I've accomplished my twin goals of purchasing a new Twins hat, replacing the one that is currently roaming the Avignon-Uzes bus line in southern France, and purchasing a new mobile. So call me. Went into the pharmacy America trusts and got rehired, so my re-entry into the American workforce is imminent. Life has been flying by, all this returning home stuff. It's a very strange sensation, so different but yet comforting to be thrown right back into normalcy. Driving down Pilot Knob from the airport was exactly like it was 9 months ago. There's something sort of comforting about that, to finally be in a state of complete control over one's surroundings, or at least as much as one can be. So much freedom as well. No more searching NCT websites for bus schedules and connections, no trying to get cheap train fares, none of it. If I want to go somewhere, I just hop in my car. Ah, the car. Specifically, the 1985 Camaro. Yes, Americans drive way too much. Yes, we drive unpractical cars. Yes, we use up some 75% of the world's fossil fuels. But driving a 1985 Camaro almost, just almost, makes all those concerns null. Haven't driven down the left hand side of the road yet, but you never know.
In a way, the sudden normalcy has condensed my year. It feels as if I just left home for a week or so. It just deosn't completely register that I was gone for 9 months. It's a very strange sensation. I feel like I should be radically different, or that home should be radically different, as befits 9 months away. Maybe it's the fact that I'm seperated from the other Notters, which I think plays a big role. Periodic e-mails and facebook messages have already been streaming in, both from those of us now spread out over the Midwest, and those few who remain in Europe. For a long time, I wondered whether the bond we forged in England would last returning to America. Thrown back into comfortable surroundings and familiar people, would something like that continue to exist amongst such different people? I'm immensely happy to think that they will. I'm already looking forward to hanging out when I go to Decorah, others come to the Cities, or whatever else.
Damn this country is big. It is so damn big. I don't know if you've realized it, but that's the truth. Just driving around, I'm stunned by the seemingly endless tracts of land we have. The car parks are immense, the stores are immense, the parks are immense, the roads are huge. Coming from a small island, that hits you. And it's one of the things I appreciate. That sort of reckless bigness seems to sum up the classic American attitude. It's refreshing to hear friendly American accents from everyone. The guy who sold me my new cell phone would have wasted any British clerk in an employee of the month competition.
I need to go grab some food and get ready to go swing dancing. This has been sort of random, but I wanted to post some initial reactions to being back in the States. As time progresses, I hope to get some more insightful commentary up. Anyways, here's to big roads, baseball, good Mexican food, and 1985 Camaros. Cheers.
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