To Wrap Things Up

     The transition back to America has been so easy that the trip feels unreal, but when I opened up my blog to get redirected here I looked at the first few pictures from the last post and began to feel sad.  Olympia is so idyllic--paved roads, quiet and sleek cars, manicured lawns, large beautiful houses.  The sunshine we've been having doesn't hurt, but though peaceful it lacks vitality.  Everybody isn't  shouting, no roosters start crowing in the middle of the night, no motorcycles swerve through traffic, no chaos no bustle no overwhelming energy.  
      I guess I've missed the tranquility and I'm not complaining.  It just scares me a little how easy it was to slip back into a rich consumer culture where not much changes from one day to the next.
     Our welcome-home meal was bagels.  I was dragged to the co-op even before we got Lillie!  What was supposed to be a shopping just for a couple things turned out to be longer but still we were in and out faster than I expected.  It was cheaper to rent a car than to take the airport shuttle and probably took less than half as long, and after the food stop we went to grab Lil.  A key was waiting on the porch and she was jumping at the door as we tried to unlock it.  Daisy, her friend, was very excited to see us but didn't understand where Lillie had gone after she pushed her way out the door to the car.  She was not going to let herself get left behind again!  Within the next couple days she's settled into her routine of sleeping 24/7 unless begging for food, love, or walks.  Wednesday after we got home she let me sleep past noon but that was a one-time thing.
      The first segment of our travel day (Bangkok-Tokyo) went smoothly and quickly.  Once we got to our gate we couldn't leave the enclosed space but the flight left on time.  When we got to Narita Airport we had to go through security again.  It was very disappointing.  Instead of the Hong Kong-esque giant international airport with hundreds of restaurants and bookstores there was one bookstore (everything in Japanese, though, no Atlantic for us) and three restaurants.  One was McDonald's and had a line thirty people long and another restaurant for meat eaters alone.  We were reduced to a miso/ramen hybrid at the last option.
      Three hours after landing we boarded our second plane.  The flight was only two and a half hours longer than the first but it dragged on.  The nice seven-hundred page book I had saved for the flight turned out to be one that I had already read.  The plane actually had veggie meals but I donated mine to my dad because of its inedibleness.  Luckily it was one of the ones with little screens at every seat and free movies and TV shows to watch and I occupied myself with that for a while.
      I had a strong urge to chat with everybody about Washington and where was it that the lived and if they had been to Olympia or not and when.  I stopped myself.  
      My dad officially started work last Monday.  He had gone in for a half day the week before, though, to meet with a judge.  Because of the sequester his office has started rolling furloughs so it's a four day week this week and he's not complaining!
     My mom and I have been mostly home, with an fruitful excursion to the library yesterday that ended with maximum checked out books on two accounts and a few dozen books about bread. I went to a few eighth grade projects and spent some time with a couple of friends, and she has started baking a lot.  Croissants yesterday and pie crusts today.  Lots of sleeping in and some movie watching. 
     Tuesday I went back to swim team the first day.  It was more crowded than I had hoped and I was slower than I had secretly hoped to be, but it was good to be back.  Sore muscles yesterday, but my mom was right when she oh-so-helpfully pointed out that they would be worse today.  
     Lillie needs somebody to pay attention to her...
     Farewell, and thanks for reading!