Home.
I never thought I'd say this, but right now I am swimming in American consumerism, and actually reveling in it at the same time. I now know why I didn't feel like it was Christmas before I left Spain, not just because there was no snow on the ground, but because they didn't have something to buy everywhere you look, and candy canes, decorations, Christmas trees, holiday M&M's and Hershey's kisses, Christmas lights, sales on everything from wrapping paper to your mom and the list goes on. And the best part is it makes me feel more at home!
I basically walked right into my house and plunked back down into ye old American lifestyle. I am loving just chilling out in a house (not an apartment) with central heat and watching our 500 channels of television. Even though I love Madrid, being away just make you realize all of the idiosyncratic things that you never thought you would...and don't realize that you did until you come back. Then, seeing appliances like a dishwasher or clothes dryer is like seeing them for the first time. The economy sized packs of tape and family style Doritos. Mexican food (enough said). It's all coming back to me!!! And I never knew that it was gone!!
I'm also coming across people that I never knew I missed. LIke the other night, I went with some friends to The Tap Room, a local "dive" bar (that's actually awesome) which always turns out to be a high school reunion. There, I ran into people that I haven't seen in years...some who are in desperate need of an elliptical machine and others who seem to be doing amazingly well. It's so nice to see all of them outside the high school element (well, some are very much still in the element) where we can actually be people without the social hierarchy wearing us down. Some people are really coming to the forefront, like I always thought they would, and doing the fantastic things that I always knew they would. And then, there are the ones who will always be Grosse Pointe lifers and won't leave for anything.
I love reflection and self-reflection, which is definitely not popular among Spaniards. But I know that no matter where I end up, a trip home will always bring it out of me.
I basically walked right into my house and plunked back down into ye old American lifestyle. I am loving just chilling out in a house (not an apartment) with central heat and watching our 500 channels of television. Even though I love Madrid, being away just make you realize all of the idiosyncratic things that you never thought you would...and don't realize that you did until you come back. Then, seeing appliances like a dishwasher or clothes dryer is like seeing them for the first time. The economy sized packs of tape and family style Doritos. Mexican food (enough said). It's all coming back to me!!! And I never knew that it was gone!!
I'm also coming across people that I never knew I missed. LIke the other night, I went with some friends to The Tap Room, a local "dive" bar (that's actually awesome) which always turns out to be a high school reunion. There, I ran into people that I haven't seen in years...some who are in desperate need of an elliptical machine and others who seem to be doing amazingly well. It's so nice to see all of them outside the high school element (well, some are very much still in the element) where we can actually be people without the social hierarchy wearing us down. Some people are really coming to the forefront, like I always thought they would, and doing the fantastic things that I always knew they would. And then, there are the ones who will always be Grosse Pointe lifers and won't leave for anything.
I love reflection and self-reflection, which is definitely not popular among Spaniards. But I know that no matter where I end up, a trip home will always bring it out of me.