hopefully this doesn't come across as too much of a “downer”...I really am so happy to be home. Catching up with friends, home-cooked meals, walking on the beach, playing with my 2 dogs, driving my car with the windows down and music up...♪these are a few of my favorite things♪
However, this “reverse culture shock” thing is real! As much as I prepared myself for what to expect, it's a whole different reality once you're actually back.
I've been back in America for a little over 1 week and the best way to describe the transition is: weird.
There are the typical cultural differences like:
*friendlier service....no one does it better than chick-fil-a
*bigger portions...Big Gulp? Really? Do you really need more fl.oz. than your stomach can hold?
*bigger people...everyone really seems huge after being in France
*driving everywhere...love this, but learning to walk everywhere in a city was the best lesson for me...I guess i'll have to park at the back of the lots to at least walk some ;)
but the biggest shock for me wasn't actually cultural...it was just being home.
For 308 days my home was Paris, for the next 37 days it's Ponte Vedra, and after that it will be Irvine, California.
Talk about change! My “home” is changing, people around me have changed, and I've changed! And to me, that is the biggest adjustment.
For 308 days I was in a different reality. I was aware of the fact that I was changing, but it was harder to prepare myself for the changes happening in a reality far away from me. My mom is more laid-back, my dad is changing jobs, my sister became a doctor and moved away, I have a new dog, some friends have moved for jobs, some are married, some are out of the country.
Basically, life went on.
Duh! Right? But it's a stranger concept than I ever expected it to be.
This is a fun, fast, exciting, challenging, and humbling time in my life...with lots of changes along the way. Whether they are easy or hard to cope with, I'm so thankful to be able to rest in the solid, unchanging truth that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
He loves me unconditionally, will provide for me, strengthens me, and is my source of joy regardless of circumstances. This--is la joie de vivre
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