Tuesday, March 10, 2009

NINE MONTH STATE OF THE UNION

Today is nine months out. Even though this was all planned, it's still hard to believe that we have been gone from “our lives” for this length of time and that we are ¾ through a year long odyssey. We will be home in less than three months and all of us have found ourselves thinking more about coming home than ever before. The girls are planning on how they are going to redecorate their room and have already coordinated with friends regarding sleepovers for when they return. Marty and I talk about how we are going to deal with this depressed economy and our need for employment. Thoughts of playing a more active role in taking care of my mother, who became ill during our journey, are perpetually present.

Our overall state of mind is somewhat that of boredom. Yes, you read that correctly, boredom. How, you might ask, can you be bored on such an exciting adventure. Well, it just happens. First of all, we have been in Australia and New Zealand for two months now and it is in many ways not that much different from vacationing in the US; just not that different enough to be exciting! We also suffer from the been there, done that syndrome that comes from long term travel. We are hoping that our last quarter in South America shakes things up. We will once again be in countries with a different culture and a different language. We have friends that we will be visiting for 10 days in Chile which we are very excited about. And we will be studying a foreign language, Spanish, which is something we have yet to do.

I still don't miss much about home other than relationships – that has been pretty consistent throughout. I think we are all tired of moving around and will look forward to being in one place when we get home and not having to pack a suitcase for a long time. We have all managed to live for 9 months with pretty much what we brought from home, and with the exception of Marty, everyone seems to be surviving quite well. Marty, after his “I Hate My Clothes” blog post, bought 3 new t-shirts which seems to have quieted him down for the moment.

We arrive home on June 3rd and while I know we will have some culture shock, I believe we will all be ready to be home.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think south america will be the shake up you need. I can see how "down under" is seemingly the same as being on a perpetual vacation. I am sure as the weeks go on thoughts of home will invade even more. I can't wait for south america so keep up the posts :)