I've been home a little over a week and its strange to be back. I'm glad to be home and need the rest but it's strange.
I've enjoyed getting my haircut, going out to dinner in restaurants where there aren't armed guards and seeing all the choices in the grocery store. Being able to drive, walking outside and being able to make eye contact again with people on the street was something I didn't realize I missed so much. The color here is amazing and its not even autumn. Kabul is brown, year round. When we drive, I can see houses; in Kabul all the houses are surrounded by 12 foot high walls and barb wire. Did I mention how much I enjoy the lack of dust? The simple things that I used to take for granted, all have new meaning. For example, I really enjoy not having to brush my teeth with bottled water!
Being home has brought some challenges as well. I'm not the same person I was when I left a year ago. Its hard to quantify the ways I've changed, just like it's hard for my friends and family to tell me how they have changed over the year. Its easy to talk about the new technology and fashion trends but on the inside I feel different.
It's like I have two separate lives both with equally important aspects to it. My friends in Kabul became my family, there is a closeness in our relationship because no one else experienced what we did. I miss them. I can't wait until their home and we can joke about how bazaar it is to transition back to civilization because I feel like an alien in my own country.
Keep Smiling!
