Finally Back in D.C.
So I am finally back in D.C. after a month of chillin' in the Midwest. Nothing makes you feel like you're 12 years old again to move back into your father's basement, and start digging through all of the old boxes of crap that you have. I tossed a lot of stuff out that I once considered sentimental, but now really has no value to me. Tossed it out, or decided to take it back with me to D.C. for actual use.
The number of my friends in Mpls always seems to ebb and flow. When I left for PC, the majority of my friends seemed to be in the D.C. area, with a few pockets of people still hanging around the Twin Cities. But now that I'm back, due to the people I met in PC, (along with the wonders of Facebook and other online social networking sites) it feels like I know a lot more people in the Land of Collapsing Bridges than I used to.
The biggest highlight was probably the weekend up at the Geek's and Sugarlips. My Friend (Whose Father is a Priest), her man, and Some Girl also made the trek up and we spent the weekend playing cards, drinking, and seeing the (few) sights that the Leech Lake area has to offer. It was like a little mini PC reunion, and it was probably when I was at my most comfortable when I was back home.
The intensity of my time in CV is still something I am trying to sort through, and ever since coming back, it feels a bit more comfortable to be with RPCVs, because they can relate about the last two years without any troubles. With all of my other friends, though I have loved seeing them and catching up, it always feels like there is a little gap because there is nothing that I can say that can really explain the last two years of my life. I was there and it happened and no matter what I say or what pictures I show, it will never really encompass it. I don't mean to say that I don't want to tell people about my life there, but I always get a bit frustrated when wanting to articulate it. How can I sum up everything that I saw and learned, into a way that others are really going to understand?
I remember when I was stewing in my room in Mosteiros, thinking that I must avoid the pitfall that I was sure would come, of me romanticizing my time in CV, of forgetting everything hard that I faced, only remembering the good times. And of course, it's happening. I was at a bar with SIDA Ka Ten Kura and No Pun Intended last night, and me and the former both agreed we'd go back to CV in about three minutes. Life was so much simpler (for me) back there. And not just because PC took care of a lot of your fundamental life issues, like a job or housing. The life there is just more tranquil. Of course, I also say that as rich Westerner who really didn't have to worry about money, even if I was living there on my own means. So many hardships that CVians have to face, I never really had to worry about.
Maybe it's not that life was simpler for me there, but that the hardship and challenges that I faced were of a different nature. Still tough, but more interesting and involved than was seems to pass for hardship in this country.
I am such a creature of my environment because it feels like many of the bad habits I thought I would have dropped by now, have come back in full force, now that I'm surrounded by all of this crap I don't really need, but cannot seems to live without. I lived without television for two years and it wasn't really a big deal, but now that it's here, it's something I have to force myself to turn off in order to focus on whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing.
The number of my friends in Mpls always seems to ebb and flow. When I left for PC, the majority of my friends seemed to be in the D.C. area, with a few pockets of people still hanging around the Twin Cities. But now that I'm back, due to the people I met in PC, (along with the wonders of Facebook and other online social networking sites) it feels like I know a lot more people in the Land of Collapsing Bridges than I used to.
The biggest highlight was probably the weekend up at the Geek's and Sugarlips. My Friend (Whose Father is a Priest), her man, and Some Girl also made the trek up and we spent the weekend playing cards, drinking, and seeing the (few) sights that the Leech Lake area has to offer. It was like a little mini PC reunion, and it was probably when I was at my most comfortable when I was back home.
The intensity of my time in CV is still something I am trying to sort through, and ever since coming back, it feels a bit more comfortable to be with RPCVs, because they can relate about the last two years without any troubles. With all of my other friends, though I have loved seeing them and catching up, it always feels like there is a little gap because there is nothing that I can say that can really explain the last two years of my life. I was there and it happened and no matter what I say or what pictures I show, it will never really encompass it. I don't mean to say that I don't want to tell people about my life there, but I always get a bit frustrated when wanting to articulate it. How can I sum up everything that I saw and learned, into a way that others are really going to understand?
I remember when I was stewing in my room in Mosteiros, thinking that I must avoid the pitfall that I was sure would come, of me romanticizing my time in CV, of forgetting everything hard that I faced, only remembering the good times. And of course, it's happening. I was at a bar with SIDA Ka Ten Kura and No Pun Intended last night, and me and the former both agreed we'd go back to CV in about three minutes. Life was so much simpler (for me) back there. And not just because PC took care of a lot of your fundamental life issues, like a job or housing. The life there is just more tranquil. Of course, I also say that as rich Westerner who really didn't have to worry about money, even if I was living there on my own means. So many hardships that CVians have to face, I never really had to worry about.
Maybe it's not that life was simpler for me there, but that the hardship and challenges that I faced were of a different nature. Still tough, but more interesting and involved than was seems to pass for hardship in this country.
I am such a creature of my environment because it feels like many of the bad habits I thought I would have dropped by now, have come back in full force, now that I'm surrounded by all of this crap I don't really need, but cannot seems to live without. I lived without television for two years and it wasn't really a big deal, but now that it's here, it's something I have to force myself to turn off in order to focus on whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing.
posted by jende turtle at 10:28 AM
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