Let the contrast wars begin...
In America:
- there are stop lights
- a large majority of the cars hold more than five people
- people will go to the super market in their pajamas
- everything is rushed...don't want to waste time
- everything happens earlier
In Spain:
- there are round-abouts instead of lights
- all cars are small city cars, five people maximum
- people will get dressed up just to go to the super market
- time is limitless, why rush things when you can go at a nice comfortable pace
- everything happens later
I have to say, before spending a year abroad, I was fine going to the store in grungy clothes, and I didn't mind eating dinner at 5:30pm, which should technically still be the afternoon. However, after a year of adjusting myself to looking nice just to step outside or to eating dinner at 11pm, I'm having a challenge readjusting to the oh so popular American ways.
What has really been the hardest for me to welcome back into my life again is the time schedule. I had to work really hard at the beginning of the year to adjust myself to the Spanish time cycle and now when my family begins heading to bed around 9:30-10, I'm just left alone trying to figure out something to do... and reminiscing is what usually ends up happening, which isn't the greatest idea, because I always end up feeling more lost in life than when I began.
I would love to say that transitioning back into my old life is easy, but that would be far from the truth. I feel like an alien from mars, and I can't quite figure out what I am suppose to be doing.
I'm so glad you're home. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. I hope your trip to Delware was fun.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Sone