Back and at 'em

It's now Monday aevening and I arrived back in HCMC Saturday night.

My adventures in Malaysia were fantastic. It was a great trip overall and I was finding it hard to think of coming back to HCMC - the heavy air, the crazy traffic, and the city life. Looking out over the lights of HCMC as the plane landed, my first thought was, "Ohhh boy."

The trip was wonderful. The end of the week felt like the end of the trip -- ready to get back home... but Home in the sense of the U.S. -- Denver. It just felt as if the trip had come to an end... and it was a weird realization for me that HCMC felt part of the 'trip'.

So... I just made it through my first day back at work. Usually, once I see the students and things get going, I'm fine -- it's normal to be back and get into the swing of things. Well, the swing isn't quite so smooth here... living and working abroad is such a mix of emotions. Part of me is fine being here and day by day it will all become 'normal' again. Another part of me is unsettled... but trying to listen to the part that knows I am here for good.

Yesterday was spent moving back into my apartment -- quite literally. The night before I departed on the trip I found that I had a mouse in my apartment. My landlord said that they would fumigate the apartment while I was gone and "bring in chemicals". That could mean anything in Vietnam - so I decided to pack everything up to be safe. I didn't want to come home to a film of chemicals covering my clothes and dishes.

Apparently 3 mice were caught while I was gone. I hope that was it. There are still sticky pads all over the apartment.

I'm moved back in and have enjoyed going through the 450 photos that I took over the least week... blog posts will be coming!

There's so much to say, I'm not even sure where to begin. Overall -- I'm still surprised at how much I am learning daily... and in surprising ways. I've learned so much about the world... various cultures... and myself.