Home for Christmas!

Seven months had gone by and finally it was time to come home. While I was excited to get back, with the weather being 78 degrees and sunny every day in Trujillo, it was kind of difficult to get into the Christmas spirit, even when listening to all my favorite holiday songs. The plane ride back was relatively uneventful although I was excited I got to act as a translator between a flight attendant and a passenger. I was not so confident to do so on my way to Peru. Next, I was off the plane and with mom and dad on my way to White Castle…our official stop anytime we’re on our way home from the airport. Nothing says welcome back to America like a few sliders in your belly :)

Unfortunately I’ve been pretty terrible about updating my blog lately so a lot of the details of my time home for Christmas have already faded. I do remember a few interesting things though. People always talk about reverse culture shock when coming back home if you’ve been out of the country for a while. I’m not sure I would go as far as saying I experienced that, but there were a few things that were a bit unusual for me.

A few days before coming back home, I had been in the gym in Trujillo. To imagine how a gym is in Peru, imagine 50 gyms in the US in 1980. Now age all of that equipment by 30 years. Finally, mismatch all of the equipment in those 50 gyms to get a Peruvian gym. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw the cable of a row machine snap right next to me. The guy using the machine was holding up 160 pounds at the time. Naturally, when the cable snapped, he went flying back to cut his head open on a rack of weights. Everyone in the gym sprang up to come to his aid. After looking over him for a few minutes and giving him a towel to soak up the blood coming from his head, everyone went back to business as usual. The first big surprise for me was in the local Gym in Oxford. It literally took me 10 minutes to get over the shock of how nice the gym was. Flat screen TVs with digital TV streaming into all of the treadmills, heart rate monitors, safety padding all around, and last but not least a digital trainer in a back room specifically there to help you shape and tone your butt! We’re a little bit more spoiled in the US than I realized!

The next unusual thing for me was introducing myself to girls. I had become so accustomed to a light kiss on the cheek to greet any girl in Peru that I had actually forgotten the cultural norms in the US. It left me in a few awkward situations when I first leaned in for a kiss, then pulled back with confusion weather I should hug my friend, or stick out my hand for a nice firm handshake! I never realized how difficult our culture was.

The last big shock for me was the girls back home. People all over the world seem to be attracted to ‘exotic’ foreigners. In the states, that usually seems to be Latins, where down here people are often attracted to the ‘beautiful foreigners’ from America. I never thought my tastes would be reversed, but when visiting Ann Arbor, I found myself really attracted to some blonde girls on campus that normally I wouldn’t have given a second look.

Hottie!

My good friend Pat who was with me when the phenomenon occurred was very confused as to what I was looking at…he attributed my new taste to beer goggles, but the odd thing was, I hadn’t had anything to drink.

Until next time, keep livin’ the dream!

P.S. Blonde girls be warned I’ll be back home in June!