HOME!

Hello! I'm at home in Victoria, writing this from my kitchen table. The above photo was taken at the Jo'burg jazz festival, with Montty in tow (as usual!)

It's great to be home - I'm still in the throes of vicious culture shock, but on the other hand it's so easy to be in North America. It's so familiar. I'm not constantly questioning myself or trying to make up for my lack of cultural understanding. I hadn't realized how many little safeguards I have running in the background of my mind all the time, when I live in Botswana - trying to interpret others, trying to adjust my own behaviour, trying to be alert to unspoken social cues that I translate as easily as breathing when I'm at home. I am - dare I say - normal here. At least, semi-normal.

I will try to write some kind of Botswana retrospective in the next week, and maybe a reflection on Returning, but for the moment I am going to the dentist. Hurrah!