The same boat...

SO, I have a feeling that I am in a similar situation as many of my fellow YAVs; a little homesick (aka, it's about time to go home and I want to be there now) and I really don't want to blog about anything (aka, kinda done being reflective and introspective). Part of me wants to get home and gorge myself on pizza and burritos with real sour cream and yellow cheese, and go shopping and have a good Northwestern homebrewed beer.

Then there is the part of me that is kind of scared. I had a week of vacation a few weeks ago and it opened my eyes to how difficult it is going to be to transition back. A friend visited from the states, and we went to a very North American/European minded youth hostel in the northern part of Peru. I had a blast hanging out by the pool and swimming in the ocean, I may have had a Peruvian beer, but almost every single conversation I had came back to what I am doing here.

I am working with artisans, helping to improve their lives, working under a fair trade business model. Some people thought I was a saint (which I am not). Some thought I was an idiot for wasting a year of my life on such a frivolous venture. Some argued with me why a fair trade business model was a pipe dream and that the only way for our world to globalize effectively is with a free market economy--two things that I disagree with.

It made me realize how much this year has changed me. And I don't really know how that is going to balance out once I get back to the consumer driven culture in which I was raised. They talk about reverse culture shock, but I think it will be a little like culture shock, where you don't really know what it is that is going to shock you, until it does.

all for me, for now
katie