After that last failed attempt to post an update, I was sufficiently discouraged from blogging for the remainder of my travels. I was defeated. A week and a half at home later, it took every ounce of determination I could muster to open up WordPress and stare at this page.
Not like there’s much to talk about recently. I will still get to posting bits and stories and moments from my Southeast Asia travels. (Think of me as easing my way back into this blog with this post.) But there’s something to be said for reflecting on the nothing that manages to fill a day.
I’m a very different person at home than I am at school or particularly while traveling. When in a new place, for example, I seem to inhale limitless energy from its sheer novelty. There’s always someplace to find, or if there’s no destination in mind, an endless supply of new streets to wander. My travel buddy in Thailand and Cambodia commented on this – my strange energy – more than once.
Then there’s me at home. In the past 10 days, I can probably count the places I’ve gone outside the house on both hands. Most days, I haven’t even stepped out the door (maybe the occasional trip to the grocery store.) And despite all my to-do lists to make the most of my time, I find myself slipping into a slow, lethargic rhythm – or non-rhythm, because there is no pattern. Hours upon hours spent sifting through and organizing years of photos. (I will always, always print physical copies of photos.) Minutes and hours in the kitchen, as my mother tries to teach me cooking as she haphazardly taught herself years ago. More hours spent pouring over newly-discovered and beautiful food blogs. (Current favorite: http://www.101cookbooks.com/) When I’m feeling really ambitious, a half-hour or so going along with a ridiculous Korean workout video. But that’s for another post.
And where are the other hours? I have no idea. Definitely not being spent studying for a test-that-shall-not-be-named (that I might not even take.) Definitely not being spent reading books for work training that have not yet come in, despite having ordered them 2 weeks ago. But I’m letting the lethargy take over, as I do every time I come home. To-do lists get lost into background noise, or hum, rather. Nothing ever gets too noisy here.
Tomorrow, though, comes an interlude – a weekend in DC with familiar faces from the college world. A bit of a jolt, and then back home.
