Back in the PRC

Well, we're back.  We've been back for about a week & a half and I think we're over jetlag, but it's hard to tell since school has started.  I keep wondering why I'm so tired every night.  It's either one or the other!

I've been trying to come up with something clever or eloquent to write, but nothing has come to me over the last week, so I'm just going to babble a bit to get going again.  After that, hopefully I can get rolling on posting some of the pictures we've taken over the last (almost) year!

The question I've been asked most frequently on both sides of the globe is "Does it feel weird to be back?"  I have to say, it didn't and it doesn't!  What was weird was feeling that way!  Here's a rundown of what was normal & what was really nice.  I'll try to throw in a few weirds for good measure.

Normal: Driving - or riding rather.  In both places.  Felt totally normal to get behind the wheel again, too.  And I didn't even flinch on the way home from the airport here.  That's kind of weird, actually.

Really Nice: My Buick Enclave.  Yikes!  Now I know what other people think when they climb in.  What a NICE car!  I didn't know how spoiled I was!

Suprising: The roads in Michigan are REALLY bad.  Shouldn't have been a surprise, but it was.  How could I forget that?

Really Nice: Farmer's omelette with hashbrowns, wheat toast and a glass of milk straight off the plane.  YUM. (Shout out to Olga's, Max & Erma's, El Koyote Loco, Bellacino's, La Rosa's, Graeters, and Penn Station for being as good as I remembered!  So good!)

Normal: Kroger, Target, Walmart, Kohl's, pretty much every store.  Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to shop for things in normal sizes at normal prices (with coupons!), it's just that being in the stores felt pretty normal.

Faded to normal really fast (I forgot how great it was until I got back here): tap water.  Fresh, delicious, fast-flowing tap water.  Oh, how I miss you.

Weird: Having flashbacks to our arrival last fall when I walked into the house a week and a half ago.  I finally figured out that I was unnerved because I wasn't sure what we were going to eat.  I definitely feel like I'm re-educating myself in this area.

Weird: Feeling super comfortable in 90+ degree weather.  Very weird.  It only lasted a couple of days before I was sweating it out like the rest of you :).  Back here, it's 100 and HUMID.  Yuck is all I can say.

Really Nice: Spending time with our families and friends.  That part was hard to leave behind.

I haven't forgotten that I promised an Adventures in Driving post on Red Lights.  It's coming.  Stay tuned.