I am currently sitting in Starbucks, here in Vancouver. I have had some time to rest since coming to
visit my brother.
Here are my latest feelings:
November 19th only a few hours later. We went back in time J It was the longest day ever! We flew 4 hours to China and then after a 3
hours layover we had a 12 hour flight to LA! Once we arrived in LA, I had to separate from my full American squad L to go into the “visitors” line for customs. It was sad, but that was only the
beginning. After taking way longer than
anyone else, I finally got to the greeting area where my whole squad was saying
“good-bye” to everyone. I had to quickly
say good-bye to my family of 35 (yes 35, I thought my family was big before, now
I have 35 more brothers and sisters) as they dispersed to other flights. A few had flights the next day as I did, so
that was very nice!!
The next morning I said good-bye to the last squad mate there and then I
had to go by myself (something you are not used to doing on the World
Race). I had to put my huge backpack on
without any help from my squad mates, I had to stand in line by myself and
simply walking around by myself felt extremely strange. ‘where was everyone…?’
Vancouver once before, it did feel like home as I walked through the
streets. It was very strange to see
white people everywhere, and I continually said to myself ‘I wonder where they
are from…’ because white people have become out of the norm.
It has been culture shock coming back in Canada for sure. I have been walking on the wrong side of the
sidewalk wondering why everyone is walking on the other side, I have been
trying to get into the wrong side of the car, I have been trying to convert
money in head (which I realize now is not needed), I have been FREEZING (it’s
not 30-40 degree C weather anymore), everyone is speaking like a Canadian (eh!)
and I can understand what people are saying and they can understand me.
only been gone for 11 months. That’s really
not a big deal, not even a year. But as
I think about it, these 11 months have felt like 11 years. I have seen so much of the world, met SO many
people, experienced so many different ways of life and grown so much.
These past 11 months have seriously felt like 2 seconds and at the same
time they have felt like 11 years. I can
barely remember last January, let alone what I did 2 weeks ago, but at the same
time I can live through experiences of the past year in my head so clearly. I don’t understand it but I am feeling the
ramifications of this interesting and crazy year…and yes, it really has been
crazy. My team and squad have become my
family as we’ve gone through this experience together. As I said ‘good-bye’ it almost felt like all
of my other 4000 good-byes this past year; getting to know people for a short
while and then saying goodbye so soon after. Even though I have said ‘good-bye’ so many times, it still is not easy
or something to get used to. I really
don’t know if I will see any of my squad or team again. You just never know…but I pray I do! In January is Searchlight where most of the
squad is coming together in Georgia to process the year and figure out plans
for our various dreams and passions that have been stirred up! I hope I will be going!
I remember one of my major concerns of going on the World Race was that I
was scared to open up with people…now I long to open up and share with any one
of my squad mates right now. I know this
sounds horribly sad, but it’s true, when you go through this experience that we
have gone through on this past year, there is no one else who can really
understand. I can try to explain and I
WILL try to explain to my friends and family (and anyone else!), but I know
that will be my next challenge as I begin to see all of you sometime soon 🙂
Love Anne
