Well, it’s July. A little less than six weeks before I go home for my sister’s wedding and a little more than seven months until my official COS date. Although I think I am going to try to COS in December. Raven and I were talking about spending Christmas in Ethiopia, then maybe hitting Eritrea before a 14-day backpacker trip organized by The Canadian Hostel in Egypt (PYRAMIDS!!!). I’ve also thought about hitting Kenya or Tanzania after that to go on a safari but I dunno if I’ll have enough money.
Then I’ve been thinking about going to see Molly in France for awhile. I have never been to France. Unless you count the Charles DeGaulle airport which is nothing to crow about. And at first when I started reading Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast”, I still wasn’t really interested. But I just finished it and as he went on about the beautiful countryside, quirky cafes, wonderful food and delightful local white wines I was like…yeah. I could do France.
One of the things I miss the most is sitting around having a nice wine with my friends. One of my favorite moments from when I was home a few months ago was standing in John’s kitchen drinking a white port. Just shooting the shit. I think when I get home I’d like to instate a “Happy Hour Club”. It’ll be like dinner club was except it will be happy hours. And we can hit all the places around town that have happy hours and pick our favorite spot and then make it a regular thing.
When I was at COS conference an RPCV was there talking about how to readjust to America when we get back. Apparently people have a hard time adjusting. A lot of people say they start crying in the cereal aisle at the first grocery store they go to. I think I am just easy to adjust to stuff because I didn’t really have a very hard time adjusting here (as in to Africa, I did have a bit of a struggle adjusting after evac) and when I was home for five weeks, the first time I went into the cereal aisle I zeroed in on Cap’n Crunch, looked for strawberry-filled shredded wheat (didn’t find it) and put it in my basket. I certainly didn’t cry. Didn’t even feel like crying. The only time I got nervous was when I went to pick up a six pack of IBC Black Cherry and the box broke and shattered all the bottles on the floor. I had no idea what to do. In fact I kind of just stood there open-mouthed until a store employee found me, cleaned off my feet, told me to step away from the glass and cleaned it up for me. And didn’t even seem annoyed. But I was still too freaked to pick up another six pack until the next time I went to the store. And even then I slid a hand under it before I picked it up.
The point is that this RPCV who was giving this lecture about readjustment basically told us we are probably going to drop the majority of our friends when we get home. He said they won’t get it (can’t), the things that they do and complain about will seem really petty and they will just generally seem less intelligent than they may have before. I’m thinking of this sentiment like Joseph Conrad put it in “Heart of Darkness” – “I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams. They trespassed on my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretense, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the things I knew.” He said that you have to decide whether a friendship is really worth forgiving those things in order to keep it up. And he said in a lot of cases it won’t be.
I guess a lot of the reason is that they will get sick of hearing your Africa stories after about five minutes. I don’t know about other people, but I don’t really have a desire to talk about Africa. I did it on my blog. Copiously. I’m kind of Africa-talked out. In fact when my friends would ask me questions about it when I was home I’d just be like…”can’t you just go read my blog?” I dunno, maybe it’s different for other people. But I guess in the end it’s that I KNOW they aren’t going to get it and really explaining it, even a small question like “what do they eat” is going to take so frigging long to explain and after 5 minutes of what would be a 30 minute answer I’d see the eyes glazing over and I’d just rather not.
Anyway. I don’t really see myself dropping my friends. I didn’t think of them any differently when I was home and I was there quite awhile. But who knows?
So back to wine. I really want to go wine tasting. There are some good wineries in Southern Illinois (in fact my sister’s wedding is at a winery) so maybe while I am there I can talk someone into going wine tasting with me for a day. Maybe my stepmom would want to go. Or maybe my stepmom, Mattie and Michelle. Or maybe my cousin Maggie will be there. Who knows? But I am going to propose it to anyone I think might be into it.
One time for my birthday Bates gave me a Sideways Wine Tour coupon. It was an invention of his own mind but basically he was saying he would take me on the Sideways wine tour in California (you know, like the movie). We never did it. We were really busy in film school. When I get home I should try to find that coupon and cash it in!! Although he is broke now so I probably won’t hold him to paying for the whole thing. Hear that Bates? WINE TOUR! Get ready!
I want to live in so many places. And do so many things. The next book I’m about to start reading is about an Australian expat’s life in Amsterdam (“My ‘Dam Life”). It seems like it would be fun to tramp around and do random things for money and live lots of different places for a few months at a time. But then if I did that I would be putting off my career even longer.
But how important is it to have a career? And how late can I start? ☺
Then I’ve been thinking about going to see Molly in France for awhile. I have never been to France. Unless you count the Charles DeGaulle airport which is nothing to crow about. And at first when I started reading Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast”, I still wasn’t really interested. But I just finished it and as he went on about the beautiful countryside, quirky cafes, wonderful food and delightful local white wines I was like…yeah. I could do France.
One of the things I miss the most is sitting around having a nice wine with my friends. One of my favorite moments from when I was home a few months ago was standing in John’s kitchen drinking a white port. Just shooting the shit. I think when I get home I’d like to instate a “Happy Hour Club”. It’ll be like dinner club was except it will be happy hours. And we can hit all the places around town that have happy hours and pick our favorite spot and then make it a regular thing.
When I was at COS conference an RPCV was there talking about how to readjust to America when we get back. Apparently people have a hard time adjusting. A lot of people say they start crying in the cereal aisle at the first grocery store they go to. I think I am just easy to adjust to stuff because I didn’t really have a very hard time adjusting here (as in to Africa, I did have a bit of a struggle adjusting after evac) and when I was home for five weeks, the first time I went into the cereal aisle I zeroed in on Cap’n Crunch, looked for strawberry-filled shredded wheat (didn’t find it) and put it in my basket. I certainly didn’t cry. Didn’t even feel like crying. The only time I got nervous was when I went to pick up a six pack of IBC Black Cherry and the box broke and shattered all the bottles on the floor. I had no idea what to do. In fact I kind of just stood there open-mouthed until a store employee found me, cleaned off my feet, told me to step away from the glass and cleaned it up for me. And didn’t even seem annoyed. But I was still too freaked to pick up another six pack until the next time I went to the store. And even then I slid a hand under it before I picked it up.
The point is that this RPCV who was giving this lecture about readjustment basically told us we are probably going to drop the majority of our friends when we get home. He said they won’t get it (can’t), the things that they do and complain about will seem really petty and they will just generally seem less intelligent than they may have before. I’m thinking of this sentiment like Joseph Conrad put it in “Heart of Darkness” – “I found myself back in the sepulchral city resenting the sight of people hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly dreams. They trespassed on my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life was to me an irritating pretense, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the things I knew.” He said that you have to decide whether a friendship is really worth forgiving those things in order to keep it up. And he said in a lot of cases it won’t be.
I guess a lot of the reason is that they will get sick of hearing your Africa stories after about five minutes. I don’t know about other people, but I don’t really have a desire to talk about Africa. I did it on my blog. Copiously. I’m kind of Africa-talked out. In fact when my friends would ask me questions about it when I was home I’d just be like…”can’t you just go read my blog?” I dunno, maybe it’s different for other people. But I guess in the end it’s that I KNOW they aren’t going to get it and really explaining it, even a small question like “what do they eat” is going to take so frigging long to explain and after 5 minutes of what would be a 30 minute answer I’d see the eyes glazing over and I’d just rather not.
Anyway. I don’t really see myself dropping my friends. I didn’t think of them any differently when I was home and I was there quite awhile. But who knows?
So back to wine. I really want to go wine tasting. There are some good wineries in Southern Illinois (in fact my sister’s wedding is at a winery) so maybe while I am there I can talk someone into going wine tasting with me for a day. Maybe my stepmom would want to go. Or maybe my stepmom, Mattie and Michelle. Or maybe my cousin Maggie will be there. Who knows? But I am going to propose it to anyone I think might be into it.
One time for my birthday Bates gave me a Sideways Wine Tour coupon. It was an invention of his own mind but basically he was saying he would take me on the Sideways wine tour in California (you know, like the movie). We never did it. We were really busy in film school. When I get home I should try to find that coupon and cash it in!! Although he is broke now so I probably won’t hold him to paying for the whole thing. Hear that Bates? WINE TOUR! Get ready!
I want to live in so many places. And do so many things. The next book I’m about to start reading is about an Australian expat’s life in Amsterdam (“My ‘Dam Life”). It seems like it would be fun to tramp around and do random things for money and live lots of different places for a few months at a time. But then if I did that I would be putting off my career even longer.
But how important is it to have a career? And how late can I start? ☺
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