Home

I'm home.
Wow. It feels weird, almost like I never left.

The flights were okay, of course long. On the 11 hour one I watched movies I have been meaning to get around to seeing, in particular Twilight and Slumdog Millionaire, which were both on the good side of okay. I even slept a few hours, which was unexpected but nice.
It was weird when we finally got to the US-- I almost had a little culture shock, although less big cultural differences and more little customary differences: everything was in Fahrenheit, the date was written as month/day/year (I was staring at a form for the longest time through my sleep deprived eyes and brain, trying to figure out what the 22nd month of the year was), people walked and drove on the right, and all announcements were said in very funny sounding accents.
We met my dad at SFO, and it was amazing to see him. I missed him a lot. We were all booked together on the flight from SFO to EUG.

P and her husband B picked us up at the Eugene airport, and it was very nice to see them too-- I missed them so much.

It was cold and rainy out, but felt amazing. The air smelled like home, like clean, cold, rainy home. everything is perfect. When we actually got to our house it was more home-y feelings-- the most so when I saw the cats. I think Jason (one of the cats) actually remembered me and has forgiven me for the time being, although knowing him he'll probably be mad and avoid us for the next few weeks. Oh well, at least we get to see him.

Many things here are actually weird and confusing-- things I was so used to before. For example, when I tried to turn on the shower I pulled the handle, like the shower was in Christchurch-- not like the one you turn here at home. My computer screen seemed so humongous, and the mouse so strange and foreign (we have been using just a track pad for 3 months). I, an adamant Mac lover, even keep trying to use the control key, like one does on a PC, rather than the apple key.
Other little things seem almost unfamiliar, which is a little unsettling. Something about the previously extremely familiar drive home seemed a little less familiar, and the stack of boxes that have sat in the same spot in the garage all my life caught my eye as different or new.

This may sound extremely materialistic, but I'm also very happy to have all my stuff that I left behind-- my painting supplies, my books, my pens, even my clothes.

It almost feels like we never left-- like we're just starting where we left off. I have the strangest feeling that it's the end of December, maybe January, which is when we left. Certainly Valentine's Day is far off in the future, and Easter might as well be years away. It's a little odd to think it's March. It's like the whole trip was a dream, or like it took place on an alternate time line or reality. In some ways, imagining walking on the beach in Straddie feels so far away; but it also feels so real and close, like I can still feel the strong warm waves swaying around my ankles.

One thing which is good, I'm amazingly not on the wrong time schedule. When we arrived I had no idea what time it was-- neither in the real world or my internal clock. It was like everything reset, and it really didn't matter to me if it was 12:00 or 6:00, except that those times would constitute the need for different meals. I felt like I could fall asleep right then, or in six hours-- whichever the clock told me to do.


I know I said this before, but it really feels like a dream. We were gone for awhile, and did so much on our trip. Maybe it's because Eugene and our house has hardly changed-- the house sitter didn't move anything around, etc. The candy canes from Christmas are still sitting on top of a box on the coffee table.

One amazingly nice thing knocked on our door about 7:00, just as we had finished dinner and were starting to organize our endless amounts of stuff-- it was our next door neighbors, a wonderful couple whom you, reader, probably have a connection to if you live in Eugene-- they have a large family, all very nice, smart, successful, and most of whom still live near by. G and S, who are the parents of the whole clan, came to our door with fresh baked chocolate chip and nut cookies, so fresh that the butter was still warm and the chocolate still gushy. They were amazingly delicious. That was one of the nicest things anybody has every done-- it made me feel so welcomed and at home.

There is so much unpacking to do. I'm going to try to finish all of my personal unpacking tomorrow, and hopefully dodge the shared unpacking. I should really get to work on schoolwork.

I'm so excited it's Spring Break! I have time to relax, catch up in school, paint, sew, and spend time with my brothers. I am very happy right now, partially because the image of the feeling of the melted chocolate in the buttery, sweet cookies is still fresh in my mind from remembering it to write about above. But really, I have a huge amount to look forward to-- I'm going to be very busy over spring break, but all of the things I have to do have very high potential of being fun.

Good-night, everybody. I had a simply amazing trip (more like utterly amazing-- simple doesn't really capture it).
I had a sudden wave of exhaustion, and just remembered I haven't slept much in awhile. So much for that "i could sleep in one hour or six hours" shpeal I was giving above. I'm going to bed. To my soft, memory-foam mattress, Star Trek sheeted bed, tucked under the quilt I made last summer. Mmmm, that sounds so amazingly nice.

Good night.