now how very important it is to seek out and acknowledge the existence of other cultural environments, take the time to understand them, and allow ourselves to internalize the core aspects of what it means to be a part of such realities, to better view and contribute to our own with a refreshing sense of purpose.
I am more proud than ever to call this place home.
I will go back to Asia as much as I can because there is still so much I haven't seen, and because Tokyo is already calling my name!
P.S. I have a huge backlog of photos from Asia that I am dying to upload so I guess I'll do that now even though I am home and already snapping photos of life over here.
It's an addiction, really.
