To preface this posting for those readers who weren’t privy to my silly college nickname, “Dales” is a name that many of my college buddies knew me as, and one that many of them still call me.
This posting is coming after a two week stint back in the US during the latter part of my year in Ukraine. The main goal of my trip was to get a new visa for Ukraine to replace the one that was apparently void after I reported my passport stolen back in April (more on that whole story later). I had to stay in the country long enough to ship off my documents to the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, DC and wait for them to make it back to me. I planned the trip as best I could so that I could make the most of my time.
The title of this posting is fitting for how I have felt during this month, leaving Ukraine for a brief visit back to the hustle, bustle, and familiar convenience of the US, that then hopping on a plane to return to my “other life.” In so many ways I felt like a stranger in my own country (had a near panic attack the first time I went to a mall again…so many colors and lights and people!) and yet it was so easy to just fall back into the role of domestic goddess (baking pies, trips to the pumpkin patch, cooking dinner, and weeding the garden). Weeding the garden? Wait a second…something doesn’t compute here….one day I am weeding the garden in Saint Louis on a sunny day and the next I am bent against the wind, wearing a fur-collared parka, shouting in a foreign tongue after a man with a briefcase and a gun (picture on his shirt…).
Yes, this double life of mine really keeps me on my toes. At times it is surprising how easy it is to slip back into “character” depending on my surroundings…I surprised myself at how few slipups I had. I only once tried to order a burrito at Qdoba in Russian.
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Sarah, when I went back to the U.S. for a visit over the summer, I kept running into (literally hitting them with my shoulders, hips, etc.) people at the airport because I was used to the lack of personal space in Korea. I even forgot to say excuse me and I got some nasty looks. I hope you're adjusting back to Ukraine well!
ReplyDelete@ Jackie... I do the same thing...I am used to the sardine-can subway cars in Kyiv now..Jeff got to experience it and said it was worse in Kyiv than in Hong Kong! I think I probably stand too close to people now and I definitely noticed I need to brush up again on my public cordialities...saying hello and thank you to strangers. It is something that just isn't done in Ukraine and I have gottefar too used to playing the part of the stoic, sullen loner when I am out in public. I need a new dose of 'Friendly' Thanks for your comment and reminding me that I am not alone!
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