We’re back. First off, I need to let you know that we had 36 e-mails waiting for us when we returned, so please be patient if you’re waiting for a response from us.

Secondly, even though we were only gone early Friday evening to Monday at lunch, we had SUCH a good, refreshing time out of the country. Until I take a step back, I never realize how much I need to be around another culture and language every now and then. The weather was beautiful, the food was great (and different! Oh, how I miss variety…), and we soaked up the restful scenery. Even though we technically live on the ocean, it’s different when you live in a huge industrialized port city that rests on a bay. Our place this weekend was a little house right on the coast – as in, the ocean was its backyard. I think there were about two or three other couples staying at this house, and while it definitely had its quirks (no towels and one roll of toilet paper in our unit), it was superdy-duperdy refreshing. It literally was about 10 steps to the sand.

We were surrounded on the island by vacationing Europeans, and it was so nice to chit-chat with them – being American made us a wee bit different, but compared to where we’re living, Europeans actually feel a lot like home. Our current country is definitely modern and westernized, but the worldview really does play a major role in what it’s like to live here, if you know what I mean.

So yeah – we didn’t meet any other Americans until we boarded the return boat back, but everybody – and I mean everybody – spoke English. It was wild to be sitting in a restaurant and hear a total cacophony of languages, and then the waiter arrives, and the whole table next to you speaks to him in English. And then he responds back in English. English really is the second language of the entire world, and it was humbling to reflect on our struggle in learning our new language, when these people around us spoke English without even thinking. Definitely a good plug for learning a second language waaay early on.

It was also surprising that there were so many young families there on vacation. Sure, there were the standard crazy young singles, but most patrons were little families with toddlers. That was great fun for us. One day at the beach we chatted with a Norwegian family with a 3-year-old boy, and that night at dinner we talked with the table next to us, a Dutch family with three kids under 3. We talked the normal stuff – what it’s like to travel with kiddos, the importance of family time, etc. etc. Nothing major or insightful. But because of those small, insignificant conversations, I left with a lighter step. It’s always good to not feel alone.

Last night we were walking back to our beach house, and we noticed the same Norwegian family on the sidewalk a few feet in front of us. They were pushing their stroller but their 3-year-old was out and walking, so they were ambling at a pretty slow pace. We wanted to say hi to them, so we sped up, and as we passed, Kabob said, “You know, it goes a lot faster if they sit in the stroller.” The father then said, with a smile, “Typical Americans. Don’t you know we’re on vacation? Who cares about going fast?”

It made me smile.

Photos will be on Flickr soon… For now, though, I need to throw in a load of laundry, because everything is covered in sand. And everyone else is conked out in bed – looks kinda nice…

posted: 07 May 28
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