Part 1
So, I am just now getting over that and feeling a lot better. Interesting, as I was noting to my mother, this is the first time that I have been sick since leaving the US. True, in Mexico I had a sore throat for a while, but supposedly that was due to the weather, or so all the Mexicans told me. I beleive them, too, since it was probably the strangest sore throat I have ever had, lasting for almost a month and not feeling like my typical sore throat here. I found that to be an interesting contradiction- the fact that I'm supposed to be in a country with less health regulations and good health practices but yet I've had the best health ever while there, and IMMEDIATELY upon returning home I'm hit with sickness. Gotta love it.
Well, so far I have adapted pretty well. I know that sounds funny, as if I wasn't expecting to fit back into my own country. The honest truth is that I wasn't so sure I would. Despite all the irritations and complaining I sometimes did in Mexico, overall I really liked it and a lot of the people I met there. I was worried that it would really bother me to come back home to close-mindedness and people who know nothing about Mexico but seem to have a thousand opinions about Mexico or Mexicans. Interestingly, most people haven't really asked me any in-depth questions about Mexico- they've mostly been "So how was it?" or "Is it really different from here?" Funny, I have the hardest time answering that. The answer is yes and no. In some ways it is and in others it is the same or better. I try to give people a well-rounded perspective of Mexico by describing the things I liked and disliked, but emphasizing that disliked doesn't necessarily mean "bad," just different. But it's so hard to describe. It really is. I can't put it into words how Mexico was for me, and that's why I usually just end up saying, "You've gotta come visit one day." Pretty much the same that I said to the Mexicans who asked me about the United States.
As far as adjusting, it has mostly been random things, like the computer keyboards being different and me hitting the wrong buttons. I haven't gorged myself on fast food or Hamburger Helper like I thought I would when I first got here. Seeing Charles again was a bit scary, but the minute I saw him it was almost like I'd never been gone. Seeing my family and relatives has been great, but once again, after a few minutes it was like I had only been away for a while.
Sometimes I really miss things like the beautiful mountainous land and hills from Mexico. There are mountains here but they are so different. I miss the landscape, but I don't miss the trash that surrounded it. I miss the little kids, Gustavo, Pepe, and their sister, Julisa, that lived across the street from me. I also miss being the foreigner. That was kind of weird. What I mean is that in Mexico I was the one who was interesting and different. People were interested in me and wanted to ask me all types of questions about who I was and I was automatically exciting and interesting to them, without really even trying. Here I'm normal again, and it's kind of weird.
I am running out of space, but I will continue with my reflections tomorrow.
