Stateside

Well, I am indeed back...and for those of you who have kept track of me via blogger over the past year, you can see that my blog has morphed again. If you've come to read a bit about my experience in Morocco...scroll down or take your pick at some reflections over the past months on your right. But otherwise, it's back to just regular-Hannah reflections...

It is a week ago this evening that I arrived back in Indianapolis after a 3-flight/4-airport jaunt that lasted a little over 20 hours and got to me...Durham. Wait a minute...what? Yes, I know, it is all slightly confusing. I flew in immediately after 4 months away to Duke, where I went to staff training for the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation where I will be working for 2 weeks later this summer and which I'm quite stoked about. :-)

I got in with little trouble, though my dislike for the JFK Airport in New York did grow....BUT I did make it through all the airports WITHOUT ANY charges for overweight luggage! (cue, mental pat on the back) This I consider a major accomplishment after 4 months of being abroad and without a scale to weigh my luggage before i left, but which both clocked in at exactly 50 pounds each [US weight restrictions, not international]. So that was pretty much fantastic. :-)

Once I arrived in Durham, I was picked up by a very kind staffer who looked somewhat wearily at all my luggage but then took me to a hotel where I walked into a room and saw the most heavenly looking bed I've ever seen in my life! White comforter, 5 pillows of varying degrees of plumpness, air conditioning (which i promptly turned off, air conditioning, what's that?!?), and a tv playing Legally Blonde...aka paradise. I slept very well that night and then launched into staff training...which once I adjusted went very well. Though I think one of the best moments was sitting in the new Duke Divinity School Chapel...a beautiful beautiful room with huge windows looking out at trees and the sunshine and realizing that it was the first time I had worshipped in a real chapel in 4 months. I think that's when my body stopped thinking it was thousands of feet in the air and when my mind and heart started to realize that I was home...

Training was a whirlwind and before I knew it I was back in the airport attempting to fit my 3 carry-on's into 2 (one of which was still basically illegal) and onto my last two flights (which I must admit were the worst of the bunch) to home. By this point, I had caught a bit of a sinus cold and so was fairly miserable by the time I arrived in Indy to my family with their brightly colored "welcome home hannah" sign, new car, and tall siblings. :-)

This week has basically been one of getting over the aforementioned cold, reconnecting with a friend or two, putting in a bunch of job applications (so far unsuccessful), working out, catching up on sleep, seeing a movie or two (i.e. the midnight showing of Pirates 3), watching my sister graduate (cue big sister pride), and settling back into home.

It feels good to be home. Many have asked me whether I miss Morocco or whether I'm having trouble settling back in...but for me, I really felt like it was time to come back. I'm not sure whether my body just has what a "semester" feels like ingrained after being in a different place every semester for the past two years or whether I just experienced so much that it just felt like it was time to be home to digest it all and relax for awhile. I do not know. But either way, it feels like I'm in the right place and I'm grateful to have this time...

time to rejuvenate and reflect and discern,
and ultimately, (to explain the new title and theme)
synthesize all that i've learned and experienced and wondered and questioned into a new picture, a new frame of mind for my future (to steal words from some old pop song that I ran across recently that is perhaps not necessarily amazing music, but I found the words apt).

this seems appropriate going into my senior year...but also after the past year, a year with many changes, many new realizations, many mistakes, many questions, many crazy-wonderful experiences, even more blessings, and even more questions than i started off with...

...such seems to be the way of life.

feel free to check back from time to time to see my new thoughts and leave your comments...no blogger id necessary.

God's peace.