Re-entry: initial impressions

Home! Sinage thanks to my sister. Less than one hour home, and Anika was into the dress-up clothes

We are home. We left with four people, and some naivety, and we’re back and all accounted for, plus a little more worldly. Being back is surreal. It’s as if we never left. Our house was incredibly well taken care of in our absence, and on the afternoon of our return while standing in my kitchen, I was pinching myself that we’d actually been away for close to a year and a half. Hard to believe that less than 48hrs before that, I was struttin’ my stuff at dance party with a bunch of Cambodian kids; playing freeze dance and showing them how to do headstands against a wall. The wonders of modern travel never cease to amaze…

I am surprised how easily it is for us to slip back into our lives here and it’s only been a few days. The little Schplatt cocoon that we surrounded ourselves in while away has been shed, and I am fighting the urge to accept every social interaction offered up; uncharacteristically, wishing I could just hide. I can attribute this to the time of year (what was I thinking coming back a week before Christmas?), and the 12hr jet lag that has us waking at 1am famished, and struggling to stay awake past 7pm. But all of this will pass; we’ve had some great laughs with friends as they helped us stay up past 8pm, and we’re looking forward a low key Christmas in our house.

The kids are certainly happy to be home, reconnecting with missed friends and pulling apart all the neatly stashed toys as they rediscover all their forgotten things. Bronwyn has also commented that it feels like we never left. It really is weird.

Our bed is way softer than I remember it, and all the culling of stuff I did before leaving doesn’t seem to have made a dent in volume of things filling our house. I can’t believe how much stuff we have. I find myself ruthlessly adding stuff to the pile for Value Village, wishing I could send it to some of the places we visited instead. I always knew we had a lot, now I feel like I have a benchmark with which to compare it. I can’t help but question economic development if it means that the rest of the world is going to acquire as much as we have.

It’s been quite a journey, with all the paths yet to fully materialize. I will miss the cocoon (even though it took me a while to fully accept it). But it is nice to be home. It will be nice to feel settled, and who knows, many more adventures await. We never did hit Europe or the ancient western civilizations

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