Sunday, January 24, 2010

Guess what? We're Normal

Have any of you published your blog into a hard cover book? I did this just before Christmas and I love it. And I'm especially glad I've inundated you with pictures in every post because who doesn't love a book with pictures? I used this site and I'm happy with the finished product. And this really has nothing to do with anything except my mom has been reading my 'book' which reminded me that I wanted to mention it here.

Just giving you the heads up....My husband is traveling so I may have more random words than usual this week.

Saturday was a beautiful day...sunny and almost mild. For January anyway. My husband flew to Japan on business Saturday morning so the pup and I drove to my moms house to spend the night. We went to church on Sunday morning then drove back to my house to spend a few days together. That's something I love about my new home...I'm only a short two hour drive from my mom.

Speaking of things I love/don't love about my new home...Friday was good. Several people asked me what repatriation is all about. I wrote about it in this post but in a nutshell...when you move to a foreign country you experience culture shock. Over time you adapt to your new country's customs, speech and way of life. You live in the foreign country for several years. It becomes home. And then one day you return to live in your real home country. You experience something known as reverse culture shock. And every now and then you need to talk about it with someone who understands the feelings and the phenomenon. And Friday was our day to do just that.

We talked all day. I only cried once. Besides all the talking we did a few exercises that went something like this-

List three things you miss about life there-

1. the village life
2. British humor and language
3. my friends

only 3?

List three things you are happy not to have to deal with here:

1. ridiculously narrow parking lots and spaces
2. a dorm sized refrigerator/freezer that is not frost free
3. 17 varieties of lightbulbs in a single house

List three things you are happy to have here:

1. closets
2. big wide roads and car parks
3. an ice maker

etc. etc. etc. It felt good to talk and laugh and set some goals. Oh, and to be told we are normal...always nice to hear that. Have a great Monday!

13 comments:

  1. I haven't published my blog, but I have done a lot of digital scrapbooks. Love having a hard copy of the photos and stories of our travels and family.

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  2. Hi Joyce - I am happy you are normal :-) and I have wanted to publish my blog book too. Glad you are happy with yours...I may use the same site to do mine. Enjoy the week with your mom!

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  3. I repatriated to the US 22 years ago and I STILL miss the tortillas.

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  4. Really neat post... I have always thought that going to England would be fun... to visit! I think I would miss home too much.:)

    Be blessed-
    Amanda

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  5. I have never backed up anything on my blog (disaster waiting to happen, right?), but I think publishing it into a hard cover book-- just for myself-- would be a cool idea. What better "hard copy" than a tangible book?

    ~Elizabeth
    Confessions From A Working Mom

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  6. Sounds like a great weekend. I will have to look into that book thing. I wish I lived two hours from my mom...and normal is good...sometimes!!

    Amy

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  7. You had someone tell you that you're normal? I wish I had someone who could tell me that! Even if they were lying!

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  8. Does the blog book include your comments? You should post pictures of your book! :)

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  9. I love the idea of the blog book. I hadn't heard of that before! So glad you are back in the States and settling in.

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  10. Love this! your 3 things you are happy NOT to have here- I am right there with you!!!!!

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  11. I'd never thought of publishing my blog book...very cool idea!

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  12. I want to turn my blog into a book one day as well, thanks for the link!
    Though I'm not sure how it would work with the video clips...

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