No matter what anyone tries to tell you, coming back from living anywhere for an extended period of time is a BIG DEAL. I never realized just how big of a deal it was until this week. Until I am experiencing it myself.
Believe it or not, I don't really think where you spent a year away is the deciding factor for how the return goes. Regardless of where I went, I still spent ten whole months living somewhere completely separated from everything I knew. I was living day to day in some place other than America, and I still have a year of my life that only a handfull of people experienced with me. I may not be breaking down in Walmart over the materialism in America, but I still have to fight preconceived ideas about Africa every time I open my mouth. I have to reintroduce
my Kenya to every new person I talk to, and once in awhile, it would be really nice if I could make jokes and comments without worrying about whether or not people understand.
It was actually just yesterday when the thought hit me that I'm here to stay. This might seem like a silly realization, but it hit me really hard that I am going to be living here in America for the foreseeable future. I'm not going back. When people were leaving Maxwell, it seemed like everyone was just leaving for an extended vacation. I know I want to go back, and I know I would love to teach again, so I guess in the back of my mind I let my subconscious go so wild with the idea of returning that flying back became something more like an annual leave than a relocation. But no. I actually have to adjust back to living in the United States. And adjusting is hard.
