Surreal

Traveling is surreal – especially when flying country to country. I think anyone who has gone back to a place after being away for a long time understands what I mean. It’s like travelling back in time as well as in space; you see yourself as you were the last time you were there and memories appear and fade like trees on a foggy morning. Traveling country to country heightens the effect – massive bodies of oceans separate worlds and it feels more like you’ve travelled to another planet than it does another country. That so many cultures and people’s and environments are all contained on this giant rock hurtling through space and that we have the capability to traverse that expance in a single day (minus long layovers in the airport) is mindboggling.

Did you know America smells like hairspray, perfume, and ajax? Gosh, it’s the sterilest country on the planet. Everything in neat little rows, cookie-cutter houses, everything swept clean, trimmed, washed and dysinfected with some lemon-smelling scrub. It’s like living in a fairyland. “Welcome to Oz!” Cambodia (and indeed, most of the world) is organized in a randomness bording on chaos smelling of dust and sweat, fish sauce, fruit stands, car exhaust, and thick green jungle. It’s such a shock to go from one to the other, and actually kinda fun.

I decided to alter my wardrobe during flight delay in Pittsburg and went, of all places, to the Gap. As I put the jeans and shirt on the counter for the lady to ring up I reflected on the stupidity that I could have just bought them in psaa Toul Tompong (one of the major markets in Phnom Penh) for about $10; after all, the tags did say “Made in Cambodia.” But looks are important for a great enterance and Tara did eat me up in them when I stepped off the plane, so it was worth it.

So I’m sitting in Pennsylvania typing this in Tara’s mom’s living room; snow blankets the yard outside, and while you might think that the adjustment from Cambodia’s steamy jungles to PA’s fridged tundra would be hard, I’m quite happy barefoot and in shorts walking around the house – I love the cold. It’s so novel not to be sweating. Actually, it’s really sad b/c I left Cambodia and the weather was GORGEOUS! This is the cool-dry season and I had to be gone on home leave! It was so cold, that my Cambodian friends where showing up to work in ski jackets that came down to their knees. I laughed and told them it was only 80 degrees out, but insisted that it was near freezing out.

Araella has changed quite a bit in 4 weeks. It’s quite amazing. And not just vertically – her baby features have decreased and her face has become a lot more toddler’ish. Says a lot more as well, though right now it tends to revolve around the monatra of “daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy” which, yes, was cute for about the first four hours… Then she needed some serious redirection.

So I have a few days here in PA then it will be off to Indiana to visit family and friends and then Michigan to visit more family and friends and then off to New Mexico to visit even more family and friends. I’ll keep you updated.