Back in the US

I wanted to call this blog, "back home," but then I realized there were a couple problems with that. First, we aren't in our home yet. We came back a little earlier than originally planned for Janaya to join marching band, but our renters don't move out until the end of the month. We are so thankful for the friend from Messiah College who has allowed us to move into her house while she has been gone. She had our cats for the year too, so it has been nice to get to know them again. However, it isn't our house, and starting this weekend, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Second, for some of us, it is hard to say where "home" is. Not everyone was equally enthusiastic about coming back. That would be the truth. So, what is it like being back?

Our unanimous comment would be that "nothing has changed." Here we have learned a new language, made all new friends, worked new jobs, attended new schools and learned how to get around and find what you need in a brand new city, but everything seems the same here. The biggest change we have noticed so far is that one of our cats got quite fat and lazy while we were away! There is one new house in our general neighborhood - but we are very happy there aren't more! The truth is that there have been a lot of changes at Messiah College. Due to finances, the academic departments have been restructured, I have a new Dean and assistant. Others have lost their jobs. But since I haven't started working there yet, I haven't really noticed those things yet.

Without a doubt, it is incredibly beautiful here! While the Cambodian countryside can be very lovely in the middle of rainy season, it can't compare to the rolling hills, forests, farmland and 100 year old houses and barns around here. Plus, there isn't trash everywhere! We have all noticed that big difference.

There are a lot of choices in the grocery store, but frankly, I don't think the produce section can shake a stick at the varieties found in the local markets of Phnom Penh. And everything looks so large, and perfect! What should one worry about more? The pesticides used in Cambodia or the chemicals used in the US to make fruits and vegetables very large, and very beautiful? The peaches and blueberries we are getting from our local orchard are helping with this adjustment.

We've eaten a lot of Mexican food - something that was pretty rare in Phnom Penh. At home, at taco bell (closet prices to Cambodia we have found) and Chipoltle (new in Harrisburg since we left). Some of us are really wishing for rice and m'hope Khmer (any Khmer topping for the rice...)

Honestly, Janaya is having the hardest time adjusting. She began marching band mini-camp just two days after arriving home. Playing again after a year and learning to march for the first time is certainly challenging. But far more challenging is the feeling that she has no interest in what the other teenagers are talking about over lunch. She really loved school in Cambodia, so I'm sure the adjustments to public US high school will be difficult.

Acacia, on the other hand, is spending nearly half of her time with her two best friends. This must be at least in part to the difference between spending a year cross-culturally as a 10 year old, vs. a 15 year old.

But, it sure is nice not to have to carry around a sweat rag and toilet paper at all times!

Well, by the time I'm ready to post this, we have moved into our new house. Busy, busy. Maybe I'll post one more summary to our year abroad and move back home in a few weeks. We'll see.

Roseann

On the way home

We've been home now for a week, and I feel so blessed to have had the experiences we have had this past year. I love adventure, and new challenges - but my children, especially, I hope will be forever changed by the experience. I feel fortunate to have worked for Mennonite Central Committee, much better understanding their work and their role in relief and development better than ever before.

Time, however, for one last experience. As we looked for tickets home, we looked for a stop somewhere that wouldn't cost much more than a direct flight home. It is quite unlikely that we will all be together in Asia again. A stop through Delhi turned out to be this trip. India is a large, very diverse, very crowded country. My coworkers in Phnom Penh told me that we would either love it, or hate it - and five days was just long enough if it was the latter.

Sure, there were a lot of people in Delhi, but most of them were in cars or on buses. Because of that, it didn't seem much more crowded than parts of Phnom Penh. Cambodians have seemed to us as very patient people, not terribly concerned with the frequent traffic jams that occur in the city. It didn't seem the same in India. In Delhi, drivers honked their horns as soon as a light turned green - impatient to keep moving. The city is preparing to host the Commonwealth Games this fall, and I think many improvements are being made. New Delhi had many beautiful parks and boulevards. India isn't so shocking when you've lived in Cambodia for a year. In the cities and towns outside of Delhi, however, it was very crowded. Lots of people, almost all men, moving around mostly by bike. The women, regardless of where you saw them, the street, in the fields, at parks, were beautifully dressed.

Over five days, we visited three cities, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, and the forts, palaces and monuments that make each of those famous. It was very, very hot. Rainy season is late in coming to northern India. As we know from Cambodia, daily rains really help beat the heat. I think our favorite sites were the Amber Fort in Jaipur, Fatehpur Sikri between Agra and Jaipur, and of course, the Taj Mahal. They all were beautiful. For the week, we had a van, driver, and an English guide at each place. What we didn't know came with this tour was at least one stop every day at a local handicraft shop. It was a little annoying to get the heavy sales pitch every day to purchase something we didn't necessarily like and probably couldn't afford. But on the other hand, these places were air conditioned and they usually offered you a complementary cold drink!

In Jaipur, we stayed a little ways out of the city. The streets were quieter. I enjoyed watching the camel carts moving along the road, the elephants heading to the fort each morning, and the people moving in the streets. There, we were even comfortable enough in our surroundings to walk and find the local Indian sweet shop, where we tried several kinds of homemade Indian candy.

Our trip ended with a sound and light show telling Indian history at the Red Fort in Delhi. After that we headed to the Delhi airport for an all-nighter, before boarding our plane at 4:30 in the morning for home. A long night in the airport, but I think the lack of sleep helped all of us readjust our clocks better upon returning home!

Roseann

Trip to Malaysia

It seems a bit odd to write a blog about our experiences in Asia after we have returned home. But we won't see many of you for a while, and that includes all our closest family members, so we will tell you some of our last stories.

After finishing my work at the university we left the next day for a trip to Malaysia. There is a cheap southeast asia airline, and we booked this trip a while ago. Malaysia is a diverse, fascinating and colorful country, as we found out. Most people there are Muslim, some Hindu and the clothes the women wore were beautiful. Kuala Lumpur was a very modern city, with a very good sky train system that we used every day. On our first day we went a short ways out of town to the Forestry Research Institute, where we went hiking. The hike included a canopy walk high in the trees. I think, however, there were far too many people there to see much wildlife.

Our hotel was near Little India so we were able to find great Indian street food to eat, and on Saturday night we found a great night market. Since our suitcases for home were already full, we shopped only for desserts, enough for the next three nights. That was fun. Later in the week we went to Chinatown and the street market that is most popular there. I think we will miss shopping at markets after we get back to the US.

A trip to Kuala Lumpur these days is hardly complete without a trip to the world's tallest twin towers, the Petronas towers. We got in line for tickets before 8 in the morning, and I was the second to last person allowed in. After a two hour wait we got our tickets, and returned in the late afternoon for our 10 minutes on the skybridge between the two towers.

In the middle of the week we headed up into the mountains, a cooler place to be. This was the first time we adopted a backpacker mentality in our travels, and didn't have either transportation or lodging arranged ahead of time. After a 30 minute sky train ride to the edge of the city, we purchased tickets on a bus that would take us 2 hours out of the city. We were dropped of in a small town where we purchased tickets for a more run down bus that would take us up into the mountains. It sure helped that most Malaysians speak several languages, including English. The Cameron Highlands were very cool. We enjoyed visiting a tea plantation there, walking, and eating great Malay, Chinese and Indian food. Austin, finally, got to use his Christmas money from my family for 18 holes of golf with Ron. Janaya was pleased about the bus ride home, a very nice bus without a transfer in the middle. But the heavy perfume worn by the Muslim women on the bus, combined with the windiest road we have ever been on soon made her sick. But we don't think she was the only one that needed a bag on the trip down the mountain.

On the last day, Acacia cashed in a birthday gift for a fish massage - something we had seen in several places across Asia. She put her feet in a pool of small fish, which quickly removed the dead skin from her feet. It tickled her quite a bit.

After a year in a developing country, Malaysia was very different. Modern transportation, cleanliness, rest stops along the major highways and public restrooms (for a fee) were all pleasant, after a year without these things. It was also the most culturally diverse place I have ever been. We are fortunate to have had the experience.