Rest & Reflection
It’s been the better portion of a year since I left Ethiopia
in April, 2014. Since returning to
Seattle I have finished my degree program and have begun looking for career
paths that might provide some of the excitement and the opportunity to travel
that my Peace Corps service provided.
Back home, I’ve found myself asking, “Has it always been
this dark in the winters?” “Is it always this cold?” “Have people always been
so shy of socializing with strangers? Neighbors, even?” “People work a lot of
hours here! Right?” I’ve also starting
wondering about the rest of the world, how much more diverse humans seem and
how much more empathy I have for people in countries I’ve never visited.
One of the great things about traveling, being months or
years away form one’s own country, is that returning home provides an ability to
look at one’s own culture more objectively.
People and events become more interesting and full of choices previously
unknown. For instance, after being
immersed in a foreign environment the choices for food and drink, how people
socialize, the degree that infrastructure provides dependable transportation
and communication, the topography, and the climate (even the way the sun moves
across the sky) become a topic of enthused discussion.
Behind foreignness, newness or difference, there is
something for everyone to connect with, an understanding that allows contact
with an underlying structure of things that can put even one’s self into
context. It is amazing to experience
and it’s one of the many reasons why I enjoy traveling - the details step out
of the mundane and demand consideration; the different begins to mean “familiar, with
time.”
This blog was created to share some sights and experiences
of life lived as an American-foreigner within Ethiopia. With that simple goal in mind, I think I've succeeded. Thanks for reading!
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