Home on the Range

Well, after almost six weeks of travel, and five countries later (one of which, Thailand, I can now say I've been to three times!), I'm back home to the beautiful weather and more diverse wardrobe of Kunming. It feels like it's been a while, but finally I'm not dying of heat exhaustion (okay only almost died once in Phnom Penh from heat exhaustion but Thailand and the Philippines were still damn hot!) or being opressed by the humidity or pollution. Yay for mountains!

And really, I'm finding it a) nice to be home, and b) that it really does feel like home. I actually had the pleasure of checking the "return home" box on the Chinese Immigration Form under reasons for visit.

It's amazing how much mindset matters. Just yesterday I was sitting with my friends at a table at a local restaurant sipping on my LanCang Beer (which actually isn't very good compared to some of the other local specialities) and thinking: "Man, I can't imagine living in the US." I don't know why it struck me at that particular point, but the thought surprised me. It just really is starting to feel like it's been a while since I've been there, and I might have even recently crossed the mark for the longest single period I've been outside of the US in my life. On March 5th it will have been 9 full months. I think I only stayed in France for 8 and a half months.

Actually, to emphasize this point, I had a funny experience leaving Bangkok to go to Manila that I don't think I wrote about. At passport control the "controller" (does that word exist in English?) looked at my passport and said "From Colorado? Going home, eh?" I stared at him with a dumb look on my face trying to process what he had just said. "Sorry?" "Going home?" Finally I was able to gather my wits enough to blurt out "No, Manila." "Then home?" Again I had to think for a minute before: "No, back to Bangkok then up to Kunming where I LIVE." "Kunming, huh?" "Yeah." The thud of the stamp against the thick stack of papers shook me out of it. "Thanks," I said, walking away musing on the fact that what seemed like a normal and perfectly reasonable question came at me out of left field. In my mind it wasn't possible to be heading back to the US, not yet at least. I think it's going to be one of those things that I'm going to have to work up to :o).

On Monday I start classes again, and am trying to get prepared for all that. My schedule only has me teaching Monday-Wednesday mornings, ending at 10AM Wednesday at that. I think I'm going to have to try to find something to do so that I don't go crazy with boredom! I also got paid some money due to me from last semester and so was able to go out and buy new glasses to replace the ones that broke in Thailand, a new SIM card for my mobile (my old one wont work anymore because I left it with no credits on it for too long), and get a new shoulder bag to replace one that was horribly fallen apart (shortest lifespan yet, only like a month. Usually they last me around three :o) ).

Also, I've started doing my daily photos again at my Fun Fotos for wHeNeVeR blog as I now have tons of interesting photos from my trip to share with all y'all, so check it out!