Thoughts from different places

[pobble]

I’m finally back from my long journey in Asia. I thought it would worthwhile to write down some of my thoughts about each country I visited. I’ll start with the city I came back to first.

(Warning: this is a bit long. But if you don't read it now, when are you gonna?)

Comments

[snowmoa]

very nicely written Jeremy, and welcome back - for what it is worth. Are you really out of here forever then? Victoria for the future? I know what it is like to come back, it resets the entire clock on the time that happened "before". Kind of like when you de-res a monitor and it wobbles a bit then stabilizes...

[pobble]

Yeah, coming back was strange. I felt like I was in Memento -- I had to figure everything out based on clues...
"I need to get into my storage locker. Wait a minute, it needs a code. Where would I have put a code?" Look around my car and there's a Public Storage envelope... in which the code is found. "Okay, so I'm in. But damn, of course there's a lock on the door! I forgot the key. Or did I? There are two extra keys next to my car keys. Why are there two of them? Well, let's try one."

Heh, but am I gone forever? Well, in the sense that I'm a resident of Canada now, yes. But not in the Mark Shirley sense where I owe the government scads of taxes and fines preventing me from returning. ;-)

So I'm just in Victoria until the summer, and then I'll go to Montreal to start studies at McGill. Working on another bachelors!

[snowmoa]

Another bachelors heh? boy - Having sat in a few undergrad courses from time to time lately, yet being in the grad school environment primarily, I think that you won't be that bored with the subject matter, but might get a little frustrated with some of the lack of rigor that u/grads sometimes have. On the other hand, you may get to be a leader, and that can be a good thing. Just so you know - I was on the PhD Admissions committee this year, and you would have made a very competitive candidate for something in our field (informatics..) keep it in mind! We even have a person from McGill :-)

[flemmarde]

reverse culture shock can be hard huh? when all you can think about and want to talk about it is a topic that your friends tire of pretty quickly. the distance, feeling the experience slip away...

yes, beautifully written. i could dientify with a lot of what you write. i feel sad to hear about laos. i want to preserve it in my mind as that wonderful place, but our very presence makes it all change.

i think thailand recently was taken off the list of developing countries. i think they've "made it".

i don't know whether to wish you a speedy settling back in, or a prolonged savouring of your melancholic, post travels space.

[pobble]

Thanks for your thoughts!

I think that a speedy settling back in would be best.

It's true that the people you're talking to can't understand how different it feels to be back. Which usually makes my try uselessly to explain it more. :-)

[flemmarde]

i think the people at home just want you to hurry up and settle back and be "normal" so they don't have to deal with what has changed and what feelings your experiences have evoked in them about their own lives and choices. well that was what i found and i've read a lot about this dilemma for returning aid workers as well. and then the more they go away, the harder it is each time to ever find a place to fit back home. my friends would ask me about what i'd done and then i'd be super sensitive to when their eyes glazed over. rather the opposite to you, that would tend to make me withdraw (some might say sulkily) and feel more apart from people.

well it shall be rather exotic to me reading pobble in canada... i've only known you writing about india and asia, so this will all be new and different :)

[oranjehair]

Quite a journey you had. Just imagine, you have become a multitude of experiences, like a refrigerator covered with souvenir magnets. I think it goes well with the hippie-ness of B.C. ;-) Yeah, interesting prospect for Pobble adventures in Canada. Maybe you should grow your hair and a goatee :P