 Sunrise in Florida, where I spent Thanksgiving this year... I just realized we’re a few days from 2017 and I have been putting off writing an update – now I understand why most expat blogs trail off after “the adventure” is over! Once returning to a home country, things feel uninteresting and life goes back to being what is thought to be unremarkable and ordinary. I don’t want to do that, because I think the adventure of returning is just as great, so here’s a high-level review of what’s been going on since getting back… I’ve been in the states since November 7th and things have been moving at lightening speed…I had forgotten how efficient America is! In the first week I found a house and bought a car, then I got a job exactly one month after (admittedly, I had made it my full time job to FIND a job, so it isn’t too surprising). Immediatly after accepting the position, I booked a last minute boomerang trip back to India, where I’ve just spent the past two weeks.  This packing material was just for the 4 tea cups on the right... I returned on Christmas Day to a sticky, winter warm-spell and two days later received the household goods shipment, delivered by a handful of very fast, very strong movers – the boxes and furniture moved so quickly I could hardly see straight by the end of the day. I had them unpack the kitchen before they left so I could sort through it on my own and I’m so thankful I asked them to do that because the amount of paper used to wrap all the items was insane. There was only one thing that broke but it was a treasure; a teak bed I had custom-made in Pune before leaving. It’s completely unusable, split at the joints in two places. Such a shame, it was my most favorite, aside from the Krishna pattachitra painting I found at folkarts bazaar two years ago. I will be going back into pharmaceutical sales, and my new role starts on the 3rd of Jan. I’m using the last few days to enjoy the end of my three year hiatus from corporate life…and by “enjoy” I mean rush to unpack the rest of the boxes, buy work clothes (mine are dated and too big after losing 8kg in Pune), find a gym, and maybe do something fun in between all that. Perhaps a massage and mani/pedi are in order? Folks warned me to watch out for the reverse culture shock, which I was really worried about, but so far it’s been alright. I’m sure this might change, but I am coping well at the moment. I did have one funny thing that happened – I went to see Dangal in the movie theater, and it was a time/space wormhole for me. First off, refreshments were ridiculously huge, like, 1-liter drinks sold as a “small”. Secondly, there was no national anthem to stand for in the beginning. I waited, preview after preview, and still nothing. Logically, I knew that there wouldn’t be one, but my brain must have been back in India and after every preview, I poised my feet to stand. Thirdly, I had to pee so badly and was waiting waiting waiting for the intermission, trying to be polite and not disturb my chair neighbors. I was so thankful for the break and stood up to walk out as soon as I saw the “Intermission” sign…only to find that I was the only loser who did. The movie just played on. I looked at the floor, passing everyone sheepishly, and quietly made my exit. How embarrassing. I’ll be sure to update when I’m back at work, and can’t wait to write about my latest trip to India...hopefully it will be up in the “Travel” section of the site soon. If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions that you’d like to see featured in or as a blog post here, please let me know, I’m always open to it!  Varanasi at sunrise
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