The View From Our Hong Kong Apartment at Night
It’s funny though. If Lee came home tomorrow and said we were moving overseas again, I think my first reaction would be a huge groan. I’m very tired of moving around; we just moved too much this past year, and were too unsettled. I love this house and I’m just starting to discover New England and there’s a lot more discovering to do before I get tired of our new location. Lee likes to fantasize about what we might do and where we might go once he retires. But for now I don’t even want to think about it.
Front Porch of our New Hampshire House
There are plenty of things about our new life that are really great. I just LOVE this house, it’s so beautiful and it has so much potential. Our new dog, although a lot of work right now, is just funny and adorable. Once she’s completely trained she’ll be great to have around. I’m starting to find things to do. I loved my Nabokov class and I’m looking forward to taking another class at the Cambridge Center that starts at the end of March on Mozart. Its fun to take the express bus into the city and go exploring, and it will be more fun when it warms up and the dog is older so I don’t have to worry about her when I’m gone.
I met some really nice ladies at a coffee for the International Women’s Club of Boston and I’ve gone to a coffee for the Windham Newcomers Club too. I’ve found a great needlework group in the nearby town of North Hampton. And I’ve made contact with the New Hampshire League of Women Voters, although so far I haven’t been able to participate in any of their activities.
The things I don’t like have mostly to do with logistics. We really are farther away from Boston than I initially realized. Going into the city is not a trivial thing; it’s a day-long project. The town of Salem, although something of a basic necessities shopping Mecca, is just not a very attractive place. I like the people around here though. They are friendly and blunt which to me feels comfortable and familiar. And I can easily imitate their accent, which probably is not a good thing!
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I started this post several days ago but I never finished it. At the time it seemed too negative, but after letting it sit a bit it doesn’t seem that bad after all. I guess in a way I think I should be “over” repatriation by now but like any emotional process these things aren’t necessarily orderly or logical. I think I put off some of the feelings involved in coming back to the US because I was just too busy to deal with them at first. Now I have time to think, while riding the bus into Boston, or taking the dog outside to go potty. The funny thing is as much as I miss Asia, I miss Texas too! I would love to go running on Town Lake, or eat at Z Tejas, or hang out with my Texas friends….
Texas Bluebonnets
Maybe the trials of repatriation are as much a form of nostalgia as anything. And nostalgia is where memory is formed and endures. I have some amazing memories now…all that pinching and ordering myself to pay attention and remember are paying off. It doesn’t hurt to have three years worth of blog posts to go back and read either!
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