Well Friends & Family, it’s been a while since I sat down and written to you all about my Peace Corp’s life. Recently, I was able to travel to the Promised Land….also known as America. Oh how glorious it was! Toilet paper in all the bathrooms, organized roads where people follow the lines, and, best of all, hot wings café! I couldn’t have asked for a better trip home. I would like to describe my trip, since I seemed to have established an outsiders perspective on American lifestyle as well as my first impressions when I got back.
The first thing that struck me as I exited the plane in LAX was the steady flow of English. Everyone spoke clearly and beautifully. No one dropped their prepositions or had past and present tenses in the same sentence. It was awesome to be able to understand and to be understood. The second thing was the diversity; what, I am not the only white girl in the room?! Then there are the obvious the sweet amenities; showers with good pressure, the smoothly paved roads, air conditioning…I could go on forever.
During my trip I also got to see my twin cousins’ adorable Bat Mitzvah as well as another cousin’s beautiful wedding. Even though I found both events to be amazing, fun, and with delicious foods that I haven’t been able to eat for a year, it was shocking to see such extravagance after living a slightly Spartan lifestyle in Mongolia. Having said that, I must say I adjusted to American lifestyle very easily. Other Peace Corps Volunteers, who visited home as well, kept warning me that I would have culture shock and feel strange. But truth be told, as side from what was mentioned above and a few other things (like waiters understanding my order) I fell right into the groove of things.
Visiting home, I realized that I really took my life for granted. I could have almost anything, or almost any craving, or satisfy any desire fairly easy. Here in Mongolia, it’s just sliiiggghhttly different (that was sarcasm). And for that I am grateful! I want to live a harder life cause if I didn’t, I would have never realized how wonderful life in America is. (don’t worry I won’t break out into song form West Side Story) Sure you hear about how you should be grateful, and people are starving in Africa, blah, blah. But it’s not until you live it, that you truly feel it.
On that note, I am glad to be back in my cozy little apartment in my small town in Mongolia, carrying toilet paper and hunting for fresh fruits and vegetables. I like that I can say, after a year Mongolia feels like my new home.
