Back in the U.S. of A.

We have been state­side since Sun­day night and are still in the process of bat­tling the worst jet lag either of us can ever remem­ber hav­ing, wak­ing up at 3 a.m. still exhausted but unable to fall back asleep. I think it’s as much the dis­ori­en­ta­tion that comes from the abrupt end to our long trek.

The first inkling that re-entry into ordi­nary life would be rough came our first morn­ing home in Stras­bourg: not once but twice I woke up hav­ing no idea where I was! The same thing hap­pened to Andrew. And, curi­ously, that didn’t hap­pen to either of a sin­gle time dur­ing the whole course of our pil­grim­age. Our apart­ment looked smaller, and all the com­forts of home I’d been look­ing for­ward to more and more toward the end lost their lus­ter. I sup­pose it’s a kind of cul­ture shock, really. When you’re used to the sky as your walls and ceil­ing, even the cozi­ness of home can start to feel suffocating.

Now back in Amer­ica the cul­ture shock and dis­ori­en­ta­tion is com­pounded. None of the three of us has been in our home­land for over a year. I’m star­tled every time I hear some­one on the street talk­ing in Eng­lish (don’t they real­ize I can under­stand every word they’re say­ing?). I feel bom­barded by the adver­tis­ing and the lights—another thing we were largely able to avoid in our 70 days of walk­ing through coun­try­side. Even the tray tables on the planes had full-color ads on them! Amer­ica doesn’t have build­ings any­where near as old as Europe’s, but oddly the mod­ern stuff is older: our infra­struc­ture, power lines, high rises are creak­ing with the early old age that besets factory-built things, while most of Europe’s moder­nity is since the Sec­ond World War, and even more of it since the 60s. I hadn’t expected Amer­ica to look old to me after see­ing Roman ruins.

But per­haps the most notice­able dif­fer­ence is that dis­tances I once thought irri­tat­ingly far to walk are now a breeze—and I kind of wish they were farther.

For all that, it’s won­der­ful to be with fam­ily that we haven’t seen in far too long, and we’re look­ing for­ward to our visit to Augs­burg Col­lege for Founders Day tomor­row and Thurs­day. If you’re in the neigh­bor­hood please drop by! Here’s the schedule—and you’re wel­come at all the events.

Wednes­day, Novem­ber 10
5:45 p.m.   Recep­tion in Foss Atrium
7:00 p.m.   Lec­ture in Hov­er­sten Chapel

Thurs­day, Novem­ber 11
10:00 a.m.    Lec­ture in Hov­er­sten Chapel
11:20 a.m.    Augs­burg Col­lege Morn­ing Chapel in Hov­er­sten Chapel
12:00 p.m.    Lun­cheon in East Com­mons of Chris­tensen Center

Be Socia­ble, Share!

• 

Jean Daniel Plüss says:
November 10, 2010 at 8:38 am
My thoughts and prayers will be with you as I will attend a World Coun­cil of Churches Joint Con­sul­ta­tive Group with Pen­te­costals on the topic of catholic­ity.
And yes, the US can look old in many ways. Its churches also need ref­or­ma­tion. Thank you for your ecu­meni­cal work.
Reply

Harold Nahabedian says:
November 13, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Con­grat­u­la­tions on reach­ing your goal. You have had a once in a life­time expe­ri­ence that in many ways has influ­enced you. Your blogs are very inter­est­ing and I’m intrigued by your reflec­tions on your return to the USA. I look for­ward to see­ing you back in Stras­bourg and hope that you will tell the peo­ple of St Alban’s about your pilgrimage.Harold Nahabedian+
Reply
Deanna Heuermann says:
November 14, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Your Ecu­meni­cal adven­ture was enthralling up and includ­ing the very end and I really enjoyed your pic­ture his­tory. What a won­der­ful adven­ture to have in you mem­ory for the very rest of your lives. God Bless.’
Reply