Back in the USA...

Taking a look back now...
Is it sad that I laughed at my own Egypt posts? Hahaha...
I have to say that I miss Egypt more than I thought I'd ever miss any place.
People keep asking me all these crazy questions.
"If you could only pick one place to go to, would you pick Egypt, or Italy?"
Man...
Or... "Do they hate Jesus?"
...WHAT!?

Am I living in the twilight zone?
Yea, I think so.

What other questions did people ask me...
There have been so many.

People have asked reasonable questions for the most part,
but some I had think try and answer without sounding rude.

"Did they make you wear a dress?"
Pretty funny.

"How did the men treat you?"
Has been popular.

"Why don't they like us?"
I've gotten a few times.

Hahaha, I love answering these questions...
-but they always take me by surprise at first.
"They don't like us!?"

"...Me? In a dress? ..No."

Besides the questions...
I remember when I saw the first pair of shorts worn by American tourists in Khan el Khalili...
Shocking, yes. It was.
The same thing happened to my group when we got into America.
The airport was full of them... And in unison...
A gasp.
How crazy is that?
Pretty crazy, if you ask me.
We saw a Muslim man praying and Candace started to cry, she took me aside.
"That's the last time we'll see that for a while, you know?"
One of the scariest things I experienced back in America...
The change.
The realization that all my friends there were going to their homes, and I was going to mine...
And we may not see each other for an age.

One night, the twenty-five of us sat in a circle around three lit candles, and we forced the adults and volunteers out.
For each good memory, someone would tell us about it, and light another candle.
That was the most upsetting night.
We all huddled together.

When the adults came back in... They were happy to see that their little candle project had worked on us.

I got back home and called Caitlin, who was home in DC again...
She cried on the phone.
I called Candace... People called me.
I've been home for five minutes and I think I must have talked to everyone already...
Everyone's so tired.
Crazy.
Finally I had to leave the downstairs rooms of my house after being told that it's foolish that's we'd be upset and that no one really understands.
So I went to bed.
When i woke up, I read my memory book that I saved to read till I got home...


On the bright side of things...
NOW!!!
I'm back at Mugs.
I'm having a GREAT time.
My host family has called me a few times. :-)
I still need to call them back.
Along with Candace, Alex, Ethan, Julie, etc.
Sheesh....

Well, I've been having a GREAT time back in the US, not that I'm completely (sort of) acclimated again.

I love Mugs just as much as I did when I left. Maybe more.
My family. I missed them. lol
ALBONO!!!
Mah co-wokerrrrs!
;-)
Anyhow.
That was basically the aftermath.


It's all part of the adventure.

-Steph