somewhere around midnight, I was home. Leland & Joe were at the airport to meet me (bearing Diet Coke, Snapple, and salt bagels). I am forever indebted. More tears.
It was dark -- obviously -- driving home, but there are a few new buildings around, as Charlottesville continues to creep north, and the shadows felt different. Just more leaf-i-ness in the trees, I imagine. When I left, it was the middle of winter.
Elsa was very happy to see me. Lots of jumping and licking, tail-wagging and butt-shaking. It was a worthy welcome home. Casey didn’t come out of hiding until after Leland & Joe left, but he was there immediately after. He’s not purring at me yet, but he also doesn’t seem too pissed off. I missed my critters.
I was up until after 2 a.m., doing I don’t know what. Mostly starting things without finishing them: looking some through the piles of mail, unpacking some, wandering around the house some (Ashley re-arranged). Watching a little tv. Feeling kind of in a daze.
This morning, I woke up as soon as the sun came up. On the ship, we had room darkening shades because there are lights on the deck. I’ve gotten used to absolute pitch dark. I walked Elsa and took a few photos of my real-life to complete the map. My house & my mountains. A bit too hazy for a good view, but very green all around. 100 days later and welcome to spring.
and my puppy-love:
When we were in Himeji Castle in Japan, I was shooting photos of the view from window to window. At some point, I started to whimper to Robin that I wanted a view. I hadn’t even finished my sentence when I realized what I was saying and she already had this quizzical look on her face. I *do* have a view. I have a beautiful, clear view of the Blue Ridge Mountains from my front porch. I live in one of the prettiest places in America. My real-life is pretty darn impressive, when you get right down to it. It’s just going to take me a little while to settle back in.
Today was Target and Harris Teeter and Panera ... walking the footprints of my real-life. I have a few days of decompression before I return to work on Monday.
I had thought about ending this blog with a list of frequently asked questions, just as I had begun. What was your favorite port? What food did you like best? What did you buy? What’s it like working in a tiny little library? What will you miss most? Is it hard being around all those students all the time? Would you do it again? But, I don’t really have sound-bite answers to any of those questions. They are all swirling continuously in my head. All the ports were interesting in different ways. Malaysia was the most surprising. I had no expectations and loved Malaysia. China was emotionally overwhelming. Tiananmen Square got to me in a way I never would have guessed. Vietnam, I assumed would get to me, and indeed it did. Even the neon. Japan is beautiful and the orderliness made me feel so calm and at peace. South Africa was exquisite in every way -- even the sadness, so close to the surface -- and India was mind-numbing equally in every way. I have particular days that stand out: the day Robin & I took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain in Cape Town, the day Mary & Michael & I went to Hiroshima, the day Phoebe & David & Robin & I went shopping in Ho Chi Minh City and Robin & I negotiated the crazy traffic with Lois & Mark on the walk back to the ship. Pretty much any day that involved the Archbishop will be emblazoned in my mind forever. The birthday party for Erika, our workstudy student, who told us ours was the first "work-card" she ever received. There will be lots of other memories that will come to the fore as I’m sure others will fade away. I learned a lot about myself on this trip and a lot about the kind of work I like to do. I enjoyed my little library, but I’m over any illusions of working in a small, specialized library. And I am reminded that a public service desk is not my very favorite place to be. But, I loved working with the faculty. I loved being able to support them directly and find creative ways to meet their needs. I loved trying to find ways to make the library not-so-hard for the students to use, even as the technological situation made this oh-so difficult. I got to actually *do* cataloging again! I enjoyed working with the workstudy students, even when they didn’t do the things we asked. On the last day, Ericka thanked me for teaching her to be a librarian. I loved that. Would I do it again? I’d go the other direction around the world. Losing all the sleep was really hard. The other direction is definitely the better deal in that regard. But, either way you go, it’s a pretty darn cool experience going ‘round the world on a ship at twenty miles per hour. How does this compare to an immersion program? I spent my junior year in Spain, traveling also, but basically living in one place for the year. In Sevilla, that was my home. I felt like I lived there (I *did* live there) and by the end, it felt like *my* city. Here, at the ports, we were tourists. But what stood out here -- and what is largely overlooked in an immersion program -- is the connections between the countries of the world. This trip definitely makes the world smaller. As we went from place to place, we learned how and why people and culture and art and religion migrated around the globe. The world became smaller. And, somehow, with that, hope seems more possible and peace seems more possible. Human connection seems more possible. During his talk the morning of the Virginia Tech massacre, the Archbishop said (heavily paraphrasing) that you can’t have peace without humanity and you can’t have humanity without people and you must turn towards each other rather than away. I learned that in a big way this voyage. I made good friends and my world got smaller. So, yes, I recommend that you all -- if you get the opportunity -- go around the world at 20 miles per hour with a lot of really smart faculty and staff and insanely energetic students. And a Nobel Peace Laureate, for good measure. It was hard and it was exhausting and it was emotional beyond description or belief. But it was a blast.
