Re-Entry Shock

Re-entry for rockets and space shuttles has to take into account the heat created by entering the atmosphere so that the vehicle or object arrives intact and without too much damage (or rather as a completely singed, charcoal object).

Why didn't I take into consideration such serious measures about coming home and re-entering the U.S. cultural zone? Yes, I know about reverse culture shock. I have done it more than once. I just thought that I was over it, as if it was something that I might only encounter my first move back. Ha! As I have traveled across the globe and relocated thousands of miles from where I grew up, my journey has been fraught with small glitches, moments at which I stop to re-consider if I really know what is going on. As an English teacher, I imagine it might be worse. Abroad, I was constantly called upon to share the "American perspective," as if a vast nation of 300 million can be captured in a sound bite. In retrospect, I think that I eventually bought into the question and, at times, offered what I thought to be the pervasive American way of doing things. This perhaps is the best set-up for a serious atmospheric jolt.

I think that I often appear as a foreigner in my own country, even though I speak the language without a discernible accent. Making choices for salad dressing at a restaurant, a coffee at Starbucks, or hair products in the supermarket take me ages. I have been asked several times if I need help by overly eager store clerks (What do they want?!? questions the American who has been living in a place where customer service is defined a bit differently). The choices are overwhelming and they exist on every detail of the product and every level of service you can imagine. Bewildered? Yeah.

The world is so friendly here. Strangers talk to me in line about the news or a local event. Waiters chat with me while I wait. At a salsa event that I attended last weekend, I made several new friends that gave me tips, exchanged contact info, and invited me for future dancing events. After two years in a rather reserved Nordic country, I feel strange with the familiarity, as if it can't possibly be true.

There are so many systems. Charts. Organizational lists. Calendars. The program I work in has everything planned through the middle of next year -- and I have been informed about it in advance. My colleagues and friends seem to have full calendars of appointments and obligations. It feels a little bit stifling. Where is that room for an impromptu cup of tea or glass of wine? The world seems to move so fast.

Other milder observations run the gamut. Food tastes sweeter(sugar seems to be an ingredient in almost everything here). I have a car, an apartment, stuff inside of it (yikes!). Packaging is in just one language which seems so succinct in comparison to the multilingual microscopic text on everything in Estonia. The metro and city is filled with so much linguistic, ethnic, and cultural diversity. The cultural program here is fantastic -- I can go dancing three times every night of the week. The city is also full of people and traffic; a tough adjustment after living in a small town somewhere in the Baltic forest. For once, I seemed to have planted myself in a nexus for so many -- I already have visited with so many long-lost friends and look forward to meeting more. Cheese in America is not exciting as I remember; it is so yellow. My partner in crime, a savvy Computer Scientist is far far away back in another corner of the universe, and I am also readjusting to a solo routine for a while.

Huh?!? Still confused or think that you missed something?
Here's the one-sentence scoop: I finished my stint as an English Language Fellow in Estonia and returned back to Wyoming for the summer months before heading to Washington, DC, where I accepted a position as an instructor teaching English as a Foreign Language at Georgetown University.

More adventures and tales to come... assuming that I survive the re-entry, of course!

Eastward bound

As much as I love being home in Wyoming, my next adventures will take me a bit farther east to the capital city. I'll be trekking that direction next week in a major road trip. 1,875 miles and 3,018 km later I'll be in my new home... However, the adventure is almost always more in the journey than the destination, so if you find yourself remotely near my route, be sure to drop a line or give a holler!


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Highlights

Here are a few glimpses of some Americana and the best captured moments of my stay "home, home on the range"!



The city-wide pancake feed at the fire station for the Fourth of July





Waiting for the parade to start!





Biking to Spotted Horse, WY with my parents and Uncle Steve



Celebrating Grandma Fern's 83rd Birthday (YEE-HAW!) in Hettinger



A fantastic reunion with my best childhood friend and her beautiful family in Casper



Hike to Harney Peak in the Black Hills



Looking at the incredible five-state view from Harney with Uli



A 1930s style lantern tour of Jewel Cave in the Black Hills





Four-wheeling on my Dad's land near Sundance



Camping with the family



My giggly niece, nephew, and Skip the wonder dog



And the best of all possible endings... a sunset over the prairie

The land is within me

From 2008-07 (Jul)...

It has been a tumultuous month full of good-byes, hellos, and welcome homes. The reluctant departure from my two-year home in Tartu and my exciting arrival back to Wyoming. My sentiments have been too complex and my fingers to lazy to blog about all of my findings. One thing I have thought a lot about since coming back is about our human connection to the land. Although I can appreciate verdant meadows and thick forests and wonder at daily drizzles and rain showers, I acknowledge that a piece of my soul belongs here on the prairie. Stepping off the plane from my two-day trans-continental journey from Estonia, I knew the moment that I breathed in the dry sweet-smelling air that I was home. I am not sure I can describe very accurately a scent that I have always known -- a crisp mixture of sweet clover, sage brush, and wide open spaces. The landscape here could not be more different that my home-that-was and my home-to-be on the East Coast. Rolling hills and breath-taking horizons, you can sometimes see over 100 miles into the distance. All of this space is unnerving to some, but I think a small part of the prairie was planted inside of me and, as it is every time I visit, I just know intuitively that parts of me will always be more at home here than any other place.

From 2008-07 (Jul)...

As I read the NYT this weekend, I could not help but notice the article "Longest Day of the Year; Few Notice." The title caught my eye because we are in the midst of celebrating a holiday here in Estonia that you cannot help but not notice. Jaanipäev, or the celebration of midsummer on St. John's Day, is one of the most awaited holidays of the year. Estonians escape to their forest cottages to meet with friends and family, build bonfires, and spend the night eating and drinking together. And why not celebrate when you have days this long? Meteorologists say that we will have 20h 53m of light in which to gather around the fire this evening. I will head out in a couple of hours to a cottage near Rakvere to start learning about this Estonian tradition first-hand.

Happy Jannipäev and enjoy the long midsummer nights!

Not bogged down

Nothing makes you more relaxed in Estonia than some countryside tourism with fresh, clean air and the quiet landscape. I escaped from Tartu to a friend's quiet home in the forest for a picnic on Saturday before moving onto the pretty coastal area of Lake Peipsi, the large lake border between Estonia and Russia.





I enjoyed eating ripe Estonian tomatoes and locally caught and smoked fish, sweating out any worries in a country sauna, and walking through the boggy marshland on the coast.



I couldn't help but let go of any worries and appreciate the moments for their tranquility. Ah! The beauty of the cool light drifting over the forest filled with singing birds and hoards of buzzing mosquitoes... This simplicity is what Estonian summers are all about.

Stockholm

striking waterlines, fish, marathon, old ships, water boats, lilacs, design, cosmopolitan, old town cafe, long days, sun, Prince Eugene, palaces, churches, ice cream, museums, talkative laughing friends, ... a summer weekend in Stockholm.

I wander'd lonely as a cloud

I stayed home sick today, sniffling and adding to an ever-mounting pile of tissues, sucking on a few warm cups of Theraflu, reading between brief snoozes on my couch, and trying not to get too stir-crazy. Hence, this wandering post...

I read the poem "Daffodils" by Wordsworth somewhat recently, but I think that today, as I was housebound, I really understood this perfect stanza celebrating the memory of a host of sprightly golden daffodils:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Not only do I have to rely on my memory of such lovely plants. I have a few in my immediate surroundings that, through the power of modern digital photography, I will share with you here.

First of all, I have an update on my window garden project that I have been nursing with kind words and daily watering. They are growing! Miracles of all miracles. Basil slowly coming, coriander growing like a weed, and mint slowly poking up out of the soil (thyme has already had its time, coming up quickly and withering away within days). Have a look for yourself.





Violets are one of my favorite houseplants, but I haven't always had the best of luck growing them... that is until I came to Estonia. Ironically enough, the then small plant was a get-well present when I caught the flu during my first months in Estonia. Since then I have repotted it twice and it has bloomed nearly incessantly. This violet is a centerpiece in my home. If only it could traverse the great pond this summer in my bags. I will have to capture its soothing and endearing character in my memory for future days when I need to recall such pleasant environs.



One last sprinkle of color splashes my room with joy. A fitting gift from my students at the university, these gorgeous pink blossoms exude joy, success, and celebration. It will be a fine memory of my Tartu days to store away.




... and then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils. ~ William Wordsworth, Daffodils (1804)

Taking the long way around

My father would not be too excited to hear that I have been listening to the Dixie Chicks (he isn't exactly a huge fan of this kind of "new" country music), much less that I have been sharing their music with new audiences. However, that's exactly what I have been doing lately. It's part of my character, I suppose. I like "new," and I like "old." I am a bit corny. I like to share. At this moment of transition, I identify with this song about making life choices to explore (although not in a pink RV). A quirk of my personal methodology as a language teacher, I like to dedicate songs to my students at the end of a term. Song dedications are infinitely cool (can you remember listening to them on long road trips at night?). This semester as I finish and start, I am dedicating the Dixie Chicks song sharing the title of this blog entry to my students, in hopes that like me, they, too will take the long way around and our paths may someday cross once again. Yes, corny, I know. But I figure that the silliness might be trumped by my sincere intentions. Let's definitely hope so.

My parents have no idea--until they read this blog post--the extent to which I use my family as illustrative examples and classroom material. Today, I talked about a family approach to driving around my small hometown of around 20,000. Admittedly, I have always thought Gillette was rather big in the context of Wyoming, and it is. A more routine driver may assume that there are a few direct routes to travel between home-work-school-shopping in our town. Not in my family. Getting in the car with my mother is a constant surprise. Ignoring a more conventional route, she chooses to take the long way around, checking out new developments in construction, cruising through a less-traveled neighborhood, or driving by pretty flowering trees/lilacs/gardens. A routine trip to the supermarket is never a dull event! Memories of my father are no different. Weekends in the mountains and trips to the big cities often involved skirting off the main road to find out where a mysterious side street emerges. Getting lost was seen as opportunity and challenge rather than a poor risk. I loved those bumpy country roads and winding graveled streets in the mountains... getting lost was part of the adventure.

So, I figure that I have my family to thank for showing me how to choose less-traveled paths and independently maneuver through my surroundings. The truth is that it is more fun for me to get sidetracked... At the moment, I find myself at a point of transition, and I think it is worth remembering the value of such transgressions. Here are a few of my off-track activities, announcements, and celebrations. Some of them are a bit out-of-date, but I want to share. Be patient, I return to the main road sooner or later!

• I took a trip to Lahemaa National Park in northern Estonia waaayyy back in March with some friends. It was the first national park in the Soviet Union and is located on the Baltic Sea. Inside the park are many trails for walking, quaint villages, and old German manor houses. Personal highlights included visiting a gorgeous smoke sauna and seeing 40-50 swans swimming in the icy cold Baltic Sea. It snowed buckets, but it was gorgeous! For pictorial highlights, see my web album here.





• My trip to New York was fabulous -- so great to see friends and colleagues and my mom. The city is impressive. I forgot how busy it is... hard to believe that I really managed to relocate there after college in South Dakota. Talk about culture shock!





• A bit more quiet and scenic was my trip to Exeter, Devon for another language teaching conference. I had reunions with other friends and co-presented with a former grad school colleague. The experience was professionally and personally refreshing. If you are curious about what we were up to, you can even watch our presentation by logging into the conference website! We were recorded and broadcast at http://exeteronline.britishcouncil.org.

• As I mentioned, my teaching here in Estonia is finishing up. I have one more week of meetings, and I am beginning to get quite sentimental. Why are transitions so hard?

• For the mere price of 50 EEK ($5), I got a fabulous haircut that did not make me cry.

• At the University of Tartu, students spend one week during the spring celebrating during "Student Days." For one week, there are activities happening everywhere -- boat contests, concerts, dancing, special clubs, sport, volunteering, sauna, food fairs, and, of course, singing. It was warm and sunny this year during this time and I found the energy of campus infectious. I attended a particularly memorable event. In one of the parks in town they have an evening of singing student songs. A stage is set up and the whole area fills up with hundreds and hundreds of students, professors, staff, townspeople, and alumni. Together, they sing student songs, many of them folk songs or traditional songs from some part of the 375-year history of the university. I bought a songbook and sang my heart out along with them and felt swallowed by the power of the event. I can't imagine a similar college event in a place other than Estonia. The singing tradition is such an integral part of just about everything here.

• After months of brushing up my CV and honing my job interviewing skills, I have accepted a position for the fall at Georgetown University. I will work as an English instructor for international students in their intensive English program, Center for Language Education & Development. I am very excited about moving to Washington, D.C. and working at such a fine institution. Worries about finding housing and making the transition stateside are abated by the promise of living in a fabulous, international community. If you take a detour and find yourself in the area... feel free to look me up!
  

BETA Conference



• A couple of weeks ago I traveled to Sofia, Bulgaria for a teachers' conference... I enjoyed seeing the city, meeting up with some old friends living in the region, eating yummy eggplant salad, and thinking a bit more about language-related issues such as European plurilingualism and avenues for professional conversation.
  

• I think that I have mentioned that I have been involved in a book group that has been reading historical novels by the Estonian writer, Jaan Kross. We met last night to discuss all three of the books we read -- Czar's Madman, Professor Marten's Departure, and Treading Air. I have gained so much from the reading, especially when it was paired with sharing insights with others who are also living here. The experience has deeply shaped how I see Estonia and how I understand its poignant history. If you are interested in exploring this small, Nordic country in a meaningful way, these books must be on your reading list.
  

These days I am thinking a lot about transitions. I am not sure what is coming and I am not always sure what has been, but I can be sure of one thing. I will be taking the long way around, at least for now.

Jalgrattaga... by bike

What a fabulous spring weekend. We took off Friday afternoon for a southern Estonian bicycle tour. Sweet smelling flowers, bright new greenness, cute lambs, great friendly company, and good exercise... an excellent recipe for a rejuvenating weekend. Here are some of the highlights.

For a Google map of our 130 km voyage, visit this link or try to decipher our travels through back roads from a map of your own (Tartu - Pangodi - Taevaskoja - Mooste - Tartu)!

Spring lambs in the countryside



Mini-pizzas with the kids (and adults!)



Breath-taking views from Taevaskoja Park



Healing spring/Fountain of youth




Ah! What a great start to spring!
(Click on the album below for more pictures)

May 1 08 bike trip