A Sweet Homecoming

Coming home from a 6 months abroad was one of those strange but happy experiences. It was strange to see how much hasn't changed; how all the rolling hills along the 280 are still green, how your favorite burrito place is still there, how all your friends are still amazing:) Seeing everything again made feel so estastic. I longed for all those things sooo badly when I was in Macau. I would give my everything just to have the taste of an amazing taco or to have just one day where the air was actually not completely polluted and gross or be a place that isn't completely overrun with hundreds of people. This holiday break was a sweet sweet homecoming with a different Sara - a way more appreciative, culturally open Sara. (unsure why I'm speaking in third person)

As much as everything is the same, I secretly wanted them to change. I wanted my friends to change and grow like how I growed and matured in Macau. I wanted them to experience and see what I did. Have the same friends that I have in Macau and know all the crazy and fun stories. For the first time, I have separate friends and its strange. My super core group of friends don't know what I've truly experienced over there and it makes me feel slightly distanced from everyone. The realities of life made them stay behind and move towards their life and career goals. I wonder what my goals are from living abroad. What do I want to walk away with this from this year? What kind of person do I want to be at the end of my fulbright year? Thinking about these things will help focus the next half of my time in Macau.

You never feel like you have changed because change tends to be so gradual. I never noticed till I came home this holiday break. As much as you say before you leave, that nothing will change and I will be the same, such a drastic change like moving across the world to teach English calls for drastic alterations on your viewpoints of the world - like it or not. The change in culture, society, and environment are just some of the major differences, but some of the day to day changes are the ones that shock you the most when you get home. The culture shock I experienced wasn't a momentous societal change because in the end HK has most of the conveniences of home; what got to me the most was the little, little things - the comfort and independence of having a car, the fresh air, the green, open spaces, politeness of strangers, the use of the English language everywhere. The seemingly minute details of our everyday life were refreshing and different. Since my time in Macau, I will never take those things for granted. With this new found appreciation and worldly viewpoint, I feel I have changed, but my relationships at home have not. We can still laugh at the same jokes, still have the same heart to hearts, still share the same memories from school. I found such comfort on how easy it was to just come back to my old friendships without any hiccups...the ease of just going back into my old life just shows how strong those bonds are despite my time away from life at home.