Surreal Vacation

Wow... it's hard to believe I just got back here a week ago. My break in the States was awesome and surreal. I didn't have culture shock the way I was expecting to - I wasn't overwhelmed by the size and scale of Texas, it wasn't hard to transition to constantly speaking English - everything seemed so familiar. I did constantly notice things I had forgotten about during the first weekend in Houston though. Terri and I would be driving around and I'd make a remark like, "Hey look - those Sonic waitresses are on roller skates!" "Yep, they always have been." Oh yeah. Terri and I had a great time doing wedding stuff and catching up and I got to see a bunch of other people as well. Sonia and I had coffee sitting next to Ed Lu and I didn't even notice for a good half hour that he was there. The three of us (Terri, Sonia and I) went to see The Prince and Me. I hadn't even heard of it before that day and it was nice to see a movie in English that I enjoyed. Terri had gone out of her way to find some veggie recipes and get all the ingredients (and cherry-flavored Craisins!) so I got to try some really good new recipes too. :o ) And James, Terri, Jayleen and I all had dinner at Mamacita's. Oh how I miss Mexican food - I don't dare eat it anywhere besides Texas now because it's just not the same so it's been awhile...

Flew back to Chicago that Monday (4/19) and went home for two hours to re-pack before starting the drive to Michigan. We got to Rob and Ena's the next morning and met Chloe. Spent the next five days staring at and taking turns holding the baby. I could stare at her for hours - she makes so many faces even in her sleep that I never realized were innate. At first she had night and day confused - sleeping most of the time we were awake and keeping Rob and Ena up at night, but towards the end of our visit she was starting to get it sorted out. I could go on and on about her. :o ) We drove back to Chicago on Saturday just in time to run home and re-pack again before catching my 10pm flight back here. A whole week back in the States and I slept on other peoples' futons the whole time - haha!

I had a long layover in Frankfurt on the way back. I was so tired when I first got off the plane that I just wandered around, got some food, washed my face and debated sitting in the airport the entire time. But eventually, I decided I had to go to the city as I had intended. Being in a place where I didn't speak the language at all was a very different experience from being in France. Everyone was helpful enough, but I was embarrassed to say anything or interact with them - embarrased that I didn't even know if I was using the few German words I know properly. I got a train ticket into the city and decided to try and find the picturesque Old Town. There were very few street signs and the ones that were labeled weren't on the map I had acquired at the airport. I eventually figured out (from the setting sun) that I had headed the wrong way and went back. I think I got within a few blocks of the area, but all the streets were so curvy that I couldn't tell what was two blocks away and after an hour of walking, my shoulders hurt from carrying my backpack stuffed with my computer and papers so I hopped on the train back to the airport where I finally bought a couple books in English. (Staying up all that night when I got back to Aix to finish reading the Nanny Diaries probably didn't help my jet lag, but it was the first fiction I've read since January and I couldn't put it down!)

Perhaps the strangest part of the whole break was the feeling that France had been a dream that hadn't really happened. Unlike other trips, I had the chance to go back to France so I wasn't worried in the States about trying to remember every last detail and hold on to it. Since I have been able to share pictures and thoughts on a regular basis with friends and family back home, there wasn't that urge to tell people everything about France and shove pictures under their noses. And on top of it all, I had no contact with any of my friends from France for the entire time I was gone. It might as well have been a dream. It brought to mind something that my teachers always say in yoga class - leave your stress at the door, you can pick it up on the way out. I left France somewhere in customs knowing I could get it back in a week.