I've been asked by a few folks if I'm going to keep the blog up and running now that I'm back in the US. The answer is, "I don't know." I wasn't planning on it, but I've gotten to really enjoy this blog, and its devoted readership. Here's an idea: I'll write a few more articles, less frequently than my travel ones. I want them to still relate to traveling and returning and culture and the importance of discourse. We'll see how it goes, okay? I'll depend on you all to tell me whether or not I should keep it up.
I've been back for about four days, and I think I'm still a little bit in shock. It's not that the US is so shocking, it's that I still haven't figured out that Prague is over 4,000 miles away from me. I haven't wanted to be in Prague, and I don't miss it (yet?), so I haven't felt the distance.
Here's what I suspect: some day, I will be pushing my bicycle up some hill in some town without a public transportation system, and I'll start longing for the metro. Or I'll walk into a grocery store without thinking and try to buy a bottle of wine. Not only will I be shocked to discover that I can't legally buy alcohol yet, but that there is almost no such thing as a two-dollar bottle of wine in the US. Or I'll buy my first beer in a bar, and be disappointed that it tastes bad compared to Czech beer and costs an arm and a leg.
But perhaps the reason I haven't yet realized how far away Prague is has more to do with suspension. Throughout this semester, I have had pretty good contact with my family - I had hour-long phone calls with my parents at least every other week, and long talks with Trudi and my grandparents every weekend. I feel like I've been kept abreast of the family news, and didn't have a lot of catching up to do at yesterday's Mothers Day picnic.
But friends are a different story. The lives of students move more quickly than do the lives of adults, and I know I have a lot of catching up to do with most of my friends. Even calling them makes me feel as though my life was put on hold while theirs kept rolling. When I finally do see them, either soon or in September, I wonder where we'll all stand. My friends have always been a better barometer of change than my family. How much have we all changed?
I have to admit, I'm nervous: will they have gone too far for me to catch up? I'm pretty sure they haven't, but until I see them all, I'll be asking myself that. Maybe that's what will make it seem like I'm finally back.
Or maybe I'll be in a restaurant and suddenly, I'll say, "Hey, this place has such a nice non-smoking section. I can't even smell cigarettes."
2 comments:
Just so you know, Dane, you haven't missed that much with me. Though I feel that I've become more confident (and maybe I've grown an inch -- my aunt always says I have when I see her, but she's my aunt ;), and I'm almost a high school graduate.
There's also a handful of stuff that I'll probably end up telling you about that I shouldn't post about. ;) No, no -- nothing too bad. Just... interesting.
Major tip: Stay in present when you see your friends. A few questions here and there are okay but don't dwell too much. Life doesn't have a rewind button so go with the flow. Unless something serious really happened.
Remember, you had experiences that your friends didn't get to have such as rock-bottom cheap beer, weekend trips to Vienna and Budapest, or the joy of finding Prague's hidden treasures (Italian deli to name one).
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