Home, Bittersweet Home

Trip Start Aug 11, 2007
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23
Trip End Jul 30, 2008


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Flag of United States  , California,
Sunday, July 20, 2008

After spending 10 months living in India, 3 weeks traveling through Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and 24 hours on airplanes, I flew through the thick L.A. smog layer and landed back in the U.S. on Wednesday, July 16th feeling excited to be home, a bit overwhelmed/disoriented, and already nostalgic for India. My homecoming has been bittersweet, as I knew it would be. While I had been looking forward to all of the comforts of home, not to mention seeing my mom and friends, I also came home prepared for some level of "reverse culture shock," combined with my need to get my life in the U.S. back on track and figure out my future plans.

I've been home for about a week now, but my body is still running on Indian time. I think the 12.5 hour time difference will take me a while to adjust to!

Since there will be many things that I'll miss about India, and also many things I won't, I thought I'd try to write down all those things to help me remember the best (and worst) parts of the country where I spent the last 11 months, as well as the best and worst things about being back in the U.S. (DISCLAIMER: All my opinions are based on being here in Los Angeles, where things are always a bit more extreme, and of course, these are just my thoughts after being home for a week, and I'm sure some of these things will change after I've been back a while longer). Anyway, here it goes...


THINGS I'LL MISS ABOUT INDIA:
1) My boss and coworkers, and our crazy office parties
2) My Hindi and Kathak teachers
3) Rickshaws, of all types
4) Indian Mangos
5) Lychees
6) Haggling - I have a feeling people will look at me funny if I try to do that at my local supermarket
7) Billboards with pictures of John Abraham - I have to get myself a poster, at least :)
8) Bollywood songs/music
9) Colors/Colorfulness
10) Indian English
11) Speaking and hearing Hindi
12) Kathak Class
13) Gulab Jamun
14) Dal Makhani
15) My Pressure Cooker
16) Cows
17) Being able to get anything I needed within a 1 km radius of my apartment or office
18) Cute babies wearing dark, black eyeliner
19) Hindu temples
20) Hearing the call to prayer at least twice a day
21) Afforability
22) Roving herds of animals in the streets
23) Feeling like I'm never alone, and that people are watching out for me
24) Dosas
25) Being able to buy fresh fruits and veggies for dirt cheap
26) My neighborhood Gujarati fabric store
27) Sleeper trains and their comfy beds
28) Festivals
29) Women wearing sarees, and men wearing kurtas
30) People's ingenuity with limited resources (ie. Bags made from recycled newspaper, bowls made from leaves, etc.)
31) The constant noise of people, cars, radios, animals, etc. (I do actually miss it)


THINGS I WON'T MISS ABOUT INDIA:
1) Cow poop
2) Men using the side of the road as a public urinal
3) Paan chewing/spitting
4) Being stared at, constantly
5) Piles of garbage on the sides of the roads, and the stench of burning garbage
6) Mangy-looking Stray dogs
7) Over-eager sales clerks at stores, the supermarket, basically anywhere I went shopping
8) And overload of fried and oily foods
9) Hand-washing all my laundry in a bucket
10) Indian bureaucracy


THINGS I APPRECIATE ABOUT BEING BACK IN THE U.S.:
1) Washing Machine & Dryer - Who knew clothes washing didn't have to take 3 hours of manual labor?
2) Being able to see friends and family, or at least talk on the phone
3) Lettuce - Oh, how I've missed salad
4) Bluberries, Strawberries and all summer berries, in general
5) Internet access AT HOME
6) Mexican Food!!!!!!!!!!!
7) Avocado
8) Cheese, other than "Paneer"
9) The Beach
10) The comfort of knowing that I can communicate with the majority of people around me in a language in which I am fluent.
11) My cozy, comfortable bed...a far cry from the wooden plank and lumpy mattress I slept on in India
12) No (or fewer) power outages


THINGS THAT FRUSTRATE ME ABOUT BEING BACK IN THE U.S.:
1) Everything is BLOODY EXPENSIVE!!!
2) Self-centeredness and the "me first" attitude of many Americans
3) Companies' automated phone answering services, especially the ones that hang up on you
4) American bureaucracy...different from Indian bureaucracy, but equally as frustrating
5) SUVs, especially the huge ones - I mean, consider the environment, please!
6) Local TV News - It's infotainment...no wonder so many Americans have no comprehension of what's going on in other countries, or states, for that matter.


So...with that I'll conclude my travel blog. I know I wasn't the most "regular" of bloggers, but I'm glad I did it because it allowed me to reflect on my experiences (at least the ones I had time to reflect on) and share my stories and thoughts with all of you. Hope you enjoyed my posts, and thanks for reading them! Until the next adventure...........................................................................
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