Sunday, December 18, 2011

Reverse Culture Shock

After leaving Masaka, I went on a 5-day trip to visit two National Parks in Uganda: Kibale National Park and Bwindi Impenetrable Forest before heading back to Vancouver (details of that little trip to come). The flight was long and uneventful (yay!) and upon landing at YVR, I was greeted by my parents, eldest sister, and twin nephews who I discovered have learned to walk while I was away!!!

I will say, it's been a bit disorienting coming back the week before Christmas. When I left, it was still summer and with the weather in Uganda, it's just felt like I've experienced a 5 month-long summer. Also, the lack of big box stores that put up Christmas displays right after Halloween was also missing in Masaka, so it's a bit jarring to suddenly switch to winter weather with the holiday season of friends gathering in full swing.

Anyway, since arriving on Dec. 15, it's been pretty much a whirlwind of activity so while I've absolutely loved seeing people and catching up, I haven't had too much time to just relax and fully appreciate being back at home, yet. I'm anticipating some sort of 'reverse culture shock' to happen once the feelings of "I'm home! And having a REAL shower!" have subsided somewhat. I'm curious about how that will go since despite not having been gone for all that long, I feel I committed myself to the immersion experience in Masaka pretty well. I guess we'll see.

As my friend, Allison, told me:  "It's all about the journey! Endings and beginnings and everything in between!"

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