Happy Thanksgiving!

So I’m state-side! I have been a little absent to the blog world recently. Not intentionally, and not because of a lack of blog worthy discussion (quite the opposite) but because there has been so much going on writing about it just came up last on the list!

Regardless, here I am. Once again in the beautiful US of A and once again fighting the same cultural battle I face every time I get my passport stamped. Fortunately the culture shock has hit relatively lightly this trip compared to previous trips and I have thoroughly enjoyed my first week back.

While the term culture shock is normally used in reference to entering into a third world country, I have found it to be equally (if not more) applicable upon reentry to the US. This country makes so many changes/advances in such sort time. I leave and when I come back 6 months later there is a new road, new restaurants, and new buildings. I expect to come back to the same place I left and that is never quite the case. That doesn’t mean it’s bad . . . just a little harder to adjust. I am so happy to be here though. I have already indulged in a number of guilty pleasures (grapes, cheese, Hot Tomales, Cheezits :) just to name a few, and cannot get enough of this great family I have. Last weekend I went to the Notre Dame- Wake Forest game with my mom, great end of the season to be back for huh! Hard to believe that after not missing a single home game for four years, I haven’t been to a single one since graduating! So I have definitely been filling up on all things football with my Dad; mostly college, but some pro too. Now just anxiously looking forward to this Saturday’s game against USC . . . Eeeeek GO IRISH!

My other adventure- Elementary School! Eryn is student teaching in a kindergarten classroom at Prairie Vista, the elementary school that we went to our entire childhood. Twice I have been able to go in and spend the day helping her out. (It helps to fill a little bit of the void I have when I’m not with all my kiddos) and it’s been a blast! In addition to spending the day with some adorable little ones, I have gotten to remember (or at least try to remember) all the memories I have of my 6 years in that building, and have come to the realization that everything is a whole lot smaller than what I remembered it as.

So that is a quick summary of my most recent adventures. Even though it makes life a whole lot more complicated, I am so very thankful for my two worlds, my two lives and the people that fill each of them. I am so thankful on this Thanksgiving for the ones who love and support me from both countries!