Asian Polyglot

Two days ago, I returned from a nearly a month-long voyage to Canada then a grand tour of the East Coast visiting friends in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington D.C. The wonderful thing about being a wanderlust is that you end up with great friends literally all over the world. There is something about being together in a foreign place, and having that exotic, foreign experience that really bonds people. I realized many of my good friends whom I was visiting were friendships that were born out of my previous time abroad.

The flip side of being a wanderlust is that you can never spend a lot of time with any one group of friends. I was slightly sadden by the fact that I will be jetting off to London in two weeks and likely won’t see these loves for another year or longer. Though I have to say it is quite incredible how easily conversations flow between me and people whom I haven’t seen in two years, and some with very minimal contact. I suppose that’s how you know that is a friendship here to stay.

I would say that I am 90% integrated back to life in the modern world. I even went on a bit of shopping binge in New York and Philadelphia. Some old habits die hard. I find myself having thoughts about the ironies of life in this modern world. In this world, I shower everyday, yet I don’t ever really get that dirty. I should’ve been showering/bathing everyday in my village, but lack of running water made it impossible. While using household appliances like the powerful washer and dryer or the vacuum cleaner, I think about how the floor and the clothes really aren’t that dirty and using those machinery seem like a waste. It would have made more sense to have those things in Cameroon, but lack of electricity, among other factors, made it pretty impossible. Sometimes, the thought that my “bathroom” over just a little over a month ago, was literally a hole in the ground, really blows my mind.

So even though 90% of me is well adjusted, there is that 10% that still have these thoughts and feel conflicted with my life then and my life now. A message from my replacement to tell me my neighbor boy misses me and that I should phone if I get the chance put tears in my eyes. That 10% of me is still so attached to that life back there, and in some ways, I hope this never goes away. It keeps me grounded, and gives me perspective.

While in New York City, I was standing in Times Square and had a very surreal moment. This was my life a month ago:

And this was my life at that moment in time:

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My first impression of the cruise is that it’s a summer camp for grown ups. You have lots of people rounded up in one place  and the meals and entertainment are on a schedule. The diversity of the people, however, was fascinating. Few of the crew members were Americans and many of the passengers spoke other languages as well. Many of the crew members came from countries that are not as economically prosperous as the US and in some ways, it made me think of the wastefulness that took place on that cruise ship.

There were food available 24 hours a day and the choices were so vast and supply so plentiful that people didn’t feel bad about throwing away half plate of perfectly edible food. The electricity was running constantly, be it the hot tubs on the deck, lights all around the ship, the casino, the rooms, etc. Constant electricity was rare on land where I was living just 3 weeks ago, yet I was able to have it ON A BOAT? And then there was the service – customer service so amazing that it was almost over the top. One evening, our wait for dinner was a bit long, and the next thing you know they sent us cakes and a note to apologize in our room. We love the turn-down service where they make animals out of towels. The contrast was drastic, and surreal. Throughout the week, I kept thinking to myself, this is the epitome of the American culture, and it was bizarre.

one of many towel animals during turn down service

The two port-of-calls were charming little seaside towns and good chance to get out of the enclosed space and walk around a bit. This was the first time I ever step foot into Canada, and much like what I imagined – it’s a lot like the United States. There are very few, if any, particularities that made me though, “oh, this is very Canadian.” There is one thing – the sales tax that hovers around 15%! No wonder they have such great social services. The money always comes from somewhere.

Saint Johns, New Brunswick

a local indoor market in Saint Johns

The cruise was overall an interesting experience, though probably not my favorite way of vacationing. It was, however, lovely to spend quality time with my family whom I haven’t seen in a year. Besides being enclosed on the ship for a week, we’ve also put on our touristy hats and visited New York and Washington D.C.. The tour continues to Boston tomorrow. Stay tune for updates!

Halifax, Nova Scotia

view from the window of our room

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I’m currently on the road of my East Coast whirlwind tour and found a little time to update the progress of my reverse culture shock. I find that it didn’t take me long to ease right back into the modern life, though there are still moments that take me back to Cameroon. I returned straight to Saint Louis where my parents reside and spent the initial two weeks of my return there. In some ways, it feels as though I had never left. I visited my alma mater – Saint Louis University, where I had graduated just three weeks before I departed for Cameroon. I was driving around the ridiculous multilane highway of St. Louis, and so little has changed, yet my life is different in so many ways. It made me quite nostalgic being in all these same places after so long.

I had many more reverse culture shock moments in those initial two weeks, and the funnier ones were as follow:

• walked into the Saint Louis Galleria to shop and was incredibly overwhelmed by the multi-level luxury shopping completed with food court at the bottom. Found myself taking deep breaths and just walking around aimlessly. Sometimes, I have to leave a store because the choices were overwhelming.
• did laundry at my parents’ house and could not figure out how to use their washer and dryer that had so many buttons on it! Also used the vacuum cleaner and the entire time I was thinking how cool this thing was and how that would’ve been really useful in Cameroon, especially during the dry season.
• got my Macbook and iPod touch and was SO amazed at all the amazing things you could do with technology these days! Everything is almost literally right on your fingertip. whoa.
• went to my favorite dessert bar that I frequented in college – The Chocolate Bar – I was so happy to be there again and so excited to finally eat the delicious goodness that I’ve dreamt about for two years that I was speechless for quite a while when the food arrived.
  

  Mmmmm! chocolate & cheese, can you really go wrong?

• went to the wine tasting at the Saint Louis Zoo and was so amazed by the sheer concept of a zoo, and then having people drink wine while walking around in it.
• I found there is something really scary about being in a Wal-Mart. It makes me really nervous, and I can’t be in there for more than 10 minutes at a time. Must be the combination of the ridiculous amount of things and the kind of people that are around.
• I don’t even want to think about how much weight I’ve gained in just the short time that I’ve been home. Everything tastes delicious and American portions are HUGE. The consensus among my Peace Corps friends who’ve recently returned is that Americans as a whole are fat and flabby…

Some pictures from SLU. The school is so much nicer now. Lots of improvements over these past two years. I really took that place for granted. It’s not so bad after all.

The Clock Tower

John Cook School of Business - my second home

The atrium of the Business School

Pius Library - many late nights took place here

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It’s hard to fathom that only 4 days ago, I was still in Cameroon. Despite how much I am trying to hold onto it, that life is quickly fading away into a surreal dream. I’m sadden and scared by that. Over the two years, that life in village has became my comfort zone, and for some reason having to leave that behind is posing more difficulty than I imagined. Only few days in, I already miss Cameroon, and miss that life that I’ll never get back.

Despite of it all, it’s good to be home and to be pampered by my parents. The pampering is guilt-free since I already have the next step lined up and my parents are happy to spoil me knowing it’s only temporary. I’m experiencing a good deal of reverse culture shock and each moment that it happens, I wish one of my Peace Corps friends were there with me.

On my first day back, I visited Target, Walmart and Sam’s Club with my parents. It is no wonder people say the U.S. is the land of excess. I was so overwhelmed by the choices of everything. It doesn’t matter what I want to buy, I have to make a choice. After coming from the world where you take what they have, and often expect to not find what you are looking for, and now having everything and need to constantly make a choice is actually very exhausting. I wanted potato chips. I stood in front of the isle for 5 minutes, and finally, I walked away without picking anything. It was too much. In Cameroon, the only thing resembling potato chips is Pringles. Stores often don’t have them, and if they do, there are at most two flavors. It was quite a change to stand in front of an isle where you have chips that are baked, regular, wavy, cornchips, and then on top of that, every which flavor imaginable in those forms. oh. my. god.

So far, I find that most things are not difficult to readapt. Driving a car again after 27 months was like riding a bike, not too difficult or scary. Having running water is strange, but amazing. I marvel at the fact warm water comes out when I don’t even want it to. I’ve forgotten about a lot of appliances and have been having very pleasant surprises. Microwave and toasters blew my mind today. You put food in a box and let it turn for a few minutes and it’s cooked?! You put bread in two holes and it pops up all nice and toasty? SO COOL! I’m so amazed and I used to use these things regularly. I keep thinking how my friends from village would react if it were them.

Most things make me slightly nervous when I do it again for the first time – driving on the highway, using drive-thru services, visit the shopping mall, getting haircut, etc., but after the first time, I’m usually right back into the groove of things. However, having to make a choice panics me every time. I panicked when I went through the Starbucks drive through and had to pick something in a split second. When I visited Panera for lunch, I really panicked when trying to assemble a you-pick-two meal. I gotta pick two out of three things: soup, salad or sandwich. Once I pick the two, then I had to pick one of each from a list of many. ahhhh…..

Slowly but surely, I’m getting the hang of life in this world again. I’m learning to shower everyday, getting better at making decisions, learning to use new technology (ordered my new macbook & ipod touch yesterday!) and learning to not be so paranoid about my safety and theft. I have an entirely different perspective on life now. And if for nothing else, I’m glad I spent two years in Africa to not take life and all the daily conveniences for granted. Peace Corps really was a life changing experience, in every way.

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Sitting at Philadelphia International airport waiting for my connecting flight to St. Louis and having a hard time believing that I am finally back in the USA, after 26 months. The layover in Brussels went smoothly. I parted ways with Laura who traveled with me from Yaoundé. We grabbed a Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks before boarding our respective flights. It felt very correct. I didn’t have the panic feelings that I encountered when landing in Paris last summer. This was a good sign, I thought. I’m ready for the “real world”.

Then, I landed in Philadelphia and that panicky feeling returned. While walking out of the terminal, I saw the multi-lane highways through the floor-to-ceiling glass window. Cars were going so fast! So much pavement. So strange. I went through customs, security check for the Nth time and finally hit the shopping  and food court area. I walked into the Gap and looked around – this is not the frip no more. Things were pricey. But it’s nice to see the same clothing in different sizes and shades. I took it all in and decided to hold off on the shopping for a bit. Stopped in Borders to buy a magazine. I forgot that it’s possible to buy the August issue when it’s still July. ah, America! With reading material in hand, I continued to the food court.

Oh boy, the food court. I walked around in circles feeling lost for at least 5 minutes before deciding on something – SO many choices! I went with Chic-filet for a nugget meal. The cashier took my order and asked me what kind of sauce I want… I asked him what the choices were, he rattled off 8 different kinds and I was overwhelmed. I went with bbq and pulled out my wallet to pay. Before he even gave me the change, my order was ready – that blew my mind! SO fast! After the meal, I walked around a bit more and decided to get a smoothie – same thing happened – my order was miraculously ready within the 3 minutes that I placed my order. I suppose they call it fast food for a reason!

I’m overwhelmed. America is strange. I can’t really describe how I feel – definitely more of an indifference than either very excited or sad. Just so strange – everything is so big. People are so big in a negative way. In Bamiléké land, the mamas were big, but in that beautiful big African way that’s muscular and not…. well, flabby.

Oh! I finally witnessed this infamous iPad that I’ve read about. People are lugging around this iPad in addition to their laptop. What is the point of that?! A gentleman sitting next to me on the flight had an iPad, an iPhone, and a Mac laptop. I couldn’t understand why it’s necessary to have ALL three… When the plane landed, everyone started turning on their iPhones, Blackberries and other scary looking gadgets that made lots of noises. People were texting away before reaching for their luggage in the overhead compartment. All this technology will take me a while to get used to. I think I’m in for an interesting journey to readapt to this culture. My life suddenly became very anonymous. People don’t yell, or look at me with interest when I walk by. I’m just another individual. For so long, I longed for this anonymity, but now that I have it, I’m not sure I feel about it. Every now and again, I panic and realized that this is the life that I will have to learn to live in. This is not a vacation. I am out of Africa, and into America.

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