Home Coming

Friday, September 26, 2008

Dad's surgery went well. He was awake and making jokes faster than I or the nurses had expected. I'm still shocked that modern medicine has reached a point that a person can have open heart surgery and be sent home, walking under their own power, the same week. Something just doesn't seem right about that.

Flying back home to Thailand, I find it funny that I catch myself casually calling Thailand home. Weeks before, I would say things like, "I'm going back to America." or "I'm heading back home to America." If I ever mentioned home I would always classify it with America being my destination. I haven't been doing that lately now that I'm heading home...to Thailand.

It was great being back home in the States for what little time I had. I really didn't expect or plan to be back Stateside until I completed my service over here. The first night back home in my old bed was the strangest night of my life. I couldn't sleep knowing that what felt like only a few hours ago, I was thousands of miles away in a remote village living a very different life. Over the next week, I tried to explain things to friends and family but to be honest, they could never understand. This place is just to different to make simple comparisons such as Chillies is like Applebees but with better burgers and TexMex. Yeah. Sure. It's just that simple. A remote Thai village on the Andaman Sea is like rural Indiana except with better rice, fish, and more Asians and less White people. It's complicated.

Korean Air has really good food. This is a reaction to the lack of western food I've consumed over the past several months. Although I consumed all of my favorites while Stateside, the tiny surprises of good food always brings a smile to my face. They do a good steak on Korean Air. Set up with all the fixin's too. It should be noted that I haven't had a steak in about a year so when that point is factored in, this is hands down the best (first) steak I've had since then. The second might place the first in perspective. I hope not though. Good memories of that Korean Air steak.

I've got an increasingly longer and longer 'To Do' list for when I finally settle back home. Need to unpack and clean the house. Do laundry. Need to prepare the end of the year reward market for my students. Should be fun. Definitely need to make sure I have enough toys for everyone and think about appropriate prices for them. Need to kiss Christine too.

Note: For the latter, repeat until dead or until world ends (which ever comes first).