Some days, I feel like I'm not very far from home at all. On Sunday, I saw a teenager wearing a maroon sweatshirt that said "Holland Christian Swimming" on the front and "Hoekstra" on the back. I'm fairly certain my sudden outburst of laughter sounded a bit insane, because my friends looked at me like I had lost it.
Other days, I know I'm a long ways away. Swazis are fond of saying that it's not a meal unless there's meat, a sentiment I wholeheartedly support. Unfortunately, I think they feel the same way about their snacks, because potato chips are flavored with flavors like "BBQ Beef". They're not much tastier than they sound.
As this phase of my life begins to close, I'm trying to figure out what the transition is going to be like. I've talked to a number of people who've transitioned back and forth, and I've gotten some interesting answers. One girl said that the key to going to the US is patience. I thought that was funny, because that's what I had to learn coming here. She said coming here takes patience for things happening, while going to the US takes patience for people. I can't say I completely understand, but maybe I will in 2 months.
So I'm doing a bit of reading, and probably some journaling as well. I slipped into Swazi culture pretty easily, so I think that slipping back will be easy enough. My hope is, however, that I will be able to retain some of the things I've learned and use them to take a fresh look at the culture I build for myself.
Have a good weekend,
-Ben
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