Tuesday, October 9, 2012

I'm coming home / I'm coming home / Tell the world I'm coming home

I am the first of my Peace Corps Mozambique group to COS (shout-out to MOZ15!!!) and as I close out my service, I keep hearing talk of “Reverse culture shock”- that complicated phenomenon that hits expatriates upon return to the homeland. Contrary to popular belief, returning home is not as easy as just picking up where things were left off. Time has elapsed, people have changed, everything isn't the same.
In a way, going to Africa was easy because I was mentally, physically, and emotionally prepared for something completely new and different. On the other hand, I don't know that I'm prepared to feel like a stranger in my own country.
I kept a weekly blog during my two years abroad (Musings from Mozambique). Now as I enter the next phase of this crazy adventure, I'll be writing about my experience coming home and re-joining American society.

Some of the blog names I considered in creating this blog:
  • Life Without Mel (my dog)
  • Menos Moz (“without Moz”)
  • No More Lanche (a reference to the Mozambican custom of having snack time between meals)
  • De lá para L.A. (which would work if I actually lived in Los Angeles and not San Diego)
  • Voltando (“returning”)
  • Embora (“away”)

In the end I chose USAmbique, which I felt encompassed the sentiment of being stuck in the middle, neither here nor there, in limbo. I loved my time in Mozambique and I'm sooo excited to be home but I anticipate that the next few months will be a challenging and emotional adjustment.

Join me on my journey of re-entry, as I re-learn what it means to be American and come to terms with being, finally, an RPCV.

Viv

1 comments:

Jimbo said...

You might also find how easy it is to lose sight of things you learned or appreciated here. You start dong the things you did back home and forget about the little things like greeting everyone or walking really slow even though you're already 15 minutes late. Or even flaking out because it is raining or you have diarrhea.

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