We arrived in Dallas last Tuesday the 7th and have been in the USA for one week!
We are very excited to be here and thankful the actual trip of 3 flights went very well. The boys slept well on the planes and watched multiple movies!
We are pretty settled and have adjusted well to the time change, of 13 hours to be exact. We knew there would be some adjusting and general transitioning for us as we returned, but so far returning to your home culture is MUCH easier than adjusting to a new host culture.
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| Walking through an airport. |
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| Resting the legs in the airport. |
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| Waiting...with a GREAT attitude! |
Most of our adjusting this past week, has sprung up in expected ways for me, enjoy the examples of what we are experiencing...
-I, Erin, am loving driving again. It had been 3 years and though it is like riding a bicycle, a couple times I've had to remind myself to stay to the right when there are not any lines.
-John and I have both reverted to the national language of our host culture when saying thank you at a store or restaurant where we heard Spanish or another language being used.
-I second guess myself every time I get water from the tap. It actually took me a couple days to mentally be ok with drinking tap water again.
-John and I both second guess ourselves when we use our left hands for eating or to hand something to someone. The right hand is the only one used for those activities in our host culture.
-I feel so rude when I walk in front of someone, regardless of whether they are seated or not. In our host culture, out of politeness, you stretch your hand to your side and bend slightly forward whenever you walk in front of someone, even strangers in public places.
-I reach for an adaptor when I want to plug in my computer, which has a regular U.S. plug. And I forget to grab the adaptor when I want to plug in my phone, which has a different prong set up.
-Caedmon saw a pizza delivery car and said, "Look a taxi."
-Both boys asked, "What are graham crackers?" and "what are those?" when in the check out line I placed one of those sticks between my items and the next customer's items.
-Once before bed Whitman said, "Mom, you forgot the lotion." Referring to the nightly ritual of applying mosquito lotion before bed.
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| Naps...multiples time per day. The first 3 days these boys would fall asleep just about anywhere. |
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| Thoroughly enjoying playgrounds! |
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| Fun walks in nature. No mosquito lotion used here, though I did see mosquitos. |
