one month back

Ok, so my life is very different at the moment from what it's been the past 2 years.
For one thing, it's cold (in case I didn't mention that before). For another, it's sunny and the sky and the trees are beautiful, and there is a washing machine (yippee!!).
And possibly happiest of all, I can do things here like make appointments and schedules and write them in my planner and then go to them at the appointed time and THEY ACTUALLY HAPPEN at that time and that place AS PLANNED! Hahaha! SO BEAUTIFUL! Aaaaahhhh scheduling!
And of course I'm home and enjoying living with my family. :)

But weather and schedules and family aside, I won't lie to you, my faithful readers: it's rough being back. I'm in a full-blown "transition" phase, i.e. living in my parents' house, job-hunting, and all the while trying to figure out what just happened to me over the past two years, so that from there I can figure out what kind of job and life I REALLY want to have in the future. It's very complicated. There's culture shock, brought on by everything from eating cereal out of boxes to throwing toilet paper in the toilet; the isolation of living in a suburb; the lack of a faith community to feel connected to; plain homesickness for Peru and my friends there; and most anxiety-inducing of all, the lack of a clear direction in my life and work. Just to give you a sense of what this is like, imagine your career ideas consisting almost entirely of concepts like "theology," "teaching," "writing," "ministry," and "bartending" (no serioulsy. I think it kind of balances and complements the rest).

Today I gave a presentation on blogging and journaling to NDMVs serving in the United States, and I felt like a poor role model for blogging so little about the end of last year. So, for your delight and entertainment, and in order to shamelessly lose myself in remembering some of my happiest moments in the country I am now missing TERRIBLY--here come some glimpses of late December and January.