Shocks of Home

First off, I want to apologize for how late this post is coming out. No excuse, I've just been lazy :) Anyway, as most of you know, I went home for Christmas and New Years, completely surprising my family! It was an awesome surprise and such a nice break from the Philippines, even if every day was completely packed and I only had 2 actual days at home. I visited family in California, arrived in Indiana to surprise my parents on the 24^th, went on a 4-day dog sledding trip in the Boundary Waters of Minnesota with more family, visited friends around Michigan (even stopping over in Canada for a day) and my old college. It was such a great trip and rejuvenated me to finish the final 9 months with a bang!

In past blogs I've mentioned enough of the culture shocks in the Philippines, but now I get to share a little bit of the reverse-culture shock coming back to the States after a year and a half away. On the whole, things weren't as shocking as I expected, which was a relief as I hadn't allowed myself much time to readjust; everything really just felt normal and comforting. But there were still plenty of differences that took me by surprise:

• The first thing I noticed was that the roads were very open, no trikes or motors on the side. Driving laws don't really exist in the Philippines so lanes are ignored and people just drive on the side of the road or go around slower vehicles constantly. But in the States the roads all seemed very spacious. And that's another thing, it wasn't weird driving a car again, it felt normal and like no time had passed, which was a huge relief!

• Oh, and where did these gas prices come from?!? When I left, gas was about $4.30/gal. And now it's $1.72?????? Ya, crazy.
  
  
• The second thing I noticed was my dry skin. I'd been living in a hugely humid climate and forgot that my face gets super dry in the winter, not to mention my legs. I probably went through a whole bottle of face lotion while I was home.

• The first morning I was in the States I went running outside in the cool weather. This was in San Francisco so it wasn't that cold, but still colder than anything I'd felt in a while. I actually ran with long sleeves and didn't end up dripping sweat! I forgot what it was like to exercise without sweat dripping everywhere after 5 minutes.

• Everything in the grocery stores looked familiar and appetizing. I could have wandered the aisles forever just looking at the variety of options or familiar foods that I'd forgotten about. And on that note, of course all the food I ate was amazing.

• Also on the food topic, the portion sizes are huge!!! I ordered a pasta dish in a restaurant and the amount I got was probably enough for 3 meals in the Philippines! And yes, I did gain weight while I was home, but all the food was so delicious that I really didn't mind.

• The bathrooms were another shock: hot water everywhere!! It was so nice! Now I remember why my showers used to take so long in the States.

• The multitude of paper products was a huge eye opener. The normal paper products Americans use are napkins, tissues, toilet paper, and paper towels. In the Philippines, there's maybe toilet paper and that's usually it. And American paper products are really thick and sturdy, which is great for cleaning up a mess, but terrible for the environment. So I'm now joining the forces preaching the 3 R's: reduce, reuse, recycle! Because we waste so much!!! Huge eye opener there.
  
  
• Since the Philippines is really close to the equator (I live 9 degrees N of the equator), at midday the sun is always directly above, no matter the time of year. Of course I knew this was different in the States, but it was still interesting to come from living with the sun directly above to having it only reach half way above the horizon.

• As I mentioned before, I visited a few friends while I was home. At every house I was offered my own bed and room. I was kinda stunned every time this happened because in the Philippines when you visit another Volunteer, you either share a bed (sometimes a twin size bed) or sleep on the floor (and this isn't a carpet floor either but a hard floor, usually either concrete or wood). And then, during all these visits, the beds were so soft! The beds in the Philippines are usually foam on a wood frame or a wobbly box spring, which I have become very used to. But these beds in the States are so nice!
  
  
• And while we're on the note of friends, it was so weird talking to a group of people on a daily basis I had only previously been able to talk to via internet every now and then. Now my friends from home were the ones I was texting and the Volunteers in the Philippines were the ones I was messaging online. And then another thing I noticed was that my texting habits are completely different in the Philippines than they were in the States. In the Philippines I'm texting other Volunteers almost non-stop, just chatting or sharing observations or frustrations. In the States though, I used to only text when making plans, and that's the way my friends still text. There's no texting all day, every day. Huge difference. I also realized that Volunteers gossip a lot. Like high schools gossip, as in “who likes who” and things like that. I suppose that might happen any time a group of people have only each other to talk to for 2 years, but still, huge difference.

• And of course I'm going to mention the fact that everyone speaks English! It took a while for me to realize that. I would hesitate before talking to strangers in passing because I would have to remind myself that I didn't have to speak a either different language or very simple English to them. And then I could also eaves drop on other conversations! Something I have a very hard time doing here. So beware when I come back: my ears will be thirsting to listen in on your conversations!

• And last but certainly not least, technology!! Everyone has smart phones now and internet is everywhere!! I was only using a T9 prepaid phone but everyone else was taking pictures on their phone, checking Facebook, going online, checking gas prices in the area, and don't even get me started on Syrie! (Not totally sure if that's how spell it, but the voice command thing, you know.) Of course most of this stuff was around when I was still there, but I haven't had access to it at all and it seems like such a novelty to me now! So ya, that's crazy. And it's gonna be so nice to get into all of that when I get back for good!

Ok, so maybe there were quite a few things I noticed. Overall though, they didn't seem that extreme when I was experiencing them. And now I have a taste of what to expect when I get back 7 months from now!!! It's crazy to think that's all I have left. I've finished 20 months of this marathon and have almost reach the final sprinting phase! It's about time!