adjusting

I've been meaning to put up a new post for the past several days and just haven't. I was planning on catching everyone up on our final few days in Auckland but I think Brooke has pretty much covered that topic in her blog so I won't repeat the same information here.

"Adjustment" is a good one word description of our time back in the States so far. We are adjusting to the 17 hour time difference and recovering from jet-lag. We are also adjusting to the fact that it's winter here. I was at the beach swimming in the Tasman Sea one week ago. The day we left Auckland it was somewhere around 85 degrees, sunny and beautiful. We arrived to cold weather and snow. I generally like cold weather and enjoy winter more than most people. However, when you go from summer to winter in a matter of hours instead of experiencing the natural transition of autumn it can be quite a shock.

Besides all the physical adjustment to space, time and season we are also wrestling with mental and emotional adjustment as well. We have definitely experienced some reverse culture-shock in the few days we've been back. Nothing major, but definitely noticeable. The emotional adjustment is in trying to figure out where we fit. It's great seeing everyone again but a lot has happened in the last three months that we can't adequately communicate with words. I'm sure others feel the same way about how life has been for them while we've been gone. There's mental and emotional adjustment in trying to figure out what in the world life is going to look like for us over the next year or so. As of now that's pretty much a big question mark.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that while it's good to be back, it's weird as well.