It feels great to be home.
Things It Has Been Hard to Adjust To:
1. Parisian Time
I slept 14 hours last night to recover from jet lag. I only slept three hours on the plane, and had technically left my crib in Bangkok at 10 am, Bangkok time. I arrived at my house at 10 am, Parisian time, which would have made a sweet 24 hours of travel, if it weren't for those six hours between Paris and Bangkok. All in all, anything over 10 hours of travel is bound to screw up your body's rhythm so royally that you will need TWO average nights of sleep to make up for it. 14 hours it was, then.
2. Anything other than veggies-and-rice to eat
Starving because the only thing I had eaten in my 30 hours of travel was a bowl of noodles, I hopped downstairs and bought myself an emergency baguette and cheese. Then I considered puking it all back up again for about three hours as I writhed on my bed in pain. We went with the very wise veggie soup for dinner, which settled much better than the now unfamiliar bread-and-cheese combo. I am, however, planning on doing a strict recovery process in order to get my bod into it's usual love of the low-nutrient and high-calorie baguette and cheese.
3. French
Covered in swollen bedbug bites - something about flying irritated them - I went to the pharmacy. The pharmacist, naturally, spoke French, us being in Paris and all. But oddly enough, I didn't do so hot in the French department. And she was a chatty one, too, so we had quite the conversation ("how did you get so many damn bites in the first place?" opened a big can of worms) and I was amazed at how the language seems to have turned to mush in my brain in just a few short weeks. Still, she gave me an anti-itch cream, a dehydrating solution, and some pills, and by golly, the bites are going away. Ever. So. Slowly.
4. Duties
I have many things I have to do, and honestly, no urge to do them. While I was away, I remember thinking about these things and getting really anxious, almost excited to get these important things out of my hair. But now, back in my semi-normal groove, I'm just not excited by the idea of doing anything quasi-official. This includes going to the Sorbonne and telling them they made a database error, which is not going to be well-received by the incompetant secretaries.
5. French Keyboards
Five weeks is all it takes to put the a,q, m, period, and comma keys all in the wrong places in my head.
Things that Have Been Easy to Adjust To:
1. The Boy
Naturally, I wanted to see him very badly. When I came home, he was still sleeping, and his reaction to my arrival was anticlimactic, as it entailed him swatting my kiss on his cheek away as if I were a fly. Then he realized I was either one helluva a fly, or his cherie, and he woke up and said, "La Frontera! La Frontera! (his nickname for me) You've come home! I need to sleep some more." But two hours later, he woke up and we didn't stop talking for at least six hours straight, so I'm glad he was well-rested.
2. The bed
My bed is the most glorious bed on the planet. Although I haven't yet been to South America or Australia, I can declare this with a fair amount of certainty.
3. The weather
The Boy said yesterday that it seemed really muggy outside, but I felt that everything seemed quite refreshingly cool. I can really dig this sunny-but-not-humid thing for quite awhile.
4. The toilet
Never underestimate the power of toilet paper, toilet seats, and having a door that closes.
5. The phone
I called Kathypath last night in a zoned-out, exhausted mood, but our conversation was good nonetheless. Today, I can't wait to hear my parents' voices, and later I am going to call Omar in Paris to see what she's up to. It's so great to have friends and family within reasonable reach.
So this is going to be a nice, relaxing week, inch'Allah. I have a few things to take care of, but mainly I plan on enjoying myself and hanging out with Omar and The Boy as much as possible. I have to work on both of my web sites a little bit, and I have a book to finish. The Little Guy is coming on Friday with his mom and brothers, and then he'll stay and hang with us for a few days as well. Maybe we'll go to the park or something. I don't know, and don't really care... I'm just glad to be home.
I have to go grocery shopping now because we have nothing 'tall. I plan on buying all the fresh fruits and vegetables a woman can get her hands on in this country because I can't wait to eat some. It really is the little things in life that make a girl happy after so long away.
It sounds like you had fun in Asia! Thanks for posting about it. This si abit unexpected, but I will be heading to Cambododia in two weeks myself! I enjoyed reading your thoughts about that country.
Maybe I'll even get my new blog up and running by then so I can post about it! :)
I know how it feels to return home, too. You never think you would want to when you leave, but..:)