Coming and going is never easy. But I don't think i realized how hard it actually would be on me. Right before we were going back to the states, you start to get annoyed more quickly about how things work here. Driving & shopping are at the top of my list. I become less patient with everything around me. So by the time you get on the plane you are ready to leave. But then you reenter the states. And you forget how different it really is there. Everything is clean, and orderly. And the choices... oh the choices. It is really quite overwhelming.
For example, there are restaurants on every corner, how do you choose where to eat? Here it's easy, 1. is it open? 2. do they have food that's edible? okay let's go there. Then we go shopping at Walmart. Oh Walmart. I know that many people hate Walmart, but i have to say to go to one store and get what you need is AMAZING! I really need to do a post on grocery shopping soon, b/c it really deserves it's own post, but let me just say i usually have to hit at least 3 stores to get what i need. But anyway I digress, what I was going to say was that we go into Walmart and we need to pick up some toothbrushes.... there is a whole aisle of toothbrushes. I just stood there staring. How do you know which one to get?! it's all just very overwhelming.
The other culture shock that we deal with going back into the states, and just the amount of materialism there is. And I'm sad to say that i fall so quickly back into it. I look at others homes, and look at their decorations, and such, and i end up wanting, wanting, wanting. Looking to buy our kids toys for Christmas, i just want to get this & that & that & that. It's hard to be around that at all and not start wanting more. Now don't get me wrong even in Uganda, I still deal with this, but it is on a much lesser scale. It's harder here to want things when you see the kids in your neighborhood with no shoes on their feet, or the man begging on the street, or families of 7 living in one room houses. It's hard to see so much excess when you also see so much need.
Then on the flip side you come back. And I don't know why it is, but I always feel in kind of a funk after I get back to Uganda from the states. It could be the jet lag, or it could be culture shock again. But i always feel off. So transitions for us are not always easy. It's hard to live in two worlds. And I'm not sure my body knows how to do it well. Anyone else ever feel this way?
3 comments:
ah yes, transitions. It comes with living overseas no matter where you are and no matter which direction you are going. But it is so nice to get back to our own bed.
Hey, Amy! Wish I could have seen y'all when you were in the states. I'm sure if I lived in Kampala, I'd appreciate Wal-Mart more!
Amy,I remember having those exact same thoughts and feelings when we went back to the States for our first furlough from Kenya. You've expressed it well. For me, it was all the choices for dental floss. I felt so overwhelmed that I just had to leave the store (and yes, it was Wal-mart). "like daughter,like mother" :-)
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