I know, I know. I’ve been slacking. Apparently, I am still in “vacation mode,” despite being back in country for over two weeks now. As most of you know, my family gave me the best Christmas gift in the world – a plane ticket to the States for the holidays (thank you so much again, mom and dad!). So on December 16, I said adieu to Burkina for three weeks and boarded an AirFrance plane bound for home. I flew about seven hours to Paris, where I waited for another four hours or so in what felt like Arctic conditions without any kind of jacket at all. Honestly, I was physically shaken when I first stepped off the plane. I am ashamed to have spent over $7 on a small coffee just to get warm a bit. After another half hour delay due to snowfall, I was finally headed for America. Although I didn’t get any sleep on either flight (I knew I wouldn’t), I did catch up on some new movies, ate some good French food, and robbed AirFrance of as many mini bottles of red and white wine they were willing to give me. Another eight hours above the Atlantic and then we finally touched down in Washington D.C. It’s always a nice feeling to be on American soil again. After a quick customs stop, I got my bag and headed out. My parents and my brother were waiting for me in classic airport homecoming movie cliché, and it was great. It had been 14 months since I had last seen my family, and everyone looked good (slightly pale by comparison but still good). My mom brought me a heavy coat and hat, as well as some homemade brownies. It was nice to be home.
It was really weird to be home at first. I can’t really describe the feeling but the word “surreal” comes to mind. So many cars. Everyone speaking English. Nobody staring at me like a celebrity. So many fat white people. Within a couple days of being home, we had a big snowstorm, leaving us with well over a foot of snow. They said it hadn’t snowed like this in Virginia in December since, oh, about 1918. Another Christmas miracle. It seemed like the days before Christmas went by much slower than those after. Perhaps it is because at first I mostly relaxed at home, caught up on TV shows I had missed, and didn’t do much. But after Christmas I hung out more with friends, ran errands, and checked things off my to-do list, basically sucking the marrow out of America, as it were. I drove to Williamsburg (my college town) one day to hang out with a friend there, and another one of my friends drove up from NC to bring in the new year with me and hang out with the family for a few days. Very cool. I also saw lots of movies with my family while I was home, including Invictus, Me and Orson Wells, The Young Victoria, Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and I know I’m missing one. I would also describe all the food I ate, but I think that would only serve to hunger and sadden me, so I will just say I ate really, really good food and a lot of it.
The snow was almost completely melted when we drove back to Dulles on January 6. I was just getting used to American life again when it was time to say goodbye. I took back two bags full of food and a head full of great memories (thanks again, guys). The plane rides back to Burkina were as uneventful as the first ones, except running into a fellow volunteer in Paris on her way back as well. We split the cost of taxi back to the Peace Corps house in Ouaga and even lucked into snagging the last two beds in the house for the night without making reservations. Another Christmas miracle, right? Since then, I have been trying to readjust to Burkina life again, and resettling into village for my second year here. I have a malnutrition program loosely planned for the start of February, along with a few other smaller activities scheduled for the coming weeks. Crossing my fingers that I can get into a work grove soon to keep me busy. Until next time.
Moving on
8 years ago
