Murdo

Okay, it's Tuesday night here in the U.S. so I've officially been back stateside for one week, one hour, and 37 minutes....38.... Tonight, I find myself in a place very different from where I was one week, one hour, and 38....39 minutes ago. As a few of my friends have pointed out, I DID promise that I would continue to blog for a while after my return to keep everyone posted about all the fun effects of a little thing called, "reverse culture shock." Reverse culture shock is as it sounds - returning to your home culture after being immersed in a host culture for an extended period of time. It includes getting used to all of those little things that you may have forgotten or have since formed different views or expectations about. My reverse culture shock hit me immediately as I entered the Chicago airport upon my return. The first thing that I noticed, as I stood in line for customs, was that I could understand everyone. My brain was swimming in a stream of conversations, all of which I could comprehend perfectly! About 2 minutes after this dip into the realization pool I forced myself back out of the water and onto the surface as I decided that the aforementioned conversations were not particularly interesting or worth listening to. Maybe that's a little harsh...

Throughout the past week here are some of the other things I've been keen to notice:
* All of the grass and how everyone in Iowa has huge lawns!
* The lack of people. As we drove into Marshalltown on Tuesday night, I found myself wondering how and where I would go about finding a street food vendor in a neighborhood that seemed to be void of any life at all.
* The cravings. I awoke at 5 a.m. one of my first mornings back and could not shake a craving for my favorite noodle restaurant in Tianjin.
* Sleep cycle. Mine has been, to say the least, a bit off-kilter! For the first few days/nights I slept for about 4 hours at a time, whenever I felt like I wanted to, no matter day or night. Now, I am sleeping mostly through the night but still waking at about 5 a.m. and still feeling like I am going to fall down a flight of stairs at about 2 p.m.

Since I have been back I have been doing a lot of contemplating about the next step in my journey and what that might look like. I've been visiting with friends and family. I currently find myself on a road trip, just me and the open road, to Wyoming and Colorado. Which brings me to my title, M-U-R-D-O. It's "funny" where life leads sometimes. One week, one hour and 55...56 minutes ago I was in a bustling city of 9.5 million people, loving every minute of it. Today I look at my surroundings and see Murdo, South Dakota...a rinky-dink town...one of those towns that if you blink as you pass it, you won't even know it's there. One of those towns where there are no places to order a pizza, no restaurants, and only a tiny family-owned supermarket where you can buy a "Lunchables" for your dinner. One of those towns along the highway where you get stranded for the night when you think you have super-woman powers only to be shown that a rest is sometimes needed for a jet-lagged body and soul. One of those towns where even the fancy rental car in the parking lot outside your hotel can't drive the 11 hours needed to find solace in the mountains - or to take you wherever your soul may long.

One week, two hours, 6...7 minutes...