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Day 6...
We're spending today getting prepared for our trip up north to see our families. That is tomorrow. It is a yearly migration that we make and this one promises to be as long and boring a drive as any of the prior years.
We spent the day getting the kids some new clothes, getting Aidan's forms for camp, visiting the house, and taking care of various other activities.
We will be having dinner with our friends from Hyderabad, the Gangadhars. Krishnan, Indu, Tejus and Nikil will join us at Little Italy.... oops, I meant Brixx Pizza on East Boulevard. I'll take pictures.
So, I have a moment of downtime, let me reflect on the return. Thus far, we have been both very busy, as well as very bored, but being bored in a hotel is different. You can just sack out and be in a hotel.
It has been nice in some ways. It is honestly refreshing to be in a place that is as clean as Charlotte after India. And Charlotte is very clean, even by American standards. Also, it has been good to see friends. We have always had good connections here, and it was a pleasure to see some old acquaintances. Certainly much more of that to come......
On the other hand, there is a certain ennui that we have felt since being here. Everything is the same as it was when we left, for the most part. And that is a bit.... I am not sure how to say it..... unsettling? How could everything still be the same? Doesn't everyone know that everything is different?
Sure, there are new buildings, and various kids got a good bit bigger, and David Caldwell has hair down to his shoulders (looks good, David!). But the rest of it..... the same?
It is thoughts like those which we are having but don't make sense, even to us. It's a bit strange.
Additionally, this is a place of abundance such that it borders on alarming. I mean there is no issue getting virtually *anything* here in the US. We have so much that it is also exploding many of our fellow citizens, albeit slowly. We have seen too many children since we have been back that are just sad testimonies to their parents' guidance and the larger culture's excesses. Wow.
The hotel we are in serves breakfast and dinner. We have eaten here most nights, although we enjoyed Ru San's sushi last night.
During the dinner, various of our portly compatriots settle in front of massive plates of chicken wings, fries, etc. I mentioned to Tara how imbalanced a world is that has people like we saw on the streets in India and then people such as those in front of us. She stated something that really surprised me....
"The worst part is, this isn't even dinner for these people." She stated that she believes that a mountainous plate of wings at "happy hour" is never considered the last word on eating during the average day for many of our fellow Americans.
I contested her point, a little incredulous at her idea, but she worked in the medical field and learned a great deal about such things.
So, that was depressing.
I don't want to seem negative. We are enjoying being back and there are many beautiful things for which are grateful. But certain things are screaming at us right now after being away from it for such a long time.
The house will need some work, but it actually looks great. Better than I expected.
First thing when we get back, I'll take a series of pictures for the blog's "before" effect. With Tara's big plans, virtually all of which should get completed within the first 100 days back - we should have some "after" pictures for the blog soon.
Her plans are pretty awesome, so it should work out. Among the more ambitious plans that she has is to double the width of a door off of the den. We're thinking maybe we could smash the wall out ourselves? That could be either an extremely daring and impressive effort, or the most foolhardy thing we've ever done. I believe we'll back off of that plan, but we'll see.
In all honest, we've been too distracted to really let life in the US sink back into us. I trust the observations will become a bit more meaningful as time passes.
