Monday, March 2, 2009

Adjusting

I want to say thank you to all my friends and family who have supported me through my Haitian adventure. It honestly did not end up being what I had anticipated it being, but there is a learning experience in all of it and the process has educated me greatly. I do not regret going, but I know a lot more now and would probably not go with the people I went with this time.

It has been difficult adjusting to being back home. I realized that Portland is quite possibly the exact opposite of P-au-P. I had gotten use to the noise, the people, the energy, the chaos. Portland seems too sterile and quiet to me these last few days back home. It has also not helped that I came down with traveler's sickness the day I left Haiti and then got a cold from the travel back to the US. Now, 4 days later and I'm still nursing a cold and cough, but thanks to the power of antibiotics, my GI issues are resolved.

It has saddened me to see people walking around with SO MUCH and not even knowing it, most likely thinking they need more things. I'm sure I'll slowly return to my First World ways once the experience of Haiti starts to fade, but I'm hoping not. I'm hoping the lessons learned will become a part of me.

I'll probably not blog again. I'm still trying to decide if I want to share our adoption experience with the world. There are so many great adoption blogs out there, I don't think I'd be able to do it justice!

1 comment:

Smiths said...

Well, I'm glad you got to go and as painful as it is for me to sit comfotably at my computer desk and read about all the suffering you saw and all the children you were able to hold and share a little of your light with I am at a loss of what to say and do. I'm proud of you and of the things you represent. I hope you can find a way to fit your experiences into your life in Portland and find a way of intigrating it. Like you said, it's not the kind of thing you're just waiting to forget. That's something I struggle with. I hate to admit it but I find myself turning off when I hear hard things that I have no clue how to change. It gets to be a lot to block out and weighs on me. Let me know when you figure out the "now what?" part, cuz I sure don't know.