As I have been sharing some of my experiences from South America on this blog, I figured that you, the loyal blog reader, might be interested in reading about how I have been adjusting to life in the States.
If you were looking for signs of how I have changed over my two years in the Peace Corps, pre-Peace Corps Ian probably wouldn't have delayed two weeks before uploading my first dispatch.
In Ecuador, there is a saying "ya mismo." I have been using it to explain when I will start blogging again.
The conversation would go something like this:
Ian: Ya mismo.
Blog reader: I don't speak Spanish. What does that mean?
There is no good translation directly to English. The best way to explain it would be to say that it will probably happen eventually, maybe. It might be in ten minutes. It might be ten days. It might be ten months. But at some point in the history of time, it should come to pass.
Well, for you, blog reader, ya mismo has arrived.
Much like how this blog has not covered everything I have done in Ecuador, the home-leave blog won't be exhaustive. What you will get out of these blogs are some highlights from my visit home and cultural differences that I encounter in my time back home.
In Ecuador, drinking tap water isn't recommended — unless, of course, you are willing to spend the next 24 hours on the toilet.
In the United States, you can drink the tap water. And not only that, but when you go to a restaurant, you can get as much iced tap water as you would like and not have to worry about potential digestive issues. (And it's free.)
My travels back to the United States included a five-hour layover at the Miami airport. What does someone do for five hours in the Miami airport?
Drink large quantities of tap water.
I kept refilling my plastic cup with ice and water from the drinking fountain until it was time for my flight.
Have you noticed that there aren't that many pay phones in the United States any more?
You probably wouldn't think about this because you probably have a phone in your pocket/purse.
I never really thought about this either, but when I arrived in the Miami airport and wanted to tell my parents that my first plane had arrived, I had no way of contacting them. With no pay phones, I had to find other solutions.
So I went up to some nice-looking people who were waiting at my gate and asked them if I could borrow their phone for a second. (A perfect no seas malita moment)
They were glad to help. And my mom really appreciated it.
I walked out of baggage claim at Detroit Metro airport, and my family was just pulling up. I didn't jump into the car like one jumps onto or off of a moving bus in Ecuador, mostly because everybody wanted to hug me.
We started driving home from the airport, and the first thing I noticed was how smooth the road was. People always joke about how bad the roads are in Michigan. But after spending more than two years in Ecuador, I couldn't help but notice how nice of a ride it was.
Something else that really caught my attention was how traffic flowed. Driving down Telegraph Rd. from the airport toward home, we barely stopped at any of the traffic lights. This is probably because Quito, where I have been living the last two months, has a reputation for horrible traffic. Also, we cruised at 47 MPH, which is the secret to smooth-sailing on Telegraph.
We are working on trying to get my mom to contribute some guest blogs about what it's like to have me home. If you know her e-mail address, tell her that you'd appreciate this.
No comments:
Post a Comment