Home.

Disclaimer- I've been spending days trying to fix the formatting of this...I've given up. No idea what happened.

So after exactly 9 months and 2 days, it was time to head "home for the holidays."  While so, so many things have worked out incredibly well regarding my Peace Corps service, one of them happened to be the proximity of Costa Rica to the United States.  I'm not in Mongolia as originally thought, and the cost of plane rides are much more feasible from Costa Rica than anywhere in Asia, and I was therefore fortunate to be able to fly home to spend Christmas with friends and family (and most importantly, keep my promise to Mom that though I would be gone for over 2 years, I'd never miss a Christmas).

So as the days dragged on toward December 13th, I found myself so busy with life in Costa Rica that I wasn't even fully getting excited about home.  I was having fun visiting other volunteers, doing 42 pre-interviews for my JumpStart camp, working out transportation logistics for JS, helping the community get ready for the upcoming 6th grade graduation on the 12th (the day before I left), and preparing my final community class of the year.  All in all, I was busy and I found myself actually getting slightly annoyed at having to pack and organize everything to be gone for over 2 weeks.  Mom even started getting worried when we talked on the phone that I wasn't excited to come home.  Of course I missed everyone but honestly, things were good down here and I wasn't feeling so miserable that I needed a countdown until home and honestly, I think that's a good thing.

But home I did go!  Perhaps the excitement didn't really hit me until I reached Atlanta and the Peace Corps friend I was traveling with and myself just stared in amazement at all the food options at the airport. She also commented that there were more people in our terminal than lived in my entire town, which was a very accurate statement.  The excitement continued as I deboarded my plane in Newark around midnight, walked as fast as possible out of the terminal, and finally saw one of my best friends, Joe, standing at the end of the hallway.  A giant hug later, I couldn't have been more thankful that I chose to come home.

A fellow PCV, Taylor, & I flew to Atlanta together.

First meal in America! Plenty of buffalo sauce

Joe had all my favorites waiting :)

JOE!

While my Mom knew I was coming home, I had told her I was coming home Sunday at midnight when I was actually in New Jersey Friday at midnight.  Saturday afternoon her friends and family gathered at one of our favorite restaurants for a surprise 60th birthday party.  You only turn 60 once, Mom...everyone needs a big party to celebrate!  It was a fantastic way to kick off being home.

I spent the rest of the weekend in Jersey catching up with friends and hanging around with Mom.  While I had thought I would have a few signs of reverse culture shock (even though I had only been gone 9 months), I was surprised how normal it felt to be back.  Driving a car, hot showers, any kind of food you could desire...are all things that don't exist in my life but I adjusted just fine to having them back :)

Monday was off to DC by train.  Two days with college friends back in the old apartment building where a bunch of us lived senior year and it was simply amazing to be back together and simultaneously catch up but also act like no time at all had passed.  A day out in Virginia with another college friend and then it was onto the Hill to catchup with work friends.  Happy hours on Capitol Hill and our favorite country bar were exactly what I had been missing and it simply felt great to, for albeit a short amount of time, slip back into the life I loved so much in DC with such amazing friends.

College Crew!

Best co-workers I could have asked for

Too soon it was back to NJ where I did have minor freakouts at the grocery store (do you know how many new flavors of triscuits there are in the past 9 months?!) but it was great to just be surrounded by friends and a familiarity that will just never exist for me in CR.  Thanks to everyone who made my time at home truly amazing and while the "see you laters" were no easier the second time around, I feel very fortunate to be able to keep in touch with many people due to the wonders of technology.  I'll be back real soon guys!

 America has deliciousssssss food...

Target. No explanation needed.

So lucky to have such amazing friends to come home to.

I flew back to CR on Dec 31st (cheapest available tickets) and thankfully I headed right to a friend's house to spend New Year's with a bunch of PCVs.  It made the whole transition easier knowing I had them to come back to and while it was quite a shock to go from delicious food, a comfortable bed, and hot showers right to a cold shower that wasn't even worth getting clean, french fries for dinner, and sleeping on a concrete floor on only a yoga mat...I also reminded myself that the people I was surrounded by I didn't even know 9 months ago.  Peace Corps can be such a roller coaster, no greater example being from going from America in the morning to rural Costa Rica that afternoon, but I am still so happy to be on this crazy adventure and even happier I get to go through it with great new friends. 

This was our grand attempt to watch the ball drop.  We were unsuccessful.