Today marks 6 months since I left Cameroon. So strange. That life feels so so far away now. I was going though my old tweets and laughed out loud at some of the ones I had produced. They also humble me and remind me of that state of mind – much simpler, less stressed, just happy to have the very simple things in life.
I figured, to commemorate, I’d take you back in Tweets from my last days in village up through the first weeks of reverse culture shock!
Last Week in Village
13 Jul: oh man. last night in village. couldn’t hold it together at the bar saying goodbye to friends. teary mess. #PeaceCorps
13 Jul: How I spent my last day in village: http://bit.ly/dmda2J #PeaceCorps #Cameroon
13 Jul: a dog, or a cat, or some animal just walked into my back door & then left. scared the crap out of me! even on my last day! #PeaceCorps
13 Jul: so it was a puppy that came into my house. he came back AGAIN & this time sat in my laundry room. scared me again. #PeaceCorps
13 Jul: hmm.. this puppy is just hanging out in my backyard now. I sorta like him. too bad I’m leaving. #PeaceCorps
14 Jul: taxi dude is here to pick me up. he’s actually half an hour EARLY. good sign. here goes nothing! bye bye village. #PeaceCorps
Last Week in Cameroon
16 Jul: all done with village! last week in y’de to make sure I didn’t catch any weird diseases. #PeaceCorps
21 Jul: free of strange diseases! two more days au cameroun. very bizarre. #PeaceCorps
23 Jul: flying out of #Cameroon in less than 3 hours! Last week with my #PeaceCorps loves: http://bit.ly/9Oj3a3
23 Jul: oh dear, received intro reading list from the LSE for grad school. rude awakening as I get ready to board the flight for the US! #PeaceCorps
23 Jul: au revoir, cameroun. hello, USA!
First month in the USA
24 Jul: omg I’m in America! waiting for my connecting flight to St. Louis @ Philly Intl. this is blowing my mind! #PeaceCorps #ReverseCultureShock
24 Jul: First of many posts on my reverse culture shock: Out of Africa http://bit.ly/9fxESo #PeaceCorps
24 Jul: Internet is SO fast in the USA! #reversecultureshock
25 Jul: I went to Target earlier and couldn’t pick what kind of potato chips to buy… the choices are overwhelming. #reversecultureshock
25 Jul: incredibly ironic that on my 1st night back, no power at my parents’ house after a big storm. mom said I brought Africa back!
25 Jul: drove for the 1st time in over 2 yrs. it really is like riding a bike. not too scary.
25 Jul: visited Sam’s Club just now. they call the US the land of excess for a reason. crazy. #reversecultureshock
26 Jul: Cameroon is already slipping fast away into a surreal dream, and I’ve only been back for one full day. #PeaceCorps
26 Jul: tackling this day in the real world alone. so strange. #reversecultureshock
26 Jul: forgot that bars check for IDs here. funny.
26 Jul: my parents’ cable TV is ridiculous! SO many channels!
26 Jul: I’ve completely forgotten about paper towel – what a marvelous thing! #reversecultureshock
26 Jul: toast & toasters are AMAZING! sliced bread in a machine that pops up? holy cow. #reversecultureshock
27 Jul: going through all of my possessions. boy, do I have a lot of crap. 2 yrs in the #PeaceCorps makes me realize how little I actually NEED.
27 Jul: have I already mentioned how amazing microwave is?! #reversecultureshock
27 Jul: cameroun me manque déjà… *sigh* #PeaceCorps
27 Jul: How I’m dealing with #ReverseCultureShock post #PeaceCorps : America, the Land of Plenty http://bit.ly/c0gyWj
27 Jul: it’s so nice to be able to click on youtube videos and not having skip them! #reversecultureshock
27 Jul: checking out hulu.com for the first time. whoaaaaa this is amazing!!!! #ReverseCultureShock
27 Jul: um… how do I use this oven? so complicated…
27 Jul: just saw an ad for a tv show that consists of men eating an exorbitant amount of food. why is that necessary?! #reversecultureshock
27 Jul: online shopping is AMAZING. I can take as long as I want to make a choice & not feel panicky! #ReverseCultureShock
27 Jul: whoa. strange that it was pouring rain outside and I heard nothing inside the house. no more tin roof.
28 Jul: great to talk to my #peacecorps friends. looking fwd to many reunions. so glad they were there w/ me & are now going through the same things
28 Jul: common consensus among my #PeaceCorps friends who’ve just returned to the US: Americans as a whole are fat and flabby.
29 Jul: oh boy, this iPod touch is CRAZY! it’s like a mini computer! I’m going to really freak out when the macbook arrives. #ReverseCultureShock
29 Jul: This is crazy! I’m waiting at the dentist office and I can tweet! Blowing my mind !
3 Aug: I think my body is rejecting the large quantity of cheese that I’ve been consuming since coming home.
5 Aug: i’m not gonna lie. it’s pretty nice to be able to order ridiculous drinks at @starbucks again!
6 Aug: Hmmm.. I forgot how to pack for a world where wearing the same outfit 3-5 days in a row is frowned upon… I’m not en afrique anymore.
9 Aug: Being able to drink water from the tap is AMAZING!
14 Aug: Heard a lady on the bus to DC spoke Pidgin earlier! So nostalgic. #peacecorpsf
15 Aug: progress on my #reversecultureshock post #PeaceCorps: au village no more http://bit.ly/aLvxB6
I wish there was Twitter and blogs between 1997-1999 when I was a PCV in Kazahstan. I coud send emails from the next town and that was it, we had to share that computer with the post office technician managing it. So weird.
I never had reverse culture shock, maybe because I part Asian and I spent two years in an Asian country.
How is the LSE? Met my friends yet?