My first day back has not left my feeling shocked and dazed, well not exactly. Despite my efforts not to have jetlag, I do. I got in at 6am, couldn’t sleep until 4am even though I’d been up since the equivalent of 9. The my dad woke me up at noon on my instructions for lunch, but I went back to sleep after lunch. I went to my mom’s that night, and this time couldn’t sleep until 5:30am. She woke me up to go to Mattoon at 9, and kept me up until after lunch, when I got a small nap. I went to sleep around 10, and now I seem to be back on schedule.
Jetlag aside, I did get a lot accomplished. The first day I was home, I got my bags entirely unpacked and, as best as I could, sorted. There’s a pile of stuff to take to NYC in a week, a pile of stuff to take with me to Troy and Mattoon, and a pile of stuff to give out as gifts (oleh-oleh). After unpacking, Trevor Buckingham, a childhood friend, came out, and we walked around downtown St. ouis, stopping at Lafeyyette plaza(?) to look at the arch). The we made our way to Maggie O’Brien’s, where we had a free beer care of Brett Ramsey and coincidentally ran into Luke Wels, his girlfriend, Kyle Saurwein, Mike Crosby and Jason Tedesco. We planned our 10=year reunion (or joked about doing so – Mike is the class president, so maybe it’ll happen, and if it does, it’ll likely be along the lines of plans such as those made that evening). The next day/evening, I watched old American Idol shows on DVR with my dad, and became starstruck at the singing talent that is Adam Lambert. Then I went to dinner at a Mexica restaurant and discussed God with my dad and Lambert, which was interesting. Then I got driven to my mom’s house, where I unpacked my stuff and organized the basement. The next morning it was off to the farm to eat, meet family, show off my video, pictures and knives, and hang out. I was amazed to find that there is now high-speed wirless internet out at the farm. We also went to a Wal-Mart up there, which was in an itself an experience.
Here’s some Americana I have reacted to since being back:
-Prices. Sure, every jualan in Indonesia has a harganya of at least 5 digits, but once one does all the math, things in America are SO EXPENSIVE! A hotel costs around $100 a night; in my Lonely Planet USA (bought online!), I can find guest houses in StL for $20. In Indonesia, the last place I paid to stay at cost Rp25.000 a night, or $2.25/night. And its not just housing. A pool cue costs $25. A gallon o iced cream costs $6. A marked-down DVD costs $13. And this is at discount prices, at Wal-Mart! A DVD in Indonesia cost me 62 cents.
-Highways. They sure are smooth. Nearly no motorcycles weaving through and slowing down traffic, few if any potholes so my spine isn’t clanking like a slinky, and *paint* – on the roads! There are lanes! Sure, it’s a huge waste of money and enables us to pollute-weapons into the heart of the planet, but damn it, it so freedomish!
-Nature. My grandma asked me if things were as green in Indonesia as they are in America. I didn’t know how to explain at first that America is like a black and white picture compared to the 256-color prints of Indonesia. Just, there’s no comparison. I ended up explaining that the forests of Indonesia aren’t maintained, that it is in the tropics, that Indonesians have a lot more nature at their disposal…I think I failed to get my point across. Nature in America has been paved.
-Family. I love my family, and its complexities. I have a step-mom now, and a new cousin-in-law, and one less girlfriend-in-law. I sat with my mom on the farm and looked at old family albums of relatives I have heard the names of but, until now, never seen pictures of. And that made me recall getting an email while in Indonesia about the Coulson family history, which is so complex I couldn’t even make the canopy of it for a family tree project when I was in middle school. Nd I respect these complexities – I really do. They are a sign of individualism, of a hearty respect for individual ambition, of the idea that blood can bind across generational divides. Indonesian amily breed collectivism which reminds me more of what I think mericans generally conceive of as “family.” If that idea of family which is defined as nuclear is to be held as an ideal, I think Indonesia has more stable family units than I do, and than most Americans. If I look at the photo albums, I see that My family, like most 1940s-era American families, used to be like that. But I think the evolution of the American family is a good thing. I can have love for my family, but I can also have enough self-confidence and independence that I can travel the world as well. Just so long as I make sure to come back and see them every once in a while.
-More. There’ll be more. This is only day three!
