Reverse Culture Shock

To recap the time between August and now... ahem: 

August was filled with me warming my desk and teaching 8-10, 50 year old Libyan males twice a week for two weeks. We mostly talked about Alaska. 

September included traveling back to Fairbanks (from Ankara... longest 30 something hours of my life), buying a bike, hanging out with best friends and puppy-sitting, and traveling to Homer (one of my favorite towns in the world).

October included shipping our goods to South Korea (oh btw I'm going to Korea in a few months), flying to Minneapolis to pick up our car, and driving to Virginia with my sister (with a pit-stop in Indianapolis, HI JANET AND DENNIS!).

Part of the reason I haven't updated is because I was rather busy, but a large part was because I was (and kinda still am) adjusting back to 'merican life. I don't think I had much culture shock going to Turkey. Things were definitely different, but I was prepared for things to be different. I kept my mind open the 13 months I was there, and viewed everything as either a great story or a learning experience. 

Now, I had heard of reverse culture shock. But I thought, "If I can easily live in Turkey, how bad can it be going back to where I came from?" It was a fable. Something to scare fearless solo travelers. 

WHAT A SILLY GIRL. 

I'm not sure which came as more of a shock to me: the fact that I felt (feel) out of place, the obsession with the abundance of EVERYTHING, or the fact that nothing at home was different. 

The first and last reasons can probably go together, so I'll talk about the second first. 

Two days or so after I arrived in Fairbanks, we went grocery shopping. I had my list and I was ready to get in and out. It was just Fred Meyer; I used to go there once or twice a week so I was sure I had the layout imprinted into my brain. It took me TWO HOURS to find everything. Two hours, and multiple times I thought I was going to puke from feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic. I understand America is capitalistic and Americans love their freedom of choice (and economics and consumers and blahblahblah). But good golly. Is there really a demand for 50 types of milk? (hemp, almond, coconut, soy, cashew, chocolate, cow, chocolate coconut honey seashell?!?) REALLY? I promise you'll survive without it. What about 25 different types of oatmeal? It's like this for everything. 

This abundance of choice has lead to an abundance of possessions. Yeah, okay, Lulu Lemon has nice things. But BULLSHIT you need five of the same hoodie in different colors. I knew their were options galore before I left, but I really wasn't aware of the scale. Living for year with things I don't need (that I thought I did), my perspective has changed. I've changed. Yet America hasn't. 

Leading me back to my first and last reasons. Things I cared about in Turkey don't matter here. No one knows who Erdogan is. None of my friends had Syrian refugee students, or had to teach English to 50 year old men in 100 degree weather while wearing pants and sleeved shirts because otherwise you would be dressed inappropriately. No one I know here has had to look students in the eyes and tell them to go ahead and try for that US visa, while knowing it's damn near impossible. 

Obviously, not ALL my friends and family are going to be able to connect with me and completely understand, and that doesn't bother me at all. Those are very specific examples and experiences (and it's probably a good thing most Americans have no idea who Erdogan is). But most of the time I feel like I have no one to share these experiences with. I've grown and experienced a ton in the last year (and I'm just getting started), but anytime I have a contribution to a conversation, all people hear is *insert country* and suddenly I'm a bragging, pompous, twat. Things changed while I was gone in the sense that people went on with their daily lives, started or ended jobs and marriages, ate and pooped. But I'm having difficulty coming to terms with the realization that most people just can't relate, and most never will be able to. 

I also feel the need to justify things I can't do or that I've missed out on by reminding people I've been gone. Yeah, I came in last place at that CrossFit competition, because I couldn't train all the time BECAUSE I WAS IN TURKEY. Who is Sam Smith? I WAS IN TURKEY. WHAT MOVIE IS THAT I WAS IN TURKEY. It's not healthy; I'm working on it.  

It's even difficult for me to write this post. I've gone over in my head what I was going to write about for the last few weeks, and yet it's still taking me a couple hours to hash this out.

I do want to emphasize that I know there are some that do enjoy my stories and rantings and ravings. I know a few of you check my blog regularly. Thank you. I enjoy writing and sharing, and it makes me happy knowing that some are reading and listening. 

I mentioned earlier that I'm going to Korea (South, duh), in a few months. I plan to continue to rant and ramble, but with a new blog. MAYBE A VIDEO BLOG WHO KNOWS.

This is the end; My Great Perhaps has not been found, but we're getting there.

CAN'T BREATHE. 

But Alaska does have this.

And these guys.

ROAD TRIP

I told them they'd make an appearance.

Turds.

Israel: Tel Aviv, Dead Sea, Jerusalem

On our second day in Rome, we heard the news about Tel Aviv’s airport closing, the rocket, and that many airlines had stopped service to and from TLV. We were flying with Air Berlin, and while our flights had not actually been cancelled, we thought it would be best to reschedule our trip for another year. Since we had not booked through AB, but through an agency (E-dreams), we had to cancel through them. I called E-dreams, and the lady seemed nice enough, but said she had to get in contact with Air Berlin, and then will get back in contact with me. Well, she never got back to me, and I tried repeatedly to call but to no avail. The day of our arrival came, and since our flight was still good to go and I couldn’t get ahold of any representative, we decided to go for it.

We weren’t going completely into the unknown; earlier this year I participated in a CrossFit seminar in Iceland and met three super awesome Israelis who invited me to visit. I stayed in contact with one and we’ve become pretty good friends. So I had called her to make sure things weren’t super-duper crazy, and she assured us everything was fine.

But first, we had a 23 hour layover in Düsseldorf… which is pretty much only good for layovers in our opinion. Neither of us had been to Germany before, so unfortunately we didn’t get to see enough to say whether we like it or not, but it was a cute little city. We basically just walked to the Rhine, ate a pretzel, found some food, and went to sleep. I will say that the public transportation was super difficult to figure out, and our flight was delayed upon arrival. I thought Germans were known for being orderly and timely and things making sense?

Alright, so back to Israel.

There were no major problems at all during our visit. The rocket sirens went off a few times, so we had to get away from windows, wait until we heard a boom, and then back to whatever we were doing. On our way back from Jerusalem, an announcement came on the radio so we had to pull over on the side of the highway and get out of the car until it was clear.

I don’t want to make this a political entry, but I do want to say that it is such a shame, because Tel Aviv is beautiful. It’s right on the Mediterranean, the food is wonderful, and there are bike paths all over. It’s a lot greener than I had thought. 

Aside from Jerusalem, we also visited the Dead Sea, did some CrossFit workouts, spent a day at the beach (my birthday), and rode bikes throughout the city. (In case any of you CrossFit nerds want to copy our workout, it was "Birthday 7": 7 rounds of 7 overhead squats, 7 boxjumps, 7 burpees, 7 pull-ups)

The most difficult part of Israel is leaving… as in getting through security at the airport. Again, no problems, just a bunch of questions and I’m sure it looked strange that I was there with my husband, but we were going to different countries (one of which they are not really friends with…). In the end, we both made it back to our homes safely. Alex went to Atlanta for a CrossFit Football Seminar, and I’ve got one more month in this lovely country to finish my contract. I didn’t miss the heat. There are no fans, and no air conditioning in *our* building. Whatever. It’s probably good for my health.  

Doing German things on the Rhine

hmm...

Neat steeple

Such a lady

Tel Aviv Falafel! Check off my bucket list

More falafel and hummus

We found some figs and pomegranates

And grapes...

lolololol

Giant bread bowl filled with pasta
and cheese and meat!

Jerusalem

Park in Tel Aviv

Hmm... reminds me of the mosaic museum
in Gaziantep. It's crazy how similar these cultures are,
but they don't seem to realize it...

cacti forest!

That's in meters, in case you're wondering

Hey, Jordan!

There are people in my hair

Just floatin!

This mud is SUPER SUPER slippery! I was worried
I'd fall face first and drown. Which happens, because
the water is so dense and if you flip over it can be
super difficult to flip back...if you can at all! 

I made it without falling!

so weird, but relaxing

Alex's shorts matched the mud. Nerd. 

My football stance. Pretty good, eh?

So that is a bagel. We've been lied to our whole lives.

That orange stuff is künefe

Looks exactly like Turkey. HOW WEIRD.

Ah, okay.

Dome of the Rock! Too bad that's the closest we
could get. :( The architecture is super cool.

Last picture in Israel, and last one before we
meet again!