Re-Acclimation Adventures

As promised, I am going to tell a re-acclimation adventure from my first days out of Asia. After going through my diaries from my time abroad, I thought I would transcribe this, to highlight the crazy state my brain was in the first days back. For anyone in Bhutan now, good luck coming home- try to enjoy your re-adaptation as much as you did your original adaptation :) I hope you have the same joys, and none of the difficulties that accompanied me.

January 19th. 
Chicago, O'Hare Airport

I am back in the good old USA. Jetlagged as anything, and still one flight to go. But I am in heaven; I am sitting in a foodcourt with 8 or 9 dining options. Pizza, McDonalds, "burrito beach", just to name a few. Its immaculate. All shiny, clean, bright. No trash on the floors and trash bins strategically located in walking paths. And the bins have pictures on them. Advertisements. EVERYTHING is an advertisement. The walls, the chairs, the trash bins. In Gasa, nothing is an advertisement for anything; except maybe Buddhism. 
But anyway, its heavenly because of the choice and my anonymity. Any type of food I could want is within 300 ft. Except Bhutanese food of course, but I must not allow myself to become nostalgic for chilis yet (present day note, this was a bald-face lie, I was already dreaming about ema datsis). And, no sushi, but this is an airport food court after all. But anything else I would ever want- its here! I have chosen, for what will be the first of many mini-meals, a Dunkin' Donuts #6. 
I admit, the options of choice were very overwhelming, even within one food stall. So, I went with a combo item to try to make it easier. But even within that, choices! Veggie or turkey? Cream or sugar or both? But, I muddled through. The girl at the counter thought I was crazy, as I kept repeating "I want #6 la". But, a number 6 I received, with minimal problems. I took a seat and drank my coffee and ate my egg and cheese sandwich, and the most remarkable thing happened. Absolutely nothing!!! No one came over to me wanting to ask what I was doing, why I was here, and do I like this country. No one stared at me from across the room. No one is hovering over me, or talking to their friends about everything I am doing. Its weird not to be the center of attention simply by being in someone's line of sight. I really had appreciated how thoughtful, and caring, and interested everyone in Bhutan was when interacting with me. But, I am an only child, and at heart, somewhat of a loner, so I treasured the day that I could walk to the Damji shops without the village stopping and pointing at me. And to be in a public place, where in the hundreds of people around me, no one wants to pay attention to me or even take notice that I exist, is a rare treat indeed. 
And no one is spitting! What everyone is doing in unison, however, is playing with their iphones. When did everyone get an iphone? This must have been the great technological advancement of 2012...when I left I only knew two people who had an iphone. (present day note, I was wrong, the technological advancement of 2012 was the "app" something I discovered and struggled to understand in the months to come) 
Now onto my second mini-meal. Something from "Burrito Beach", although I will have to linger by the menu board for too long just to decide.

This is a snapshot of my first few weeks back. Within a few weeks, I had gotten my own phone, not an iphone, but another kind of smartphone (which was disappointing to me as I just wanted them to re-activate my key-board slider phone). Within another few weeks I had figured out how to do more then make a call and send a text with it. My frustrations with my phone continue to this day, but I am working on it. I discovered the "joys" of "apps" one day when I was at SuperCuts to get my fringe trimmed, and 3 people got to cut in line ahead of me because they had "checked-in" on their way to the store.

The struggle with the number of choices I am presented with on a minute by minute basis continued for months more, and even emerges to this day when confronted with a particularly large clothing selection at a store, or a large menu. I miss the days when my choices were limited to the number of vegetables I had purchased at the market, and the number of clean kiras I had in my dresser. But, there are some nice things about choice too...I can eat whatever cuisine I want to, either by making it myself or driving to a restaurant. I can even have pseudo-bhutanese food, as I have been experimenting with the different chilies we have available here.

I feel I am really getting back into the swing of things in living in the US, and for that I am very happy. A great thank you to my family and friends who have been so patient with my ranting about noise and crowds, so helpful with showing me how to use my phone and explaining what YOLO means, and still being interested and curious after the 77th time you've heard "well, in Bhutan..."

And to my Bhutanese friends and especially my BMSS family (as I was flattered to learn some of you read this blog!) I miss you all terribly, and always, always will. I know that last year was difficult with the road problems and light problems, but know that, for me, it was the best year of my life, and I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Name-Same Kadinchey-La! 

Things taken for granted

I had an interesting revelation today, about the adjustment back to my American life, and thought I should write and share it.

I have recently taken a new job (now I am up to two part-time jobs woohoo!!) where I will be working with young children. For this, I have to get finger printed, and receive a TB test. So, to start off the week productively, I went about doing both of those things today.

First was the finger printing. I had a small "what a strange place this is" moment when all of the stuff was electronic. This is the Bhutan left in me, I know, but I was half-expecting to use real ink. Then I went to receive the TB test, and was told there was a national shortage of the drug used in the test and to come back later. This is the first time since I have come home that I have come across a "national shortage" of something. A real shortage anyway...I have heard things here and there about different shortages affecting the price of different goods (like pine nuts) but this was the first time that I was unable to get something I needed, and that was just the way it was. 

Of course this happened all the time in Bhutan. There were rupee shortages, lpg cylinder shortages, and in my village there were shortages of basic goods due to the road being washed away for 4 months. The most concerning of all of these was the occasional candle shortage, because that would mean potentially no way to light your home. But we always got by. After all, we never had a potato or chili powder shortage :). And, after a few weeks of it, the constant rumors of running out of goods stopped really worrying me. After a few months, they were of no concern at all. It's just the way it was. What to do.

So, this is the attitude I took at the testing site, much to the shock of the staff, who apparently are used to people getting very upset at this knowledge. I was given a certified letter from the county, and a form was signed, verifying all the information about the shortage, which is supposed to be cleared up in less then a month's time anyway. And so, after my quickest trip to any doctors office ever, I left with my forms and was on my way. Completely unconcerned with this so-called problem. And with a new found appreciation for the laid-back, calm attitude toward the things life throws at you that I learned in Bhutan.

I have been home for 6 months, and I still am only scratching the surface of the things I learned in that incredible place. 

To my Bhutanese friends, my students, and Bhutan as a whole, name same kadinchey la.