Some highlights from readjustment

My time in Salt Lake has absolutely flown by. I fly late tomorrow on the overnight flight to JFK and then make a connection to Baltimore. School starts in 10 days. Uh, hello! I feel like being in this transition place has kept me from readjusting completely. It's just hard to feel normal when you're not totally unpacked and you know that there's another big step ahead of you coming up so quickly.

I also thought that since we visited just last July-August that the transition would be easier. It didn't feel that difficult when we came and I thought it would be similar. That is totally not the case. I can see now that our heads were definitely back in Bots while we visited last year. We just weren't processing everything because we knew we'd be going back soon. But now? I live here. That is just so weird.

That being said, here are a few highlights of my time in Salt Lake:

1) The first day I drove I pulled out of the driveway onto the wrong side of the road and proceeded to make an immediate left turn onto the left side of the road. Oops. I was definitely confused. Fortunately there was no traffic and my dad was able to calmly say "We drive on the other side of the road here." I thought that since Brian & I didn't drive much in Botswana that adjusting to driving on the other side of the road here wouldn't be an issue. It took a day or two of driving to be completely comfortable.

2) I went to Kohl's by myself during my first week. Spent about 2 hours inside the store, made four trips to the fitting room and walked out with 4 items. They were having a buy one get one free sale and there were a lot of options.

3) After my Kohl's experience I am glad that I made my first grocery store trip with somebody. I don't have any words to describe it except for completely and totally overwhelmed. It's all the options! Brian and I felt lucky to have relatively "decent" grocery stores in Gabs. They are NOTHING like the ones here. I said to my mom, "I don't even remember what we used to eat!" Seriously. What did we eat before Peace Corps? What can I eat now? I can't even comprehend all the options I have. (As a side note, I really feel like the grocery stores in Utah are larger than average. It will be interesting to see in Baltimore.)

Right now I am really missing having a routine. We had such a great life in Botswana. It wasn't like we had a ton of structure or anything, but I'm really feeling lost as to what to do with my time. I'm looking forward to school starting. It will probably be structure to the extreme, but I really think that's what I need right now before I can start to feel normal again.